Heartbroke tells the stories of vivid characters living in California’s Central Valley. It is filled with grit, heart and pain. You feel like you’re living out what you’re reading as you read it. These stories stick with you in both a pleasing way and a bizarrely haunting way. I don’t know how Bieker does it, but her writing constantly makes me feel like this. The little nuggets of her previous work that she snuck into some of these stories touched my heart. I don’t think I’ve ever read a short story collection when every story is a 5 star read for me. I need these fleshed out into full blown novels.