When Anya, a teenager who is uncomfortable with everything from her body to her Russian family, falls down an abandoned well, she is surprised to discover she is trapped with the skeleton of a girl...along with her ghost. While Anya eventually escapes the cold, dark well and resumes her normal life, she feels guilty for leaving the lonely mysterious ghost, Emily, behind. By taking a piece of Emily's skeleton with her, the ghost is able to leave the well and experience life with Anya. At first, Anya is enjoying all the perks of having a spiritual sidekick, until she suspects that Emily has a darker past than she previously thought.

When Emily becomes too involved in Anya's love life, she decides to bring her bone back to the well so she can live in peace again. But there's one problem, Emily is no longer a lonely ghost; she has her own motives, desires and has even learned how to move physical objects. This quirky story takes a dramatic and creepy twist when Anya must find out who Emily really is in order to banish her back to the well. While an interesting, illustrated take on a classic ghost tale, Anya's Ghost is also a touching coming-of-age story about self-acceptance. The muted purple color pallete that Brosgol uses to illustrate the story gets increasingly darker as it progresses, perfectly complimenting the darkening plot.

Skyhorse’s affecting novel-in-stories offers unsentimental, clear-eyed tribute to the working class LA neighborhood of Echo Park and the Mexican Americans who live, work, and die there.  Lurking at the center of all of the stories is a tragedy…a young girl, shot and killed in a drive-by on the streets of Echo Park. Her death is the stone in the pond, and the stories presented here are the ripples.  Among those whose stories are presented are Aurora, a young woman who was also on the street corner that day; Aurora’s mother Felicia, a cleaning woman who becomes her employer’s only true friend; Felicia’s mother, a wealthy woman who gave Felicia away as a child and now can never get truly warm; Felicia’s ex-husband, who takes a construction job that turns out to be more than he bargained for; several gang members involved in one way or another with the shooting; a bus driver proud to have escaped a life in that same gang but who is nevertheless involved in a preventable tragedy of his own.  Haunting and vibrant, The Madonnas of Echo Park is recommended for fans of Sandra Cisneros, Luis Alberto Urrea, and Ana Castillo, but can be appreciated by anyone with a taste for thoughtful, character-driven stories.

Ever wonder what life would be like if The Rapture had actually taken place? In The Leftovers, the small town of Mapleton, along with the rest of the world, never have to imagine. On October 14, millions simply vanished, leaving behind family and friends to cope. One family that is not coping very well is that of Mapleton's mayor, Kevin Garvey. Although he did not lose anyone in his family to the rapture, he still finds his life falling apart; his wife has left him to join a cult, "The Guilty Remnant", his previously straight-A student daughter is hanging out with a gang of misfits, and his son has dropped out of college to follow a self-proclaimed prophet around the country. Still, even amongst his personal turmoil, Kevin finds himself drawn to another woman, Nora Durst, who lost her entire family on October 14, and is still struggling to accept her newly-single self. The novel follows Nora, Kevin, and the member's of his family as they attempt to "find themselves" after The Rapture in a world where many things don't make sense anymore.

Even though there is a sci-fi slant to this novel, it is still quintessentially Tom Perrotta. With his trademark style, he introduces us to a community of characters who are finding their own special ways to grieve, all the while infusing their stories with originality and humor.

A noble patriarch, on his deathbed, tells his parson son make certain the unmarried children he leaves behind receive their fair share of the inheritance.  The parson assures him it will be done.  But the greedy, arrogant husband of the eldest heir bullies his way to the fore and takes much more than his due.  Now the other heirs…two sons and two daughters…must find their own way in the world.  The unmarried son wants to sue for wrongful damages. The daughters agree, but are fearful of their position in the world. One daughter will be going to live with her elder sister and the bullying husband, after all.  The other daughter, who will be living with the parson son and his wife, wishes to pursue the lawsuit, but the parson and his wife  fear losing the protection of their patron due to scandal.  Both daughters wish to find good husbands, but their dowrys are not large and the honor of one daughter has been wrongfully impugned by an impertinent neighbor.

A novel of manners à la Austen or Trollope, a novel of political intrigue, a novel of the delicate savagery of uppercrust life,  a novel of custom and tradition…a novel of a sort with which we are all very familiar.  Or are we?  All of the characters in Jo Walton’s clever, original, and quite compelling “Tooth and Claw,” you see, are dragons.