PositiveLibrary JournalAs Gorcheva-Newberry deftly demonstrates, coming of age is a universally difficult time, requiring hard choices and both self-assessment and reassessment of the world. Recommended for most fiction readers.
Edmund White
PositiveLibrary JournalFans of White...will particularly enjoy this very explicit novel that explores sexuality, aging, and the complexities of love.
Daphne Palasi Andreades
RaveLibrary JournalThe eponymous brown girls of Andreades’s debut novel are all the girls in the world who are not white, and the author uses the collective “we” to tell the tale as a group experience ... Highly recommended.
Margaret Verble
PositiveLibrary JournalEffectively deploying her diverse cast of characters, Verble—an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma—captures the complex social interactions of the time. From race relations to social class to working conditions, Verble addresses key issues while spinning her ghost story around the fictionalized employees of a park that actually existed ... Readers of general fiction will enjoy.
Emily Austin
PositiveLibrary JournalAustin uses seasons in the church calendar to identify stages in Gilda’s journey, moving from Advent to Easter as she captures the essence of Gilda’s angst and redemption. Along the way, her characters are hilarious, relatable, exasperating, and endearing. For all readers of fiction.
Jennifer Saint
RaveLibrary JournalSaint retells stories of the ancient Greek gods from a human—particularly female—perspective ... Saint skillfully weaves the Greek mythology of heroism and revenge into whole cloth, making the fabric of interactions among humans and gods compelling and entertaining as she shows us that women often get the blame for men’s (and gods’) actions. Sisterhood is required for survival ... Readers of mythology and human relations will enjoy this book. Highly recommended.
Morowa Yejidé
PositiveLibrary Journal... compelling ... Skillfully blending fantasy and stark reality while blurring the line between the metaphoric and the tangible, Yejidé (Time of the Locust) successfully tells the story in fits and starts as each major character adds a piece to the puzzle. YA and adult fiction readers alike will enjoy. Highly recommended.
Kate Hope Day
PositiveLibrary JournalIn this readable debut, Day captures the difficulties of both being and raising a gifted child, while incorporating details about space flight, training, and problem solving that make the story come alive without being overwhelming. Recommended for most fiction readers.
Melanie Finn
PositiveLibrary JournalFinn offers a chilling account of the ways women can be abused, with sexual assault, psychological trauma, objectification, and murder crossing class boundaries. Yet as she also shows, women often cannot escape the cages they have helped to build around their lives. A #MeToo tale that will also appeal to general readers.
Emily Temple
RaveLibrary Journal\"Temple weaves Buddhist practice, rumor, philosophy, and teenage sexual longing into a story that is both deep and compelling. Her characters are complicated and conflicted, immersed in the throes of teenage angst and hormones. Any reader of general fiction would enjoy.\
Quan Barry
PositiveLibrary JournalBarry successfully captures the high jinks of a group of high school teens discovering themselves, learning about life, and finding out what it means to work together. Fans of coming-of-age stories will enjoy.
Maisy Card
PositiveLibrary JournalCard weaves a multigenerational narrative that tackles racism, colonialism, slavery, immigration, infidelity, and family ties—and just about every other issue of the modern age ... Set in both Jamaica and New York, this debut novel effectively reveals contrasting cultures and customs. Though the Jamaican patois requires close attention, readers of general fiction will enjoy unraveling the threads of this complex tale.
Miranda Popkey
PositiveLibrary JournalPopkey writes in a stream-of-consciousness style that gives her novel a dreamlike quality. Though readers must make the connections among the narrator’s many changes in location and situation, the result is finally thought provoking. Fine for general fiction audiences.
Clare Beams
PositiveLibrary JournalBeams successfully shapes the characters who tell the story, capturing the mores of the times and delving deeply into the psychological aspects of the situation. The underlying secret creates a tension that is resolved only in the final pages. Readers of general fiction will enjoy.
Kate Walbert
PositiveLibrary JournalBriefly sketching a life-changing event that has brought the main character to the present moment, each piece provides a glimpse into the lives of the central characters as they grapple with problems, joys, and disappointments ... These stories from National Book Award and Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist Walbert are poignant and compelling; each is complete in itself but will leave the reader wanting more. Recommended for all short story readers.
Alix Nathan
PositiveLibrary JournalNathan... supplies the details to make her characters come alive, capturing the difficulties in human relationships (or lack thereof) and the tragic outcomes that can arise from unforeseen circumstances. All general readers will enjoy.
Evan James
PositiveLibrary Journal\"First novelist James boasts numerous literary honors, here delivering an absurd and hilarious satire full of unlikely characters who are all wildly introspective, dysfunctional, and prone to New Age philosophizing.\
Juliet Lapidos
PositiveLibrary JournalLapidos has created a funny, ironic, and witty first novel whose main character is a parody of every graduate student ever. Alternating between Anna and the contents of the Langley notebooks, the multilayered stories keep readers guessing, appealing to general fiction readers, especially those with any background in academia.
Julie Schumacher
RaveLibrary JournalIn this wicked satire of the inner workings of the academy, Schumacher brings to life stereotypes that will be recognizable to anyone who has had a position on a college campus ... For readers who appreciate humor and the absurd as well as academics—although the latter may not know whether to laugh or cry. Highly recommended.
