Short fiction is not hard to come by, but impactful short fiction is. Danila Botha's Things That Cause Inappropriate Happiness is a collection of slice-of-life stories around themes of diversity, wonder, and femininity. My favorite story is Don't Look Back. It follows a young artist...

Set in 1980, The Cop Reporter by PJ Jones is an immersive women’s novel that follows the life of Abilene-based reporter, Kat Coe. When Kat is transferred from San Angelo Standard-Times to Abilene Reporter-News, she views it as a great opportunity to grow and leave...

The first thing Joe Dowling did after settling into their new home was to plant a willow in their backyard. The tree bore witness to Joe and Margaret’s life as they raised their four girls. Debra, the eldest, had a go-getter attitude that made her...

Amy Maroney’s The Girl From Oto is a well-crafted captivating mystery novel. The story is set in two different centuries and follows the lives of two women. Zari Durrell is a contemporary art historian and scholar from California. In 2014-5, Zari is on a University...

What could the connection be between a gallery opening featuring Egyptian artifacts, bombs going off, fires all over London, and police sergeant Jackson Randolph? This puzzle appears in the opening pages of The Last Rays of Ra by Karina McRoberts. The central character Doctor Vahlona...

The Ill-Fitting Skin by Shannon Robinson is a collection of twelve short stories featuring women navigating extraordinary situations. A mother struggles to control the wild tendencies of her son, a lycanthrope, only to realize they have much in common. A woman gains notoriety when she...

Till Marriage Do Us Part by Bianca Bowers is a fun tale of love in the age of social media and the indomitability of the spirit. Bronte and Aden are running a successful vineyard in Queensland, Australia, in association with Aden’s father when the unthinkable...

The Other Side of Nothing by Anastasia Zadeik is a powerful and moving novel. It follows Julia Reeves, an eighteen-year-old, as she tries to find a way to escape from the pain and guilt that consume her. Her father made her believe in a world...

Tell Me Your Plans is a work of fiction in the interpersonal drama, women’s fiction, and slice-of-life genres. It is best suited to mature readers owing to some sexual references and non-graphic mentions of assault. Penned by author team Torres and Firsht, the work delves...

In Two Seconds Later, a suspense and romance novel by Tina Griffith, while Asher was in the shower, he and his wife, Lara, were talking back and forth when his cell phone rang. Lara’s world was turned upside down when she realized her husband of...