Claire and Stephen seem to have an idyllic affluent married suburban, life but it's all surface. There are cracks in their home life that are becoming more evident. Stephen has had many extramarital affairs, and Claire is being seen by many colleagues and acquaintances as unstable and temperamental. Stephen’s infidelities and Claire's characteristics become more evident when a woman known to the couple has been found murdered. Claire is seen as a primary suspect especially when it turns out that the deceased woman was Stephen’s mistress.
Thirteen year old Gittel Borenstein is part of a Jewish family that emigrated from Eastern Europe because of a pogrom to Mill Creek, Wisconsin with 12 other Jewish families. The book focuses on various events in Gittel’s young life such as bullying from antisemitic classmates, conflicts with her more traditional Orthodox family, a budding romance with a local boy, and her participation in a Chautauqua, which is a social, influential, and inspirational program that focuses on the arts and is often held in rural areas like in Mill Creek.
Mila, a mute cavern gnome, goes through a test to be considered worthy to study magic. After she fails the test, her mentor, Nora, sends her to the desert world of Achten Tan to study magic under Gerwyn, a wise and powerful witch. While in Achten Tan, Mila finds romance and friendship, becomes involved in a power struggle against the despotic Bone Chief Opu Haku, and discovers her strength and voice.
In the near future, MetaX Tech Guru Clive presents the first sentient AI that creates a virtual world that is as close to the real one as possible. For now, Clive needs some human guinea pigs to test and enter into the AI. One of the testers is Amanda Carducci. Amanda's son, Dylan, has died and she suffers from intense grief. She quickly signs up if it means reuniting with Dylan in the AI world and shutting out the real one. Amanda's activist sister, Emily, however is outside the system trying to uncover the ulterior motives and potential harm that this new technology will bring.
In a post-Apocalyptic future, Fren Welp and his father, Sven, are attacked in their village by beasts from a far away kingdom. After a fight in which Fren is threatened and a family friend has been kidnapped, father and son travel to the kingdom to face their sworn enemies. Unfortunately, the fight becomes personal when they learn that some of the kingdom’s subjects are closer to them than they originally thought.
Two sisters, Cassie and Alex, reunite after the death of their Aunt Lucie. While going through her house, the two recount their troubled and disturbed childhood with the loving but haunted aunt who raised them and their developmentally disabled and potentially sociopathic cousin, Bella. While they remain in Lucie’s coastal home, strange things start happening. Cassie sees someone out of the corner of her eye, hears whispers, and things are mislaid. She is beginning to wonder if maybe Bella who was believed to have disappeared might still be alive.
