Jess Burtis is an avid reader and Southern Gothic enthusiast. She is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin with an M.Phil in Literature, and she received her B.A. from Appalachian State University. Born and raised in the Carolinas, Jess is a fan of Southern writers, particularly Flannery O’Connor and Zora Neale Hurston. When Jess isn’t […]
Anna Schachner
June 2, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Anna Schachner is the author of the novel You and I and Someone Else and the forthcoming short story/flash collection The Lovely Woods Are Yours. She’s been a music journalist, jewelry designer/creator, college professor, and lit journal editor but is now a freelance writer/editor and book coach in Atlanta. She is at work on a […]
Join the Southern Summer Book Club
May 30, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Join the Southern Summer Book Club – Southern Review of Books
“Break My Fall” by Lynn H. Blackburn
May 4, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Alana Pate Break My Fall (Revell 2025) by Lynn H. Blackburn is an exceptional read about Meredith Quinn, a dentist who moves back to her small hometown Gossamer Falls, North Carolina. This story is about love and an investigation of the drug world of Neeson County, which neighbors Gossamer Falls. It hooked me […]
“Pineville Trace” by Wes Blake
May 4, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Cheyanne Hensley Life is challenging, and part of the circle of life involves trying new things and accepting changes. Oftentimes, people find it difficult to start a new chapter in their life when it is so much easier to gravitate toward the past and stick with what we know. In Wes Blake’s novella […]
“The Ballad of Karla Faye Tucker” by Mark Beaver
May 4, 2025 by 1 Comment
Reviewed by Addison Summers As an avid reader, few books have ever fully captivated me quite like The Ballad of Karla Faye Tucker (University Press of Mississippi 2023) by Mark Beaver. This emotional and deeply moving work tells the true story of Karla Faye Tucker, the first woman executed in Texas since 1863. Tucker and her […]