Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC from netgalley in exchange for a review.

A collection of short stories mainly following women as their lives change, often abruptly, often violently. Two of the stories follow men after they have lost important women in their lives. Many of the stories explore dark topics, such as dangerous men, death and violence, but also more common tragedies such as a breakup or loneliness. The stories are mostly in depth character studies of how one might react, diving deep into the internal lives of the characters and painting a very vivid picture. Some of the stories gave me a bit of a Stephen King feeling (haunting and very descriptive, but without drifting off too far into the lyrical) and if you enjoy his writing, I can just recommend you check this short story collection out. All in all this is a really interesting collection and I’m very glad I got to pick up a copy.

The Wings That Follow Fear: A woman waiting for her husband to return gets an unexpected visit from a delinquent she knew in her youth, short and tense and with many flashbacks to other moments of violence, I enjoyed it, the end was also really good, tw: rape, murder, domestic abuse, 4/5
The Numbers Man: A town caught up in a gambling fever, ready to spend their savings for the hope of making it big and a waitress with a decision to make, interesting and I liked the ending, tw: animal death, 4/5
Bird Girl: A date that ends with a statue stolen soon develops into a smothering relationship that the woman really does not want to leave, really unsettling and messy, I enjoyed it and the end especially made me want to scream, but it was really good, tw: abusive relationship, isolation, controlling behavior, stalking, 4/5
Black Girl: A woman is left to take care of her home alone after her husband is sentenced to prison, when two years in her solitude a man shows interest in the land next to hers and develops a dangerous fixation on her dog, really interesting and tense, tw: animal cruelty, murder, 5/5
Bunny Man Bridge: A brother trying to understand his sister’s death has to deal with their childhood and grapple with guilt, heartbreaking, but with a hopeful ending, tw: child abuse, domestic abuse, suicide 4/5
Dating Silky Maxwell: A woman with a secret influencer persona and her struggles when it comes to her love life (or rather the lack thereof), it was interesting and heartbreaking, but not my favorite story, 3/5
A Flame on the Ocean: A barmaid waits for a sailor to appear at the beginning of the fishing season, nostalgic and an intriguing character study with a great ending, tw: past death 5/5
The Geography of Flight: A young woman raised by a mother, who relied on her beauty to survive, attempted to live the same way until a violent attack took her good looks from her, a heartbreaking character study of coming into yourself, really well written and with an interesting ending, tw: domestic abuse, sexual assault, murder 5/5
The Box: A young woman receives unexpected mail from her sister, who has been taking care of their dying father. Once more this story manages to build a lot of character in just a few pages, examining grief and childhood trauma in a beautiful and heartbreaking way, tw: past csa, domestic abuse, death, grief 5/5
Truck Stop: A woman has to make the most of her honeymoon after being left only days before the wedding and finds herself stopping at a truck stop unsure of where to go next, really interesting examination of class and heartbreak, tw: childhood poverty, 4/5
South of the Border: A heartbreaking story following a man trying to deal with guilt over an attack that left his wife in the hospital by blaming all the things that led to the violent event, heartbreaking and a fascinating deep dive into grief and the feelings that accompany losing a loved one, there is also another darker secret for why he feels to blame for her death and reading that part made me feel sick, really well written and really heartbreaking, but UFFF, I am not entirely sure how I feel about the ending, but this story shows how far a parent can be willing to go to protect their kid after they’ve experienced trauma, tw: murder, grief, rape, 4/5
Eight Story Ideas That Didn’t Make It Into This Collection: A few short story ideas seemingly exploring the authorial reality behind them a little bit, interesting and heartbreaking and with a really interesting narrative voice included, tw: death 5/5

A short and spicy story following a woman desperate for some release after a breakup leaves her in a dry spell, who hires a by-referal-only high-end and very expensive sex worker.
I quite enjoyed the way the story gaves us an insight into Olivia's broken heart at first and the writing is good. Most of this book is sexy and if you enjoy femmexfemme cis erotica with very little kink, but a lot of orgasms this short story might entertain you as well.
I don't much care for super rich characters and while I know they too can feel human emotions it is hard for me to feel too much empathy for a character, who has "millions in the bank", so that was unfortunately a personal problem for me. I also wish there had been at least a little bit of negotiation in what was going to happen during the encounter before and that the end had been a bit less abrupt.
But I really like that Olivia didn't get weird about Scarlet's work (besides her own initial reluctance to hire someone) and that this little short story managed to build a connection between the two characters.

Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC from netgalley in exchange for a review.

This story is set in a future America mostly in the Appalachia region, where through technological inventions some jobs are getting replaced by android labor. In resistance to the androids a violent uprising has started, led by Eli Whitaker, who fills the ranks of his militia with child soldiers. As the story progresses, we follow a variety of characters, former members of Eli’s militia, who now work in law enforcement to stop him, a couple living on a farm, who after a miscarriage and cancer and poisoned fields have to rely on android labor, a young girl, whose father died fighting in the militia, Eli and finally also four of the androids.
This is not an easy story to read, often switching between time and with different viewpoints in each chapter, but when things start to come together that is when it becomes really interesting. Through the variety of viewpoints, we sometimes see the same event from different angles, and I found that incredibly interesting. It also helps to understand all the characters, even if not all their actions can be condoned.
My favorite parts of the story were definitely the chapters set in the androids’ minds, especially when technological advancement meant people reacted differently to them. One of the androids, Ora, is for example treated horrible by the humans, who are supposed to work alongside them, as they have limited speech abilities, and everybody refuses to learn their sign language. Nobody really cares for their interior lives and it was incredibly heartbreaking, but also very interesting to read.
Lastly, I also really enjoyed that this story very well showed where the real problem lies. Because it is not android labor that causes rural communities to suffer from poverty. It is not androids that are somehow especially violent and ready to harm others. Instead, the real danger that goes unchallenged (but not un-thought off) in the fight between the militia and the government are the big corporations and insurance agencies, that refuse to work for the people and instead crush them under their boot. While this is not a story about overcoming capitalism, the criticism of that system and the many reasons why it cannot work are apparent in this story and make it all the more tragic, that people are so eager to blame the Other, the Inhuman.
All in all, this is a very well written novel and one I can just recommend to anybody interested in sci-fi that explores artificial life, human reaction to it, the dangers of capitalism and the Appalachia region.

Tw: child abuse, child soldiers, child mistreatment, murder, poisoning, cancer, miscarriage, hospital visit, ableism