After Annie tells the story of three of the most important people to the titular character, Annie Brown, following her sudden death. Annie's husband Bill, their four children, and her best friend Annemarie, are left to grapple with the void left by her absence. Quindlen explores what the first year following Annie's death looks like for this trio of loved ones.

Thorn Tree is a masterful piece of gorgeously constructed literary fiction from new-to-me author, Max Ludington. Daniel Tunison, a reclusive artist now in his late sixties, lives in a quietly appointed former guest cottage in Hollywood Hills. Known for one briefly monumental and massive sculpture, Thorn Tree, that he constructed from scrap metal in the Mojave desert in the 1970s, Daniel is haunted by past tragedy and a lifetime of mistakes made along the way.

Following a brutal encounter in 1995, The Day Tripper follows Alex Dean through time as he wakes up seemingly uninjured but having lived a hard fifteen years since the fight. As Alex grapples with the unsettling reality of having lived a decade-and-a-half in a single night, he is forced to navigate the uncertainties of his past, present, and future. And every night’s sleep thereafter hurls him through time, where each day brings a new year.

In The Warm Hands of Ghosts, set during WWI, Arden crafts a narrative rich with potential, introducing Laura Iven, a field nurse from Halifax, Canada, rocked by tragedy and determined to uncover the truth behind her brother's disappearance. Meanwhile, Freddie Iven awakens in a half-destroyed pillbox, forming an unlikely alliance with German soldier Hans Winter as they navigate survival amidst chaos.

The Book of Doors is a debut novel with potential, hindered by issues of characterization, plot coherence, and pacing. One can't help but wonder about the role of the editorial process in addressing these shortcomings. Despite its flaws, the book offers glimpses of creativity and imagination, perhaps suggesting promise for future works from the author.

In DéLana R. A. Dameron's novel, Redwood Court, Mika Tabor's tale begins with a family tree assignment — something particularly difficult to both explore and encapsulate in the same way or to the same degree as her white classmates. So the unfurling of Mika's beautifully rich tapestry of matriarchal generations begins with the idea of filling out the tree with stories, rather than simply names, branching the idea of the tree outwards instead of focusing on the typical upwards angle.

In 2017, at the University of Arkansas, Millie Cousins, a senior resident assistant, seizes an unconventional (and potentially problematic) opportunity offered by visiting professor Agatha Paul, hoping to secure her future. However, her pursuit is complicated by her new friends, dormitory pranks, an oddball scandal, and an event that borders on hijinks.