Site Fidelity is a short story collection, reflecting on environmentalism, our responsibilities to those around us, economic hardship, and resilience in the face of difficulty. A few of the stories have intertwining characters, and all have some tie to Colorado.

I loved this collection. Boyles has a way of deftly developing atmosphere and characters, quickly drawing the reader in to the varied lives we get to peek into. No two stories were alike, yet each struck a human chord that offered something relatable and poignant.

While the collection on the whole is excellent, a few stories stood out in particular: In “Alto Cumulus Standing Lenticulars,” Ruth yearns for her home in Colorado after moving to Nevada with her love and then feeling their lives disintegrate with the introduction of children and the hardness of the recession. In “Early Warning System,” Mano challenges the authority that is poisoning the town’s water through negligence. In “Sister Agnes Mary in the Spring of 2012,” Sister Agnes reflects on a life dedicated to service and what she is called to do when her pre-school is threatened by environmentally-irresponsible development. In “Natural Resource Management,” Leah must deal with the fallout of a flood while also handling the fallout of her husband’s arrest.

I was struck by Boyles’s masterful way of making observations in subtle, tender ways. The characters have a unifying touchpoint (geography), but each has unique stories to tell and demons to face. I fully expect to revisit this collection, seeking out the sentences that were beautifully crafted and made my breath catch a bit when I read to them.