Liz Hauck’s dad loved to eat. He also co-directed an agency that served teenagers in state care. Four years out of college, Liz suggested they start a cooking program at one of the group homes. When her dad died unexpectedly,…
Susan Schoenberger’s Liability of Love explores themes of class conflict, grief, trauma, and ultimately depicts how the stories we tell ourselves have the potential to both wreck us and save us. Kirkus Reviews calls it, “a keenly observed, compassionate, and…
Mona Mireles, the prematurely bitter and grumpy protagonist of Elizabeth Gonzalez James’ debut novel Mona at Sea, graduates from college with her dream job at an investment back all lined up. Her hard work has paid off. She’s crossed that…
“My mother did not move from the bungalow’s doorway. Her apron, stained with baby burp and breakfast grease, seemed to pull down at her narrow shoulders. She brushed a dark sheaf of hair away from her face and boosted my…
In P. J. Vernon‘s Bath Haus, Oliver Park, a recovering addict from Indiana, has everything he ever wanted: sobriety and a loving, wealthy partner in Nathan, a prominent trauma surgeon. Despite their difference in age and disparate backgrounds, they’ve made…
The central mystery of Katheen Alcalá’s Spirits of the Ordinary is this: how can a book have everything –breathtaking, living landscapes, gender-bending, gold fever, Indigenous wisdom without cliché or fetishization, Crypto-Jews, empowered women, and profound character arcs – yet still…