Small Press Pages August 2025
By Christina Consolino
Midway through August and many students are heading back to school. Which means some folks will have more time to read and others less. As a teacher myself, my time will decrease, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try my hardest to squeeze in as much reading as I can. Regardless of how much time you have this month, consider picking up some of these small press books.
Us Fools by Nora Lange (Two Dollar Radio)
A coming-of-age novel set in the 1980s about two sisters determined to thrive despite their chaotic circumstances.
Unfinished Acts of Wild Creation by Sarah Yahm (Dzanc Books)
Family love, degenerative disease, grief, and motherhood star in this funny and honest novel.
The Me List by Julee Balko (Black Rose Writing)
A humorous and heartwarming novel about self-improvement, friendship, and how one woman lifts herself from her suburban mom funk.
Uphill Both Ways by Andrea Lani (University of Nebraska Press)
Uplifting memoir—about a family trek of the Colorado Trail—that also offers social and environmental commentary, history, and familial lore.
I Shall Find You by Micki Berthelot Morency (Island Publishing)
Engaging dual-timeline story about a daughter who searches for the mother who was forced to leave her behind.
The Schrödinger Girl by Laurel Brett (Kaylie Jones Books)
A story that plays with the psychology and physics of reality as a young woman splits into four different versions of herself.
Indwelling by Libby Maxey (Resource Publications)
Riveting poetry collection that examines connection via various ways of being inside.
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THE MARRIAGE DEBT
Sex is never just about sex.
From the outside, Nika Stewart’s life looks perfect: two loving kids, a fulfilling job as an elementary-school librarian, and a wonderful second marriage to Ethan, her sexy husband. The only problem? She doesn’t want to have sex with him.
Maybe it’s the harrowing hot flashes and formidable fatigue, or maybe it’s trying to juggle a weed-junkie dad, an onerous stepsister, and the avalanche of responsibilities that have left sex just another chore to cross off the to-do list.
When an honest conversation with her best friend leaves Nika worried her aversion to sex might drive Ethan away, she begrudgingly agrees to see a sex therapist. But as the sessions go on, Nika discovers that talking about sex with a therapist isn’t the same as facing the problem with her husband and that sex with Ethan might not be the only problem after all.
Filled with humor, candor, and at least one pair of role-playing chaps, The Marriage Debt examines the hard truths about sex that overbooked women face in their forties, as well as the joys still to come once a woman knows who she is and how to ask for what she wants.
Category: On Writing
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