By day, Jessica Strawser is the Editorial Director of Writers Digest magazine, North Americas leading publication for aspiring and working writers since 1920. By night, she is a fiction writer with a debut novel, Almost Missed You, forthcoming in 2017 from St. Martins Press and another stand-alone novel to follow in 2018. And by the minute, she is a proud wife and mom to two super sweet and super young kids in Cincinnati, Ohio.
A Pittsburgh native and Outstanding Senior graduate of Ohio Universitys E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, she counts her New York Times Modern Love essay and her Writers Digest cover interviews with such luminaries as Alice Walker, Anne Tyler and David Sedaris among her career highlights.
The Fourth Daughter (2025) Lyn Liao Butler "A beautiful multigenerational story that asks if we can ever truly regain the things we have loved and lost, The Fourth Daughter is a wonderfully transportive novel of family, identity, acceptance, and healing - and a sensory delight for foodies and would-be travelers. Lyn Liao Butler has found the perfect recipe for a satisfying read."
You Shouldn't Be Here (2024) Lauren Thoman "You Shouldn't Be Here is the best kind of dual timeline story - where everything is connected, nothing is as it seems, and I never saw the final twist coming. Lauren Thoman's latest is the perfect blend of authentic characters and page-turning mystery: unsettling, surprising, and deliciously satisfying."
Fortune (2023) Ellen Won Steil "With an irresistible premise that gets more unsettling by the page, Fortune is so much more than a random game of chance. Every ticket is a potential clue; every character has a fiercely guarded secret. You won't be able to look away until the final name is drawn."
Morning in This Broken World (2023) Katrina Kittle "Morning in This Broken World is a heartfelt take on the family we're born with, the family we choose, and the messy, beautiful intersections between the two. Katrina Kittle gifts us with an unforgettable protagonist, an endearing supporting cast, and a moving story about what it really means to call a place 'home.' The world would be a better (and dare I say less broken) place if it were filled with more novels like this one."
The Last Lifeboat (2023) Hazel Gaynor "Everything you could want in a historical novel, and so much more: suspenseful, emotional, spellbinding. I read with my heart in my throat as Hazel Gaynor expertly swept me away into a mother's angst, a survivor's desperation, a child's innocence caught in the middle of a war. A triumphant, remarkable story from an author at the top of her game."
The Half of it (2023) Juliette Fay "The Half of It is, simply put, a dose of beauty. Fay invites you into a story where you feel so at home, you don't want it to end. I'm a longtime fan of Fay's work, and it's no exaggeration to say I enjoyed every word of The Half of It."
Please Join Us (2022) Catherine McKenzie "You can always rely on Catherine McKenzie for smart, complex, irresistible suspense. Please Join Us takes one sinister turn after the next--just when you think you have it all figured out, she turns the tables again."
Beyond the Moonlit Sea (2022) Julianne MacLean "The Bermuda Triangle is a fitting backdrop for Beyond the Moonlit Sea: a vortex of love found and lost, mistakes made and buried, and secrets too deep to let go. Julianne MacLean has crafted an irresistible premise all the way to the satisfying finish."
Not My Boy (2021) Kelly Simmons "When tragedy strikes in Not My Boy, a privileged neighborhood is turned upside down-and no man, woman, or even child is above suspicion. Kelly Simmons has spun a nail-biter that will have you questioning how quickly we can turn on the people we hold dear, and how far we might go to keep our deepest fears from being realized."
Agatha Arch is Afraid of Everything (2020) Kristin Bair "If you were a fan of Where'd You Go, Bernadette, you're going to love Agatha Arch. From the very first page, her voice is a breath of fresh air, fears and all: Even as she reels from life-altering betrayal, our unlikely heroine had me laughing, cheering her on, and hanging on her every word. A highly satisfying read, sure to be one of my favorites of the year."
Stories We Never Told (2020) Sonja Yoerg "It’s a rare psychological thriller that shows both the dark depths our obsessions can lead to and the unlikely breakthroughs that can let the light in. Sonja Yoerg’s Stories We Never Told does just that, deftly introducing a brilliant cast of characters for whom detachment and intimacy can be equally terrifying. A taut, clever, and satisfying read."
My Kind of People (2020) Lisa Duffy "There's a beautiful thing that happens, as if by magic, midway through every Lisa Duffy novel: I blink awake to the world around me and realize I've been transported, transformed, and utterly invested in the lives of characters who feel like friends. My Kind of People is indeed filled with *my* kind of people: layered, conflicted, underestimated souls who are deeply impacted by one another as their lives intersect and entwine. A moving story of healing, resilience, and every imaginable type of love--between neighbors, parents, spouses, surrogates, and new and old friends--finding a way."
Follow Me (2020) Kathleen Barber "A chilling take on obsession, self-obsession, and the closing gap between the two in our hyperconnected digital age."
Stolen Things (2019) R H Herron "Herron writes this story as only a seasoned 911 dispatcher can - gripping us with a cry for help that hits home and steering us, come what may, to the breathless finish. Stolen Things is an urgent, timely tale that transports readers into the minds on both ends of that worst-nightmare call: A daughter desperate for help, and a mother who will have to pass the ultimate test to give it."
The Murder List (2019) Hank Phillippi Ryan "What I love most about Hank Phillippi Ryan's novels is that you never (ever!) know which characters you can trust - but you can always trust that you're in good hands with this expert storyteller. What starts as an unsettling undercurrent grows into the kind of tension no reader can walk away from. Deftly mining the gray area between right and wrong, erroneous and inevitable, innocent and guilty, The Murder List is twisty, unpredictable, and utterly irresistible: Suspense at its finest."
Until the Day I Die (2019) Emily Carpenter "Seductively sinister, with a fierce, feisty mother-daughter duo you’ll be cheering for. A fast, frightening read."
The Widows (2019) (Kinship, book 1) Jess Montgomery "Pulling back the curtain on a time and place where women's roles were too often overlooked, The Widows is full of characters who surprise those who underestimate them. A rich, empowering, and satisfying read."
The Curiosities (2019) Susan Gloss "Driven by an eclectric mix mix of characters navigating dreams, disappointments, and second chances, The Curiosities is, at its heart, a celebration of creativity, self, and finding your own way. Thoroughly satisfying, from the first page to the last."
You Were Always Mine (2018) Nicole Baart "Equal parts tear-jerker and page-turner . . . Entwines the heartbreak of a mother's struggle with the urgency of a mystery that won't let her (or you) go. Compelling, heartfelt, and satisfying to the breathless finish."
In Her Bones (2018) Kate Moretti "Suspense at its best: A chilling voice, an unlikely heroine, a haunting story. In Her Bones is Kate Moretti at the top of her game."
Girls' Night Out (2018) Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke "In Girls’ Night Out, Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke guide readers on a suspenseful international tour of friendship at its best and worst. As enviable fun takes a turn through suspicion toward pure fear, you’ll find out just how wrong a trip to paradise can go."
The Life Lucy Knew (2018) Karma Brown "THE LIFE LUCY KNEW is the kind of story that engrosses you in a character's life while making you contemplate your own. A fascinating look at what we most want to remember, and what we'd just as soon forget."
The Queen of Hearts (2018) Kimmery Martin "Full of wit, subtext, and (of course) heart. Martin's writing is smart, compassionate, and just plain entertaining. I can't wait to see what she comes up with next!"
The Glass Forest (2018) Cynthia Swanson "Atmospheric and unsettling, The Glass Forest depicts, with razor sharp edges, the walls we don't see until we find ourselves trapped within them--and the chilling, emotional panorama of the view from the inside looking out."
