"Taliban Escape! One Woman’s Journey out of Hell" begins with these words: "It would be too dangerous to use my real name so I will call myself Adeela. Nor can I tell you in what country I was born, or in what country I am...

Seventeen year old Abigail awakens on the morning of November 11, 1990, as she and her friend Emily, who is living temporarily with Abigail and her mother, are to go to work. But Emily's body lies in the room across from Abigail's. She has died...

“The Russians Are Coming!: Fourteen Months in the Life of the Town” follows the lives of six Russian immigrants who make their mark on the town they have chosen as home. Marina, a beauty, lonely and single, works as a teaching assistant at the University....

It is California in 1993, and Jazmin Valdez and Stephannie Bengochea are best friends. Both were born on March 15, 1975, which makes them astrological twins according to Jaz’s mom, an amateur astrologer. Steph is not so sure, but she doesn’t care. She...

"Lily of the Springs" by Carole Bellacera transports us back to the 1950s and 1960s with strong reminders of the morals, music, love and turbulence of the times. Lily lives in a small Kentucky town with her very strict Southern Baptist parents. Jake is the...

"Walking Fish" by Joanne Bodin is gritty yet touching contemporary fiction. Artist Talia, a nonconformist by any standards, has had a difficult life. Losing custody of her daughter Sophie when she was five following an unpleasant divorce, Talia has been shut out of her child's...

Jeanne McElvaney begins her book "Spirit Unbroken: Abby’s Story" by defining three types of memories: Ordinary Memories - retention of experiences; Trauma Memories - memories themselves cannot be recalled at will; and Dissociation Memories - a biological response that separates awareness from consciousness. Abby was...

"Patchwork of Me" by Gregory G. Allen begins with Sara’s odd dream, in which she was married to Carol and they had a child that died from a shark attack. The recurring dream caused her to question her sexuality although she was very sexually active....

Hidden secrets, the ones that never escape, would explain a lot of things if only shared. But then again, those same secrets could make matters even worse. Cousins Jenny and Jade endure a hell on earth life as they battle real monsters on a daily...

For pediatric surgeon Elizabeth Finch, life is not always perfect, and throws its punches hard, sometimes because of the choices she makes, but sometimes it just happens. We start following Liz’s story when she finds out that her daughter has been shot. And we continue...