In Eastern Shadows by Peter Nordgren, nineteen-year-old Ploy Soikham buys a one-way ticket to Thailand, the country of her birth. Ploy posts videos on social media, insisting that she is safe and that no one should come looking for her. But when Ploy fails to...

Short Stories from Faraway Places I by Kevin O’Flaherty is a series of stories set in various locations, each focusing on characters handling everyday life and work. In The Bells of Gloucester, David and Johnny manage school and family. Johnny has difficulties at home and...

It is 1949. Margaret Butler, born Margaret Long, cannot put into words the pain she feels at losing her sixteen-year-old son, Thad Butler. Found dead and bloodied with gunshot wounds in a ditch in New Harmony, South Carolina, it was clear Thad had been brutally...

The Spilling of Secrets by Anastacia Hawkins is an absorbing contemporary romance. It is book two of the Bakery Bay series, set in two timelines: 2025 and the 1990s. It follows Freya, a young photographer, and her mother, who is burdened with uncomfortable secrets. They...

Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy's novel, Tall, Dark and Cherokee, is a romance full of suspense. It centers on Kaitlin, a high school English teacher who finds herself in a dangerous situation. As she prepares to marry a doctor, she realizes he's not the person she...

The Museum of Art and Other Things by Stephen Meltzer is a satirical literary novel set in a place where art and memory collide, and a museum stands as both a refuge and a battleground. Ghosts of the past resurface in the form of a...

The New Girl by Zelmer Wilson follows Billie Carver, who moves from New Orleans to Boston to live with her father’s family and adjust to a new social environment. She leans on her older half-brother, Truman, as she tries to wade through unfamiliar social circles...

A Sweet Scheme by Sasha Preston is a delightful short story that celebrates the bonds of friendship, the thrill of adventure, and the sweetness of shared moments. At the heart of the story is Martha, a vibrant woman whose warmth and openness draw people together....

The Conscious Virus by Miki Mitayn centers on Nerida Green, an Aboriginal doctor working in remote Indigenous communities in Australia, alongside her wife Mari, an artist and spiritual channeler. The novel covers their lives dealing with harsh social and health realities—such as mining pollution, historical...

The Wedding Worries by Bonnie Engstrom is a heartwarming story about second chances and the value of supportive friends. Megan has always been the one seeking advice from her older friend, Scoosy. However, this time the roles are reversed. Scoosy confides in Megan that she...