American Places

One of the most recognizable young poets in America, Olivia Gatwood dazzles with her tribute to contemporary American womanhood in her debut book, New American Best Friend. Gatwood's poems deftly deconstruct traditional stereotypes. The focus shifts from childhood to adulthood, gender to sexuality, violence to joy. And always and inexorably, the book moves toward celebration, culminating in a series of odes: odes to the body, to tough women, to embracing your own journey in all its failures and triumphs.

Keiko Reed finds what she never expected to in the arms of Jerrold Brothers, a Daddy Dom and the Alpha/President of Wolf's House MC. Keiko is a beautiful human woman who stumbles into Jerrold while running away from her abusive werewolf husband, Charlie B of the Cerberus MC. Jerrold immediately feels protective of the frightened woman in the woods near his cabin. He takes her under his protection and believes she may be the baby girl submissive he had almost given up searching for.

An inspiring and poetic story about reading, libraries, and overcoming shyness to find community. I gather the books in my arms, and give them a hug. "Welcome back," I whisper. Nicky is a shy girl who feels most at home in the safe space of her school library, but the library closes for a week...