Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews

A dramatic, dialogue-driven portrait of an imploding marriage, Maria Daversa’s Sweet Baby Mine intimately depicts the impact of mental illness and secrets on a partnership.

From the outside, Ana Storm and Tony DiSalvo might seem like the perfect American couple living in Paris. Caring, compassionate Ana runs a psychotherapy practice, while success-driven Tony teaches economics at a university. In reality, Ana suffers from borderline personality disorder, which clashes with Tony’s narcissistic tendencies. Their fraught marriage is overwhelmed by lies and bitterness, particularly surrounding their estranged eldest daughter, Chloe. When Chloe reaches out to Ana after seven years of silence, the […]

A swirling, language-bending journey through philosophy, psychology, and the bottom of a bottle, Heartbreak Epiphanies and Justified Lust by John Kruxhammer is a character-driven diatribe on love and purpose.

John Palmer is an angry young man with a bent towards nihilism, and a serious grudge against his father. He is also a sometimes student of philosophy under Leonard Wilson, a formerly disgraced academic starting his life over in California. John’s decidedly unprofessional therapist, Diana, is a “rain shower in a scorching desert,” but his obsession with her may drive him down a dark path, without any healing waiting at the […]

Revealing how everyday lives can be extraordinary in countless ways, Revolution by David Dorrough is a deep dive into a Southern California social bubble with a cadre of well-drawn characters and drama aplenty. A commentary on the epic level to which we raise the banalities of our own lives, and the struggle to achieve or feel contentment in the modern world, this book cuts deep into our current culture.

Each player in this drama represents some small and strange slice of California dreaming – seeking something better, newer, faster, sexier, but ultimately finding their hopes dashed, or their expectations unmet. […]