Why am I passionate about this?

In second grade my teacher told me I should be a writer—I haven’t wavered in my path since. I was a voracious reader as a child and regularly snatched books off my mom’s night table. My love for flawed characters grew with each book I devoured. I felt a connection with these characters, which fueled my dream to become a writer. When I was twenty-one years old and studying writing, I wrote in my journal, “I want to write books that make people cry.” I love to explore the gray areas in life, and I’m honored that readers have told me my books do make them cry (and laugh). 


I wrote

Feel No Evil

By Stephanie Kepke,

Book cover of Feel No Evil

What is my book about?

Could you forgive the unforgivable? Twenty-one years after a sexual assault, Kate Berg’s attacker, Vin Merdone, shows up on Facebook…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Final Vinyl Days: And Other Stories

Stephanie Kepke Why did I love this book?

I love this short story collection by Jill McCorkle, because Jill is a master of complex yet subtle emotions—it left me laughing out loud on one page and crying on the next. The characters in each story are flawed and multi-dimensional and so gloriously human that I rooted for them, despite any shortcomings.

In Your Husband Is Cheating on Us, I sympathized with the unnamed narrator/speaker because her humanity shines through, even though she’s the other woman coming clean to her affair partner’s wife (and I was even hoping for her morally murky proposal to succeed). I love the short story form, and this is one of my favorites, but they’re all stellar in this collection. It’s a Funeral! RSVP feels like chatting with a best friend who’s made some questionable decisions, but you love her anyway—especially when the narrator divulges her dark secret. It’s funny and tender and heartbreaking. 

By Jill McCorkle,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Final Vinyl Days as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When Jill McCorkle feels a short story coming on, she goes right ahead and "wastes" wonderful ideas instead of hoarding them for a novel. The result is another extraordinary collection of stories and characters. In "It's a Funeral! RSVP," the storyteller is a woman who takes up self-styled "careers" that suit her circumstances. Now she's stumbled onto one that's so successful that she just can't quit. It's planning funerals, what she calls Going Out Parties, in which the clients are the soon-to-be-deceased themselves. In "Life Prerecorded," perhaps McCorkle's finest short piece to date, the pregnant narrator finds the real meaning…


Book cover of The Practice of Deceit

Stephanie Kepke Why did I love this book?

I love smart thrillers like The Practice of Deceit—thrillers that keep me turning the pages even if my alarm is going off early the next morning; thrillers that don’t rely on violence to propel the story forward but rather on interesting, richly drawn, complex characters who are not portrayed in black and white.

Charming bachelor Eric Lavender, a psychotherapist, falls for Colleen O’Brien Golden, a lawyer, but when a conflict of interest with Colleen’s client implodes Eric’s idyllic suburban life as a husband and father to an adorable stepdaughter and a newborn, he learns the dark truth about Colleen’s past. Eric’s flaw is, to me, the one that makes a character most sympathetic—being blinded by love and desire. I love that this book is in the male point of view, and it’s done so well that when Colleen tries to destroy Eric, it is a gut punch.

By Elizabeth Benedict,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Practice of Deceit as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This smart psychological thriller about a therapist who marries the wrong woman is “a lot of wicked fun” (Alan Cheuse, NPR’s All Things Considered).
 
When Eric Lavender meets the attorney Colleen O’Brien Golden, his position as one of Manhattan’s chic psychotherapists and most eligible bachelors suddenly loses its appeal. The sexy, stylish Colleen lures him to live with her and her young daughter in the exclusive suburb of Scarsdale. To his amazement, Eric is besotted and soon settles into the unexpected bliss of marriage and domesticity with their new baby and his loving stepdaughter. He even becomes a local hero…


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Book cover of The Alchemy Fire Murder: a Mary Wandwalker Mystery

The Alchemy Fire Murder By Susan Rowland,

A traditional mystery with a touch of cozy, The Alchemy Fire Murder is for those who like feisty women sleuths, Oxford Colleges, alchemy, strong characters, and real concerns like trafficking, wildfires, racism, and climate change. This book especially works for those fascinated by myth and witches in history. Read for…

Book cover of Then She Found Me

Stephanie Kepke Why did I love this book?

I love this book because, beyond the fabulous, richly layered story, it takes what should be unlikeable characters and makes you root for them. April Epner is flawed—brittle, sarcastic and closed off at times—but I love her.

As a reader, I can understand why she is the way she is, and that’s the key to making her sympathetic and likable. The payoff is so satisfying when April makes a deep emotional connection and opens up. Bernice Graverman, April’s newfound biological mom, is tacky, loud and over the top, and yet, I was rooting for her. She has a tough shell, but there’s a touching hidden vulnerability.

One more thing I loved about this book…I lived in Quincy, MA (outside of Boston), where this story is set, for five years—it perfectly captures what life was like there in the nineties.

By Elinor Lipman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Then She Found Me as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

April Epner teaches high school Latin, wears flannel jumpers, and is used to having her evenings free. Bernice Graverman brandishes designer labels, favors toad-sized earrings, and hosts her own tacky TV talk show: Bernice G!

But behind the glitz and glam, Bernice has followed the life of the daughter she gave up for adoption thirty-six years ago. Now that she's got her act together, she's aiming to be a mom like she always knew she could. And she's hurtling straight for April's quiet little life....


Book cover of The Pull of the Moon

Stephanie Kepke Why did I love this book?

I love this book because I love imperfect, flawed heroines…and as a fifty-something woman, Nan spoke to me.

How many times do we think of running away—even if just for a bit—but responsibilities and maybe even fear keep us from acting? Not Nan—she takes off, simply leaving an abrupt note for her husband, Martin (which takes place before the book opens). The narrative alternates between letters to Martin and journal entries (Nan spills her thoughts into a turquoise leather tooled journal with a black string fastener and a silver button—I love that detail).

The lyrical descriptions of each place Nan visits are so vivid I felt like I was riding shotgun. And I loved taking that journey with Nan and living in her head, because honestly…being in her head felt a lot like being in my own head, flaws and all. 

By Elizabeth Berg,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Pull of the Moon as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“This is not a novel about a woman leaving home but rather about a human being finding her way back.”—Chicago Tribune

In the middle of her life, Nan decides to leave her husband at home and begin an impromptu trek across the country, carrying with her a turquoise leather journal she intends to fill. The Pull of the Moon is a novel about a woman coming to terms with issues of importance to all women. In her journal, Nan addresses the thorniness—and the allure—of marriage, the sweet ties to children, and the gifts and lessons that come from random encounters…


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Book cover of The Oracle of Spring Garden Road

The Oracle of Spring Garden Road By Norrin M. Ripsman,

The Oracle of Spring Garden Road explores the life and singular worldview of “Crazy Eddie,” a brilliant, highly-educated homeless man who panhandles in front of a downtown bank in a coastal town.

Eddie is a local enigma. Who is he? Where did he come from? What brought him to a…

Book cover of The Awakening

Stephanie Kepke Why did I love this book?

I love this book because Edna Pontellier is perhaps the original flawed yet sympathetic heroine—a character ahead of her time and a symbol of the growing stirrings of feminism.

I underlined many passages in my dog-eared copy from college (my professor was the editor), including the line, “Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman,” a contrast with the other mothers summering on Grand Isle who doted on their children. She’s not what a woman and mother was supposed to be in 1899—she’s in love with a man other than her husband; she eschews the trappings of motherhood; and ultimately she escapes in the most heartbreaking way.

This book was so explosive at the time, that it was pulled from shelves and didn’t enjoy success and a rightful place in the literary cannon until it was reissued in 1966. There’s a reason it’s had a treasured place on my bookshelf for nearly four decades.


By Kate Chopin,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Awakening as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

e Awakening, originally titled A Solitary Soul, is a novel by Kate Chopin, first published in 1899. Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf coast at the end of the 19th century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle to reconcile her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South. It is one of the earliest American novels that focuses on women's issues without condescension. It is also widely seen as a landmark work of early feminism, generating a mixed reaction from contemporary readers and critics.The novel's…


Explore my book 😀

Feel No Evil

By Stephanie Kepke,

Book cover of Feel No Evil

What is my book about?

Could you forgive the unforgivable? Twenty-one years after a sexual assault, Kate Berg’s attacker, Vin Merdone, shows up on Facebook as someone she may know, sending Kate’s tidy life tumbling like a house of cards and sparking a long-conquered eating disorder to surface. Kate knows it’s a gossamer line between well and unwell, and she’s about to cross it. With everything at risk, Kate’s in the fight of her life, and she won’t emerge without a few scars.  

Five years later, with the #MeToo movement exploding, Vin lands in Kate's orbit in the most unexpected way, derailing her hard-earned progress. Will Kate expose Vin for who he is and triumph over trauma in this dark yet hopeful tale that celebrates the transformative power of forgiveness?

Book cover of Final Vinyl Days: And Other Stories
Book cover of The Practice of Deceit
Book cover of Then She Found Me

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