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Review: Swan Song by Katy Regnery

★★★★★ 🌶🌶 Series: A Modern Fairytale, Book 9 Review: This review was written for Reedsy Discovery Beautifully damaging, a romantic fairy tale retelling of the beauty within, second chances, and healing Vaughn has lost the will to live after a life of abuse and cruelty. Kidnapped and sold at four years old, only to be rejected by his adopted family and subjected to torment in the foster care system, he plans his death. The kindness of Sasha, a talented ballerina, sparks hope, and soon, their cautious friendship blossoms into something more. But when Vaughn discovers the identity of his birth parents, solving a lifelong mystery and filling a gaping hole in his heart, he knows he must reconnect with the family he lost, even if it means he must leave the love of his life behind. When I started reading Swan Song , I never expected to find such a beautiful and emotional story in a retelling of The Ugly Duckling . Sasha can see beyond Vaughn’s coarse exterior t...
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Release Blitz: The Patron Saint of Lost Girls by Maureen Aitken




Literary Fiction / Short Story Collection

Date Published: 09-16-2025

Publisher: Wayne State University Press



In 1970s and '80s Detroit, the city wrestles with an unending economic downturn, increasing violence, and white exodus to the suburbs. Amid all of this is twentysomething Mary who is just trying to grapple with her identity in a world filled with uncertainty.

In this collection of linked stories, we follow Mary as she seeks to cope with and withstand hardship and confront her fears of exploitation, abuse, and death. Along the way, she delves into the complex yet nurturing relationships with her family and friends who teach her to love better, live fuller, and question power. The Patron Saint of Lost Girls presents an unflinching tale of life in the late twentieth-century postindustrial Midwest.

 

About the Author


Maureen Aitken’s short-story collection, The Patron Saint of Lost Girls, received a Kirkus star, the Nilsen Prize, and the Foreword Review INDIE Gold Prize for General Fiction. It will be reissued in September, 2025 by Wayne State University Press. Her stories have earned a Minnesota State Arts Board’s Artist Initiative Grant, a Loft Mentor Award, an award from Ireland’s Fish Short Story Prize, and two Pushcart Prize nominations. It was also nominated for a Minnesota Book Award. Her stories have been published in Prairie Schooner and New Letters, among others. This is her second story featured in The Missouri Review’s Blast section.


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