This is the night Shera's been waiting for: She’s at a trendy Silver Lake bar to finally get a drink with the handsome, charming filmmaker she's been pining after for months. But when Max King—the alluring and mischievous frontman of an Irish punk band—enters the picture, an electric attraction ignites between them. Shera’s evening begins to unfold in ways she never imagined, and she surprises herself by getting swept up in his energy and daring to feel again after past heartbreak. But how does she know their passionate encounter won't expire in the morning?

Even one year ago, no one would have recognized Jack Felgate at a bar. But after his steamy breakout TV role, he's surprised to be swarmed by fans during a night out with friends. When the practical bartender CJ intervenes to fend off his admirers, he's grateful—and more than a little eager to stick around for an after-hours drink–turned–tryst. Five years later, Jack shows up to set for his starring role in (yet another?!) adaptation of The Great Gatsby only to find CJ is the film’s production designer.

Maya was a rising star in the political world until her ex-husband’s high-profile sex scandal nearly derailed her career. Landing a gubernatorial candidate is the fresh start she desperately needs–a chance to focus on meaningful work and leave the drama behind. But then an email from her past sends her world spinning: Charlie, former lead singer of Mischief, the boy band that fueled her teenage obsession, is staging a solo comeback and wants Maya’s help to make it happen. Turns out, she likes the grown-up Charlie and his genuine engagement with the world.

An ambitious mother puts her art career on hold to stay at home with her newborn son, but the experience does not match her imagination. Two years later, she steps into the bathroom for a break from her toddler's demands, only to discover a dense patch of hair on the back of her neck. In the mirror, her canines suddenly look sharper than she remembers. Her husband, who travels for work five days a week, casually dismisses her fears from faraway hotel rooms.

Sharply observant and outrageously funny, Rejection is a provocative plunge into the touchiest problems of modern life. The seven connected stories seamlessly transition between the personal crises of a complex ensemble and the comic tragedies of sex, relationships, identity, and the internet.

This is the night Shera's been waiting for: She’s at a trendy Silver Lake bar to finally get a drink with the handsome, charming filmmaker she's been pining after for months. But when Max King—the alluring and mischievous frontman of an Irish punk band—enters the picture, an electric attraction ignites between them. Shera’s evening begins to unfold in ways she never imagined, and she surprises herself by getting swept up in his energy and daring to feel again after past heartbreak. But how does she know their passionate encounter won't expire in the morning?

Maya was a rising star in the political world until her ex-husband’s high-profile sex scandal nearly derailed her career. Landing a gubernatorial candidate is the fresh start she desperately needs–a chance to focus on meaningful work and leave the drama behind. But then an email from her past sends her world spinning: Charlie, former lead singer of Mischief, the boy band that fueled her teenage obsession, is staging a solo comeback and wants Maya’s help to make it happen. Turns out, she likes the grown-up Charlie and his genuine engagement with the world.

Even one year ago, no one would have recognized Jack Felgate at a bar. But after his steamy breakout TV role, he's surprised to be swarmed by fans during a night out with friends. When the practical bartender CJ intervenes to fend off his admirers, he's grateful—and more than a little eager to stick around for an after-hours drink–turned–tryst. Five years later, Jack shows up to set for his starring role in (yet another?!) adaptation of The Great Gatsby only to find CJ is the film’s production designer.

In Pure Innocent Fun, Madison explores the key cultural moments that inspired his career as a critic and guided his coming of age as a Black gay man in Milwaukee. In this hilarious, full-throttle trip through the ’90s and 2000s, he recounts learning about sex from Buffy the Vampire Slayer; facing the most heartbreaking election of his youth (not George W. Bush’s win, but Jennifer Hudson losing American Idol); and how never getting his driver’s license in high school made him just like Cher Horowitz in Clueless: “a virgin who can’t drive.”

In her second story collection, Sittenfeld shows why she’s as beloved for her short fiction as she is for her novels. In these dazzling stories, she conjures up characters so real that they seem like old friends, laying bare the moments when their long held beliefs are overturned.