Run by Daisy Whitney at daisywhitney.com

I am a big-time fan of Julie Buxbaum. Her debut novel “The Opposite of Love” was one of my favorite books of 2008 and remains on my all-time top reads list. It’s fresh and riveting. What is best about Buxbaum’s writing is just that — the writing. She is a master of words, clever with verbs and inventive in her descriptions. I will never forget how the heroine Emily in “The Opposite of Love” described her emptiness: “The opposite of love isn’t hate; it isn’t even indifference. It’s fucking disembowelment. Hara-kiri. Taking a huge shovel and digging out your own heart, and your intestines, and leaving behind nothing.”

Now her second novel “After You” is due to hit the shelves on August 25 and the writing remains inimitably Buxbaum-ian. Consider how the main character Ellie describes her complicated affection for her god-daughter: “A feeling of love rushes through me like vertigo, an overwhelming, sharp tilt, and then just as quickly, a righting, slamming, shaming pain when I catch myself, for just a moment, pretending that Sophie is mine.”

I love the cadence of Buxbaum’s words, the way she describes a character thinking as “riding out the carnival in his head,” how you feel the harsh weight of truth as she juxtaposes words like “destructive” and “confession.”

“After You” is the story of how Ellie comes to terms with her own marriage, potential parenting and willingness to love by caring for a grieving child.

I remain a devoted member of her fan club and will be eagerly awaiting her next book as well!