Book Review: "Dodge City" by Patrick deWitt

It’s 1967 and the U.S. is in the thick of the Vietnam War. Lee was a college student at UCLA until he was expelled for getting into a fistfight with another student. Unfortunately, being kicked out of school means he’s no longer on the draft deferment list, so while he plans to enroll in community college, he gets his draft notice before he can do that.

Lee isn’t a conscientious objector or anything, but he doesn’t believe the U.S. should be fighting in Vietnam. And he certainly doesn’t want to go to war. But he can’t imagine convincing the draft board that he’s crazy or gay or otherwise unsuitable to serve. So he decides he’s going to flee to Canada.

Leaving Los Angeles means leaving his girlfriend Cal behind. Their relationship is an odd one, and Lee has always been reluctant to let Cal know the full extent of his feelings for her. But he decides to leave anyway, and lands a gig delivering a fancy new Jaguar across the country. He’s ultimately supposed to wind up in New Jersey with the car, even though that’s not what he intends to do.

Before he heads to Canada, Lee decides to stop in four places to see the members of his family. He returns to his hometown in Washington to see his father, who is rapidly heading down the road to self-destruction. Then he heads to Billings, Montana, where his mother moved when she divorced his father. She currently lives with her brother in their childhood home, and isn’t shy about sharing her opinions or her versions of memories.

He reluctantly stops in Duluth to see his older brother Harry, whom he hasn’t spoken with in several years. But Harry, too, is in a bad way—dealing with a broken engagement that is his fault and serious financial problems. Lee’s final stop is in NYC, where his twin sister is a nurse-in-training at a psychiatric hospital, and she’s sabotaging her career with her misguided romantic pursuits.

Patrick deWitt is a writer who skillfully blends introspection with humor. This is a thought-provoking story. I expected this would be a little more plot-driven, but I found myself caring what happened to Lee.

Book Review: "Nowhere to Go But Anywhere" by Jessica Rao

I really enjoyed this! Jessica Rao’s debut novel is a thought-provoking and emotional story about a young woman trying to find her way.

Helena has just started her freshman year at SUNY Albany. She’s not sure if college is for her, and Albany is a far cry from her home in Brooklyn. She spends a lot of time on the campus bus, which drives through downtown Albany and back again.

She meets Henry on a bus ride one day. He seems to be a bit of a drifter like her, and talks a lot about following in Jack Kerouac’s footsteps and heading to California. Henry invites her to move in with him and another friend, and she finds a job waiting tables to make enough money to go out west with Henry.

Waiting tables introduces her to Sonya, a fellow waitress who encourages Helena to flirt with the customers to get better tips. And when Charlie, a wealthy older man, takes an interest in Helena, she convinces her to go out with him so she can benefit financially.

While Charlie would be her ticket to getting enough money to leave with Henry, Helena is torn. She has an on-again, off-again fling with Tommy, her other roommate, but she never seems to know where she stands with him. How can she find the courage to forge her own path without having to rely on someone who wants to take more from her than she’s willing to give?

I found this to be a surprisingly emotional read at times. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Helena was as young as she was, but she had just finished her freshman year of college. She was a really dynamic character despite her immaturity at times and her indecisiveness.

Book Review: "Main, Middle & Gay: A Chef Finds His Place in the World Against All Odds" by Patrick O'Connell

Some of you may know that I’m a huge foodie and utterly fascinated by reading books about chefs, restaurants, and cooking. I also went to culinary school about 25 years ago, so the whole business intrigues me.

All this to say, when I think of the best meals I’ve ever had, Patrick O’Connell’s The Inn at Little Washington is near the top of the list. It’s the most expensive meal I’ve ever eaten but worth every penny. What O’Connell has created in such a small Virginia town is impressive—even more when you realize he never had any formal culinary training.

“Only because I’ve finally arrived at a place where I’m unafraid can buried secrets be exhumed and set free without danger.”

For the chef at the helm of the first U.S. restaurant to receive 3 Michelin stars, O’Connell followed an unusual path. Raised in Maryland, he had a difficult relationship with his father because he was unathletic and effeminate, unlike his brothers. He started working at a restaurant in his teens, and quickly fell in love with the atmosphere as well as the way flavors worked together in the foods he tried.

The book recounts the difficult journey in creating the Inn at Little Washington, as they faced opposition from the town. He touches on the milestones as they created this incredible empire of sorts. And he also touched on the often-rocky relationship with his longtime partner, which nearly destroyed everything they built.

I enjoyed this so much, both because I’ve been to the restaurant and seen interviews with O’Connell before, and because his path was so different than many others. If you’re a foodie, you’ll love reading about the many meals he created—and you’ll probably be hungry, too!

Book Review: "Taipei Story" by R.F. Kuang

TFW an author whose previous work you’ve enjoyed comes out with a new book you’re excited about and it disappoints you. I hate it when that happens. I definitely had high hopes for this!

Lily is a Chinese-American student who just finished her freshman year at Yale. She plans to spend the summer at an intensive language program in Taipei, where she hopes she’ll be able to better communicate in the language of her heritage. While she knows some Chinese, she really wants to become fluent.

Students from all over the world attend this and similar programs. But there are several of her fellow students from Yale in attendance as well, and she’s even rooming with someone she knows. They quickly immerse themselves in Chinese culture, food, and tourist attractions, and revel in the idea of speaking only Chinese while on campus for classes.

But Lily quickly realizes the divide between understanding a language and being able to communicate fully in it. It’s so much more than knowing how to order food or learning idioms. The difficulty of her classes, coupled with tensions with her roommate, leave her feeling alone and adrift.

She learns that her maternal grandfather, who lives in mainland China, has died. She remembers seeing her grandparents when she was younger, but their relationship slowly devolved into periodic phone calls where very little of substance was discussed. As she grieves this loss, she wonders about her grandparents’ lives, asking questions that no one can really answer.

The idea of trying to find your cultural identity when you feel alone is a powerful one. Unfortunately, I felt like the book dwelled far too much on facts about Chinese language, culture, and history, and not enough on Lily’s story. And I didn’t feel that she evolved much throughout the book. Bummer.

Book Review: "The Wild Beneath" by Kelly Anderson

This book felt a bit like a cross between Wild Dark Shore, The Scent Keeper, and Where the Crawdads Sing, but with an extra dash of magical realism. It definitely hit me square in the feels.

“How can you put it into words? The push and pull of the tides, the way they never falter. Sails that fill up in the wind. Tracking the sky to stay on course. The massive wave and everything that was taken away.”

Annie was born to the sea. She was raised by her parents on a sailboat, and she learned to swim before she learned how to walk. Sea creatures, sand dollars, and shells were her playmates. Everything she learned was with the sea as perspective, and they rarely came ashore to the small Pacific Northwest town where her father was raised.

But when a tsunami strikes, Annie loses her parents and is left stranded on land, afraid of the very sea that brought her such joy. Her grief is crushing, and although she has her grandmother and Evan, her childhood sweetheart, she doesn’t know how she’ll survive this loss.

Amidst the wreckage she finds a man named Walker. He speaks very little but he emits a hum that only Annie can hear, which gives her visions of the life and heartbeat of the sea. She is torn between Evan, who is dealing with his own grief and only wants to protect her, and Walker, who reminds her of the place she feels most at home. How can she find her way?

Kelly Anderson’s prose is luminous. I found this to be a quietly emotional read and a powerful reminder of all that nature gives us. It definitely requires you to suspend your disbelief a bit, but if you can, and you can handle some of the vagueness of the plot, you’ll definitely find beauty.

Book Review: "Love You More" by Emily Giffin

I had forgotten how much I love the way Emily Giffin writes! Not only was this book romantic and emotional, but it also really made me think about what I would do if faced with the situations the main characters found themselves in. And I’m honestly still not sure!

Billie had always wanted to be a doctor. Now she and two of her friends run a reproductive clinic in New York City. She’s also fallen in love with Dean, a trauma surgeon. This relationship makes her happy and feels so stable.

The night after Dean’s surprise marriage proposal, she gets a phone call from Mick, her first love. They fell in love in high school and dated through college, but when she left Wisconsin for medical school, their relationship couldn’t survive. The pain and loss devastated Billie for some time.

It’s been years since she’s spoken to Mick. But he’s calling with news that upends Billie’s happiness. Before she knows it she’s back in Wisconsin, reconnecting with her old friends and seeing Mick for the first time in a different light. It’s painful but cathartic, and yet it leaves her both secure in the choices she’s made and wondering if the path she took is the right one.

There were so many beautiful moments in this book. While the plot wasn’t surprising, I loved seeing it all unfold the way it did. The characters weren’t completely likable (but who is?) but most of their actions were understandable. I was actually sad to see this end!

Book Review: "When She Was Ours" by Anna Nordberg

This was my Amazon First Reads selection for July. What a powerful and emotional book this was! I really hope lots of people read this.

Thea was an excellent surgeon—tough, compassionate, always willing to go the extra mile for her patients. But for the last several years, she’s been fighting a losing battle with cancer, and she knows she’s coming to the end of her life.

As family and friends gather for her older daughter Phoebe’s wedding, she’s so grateful she’s alive to see it happen. At the same time, she’s full of sadness that she won’t live to see her younger daughter Astra graduate from college or forge her own path. But the last thing anyone is prepared for is an incident during the wedding that will change many lives.

Despite being a woman of science, Thea keeps feeling premonitions of imminent harm to her family. So before she dies, she meets with a family friend and makes one request, not knowing if it will ever be needed.

Years later, Phoebe and Astra have moved on with their lives but their grief is still hard to process. When they are contacted by a man who offers them a glimpse of their mother’s early life and her innermost thoughts, they jump at it. But the decision sets in motion a chain of events that will impact a number of lives.

This was just excellent. It’s so thought-provoking and moving in its exploration of grief and how it impacts each of us differently. Another fantastic debut novel in 2026!

Book Review: "25 Days in Athens" by Jack Strange

Will and Ollie broke up more than three years ago, after Will rejected Ollie’s second marriage proposal. But even though they clearly wanted different things, Will still pines for Ollie and believes they are soulmates, despite the fact that Ollie has moved on.

Ollie’s announcement on social media that he and his boyfriend Alec have gotten engaged throws Will into a spiral. And then Will gets invited to their wedding in Athens. Why would Ollie invite him?

Even though he’s not sure it’s the right idea, Will decides to attend the wedding. But he plans to arrive in Athens earlier than others, so perhaps he can tell Ollie how he feels and maybe they can be reunited. No one thinks this is a good idea.

When he arrives in Athens, Will runs into Sam, his childhood best friend, who moved away years ago. They were once totally inseparable, and Will is pleasantly surprised to see that Sam grew up to be absolutely gorgeous. Reconnecting feels amazing, and there’s definitely some serious chemistry between them. But Will is in Greece to get Ollie back.

Sam agrees to be Will’s plus-one at the wedding, and they pretend to be a couple. But the closer the two of them get, the more Will considers telling Ollie how he still feels. Will he throw away a chance at happiness for a glimpse of what might have been?

The book was a mashup of some of my favorite romance tropes: friends to lovers, fake dating, and second chance. I loved the pairing of Will and Sam, and thought that the supporting characters were a lot of fun. And don’t get me started on the setting of the book!

Book Review: "Unsayable: A Life in Writing" by Michael Cunningham

“When you set out to be a writer you may or may not understand all that you’re agreeing to. You’re saying, by implication, that you’re qualified to write about the passions and sorrows and underlying motives of others. You live, with various degrees of comfort and discomfort, with the fact that even if your work is read by only a handful of people, you’ve claimed the right to set down the definitive version of relations that, in fact, have no definitive versions.”

Michael Cunningham is one of my all-time favorite writers. The Hours and The Home at the End of the World, in particular, are books that, more than 30 years after they were published, still profoundly affect me. So I couldn’t resist reading his new memoir, which talks about how he found his way to writing and how his love of language and storytelling shaped him.

Even as a young child, he was obsessed with language, and the specifics of it. There wasn’t just a tree in his yard, it was an oak tree, while there was a maple tree in his neighbor’s yard.

He started writing stories when he was young but he never had much confidence in them. So he turned to painting and drawing as a creative way of expressing himself. But he never stopped searching for the words to convey emotions or share accounts of his experiences—true or false.

Cunningham touches on specific moments in his life—being with his best friend in high school, who was his first love; spending time in Provincetown with an elderly gay couple who loved his stories about his adventures; working briefly as a hustler; and the first time he met the man who would become his husband.

This was a fascinating, at times emotional, book. I definitely thought it provided some insight into a writer’s mindset and it made me appreciate Cunningham’s writing even more.

Book Review: "The MASH Up" by Laura Marie Meyers

This was all kinds of adorable. Definitely put a smile on my face!

Ruby lives her life according to plans and rules. She doesn’t deviate from the path she’s set for herself, and luckily, her boyfriend is the exact same way. But her carefully choreographed plans go awry at her 35th birthday party, when her boyfriend tells her he’s moving to New York for a job opportunity. It’s the biggest risk he’s ever taken—and she can’t take it with him.

When she wakes up the next morning, she discovers that she’s living inside a game of M.A.S.H. that she played in 7th grade. She wears brightly colored clothes, drives a tie-dye jeep, and owns a roller-disco diner. It’s all exactly as she dreamed back then, before her life became regimented. The only part of her dream that hasn’t manifested itself is her “other half,” which is supposed to be Penn, her twin brother’s best friend.

In this version of her life (as in real life), Penn knows how to get on her every nerve. It’s been that way since they were kids. But has he always been this sexy? Or this annoying?

Having to live such a spontaneous life is very unsettling for Ruby. But she figures that the only way she’ll get back to the “real world” is to make Penn fall in love with her. What if, once that happens, she doesn’t want to leave? What if she realizes she likes this side of her—and Penn?

This was a really fun debut novel. Penn is definitely a crushworthy book boyfriend, and the banter between him and Ruby was top notch. I loved that this had a bit more emotional depth than a typical rom-com, and I think I want a tie-dye jeep!

Book Review: "The Revelation of Dionne Daphne" by Mara Brock Akil

Speaking of revelations, this book was truly fantastic. Mara Brock Akil is the creator of television programs like Girlfriends and Being Mary Jane, but unbelievably, this is her debut novel. I’m so grateful to Storehouse Voices for the advance copy of this!

“It’s like this idea that if you heal yourself, you heal a bunch of generations behind you and in front of you. We’re all just glints in the dirt, waiting for someone to reveal us.”

It’s 1991. Dionne Daphne seems to have it all. She’s the associate beauty director at Essence magazine and she’s in the running to succeed her boss and mentor as director. She’s stunning and smart, and men want to be with her.

But her whole life changes with a late-night visitor. Her ex-boyfriend Darren shows up at her door around 5:00 am, desperate to talk to her. What he tells her threatens to upend everything she’s worked for and, perhaps more importantly, her life as she knows it.

The more she tries to reconcile this disclosure from Darren, the more she starts thinking about childhood trauma that she’s kept hidden all these years. But now, in the wake of all that might change for her, she needs to speak up. She decides to go visit her mother and stepfather in Kansas City and share the secrets she’s kept hidden. Will the release of this trauma help her find peace?

The book is told over a two-week period. It’s a heavy story that might be triggering for some, but it’s also powerful and insightful. Dionne is a character I’ll be thinking about for a long time!

Book Review: "Destination Funeral" by Paige Harbison

I don’t know if I’d ever want to get stuck in a time loop. That being said, though, I sure do love reading about them!! Thanks so much to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the advance copy of this book. Paige Harbison has done it again!

“Does it really matter if you make a mistake, I wonder, as long as you know it’s a mistake?”

Babe Bennett was larger than life. Everyone on Mercy Island had a story about her. When she died, the reading of her will and her memorial service summoned her two daughters, Didion and Sammie, and their two closest friends, Matt and Austin, to the island.

Estranged from her mother for the last several years, Didion has to see her sister and her friends for the first time in a while. There are a lot of hurts and resentments that have cropped up, not just for Didion, but the others as well. How could they go from being inseparable every summer to not speaking at all?

When they learn that Babe has left her summer house, Birdsong, to all four of them, they have to decide what to do with it. Her will stipulates that they have to spend a weekend all together, with no phones or internet access. And then they discover that they keep waking up to find it’s Saturday, so the weekend will never end. It’s up to them to find their way out of the time loop—and maybe confront all the things left unsaid for so long.

This was a funny and emotional story. There were so many issues they all dealt with. I will say that Didion is a hard character to warm up to, but once she got out of all of her spirals, I felt for her.

The book publishes 7/21.

Book Review: "Long Island Girls" by Gabrielle Korn

I love picking up a book you don’t know that much about and being wowed by it. It’s full of music and friendship and finding yourself and realizing your dreams, but that’s description simplifies what makes it special.

“And I started thinking about how when we’re young and don’t know any better, we love these things that are bad, and eventually we grow up and we realize how bad they are, but we don’t start liking newer, better things. We continue to love that same awful old music, not because of what the music is but because it reminds us of how we used to feel when we listened to it.”

The book begins in 2005. Susan and her best friend Katie are just about to start their senior year of high school. They’re music snobs but beyond that, they’re fairly typical teenagers, filled with angst and insecurity. One night Susan meets Eliza on the way to an indie concert, and she feels a connection that makes pieces of her mind fall into place. Yet as quickly as the spark ignites, it is extinguished.

As the years move forward, Susan graduates college and moves to Brooklyn, where she handles social media for an indie record label. She feels at home in a world she has always loved, but Eliza is never far from her mind. Yet as each encounter grows more intense, they can never outrun the old secrets and hurts.

The book follows Susan at five-year intervals, from 2005 to 2025. It takes her a long time to truly recognize her worth and her own identity, and come to terms with her romantic history. It’s a wonder what kind of clarity comes from truly knowing yourself for the first time.

I really enjoyed the characters in this book and the relationships they had. I kept waiting for things to get melodramatic and was so glad they didn’t. This is a coming-of-age novel that demonstrates coming of age doesn’t only happen as a teenager.

Book Review: "With Friends Like You" by Amy Chozick

Wow, this book was wild! I honestly didn’t know what to expect but I couldn’t put it down. Thanks so much to Dutton and NetGalley for the advance copy!

Emily loves her infant son and can’t get enough of him. But she’s struggling with physical pain since his birth and the lack of sleep is taking its toll on her. She loves her husband, Roman, but he’s always working, so she’s mostly on her own.

As she takes the baby to playgroups and classes, she thinks about Daisy. Daisy was her college roommate—she gave Emily confidence and companionship, and Emily felt like they were soulmates. But when Daisy’s family stopped paying for college, she started dancing at a strip club and taking drugs, and soon dropped out. Not long after, Daisy disappeared from her life completely.

Emily has spent years trying to find what happened to Daisy. She obsessively scans pornographic magazines, travels to strip clubs, and even hires a private investigator, but to no avail. And then one day, Daisy reappears.

Daisy quickly reclaims her place in Emily’s life. She’s good with the baby and willing to watch him when Emily goes back to work. The two of them build a luxury refuge for mothers of young infants, with childcare specialists to watch the children and teach them language skills and music, while they relax, exercise, and take advantage of designer drugs, vibrators, and alcohol. But Daisy still maintains her air of mystery—she doesn’t talk about her past and doesn’t really share about what she does to make money. Will she disappear again?

There’s a lot more to this book than I can describe without giving anything away. I was completely hooked on the story and wondered how it would end.

This will publish 7/21.

Book Review: "Play It Again" by Georgia Clark

As teenagers they were inseparable. Four friends—Annie, Lola, Vicky, and Dylan—took their hometown by storm when they starred in a gender-swapped adaptation of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. It was an incredible summer, but the night the show closed the four were torn apart, and went their separate ways.

Twenty years later, they all have very different lives from what they dreamed of. But when their hometown of Rhodes, NY, gets a less-than-impressive write up in a tourism magazine, the town gets closer to dying out completely. Given that Annie owns a pet grooming place in town, she’s definitely concerned.

All four of them get summoned back to the now-closed playhouse where their fondest memories reside. Jazz, their director, wants to revive their production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead to hopefully bring some life (and money) back into the town and the theater. Of course, it will only work if all four agree.

The pleasantries of their reunion quickly fade as the memories of the show’s end 20 years ago are revisited. There’s no doubt that the feelings both couples had for one another still linger, but so do secrets, misunderstandings, and emotional wounds. Can they put the past aside to not only save Rhodes and put on a show, but also to see if a second chance is possible?

This was a mostly fun and lighthearted story, full of nostalgia and emotion. I was a theater kid so I definitely enjoyed those aspects of the book. I felt like the pacing got very slow in the middle and I also thought at times the characters’ actions were a little more petty and childish than they should have been.

Book Review: "Consequences of Normal" by Elle Baade

What a powerful read this was. This book was eye-opening and thought-provoking, and it hit me square in the feels. I definitely could see this being a great book to discuss with a book club or others.

Matt and Jane are leaving Texas to move back to Matt’s hometown of Atwood, Wisconsin. He has taken a job as headmaster of a prep school, and they’ve moved into an infamous old mansion in town. Jane hopes the move will be good for all of them.

Their six-year-old son Charles insists he’s a girl. He likes wearing his older sister’s hand-me-downs and watching Julia Child videos. Jane and Matt have indulged Charles’ desires and let him dress as he wants. But once Matt has settled into his new job, he wants his family to fit in.

Jane starts to realize that Charles isn’t going through a phase; he might be transgender or intersex. But Matt insists that Charles dress like a boy and cut his hair, which only makes him sad and withdrawn. When tragedy strikes, Jane knows her priority is to fight for her child to live the life she wants—before it is too late.

Many people in their lives—family, friends, teachers, doctors—weigh in with their opinions. And the more Jane stands up for her child, the angrier Matt becomes, until he realizes Jane will choose their children over their marriage.

I liked the realism in the book, that everyone didn’t suddenly do a 180 about Charles being transgender. Matt is very hard to like and it was good when Jane stopped being a doormat for everyone. But this is one of those books that definitely makes you think while it makes you feel.

Book Review: "Villa Coco" by Andrew Sean Greer

I hope when I eventually get the opportunity to travel to Italy that I love it as much as I love books set there! Even when I don’t love the book, an Italian setting always makes me feel better.

Our narrator has just (barely) graduated from college but his career prospects seem dim. He’s encouraged by his advisor to apply for a job in Italy, to be assistant to the Baronessa, an eccentric wealthy woman who shows no signs of slowing down, even at age 92.

Of course, what he pictured the job to be and what it is are vastly different. While he expected to spend the majority of his time cataloguing the art and antiques in the dilapidated estate, he quickly gets pulled in many different directions by the Baronessa, who is known as Coco.

Villa Coco always seems to be full of larger-than-life guests, from princesses to plumbers. The whole experience is well beyond his comfort zone, but he falls under Coco’s spell. And while his cataloguing efforts are hampered by the disappearance of items he knows he saw, he finds an even more noble calling. When the Baroness loses someone close to her, she realizes the one thing she must do is locate the love of her life and be reunited before it’s too late.

There is definitely lots of emotion (repressed and otherwise) in this book, and the eccentric characters lightened the mood a bit. Parts of the book felt almost like an E.M. Forster novel—I kept expecting Maggie Smith to pop in. I wanted to love the book more than I did, but it was fun.

Book Review: "Second Helpings" by Dylan Morrison

Y’all, this book had a dog named Pastrami! I thought this was really sweet, but it had me at Pastrami.

Sam has been a part of Silverman’s Deli, his family’s restaurant, for as long as he can remember. It’s been an institution in Cleveland for 75 years. He’s now the manager and he loves every aspect of the job.

But things have been dicey since the restaurant got a scathing review by a well-known columnist. Sam and his staff question the authenticity of the review, because there are a lot of criticisms that seem completely false. Regardless, the number of customers who have been coming in has reduced sharply, and Sam isn’t sure he can keep the deli afloat for much longer.

To top things off, one day Jake walks into the deli. Jake was Sam’s high school boyfriend until a tragedy ripped them apart. They’ve not seen each other in 12 years, and although their first few encounters are awkward, they quickly realize how much they’ve missed one another.

Having Jake around helps Sam’s anxiety about the deli, and Sam gets to cook for him, which is definitely one of his favorite things. But as they draw closer, they need to confront the event that tore them apart, and there are other secrets that Jake needs to share.

I enjoyed another book by Dylan Morrison so I had a feeling I’d like this one too. I’m a big fan of second-chance romances and I thought that Sam and Jake had great chemistry. And now I’m going to lament that there are no good delis around here…

Book Review: "Isaac" by Curtis Garner

I read queer books all year long, but for Pride Month I definitely increase the number. For my first read of Pride, I stumbled upon this gem, which I liked more and more with every page I turned.

Isaac is finishing high school in London. He’s a great student, particularly in English and writing, and dreams of being a success. He’s also gay and desperate for his first encounter, which comes via an app. He quickly becomes addicted to the thrill of being desired, although he also becomes familiar with the fickleness of men on the apps.

One night at a party he meets Harrison, a 28-year-old artist, and Isaac falls quickly. He loves to be part of a couple, to be exposed to a world and friends different from those he’s familiar with. Harrison is quixotic, and little by little, Isaac starts to feel less confident and needier when he’s in his presence. But is this the way relationships are supposed to feel?

“Happiness was not a discovery to be had, like finding money on the ground. It was exactly as his mother had described: something he didn’t realise he was experiencing until he was no longer experiencing it, in the same way that misery was not something that ended and began depending on where you were; it stayed with you, even if it changed in form.”

The time draws closer to Isaac’s leaving for university in Manchester. He makes some interesting discoveries about himself, Harrison, and his mother, which force him to stand up for himself and speak his mind once and for all. But what will this do to his relationships?

This really was a beautifully written book. Isaac’s character definitely grew on me, and I loved Cherish, Moya, and Karim, too. I really could identify with the ways Isaac felt he needed to be different in order to have a relationship with Harrison. What a great kickoff to Pride Reads!

Book Review: "Patient, Female" by Julie Schumacher

I first discovered Julie Schumacher when I read her absolutely hilarious book Dear Committee Members. In that book (and a few others afterward) she created a pompous college professor adrift and amidst bureaucracy.

Her latest book is a short story collection, and it really demonstrated the depth of her talent. While one story made me laugh out loud and a few others had flashes of sly humor, most of the stories had more of an emotional pull.

In “Passengers,” an overprotective mother worries about her daughter after an incident at school. “Hospital Bridge” is the story of a middle-school student who, after being forced into volunteering at a nursing home, starts gambling on bridge games with the residents. “How My Light is Spent” follows an instructor at a community college and her short story writing class.

Some of my favorite stories in the collection were “Slow Learner,” which told of a woman’s fascination at the connection between her autistic son and her dying mother; “Your Better Self,” about a couple who get gifted a trip to a wellness spa by their late neighbor; “Syllabus,” a hilarious story written as a syllabus; “Spin,” in which four friends play a game with real-life implications; and the title story, in which a professional patient runs into someone she used to know.

As with most collections, not every story is a home run. But Schumacher creates such vivid characters, and I know I’ll have a few of these stories running through my mind for a while.