I love short story collections and this was thankfully not an exception. It felt like a cohesive body of work exploring overlapping themes and cultures, while also avoiding too much overlap. I also appreciated that the stories had a similar level of quality, despite their differing lengths, so I enjoyed them all equally. The characters also felt realistic and authentic, each with their own personalities, backgrounds, and even time periods.

However, the slice-of-life elements weren't always a good thing, in my opinion. I adore short stories that explore everyday life in a realistic but interesting way, but this can have the side effect of not being particularly memorable, which I think this collection suffered from somewhat. I did still enjoy the stories, however, and will try to keep an eye out for this author in the future.

I wholeheartedly enjoyed this collection and the characters’ lives unfold in ways that are so raw and real, especially in our current state of affairs within the United States. The quote,”How could anybody fall asleep watching the war… unless… they were dying too?” from Lola’s story really haunts me to this day, as it perfectly encapsulates the importance of being aware of the world around us, the consequences, and how to best think in terms of advocacy and hope as opposed to shutting-down.

I truly believe that this collection will rise to the top once published and that if you can pick it up, you 100% should.

Thank you NetGalley & University of Nevada Press for access to this arc for a review!

This is definitely a collection that people should read especially now with the god awful dumpster fire that is the political climate right now. Justice more often than not is not given to a big part of our communities (especially the marginalized ones like mentioned through this collection). While we have all of these things going on the author reminds us to find the beauty in the little things especially because life is short. Thanks NetGalley and University of Nevada Press for this ARX read