Nessa’s Book Reviews Blog
I’m going to link to her on Instagram, but because I am not on there it just gives me a prompt to login so I don’t know if it’s going to work. Which is a bummer, because I so love her writeup. June 6, 2025
Fuck it. I’m posting it.
“If Fleabag had a lovechild with Ottessa Moshfegh and raised it on hospital vending machine food and hot gossip—Afterward would be it.
“This chaotic, dark gem follows our main character as she stumbles through the aftermath of her boyfriend’s tragedy. Think grief, but make it petty. Hospital visits, new apartments, emotional hangovers, passive-aggressive coworkers, and the kind of credit card debt that whispers ‘you’re not okay.’
“But here’s the magic: she’s not likable. She’s not graceful. She’s not ‘handling it.’ She’s messy, sarcastic, selfish, and so real it hurts. And somehow, you’ll love her for it. Or judge her. Or both. That’s the point.
“Dark, funny, painfully honest—Afterward is a millennial existential spiral wrapped in vodka cranberries and bad decisions. 10/10 recommend if you’re into character studies that punch you in the feelings while side-eyeing your coping mechanisms.”
5 Minutes for Books Blog
"This is a novel that goes deep into everyday life with all its pains and triumphs and ordinariness. It’s an excellent book. Highly recommended." - Elizabeth’s review of Afterward. June 5, 2025
Guatemala Paula Loves To Read Blog
★★★★★ A five star review of Afterward. “Unputdownable!" She recommended it to readers of literary, women’s, or healing fiction. June 3, 2025
Country Mamas With Kids Blog
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Five out of five hearts in a review of Afterward, saying, “You NEED to read this book!” June 2, 2025
Novels Alive
★★★★★ A five star review from Amy Wilson, saying Afterward “delivers a powerful message packed with emotion.” May 23, 2025
Beyond The Zero
Discussing what I love about Portland, Oregon, how creative writing professors end up in Alaska, and oh yeah, my book Afterward, with the inestimable Ben Lindner. April 24, 2025
Literary Titan
Willamette Week
Thankful for a great review of Afterward in our Portland, Oregon, weekly, saying “The narrator’s voice is written so strongly, Lauren is immediately alive on the page; she feels like a little sister I want to help.” February 26, 2025
Beyond The Zero Podcast
The end of year shows are out! The end of year shows are out! I love BYZ’s New Year’s Eve shows. You get some great interviews (not just mine) from some great authors, and best of all, you get to hear what they’ve been reading and an inside look of what is coming out in the new year! Good stuff!
My interview, along with Daniel Davis Wood, author and editor of the small press Splice, is included with very few edits (unfortunately…listen to me butcher Adam Levin’s name) in PART TWO, but why limit yourself? Listen to them all!
Some of my notable reads from 2024: Meiselman: The Lean Years by Avner Landes, Lech from Sara Lippmann, The Birthparents by Frank Santo, Infinite Blues by Gerald Brennan, Will We All Still See Each Other Afterward by Tyler Dempsey.
Releases I’m looking forward to in 2025: Sexy Life, Hello by Michelle Kicherer, The Delegation by Avner Landes, and I’m going dive into the Bar Mitzvah edition of The Instructions by Adam Levin.
Beyond The Zero Podcast
I and author/publisher Daniel Davis Wood, had a lot of fun talking to Ben from BTZ (I feel he has read every book I want to read). Yes, jealous, and just great to talk to him. Available on Patreon and, come on, be a supporter of the arts, ‘cause he is one. December 1, 2024
Blurb for Sexy Life, Hello, by Michelle Kicherer
“Sexy Life, Hello, unfurls like an irreverent dialogue with your best friend—when the drinks are flowing and the truth starts spilling out. With a masterful balance of tenderness and transgression, care and kink, doubt and power, fear and exposure, Kicherer takes you on a vertiginous journey that will leave you laughing, gasping, blushing and looking over your shoulder.” August 29, 2024
More, and where to find Sexy Life, Hello, here.
Beyond The Zero Podcast
In part five of the end-of-year special, author Avner Landes (Meiselman: The Lean Years and The Delegation coming out in 2025) said my book Afterward was the book he was most looking forward to in 2024. Then, of course, we changed the release date to 2025. Available anywhere you get your podcasts December 24, 2023