fiction Archives - Page 179 of 708

It’s So Difficult
by Raúl Nieto Guridi (Author) and Lawrence Schimel (Translator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: A school day can be so overwhelming: so many people, so many noises, so many things to remember. Grown-ups say it’ll get easier with time, but even saying hello is incredibly hard. Thank goodness for comforts like math, for anything that can relax a restless mind. Maybe this time a few words will come out at last. . .

Snippet:
I count things until I reach the sign for the 21 bus stop.
There is a man there who breathes very loudly.
The bus took seventeen breaths to arrive–
I counted.

Counting things or calculating relaxes me.

Ride On
by Faith Erin Hicks (Author / Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Victoria has always loved horses. But riding in competitions is high stakes, high stress, and shockingly expensive. And even though Victoria’s best friend Taylor loves competing, Victoria has lost her taste for it.

After a heartbreaking fight with Taylor, Victoria needs a new start–at a new stables. A place where she doesn’t have to worry about anything other than riding. No competition, no drama, no friends.

Just horses.

Edgewood Stables seems ideal. There are plenty of horses to ride, and Victoria is perfectly happy giving the other riders the cold shoulder.

But can she truly be happy with no friends?

Snippet: