"Stan the bacteria man had a very bacteria plan, that man." This recurring sentence in Stephen M. A.'s novelette Stan, Stan, the Bacteria Man summarizes better than anything else the plot of the entire book. But what is Stan the Bacteria Man's plan? And will...

Susan: A Jane Austen Prequel by Alice McVeigh grants a fresh look at some of the characters of Jane Austen novels in their earlier years. Recently expelled from Mrs. Ansruther's school, sixteen-year-old Susan Smithson returns to London, only to find herself embroiled in yet another...

Scorn of Secrets by B. Truly is a mesmerizing coming-of-age story with strong themes and elaborately developed characters. When Madison Guillory’s father dies leaving a huge gambling debt behind, her mother doesn’t wait long to start dating again. After just a few months, she introduces...

Sundays at Simone’s by Thomas Bauer is a first-person novel that reads almost like a memoir. Our narrator and protagonist is Michael McDowell, well versed in all things music, especially classical, the Los Angeles environs, film and theater, and food (especially Italian). He is also...

In Shadows in Our Bones by Tamara Merrill, Georgia O’Brien is a thirty-four-year-old professor who is very outspoken when it comes to issues of racial prejudice. When her mother is diagnosed with cancer, she begins a journey that will trace her lineage that she had...

Starvation by Molly Fennig is a YA novel that addresses realistic issues and presents elaborately developed and compelling characters. Sixteen-year-old Wes McCoy has never been the favorite of the family. His brother, Jason, who is the apple of everyone’s eye, dies in a car accident...

Stepping Into the Fire: A Journal about Growing-up in Appalachian Ohio by Steven P. Keller is an incisive book that explores the author’s memoirs and experiences of Ohio. The story features some of the favorite people in the life of the narrator and presents their...

Setting in Roots is the first part of a series by Dymphna. Trixie easily gets annoyed, bored, worried, and within her heart is the ache for adventure, for freedom. She lives with Mr. Jim, who brought her to Wicker Soul in Colorado. He is a...

Slender Notions by Nicholas Antonopoulos is a unique, emotionally intense narrative. The protagonist is Leo, an indifferent and bored twenty-three-year-old man stuck in a small town in Massachusetts. He is a victim of opioid addiction, which brings his life to a standstill. His addiction numbs...

Seeds in the Desert Wind: A Novel by TP Graf is the powerful conclusion in the life and times of Jaime Cruz trilogy. Though it was a little sad to know it's the last book in the series, I was still eager to see what's...