Yu’er is a teenager when her parents leave her with her new husband, Xiaozhu. He’s uncomfortable around her but kind. Over time, they become friends before falling in love, but after receiving a curse, they’re left destitute and estranged. Taking control of her fate, Yu’er makes a deal with a jing – leave Xiaozhu forever, and she’ll never be powerless again. Her choice brings enormous power, but it may kill her humanity. As she adjusts to her new life, Yu’er must decide what matters most and what she’ll sacrifice to keep it.

Generally, fiction is a great way to start conversations on social issues. It provides a distance that makes it easier to talk about systemic violence and discrimination happening to people around us, or that we ourselves are experiencing, but social commentary is hard to do well. I identified and explored three main issues I frequently see in fiction addressing social issues.

Dartrine believes she’s alone after her mother’s death when she hears from the Greers, long-lost wealthy relatives. Excited to meet her extended family, she visits them in Florida. She arrives to find she’s in a competition to inherit the family alligator farming business. While there, she learns the business is plagued by strange occurrences. Her grandmother believes a legendary alligator, killed by their ancestor, is responsible, and Dart feels a shadowy, angry presence in Greer House. As she learns more about the family legacy, Dart has to choose between continuing violent traditions or finding a new way forward.

The time space is an endless library which contains the memories of everyone who has died. This library can only be accessed with special watches that used to be passed down family lines, but eventually, government agencies gained control of the watches. They now choose which memories survive. Three decades apart, Lisavet Levy and Amelia Duquesne both explore the time space, and the irrevocable consequences of meddling with time.

Felicity Morrow has returned to Dalloway School to finish her high school career. She lives in Godwin House, an exclusive dorm said to be haunted by five of Dalloway’s earliest students. Felicity is trying to leave the school’s occult past – and her abiding interest in it – behind, but transfer student Ellis Haley won’t let her forget it. Ellis recruits Felicity to help her research the Dalloway Five – the inspiration for her second novel. Felicity has some misgivings about the work, which only deepen when history starts to repeat itself.

Trella is one of thousands of scrubs living in Inside. Scrubs live in the lower levels and keep Inside running; hydroponics, recycling, waste management, cleaning, maintenance, and more all fall under their purview. Trella’s lives a fairly solitary life, as solitary as one can be in the lower levels – that is, until she inadvertently starts a rebellion.

Max and her flock – Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel – are flying to Washington, DC in search of their families when trouble strikes. Forced to reveal themselves, the kids are taken by the FBI and sent to live with an agent in Virginia. Living as normal kids for the first time, the flock learns to juggle school, friends, and crushes alongside the ever-growing pressure to save the world.

A list of fiction that helped me start reading again. The books are all either: under 200 pages, short story collections, or both. They’re also some of my favorite books in recent memory, so I hope you enjoy!