PositiveLibrary JournalAs the trio tries to rebuild their lives in enticing creative ways that include an alluring dose of romantic entanglements, they find their way back to one another and forward to astonishing intertwined futures ... Dorey-Stein has written the perfect beach read, filled with delicious heart and meaty observations about knotty relationship issues and offering surprises and delights with every chapter.
Katherine Heiny
RaveLibrary Journal... great forbearance and more than a little contagious hilarity ... laugh-out-loud scenes seamlessly flow into deep consideration of what it means to be a family and the power of accepting one another, eccentricities and all. This irresistible delight is a much-needed balm during these unnerving times.
Jamie Harrison
RaveLibrary JournalAs the narrative deftly moves back and forth between Polly\'s current troubles and her childhood years in 1960s New York, rife with half-understood adult tragedies that engulfed her beloved grandparents, parents, and best friend, Edmund, old traumas resurface with stunning parallels ... In this exquisitely nuanced, beautifully constructed novel, Harrison...draws the reader into young Polly\'s filtered understanding of her world, rich with happily married couples, vs. the uncertain reality of the adult Polly, coping with memory loss while slowly untangling shocking family secrets. A magnificent gem.
Gregory Maguire
RaveLibrary JournalMaguire, whose gift for transforming children\'s stories is most famously on display in Wicked, works his magic once again in this retelling of Hans Christian Andersen\'s fairy tale The Wild Swans. An enchanting, tender, often funny coming-of-age story whose perceptive truths about the human condition surprise and delight.
Sue Miller
PositiveLibrary JournalBest-selling novelist Miller...unflinchingly examines the scorching pain of love, betrayal, raw grief, and the slow slog to forgiveness and healing. An eyes-wide-open look at the cost of commitment in all its messy permutations.
R. L. Maizes
RaveLibrary Journal... this debut novel brings to life a wholly original, deeply charming, and seriously flawed character whose enormous heart leads her into a mess of trouble. A beguiling tale that will make readers want to leap into the pages to save La La from herself before it\'s too late.
J. Courtney Sullivan
PositiveLibrary JournalBest-selling novelist Sullivan humanizes the roadblocks to successful relationships and the modern tools that help or hinder those bonds—career networking, in vitro fertilization, social media, social justice
Christopher Beha
RaveLibrary JournalBeha brings to messy life a post-9/11 New York City in a character-rich novel that’s funny, poignant, prescient, and somehow sweetly deft in the willing suspension of disbelief as a syzygy of coincidences careens toward a perfect storm.
Chelsea Bieker
PositiveLibrary JournalLacey May\'s is an irresistible voice, part gullible believer, part whip-smart independent spirit who surprises at every turn. Debut novelist Bieker weaves in the political battles being fought on multiple fronts—climate change, controlling women by controlling their bodies, the intractability of cult-think, through the eyes of a wholly original, strong young woman who fiercely defends her soul against nearly overwhelming odds.
Amy Bonnaffons
PositiveLibrary Journal... wildly imaginative ... Bonnaffons raises many provocative questions about human relationships in the 21st century, particularly the urgent search for intimacy that ironically is so often sabotaged by endless casual encounters. Spicy hot, impish, and not without its moments of poignancy and, yes, regrets.
Carola Saavedra, Trans. by Daniel Hahn
PositiveLibrary JournalSaavedra has produced an intense, beautifully nuanced examination of obsessive love gone seriously wrong and the psychological roadblocks that stand in the way of healing, though an abrupt, ambiguous ending may unsettle some readers.
Liz Moore
RaveLibrary JournalIn her fourth novel, Rome Prize–winning author Moore blends the reality of today’s deadly opioid crisis with a complicated family dynamic to create an intense mystery with stunning twists and turns. Impossible to put down, impossible to forget.
Lara Vapnyar
PositiveLibrary JournalGeller’s latest is the fascinating story of a brilliant, emotionally volatile protagonist whose wicked humor appears in frequent asides made directly to the reader, along with a smattering of whimsical graphics, and Nina’s handwritten notes for her unrealized textbook. Smart, complicated, irresistible.
Alice Hoffman
PositiveLibrary JournalOut of the familiar framework of the extraordinary courage and cunning it took to survive the unspeakable brutality of the Holocaust comes this moving, suspenseful story of love, decency, and fearlessness in the face of evil ... One of America’s most brilliant novelists since her debut, Hoffman uses her signature element of magical realism to tackle an intolerably painful chapter in history. Readers know going in that their hearts will be broken, but they will be unable to let go until the last page.
Elizabeth Strout
RaveLibrary Journal[Olive] drops her cutting observations with matter-of-fact, laser-like precision, sparing no one, then follows up with lovely, whiplash-inducing moments of empathy toward her neighbors, her distant son, and even, endearingly, herself. Caught up in scenes of great hilarity (a backseat childbirth) and bewildering grief, Olive may offer blunt honesty that defies societal norms, but her clarity is refreshing and never cruel ... Strout wrote that Olive forced her way back into Stout\'s consciousness long after the author thought she was done with her. Olive demanded Strout write these new stories. Of course Olive did that. It’s so…Olive. Thank goodness Olive prevailed. Exquisite.
Madeline Ffitch
RaveLibrary JournalIn her debut novel, short story writer ffitch dazzles with this irresistible take on a part of modern society largely hidden from view. The unpredictability of her characters and plotlines are deliciously compelling.
Julie Langsdorf
PositiveLibrary Journal\"Funny, spot-on satire relevant in today\'s divisive noise-machine of battling egos.\
Chris Cander
RaveLibrary JournalFrom award-winning author Cander, this beautiful tale of the intersecting stories of Katya and Clara, two strong women working hard to rebuild their shattered lives, is impossible to put down and impossible to forget.
