"My mother didn't teach me dependency, I want to yell and enunciate. I cannot force myself to need you. Mami taught me to use my tongue like a sword, and I haven't sharpened it in years."

Malcriada & Other Stories is a collection of short stories centered on the Dominican diaspora. Each one is brimming with attitude, rage, curiosity, identity, femininity, sexuality, innocence, trauma and discovery. Each one was a gut punch and left me reeling from emotional connection, feelings of being truly seen, rawness and newfound power. Every word on the pages resonated in my soul and made me reconnect with parts of my thoughts that had long been buried. This is a book that needs to be read and passed on for years to come.

"Malcriada, Justice and Bodysuit" were my favorites because they cut straight to the chase of what it means to be a woman in the world trying to live up to the standards set by a world that has for too long not protected women or even valued them for their daily resilience. "Malcriada" especially explores the complexity of the female relationships and conflicts within the same family. Thank you Lorraine Avila for this gift of prose to the world.