5+++ stars for Wild Asses of the Mojave Desert by Lis Anna-Langston #fiction #womensfiction #bookrec
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    • Oct 27, 2023
    • 3 min read

5+++ stars for Wild Asses of the Mojave Desert by Lis Anna-Langston #fiction #womensfiction #bookrec



Title: Wild Asses of the Mojave Desert

Author: Lis Anna-Langston

Genre: New Adult – Literary – Contemporary fiction – Women’s fiction


Book Blurb:


A modern girl caught in the chaos of the modern world, Skye takes a drastic turn when she escapes a toxic relationship. Driving across country she seeks solace at her sister's house in the low desert reuniting with her best friend Dylan, whose discovery of a mysterious rock sparks a belief in its magical properties. With the help of a psychic, her sister, her ex, a phantom dog and a little Ho’oponopono Skye weathers the unexpected twists and turns during the course of a summer that changes her life forever.


…a journey away from the familiar and into the desert of discovery…As relationship quandaries, marriage possibilities, and good and harmful emotional connections emerge against the backdrop of the desert environment, readers receive a multifaceted story that connects via both emotional and landscape twists of perspective.


Wild Asses of the Mojave Desert is a novel that pulls at heart and mind alike. Through Skye's journey and process of letting go everything she's held tightly throughout her life, readers receive a compelling saga… - D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review



My Review:


Wild Asses of the Mojave Desert is a coming-of-age story of one young woman struggling with life choices.


Oh, but it’s so much more. It’s a marvelously told tale of a group of young adults seeking the answers to The Big Questions of Life. The clues they uncover include a meteorite glowing pink, a phantom dog, mice, beetles, and a gay psychic who recommends the practice of Ho’oponopono.


We meet Skye as she’s returning home after six years on her own in an unsatisfying relationship. The first thing we learn about her is that she has mice in her car. She reunites with her sister. Stella, and her best friend Dylan, who has been observing the meteorite in the middle of the desert while chasing Charlie, his deceased, now phantom dog. She also comes home to find her ex-boyfriend Trevor has married.


Lis Anna-Langston has crafted a compelling story filled with angst and humor, love and loyalty, and friendship and family, in a desert setting perfectly balanced between realism and surrealism.


She’s built a world that’s familiar to anyone who’s ever questioned the larger questions of life: Why are we here? Who sent us here? What’s the meaning of it all?


Yet it’s distinctly quirky and a bit foreign. It’s a world where UFOs intersect with psychics, a ghost dog roams freely while a dead chinchilla lives in a freezer.


I absolutely loved this unpredictable tale. Thanks to the deft storytelling of Anna-Langston, I cared about Skye despite her sometimes-self-destructive behavior. Her best friend Dylan became my best friend, glowing meteor, and all. And I rooted for a reunion with her ex, Trevor.


My Rating: 5+++ stars


Buy it Now:











Giveaway –


Enter to win a $50 Amazon gift card:



Open Internationally.


Runs September 29 – November 21, 2023.


Winner will be drawn on November 22, 2023.



Author Biography:


Lis Anna-Langston was raised along the winding current of the Mississippi River on a steady diet of dog-eared books. She attended a Creative and Performing Arts School from middle school until graduation and went on to study Literature at Webster University. Her novels have won the Parents’ Choice Gold, Moonbeam Book Award, Independent Press Award, Benjamin Franklin Book Award and NYC Big Book Awards. A three-time Pushcart award nominee and Finalist in the Brighthorse Book Prize, William Faulkner Fiction Contest, George Garrett Fiction Prize and Thomas Wolfe Fiction Award, her work has been published in The Literary Review, Emerson Review, The Merrimack Review, Emrys Journal, The MacGuffin, Sand Hill Review and dozens of other literary journals.


Hailed as “an author with a genuine flair for originality” by Midwest Book Review and “a loveable, engaging, original voice…” by Publishers Weekly, you can find her in the wilds of South Carolina plucking stories out of thin air.



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Reviewed by: Terry

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