RaveLibrary JournalBanks’s stories are about fragile, everyday people whom, despite their resilience and strength, life still manages to break. An imaginatively constructed novel from a late master storyteller.
Michael Parker
PositiveLibrary JournalA sad tale ... A heart-wrenching story compounded by misguided decisions and bad luck ... For most fiction readers.
Anna DeForest
RaveLibrary Journal... distinctive ... DeForest’s fast-paced, tell-it-like-it-is story describes medical school in harrowing detail, with all the niceties stripped away. Essential insights for lay readers.
Eleanor Brown
PositiveLibrary JournalBrown pulls no punches as she explores adoption and the experience of parenting in this intensely emotional novel, thought-provoking to the last page.
Julia Glass
PositiveLibrary JournalDeftly weaving together eight intersecting stories, Glass offers fiction steeped in current events that her loyal followers will appreciate.
Bill Roorbach
RaveLibrary JournalJust how Roorbach dovetails Cindra’s two disparate lives gives her story intensity and shows the power of love from many sources. An engrossing novel with standout characters.
Michelle Huneven
PositiveLibrary JournalHuneven’s breezy style carries the plot, which is peppered with standout characters guaranteed to resemble someone readers know, and she addresses church philosophy with a light touch that many will appreciate.
Peter Heller
RaveLibrary JournalHeller’s chilling tale of twisted minds playing on pandemic fears is all too realistic. One heckuva read; don’t miss it.
Ash Davidson
RaveLibrary Journal... powerful ... Davidson’s riveting page-turner reveals one harsh reality after another, with no happy ending. The stakes are high, loyalty vanishes, and family ties mean nothing. A strong writer to watch.
Nickolas Butler
PositiveLibrary JournalButler’s award-winning talent as a storyteller propels his characters on a heart-stopping, daring race with unexpected outcomes. Godspeed indeed.
Jessica Anya Blau
RaveLibrary JournalBlau’s intelligent, witty novel captures the essence of the ’70s with humor and immensely appealing characters. Highly recommended.
Malcolm Brooks
RaveLibrary JournalWith a nod to Ivan Doig’s straightforward folksy style, this impressive second novel after Painted Horses tells an earnest, heartfelt family story with laugh-out-loud humor, deep-seated family conflicts, and distressing coming-of-age crises. Enthusiastically recommended.
Cynan Jones
PositiveLibrary JournalJones’s compressed, minimalist style heightens the effect of a precarious future for a world where climate chaos is deadly serious, creating an absorbing narrative for sophisticated readers.
Jennifer Givhan
PositiveLibrary JournalFrom its heart-pounding opening, poet Givhan’s second novel (after Trinity Sight) leads readers into the dark recesses of Bianca’s traumatic experiences and subsequent healing.
Tara June Winch
RaveLibrary JournalThree distinct narratives bind together Winch’s riveting story of Australia’s Indigenous people ... The Aborigines’ story is one of yielding, of not taking from the land but of bending to the will of others, a tragic picture of the Australian colonial period. Winch makes a strong statement, beautifully rendered.
Crissy Van Meter
PositiveLibrary JournalVan Meter’s first-person debut novel is driven by the natural world of tsunamis, earthquakes, heat, hail, and wildfires, always with an overarching presence of the sea creatures surrounding the island. A compelling coming-of-age tale.
Kate Elizabeth Russell
PositiveLibrary JournalAs Vanessa slowly unpacks what happened, we see her youthful and ongoing denial, the impact of events on her still unsure self, how sedulous Strane was in drawing her in, how unabashed he remains, how much she needed and still needs to believe they had something special, and how she still takes Strane as a measure ... A deeply relevant debut that the author has been writing since age 16, drawing on her own experiences, and the reading enlightens even as it chills
Téa Obreht
RaveLibrary Journal... a most unusual, absorbing tale ... Obreht suspensefully reimagines an extraordinary American West filled with larger-than-life characters, imaginary marauding beasts, and ghosts who commune with the living.
