The emotions and drives of the story feel real, but the tone is darkly playful. I loved spending time with main protagonist Eli as he...

I loved this. Romy's soaring hopes, her vulnerability and then her growing doubts, her self-reliance and quick thinking, and the shifts...

01 Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton Eli Bell is a young man in a tough spot. His father's gone, his mother's in jail, and his best...

Hart reliably offers character-driven mysteries with heartbreaking interpersonal complications. The twists and turns here are excellent,...

The interconnectedness of the characters and the details of household life and power structures of the time period were wonderful and the...

A book that fascinated me, in case you missed it! This was often brutal to read, but it was beautifully written, in a style that felt...

King immerses the reader in a sometimes-claustrophobic situation while providing enough character connection and appealingly messy...

01 Where the Forest Meets the Stars Joanna is feeling adrift after her mother's death, and she disappears into the constant attention her...

Zhang's detail was wonderful, and her characters make noble sacrifices and face impossible choices. The book's frequent heartbreak was a...

Blood reads like an unflinchingly honest journal; Moorer sifts through memories, photos, joyful moments; she feels rage, sadness, and loss.

01 Wild Life: Dispatches from a Childhood of Baboons and Button-Downs, Roberts 02 Blood: A Memoir, Moorer 03 The Fixed Stars, Wizenberg

Some aspects of Surrender Your Sons felt deeply real and intimate, but I couldn't get past the details that didn't fit.

I was frustrated by what felt like disjointed cause and effect and lack of clear motivation on the characters' parts.

The women's lifelong friendship felt like the heart of the story and was a fantastic element.

The title of the book feels like an important assertion from Lucy; she is finally owning who she is--her story, choices, and essence.

Liz Moore’s writing is thoughtful and the story in Long Bright River is character-driven. Situations aren’t resolved too easily or cleanly.

Danny and Maeve are ejected from their fabled childhood home, and they spend the rest of the book hashing out their bitterness and feelings.

The strongest part of the story was toward the end, with a search and some resolution, strong female characters, and a family of sorts.

Wrobel supplies Münchausen syndrome by proxy, lies, betrayals, and double-crossing, within a claustrophobic mother-daughter relationship.

Tallulah shifts from resenting her future and her obligations to taking charge of her life and how she intends to live it.