Book Review
Trance
by Leah Block
In K. L. Denman’s engrossing Hi-Lo novel "Trance", a perfectionist teenager loses control. Kira has a tight handle on her life and on her best friend Brigid’s psychic powers. When a horrible accident leaves Brigid’s client dead,...
Book Review
Owls, Doughnuts, and Democracy
by Leah Block
A mother works to improve her government and her family in the revealing novel "Owls, Doughnuts, and Democracy". A woman with political ambitions teams up with a knowledgeable octogenarian to effect change in Jason A. N. Taylor’s...
Book Review
EnWorld
by Leah Block
A masterful satirization of contemporary society’s sins, "EnWorld" is an engaging supernatural novel. In Leland James’s whip-smart corporate satire "EnWorld", Satan and his devilish subordinates are on a quest to strip the world of...
Book Review
American Lit
by Leah Block
A vulnerable, intelligent teenager navigates grief and his changing relationships in the absorbing novel "American Lit". A gay teenager navigates parental grief and neglect, a flirtation with his English teacher, and an unexpected...
Book Review
Drought
by Leah Block
In Scott Alexander Hess’s pastoral novel "Drought", an isolated man inherits a farm and learns about the estranged relative who left it to him. When Parnell, an aimless orphan, inherits a tobacco farm from his Uncle Willy, he moves to...
Book Review
One of the Boys
by Leah Block
Victoria Zeller’s humorous coming-of-age novel "One of the Boys" follows a transgender teenager’s changing relationship with the football team she left behind. Grace, a high school senior, gives football one more chance after...
Book Review
The Gift
by Leah Block
The church in which an expectant mother sought refuge becomes the source of her troubles with her son in the moving novel "The Gift". In Scott Terry’s decades-spanning historical novel "The Gift", a vulnerable young mother-to-be is...
Book Review
In Search of the Return
by Leah Block
A man draws meaning from his dreams in his search for purpose and love in the contemplative novel "In Search of the Return". In Joshua Raymond’s philosophical novel "In Search of the Return", a lonely man searches for the meaning of...