Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews

In the dark and lonely spiral of grief following the death of his beloved wife, Aaron returns to old comforting demons, even as his friends and children try to pull him back from the brink of crushing sorrow in Diary of the Broken by Malachi Lambert, a raw and relentless tale of loss.

From the bottom of the bottle to the tops of hiking trails, Aaron gradually finds a new lease on happiness with a community who cares, but the journey to get there is marked by tears, blood, self-reflection, and more than a few hangovers. Through Aaron’s dark internal […]

Posing hard questions about when we need to adjust our moral compass, Ambitious’ Secret: Hope’s Story by Dameyon Allen brings readers into the heart of Houston and its pulsing throb of hustlers, heartbreakers, and aspiring legends.

Hope is a fast-talking boss lady who knows how to work any player to get exactly what she wants. With her star on the rise, there seems to be no stopping her, until ambition collides with the unavoidable realities of an unforgiving game, in this brutal story of gritty city survival.

Allen’s visceral writing style is an uncut stream of consciousness, instantly immersing readers […]

Probing the complex emotions of a first responder and the physiological strain of getting by in America today, Wreck and Return: An EMT’s Journey Into and Out of Darkness by Tom Kranz is a powerful narrative loosely based on the author’s own dual life.

Moonlighting as a volunteer EMT while navigating the career perils of local news broadcasting, Griffin Ambrose is used to stretching himself thin, as well as calming his mind with an evening drink or three before switching career caps. Living in two separate high-stakes worlds begins to fray his nerves, and when a tragic swerve derails his […]