A New Day: Stories

by Sue Mell

For fans of Lily King’s Five Tuesdays in Winter, a contemporary short story collection that explores the depths of everyday humanity and the universal yearning for new beginnings.

Linked by their personal and professional relationships, the characters in these thirteen stories—all set between 1982 and 2012—struggle to achieve happiness and success. A coke-fueled night with a photographer costs a young woman her job in the display department of Bloomingdale’s, but holds a hidden promise. A sculptor tries to resurrect his relationship with an old flame on the same day her best friend is undergoing a bone marrow transplant. An aspiring actress drifts from house-sit to house-sit until an armed robbery at the restaurant where she works makes her question a lifelong pattern of impermanence.

Moody, elegiac, and full of longing, with ricocheting themes of desire and loss, A New Day’s stories are steeped in the highs and lows inherent in the pursuit of love and creative expression.

Genres: Short Stories

200 pages, Paperback

Published September 3, 2024

About the author

Sue Mell’s story collection, A New Day, was a finalist for the 2021 St. Lawrence Book Award, and is forthcoming from She Writes Press Fall 2024. Her debut novel, Provenance, won the Madville Publishing Blue Novel Award, and was selected as a 2022 Great Group Read by the Women's National Book Association, and a 2022 Indie Fiction Pick by the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses. Her collection of micro essays, Giving Care, won the 2022 Chestnut Review Prose Chapbook Prize. Other work has appeared in Narrative Magazine, Cleaver Magazine, Hippocampus Magazine, Jellyfish Review, and elsewhere. She earned her MFA from Warren Wilson, was a 2020 BookEnds fellow at SUNY Stony Brook, and lives in Queens, New York, where she cares for her aging mom and a gray tuxedo cat named Poppy.

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

There always was, and would always be, a new day.
There would never be another day–not like the ones that had passed her by.
from A New Day by Sue Mell

Hope and nostalgia. Believing that anything is possible–it just takes effort–and recognizing the transient nature of life, bemoaning all that has gone. We hang in the balance between these two core emotions.

Sue Mell’s stories in A New Day follow characters’ shifting relationships over nearly fifteen years. The stars never seem to align for them, one or the other or both in a relationship. There are one night stands and relationships based on convenience or on the rebound, just plain bad decisions, one-way love, ill timed reconnections. Careers are pursued and flounder. They settle for jobs to pay the bills, dreams crashed and burned.

The young adults in these stories begin with hope and end by acceptance. It is a life arc all of us over a certain age have learned.

Set between 1985 and 1999, the stories combine to tell of a generation’s coming of age. They will haunt you.

I received an ARC. My review is fair and unbiased.

[Nursebookie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you @suzyapprovedbooktours and @suemellwrites for the gifted copy - a contemporary short story collection that explores the depths of everyday humanity and the universal yearning for new beginnings.

TITLE: A NEW DAY
AUTHOR: SUE MELL
PUB DATE: 09.03.2024

Moody, elegiac, and full of longing, with ricocheting themes of desire and loss, A New Day’s stories are steeped in the highs and lows inherent in the pursuit of love and creative expression.

THOUGHTS:

I love short stories and A NEW DAY by Sue Mell is fantastic, brilliant, and an absolute delight to read. In each of the interconnected stories, you will find a piece of yourself in each of the characters or at least resonate with the stories. This is a book I will be recommending and a book I will be re-reading.

QOTD: How is your Mo day treating you?

#anewday #suemell #shortstorycollection #suzyapprovedbooktours

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three suites of linked stories focus on young women whose choices in the 1980s have ramifications decades later. Chance meetings, addictions, ill-considered affairs, and random events all take their toll. Emma house-sits and waitresses while hoping in vain for her acting career to take off; “all she felt was a low-grade mourning for what she’d lost and hadn’t attained.” My favourite pair was about Nina, who is a photographer’s assistant in “Single Lens Reflex” and 13 years later, in “Photo Finish,” bumps into the photographer again in Central Park. With wistful character studies and nostalgic snapshots of changing cities, this is a stylish and accomplished collection.

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.

[Booksandcoffeemx · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t read a lot of short stories, but sometimes they end up surprising me and leaving a mark. These stories are impactful, moving and insightful. Complex and relatable characters, beautifully written, a unique collection of ordinary events told in an extraordinary way.

Thank you Suzy Approved Book Tours for this tour invite.

𝗔 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗗𝗮𝘆: 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 by Sue Mell - Author released September 3, 2024.

[Allison Renner · Rating 5 out of 5]

In A New Day, Sue Mell delivers a collection of short stories that feel honest and familiar. The book follows three women—Rachel, Emma, and Nina—through the highs and lows of relationships, creative pursuits, and life’s everyday disarray.

What stands out most about these stories is how real they feel. Mell doesn’t sugarcoat or neatly resolve everything. Instead, she gives us glimpses of decisions that ripple through later stories, sometimes offering closure but more often reflecting how life works—messy, unpredictable, and full of loose ends. It’s like catching up with old friends through mutual acquaintances, where you slowly piece together what’s been happening in their lives.

Read the full review here: https://www.birchbarkediting.com/micr...

[Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

My friends here on Goodreads gave me a tip about short stories… They might be even more resonant when they share a common thread, such as the case with A New Day. There’s a link between the stories, shared emotion, a longing. All the main characters are earlier on in their lives with a spark of hope, and they struggle, as we all do, finding one’s own path.

The characters are each complex and always redeeming. Their journeys have grit and heart. I really enjoyed my time spent with the characters and could imagine so many more stories and hours spent with them.

I received a gifted copy.

Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader

[Maggie Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the structure of this linked collection: three women ‘leads,’ a time period that’s distinct, an absolute grounding in place. A NEW DAY is so satisfying. The dialogue is pitch perfect because the characters are like, living, on the pages. And the look-back at the ever-changing New York City, where a decade can wipe out the most familiar landmarks, feels nostalgic but fun. The best short stories are deceptively simple, written in a manner that allows the reader to enter, seamlessly, into each scenario. Then, surprise!, the reader gets caught up in a whirl of complex emotions, characters deftly drawn who walk in and out of the story, in the hands of a writer with the visual sensitivity of a painter. So well done.

[Christy Stillwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how these stories center around New York City and fluidly move through time, leting us get to know the three main characters: Rachel, Emma, and Nina. All three are in and out of relationships, but the real search is for their own identity. The Nina section felt particularly strong to me; Nina's a photographer's assistant and makes some bad choices that come back to haunt here when someone takes her picture and she passes out. Here, where she least expects it, is an opportunity to try again at love. I think its the way the women are all trying to balance their professional lives with their personal identity that I related to most. Sue's writing is gorgeous and insightful, and that's what really links these pieces. Highly recommend!

[Lisa Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant collection of stories that all relate to each other in some way and show the myriad of connections that we make in life. I particularly enjoyed the humor and quick wit as well as the little glimpses into these ordinary lives that are also extraordinary in their own uniqueness. I found something relatable in each story and it reminded me that life is a shared experience and we are all searching for those moments of camaraderie when we are no longer alone. It's a quick read, well-written, and packs a punch in the best unassuming way. Take what you need from it. I loved this book.

I received a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Debbie Rozier · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of thirteen short stories is divided into three parts. Each part has a different female main character. The timeframe of the setting ranges from the 1980s to the early 2000s.

I liked that even though each section has a main character, there are offshoot characters and stories that I found profoundly interesting. In Rachel’s part of the story Lily, Rachel’s oldest friend, has her own integral part in that section. Lily’s character develops and veers into her own substory that I really enjoyed.

Each of the main character’s pursue more artistic endeavors. Rachel is an artist, Emma an actress, and Nina is into photography. I liked that connection.

[Miss W Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love short stories, its like a snack for your soul.

A New Day: Stories by Sue Mell is a great collection of short stories that I really enjoyed.

This collection is really fantastic as there is a link between the short stories.
Younger people looking to find their way with the hope and excitement that comes with youth.

The characters are well written, complex, and well fleshed out.

The author does a great job with fleshing out the characters in such short times.

The struggles and journeys that the characters went through resonated with me and I enjoyed this collection very much.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks very much to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC of A New Day by Sue Mell. I love literary fiction about feelings and relationships; I also love interconnected short stories that follow characters over years and through different phases of their lives. This is a kindhearted, satisfying collection that deftly moves backward and forward in time over decades, featuring a group of flawed, yet deeply human characters as their paths cross and diverge. Oh, and did I mention the lovely prose? Highly recommend.

[Danielle B · Rating 4 out of 5]

A NEW DAY is a collection of 13 short stories. I haven’t read a lot of short stories in the past, but I really enjoyed these. It was amazing to me how the writer can grab your interest in such a short time, I found them to very engaging. The timeframe of these stories was also interesting to me and something I could totally relate to. Now I want to explore some more short stories!

Many thanks to She Writes Press for my gifted copy.

This review will be shared to my Instagram account (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the future.

[Christy Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. I don’t read short stories very often and I’m not sure why. This interconnected series of stories was filled with interesting characters and I was captivated by each one. I intended to read a few each day but the stories were so compelling that I read it straight through then wished I had paced myself to enjoy just a few each day.

[Marilyn Goncalves · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great collection of thirteen short stories. I found it sentimental and it brought emotions from the past. It has connected themes of friendships, relationships, new beginnings, longing, loss and humor. This is a beautiful collection that definitely leaves a mark.

[Olga Zilberbourg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the promise of romance in these stories as well as the inevitable disappointment or twist in these stories. The characters are so quirky and intriguing, yet their emotional journeys feel very relatable and down to earth. A rich world!

[andra lodge · Rating 3 out of 5]

"What had he come here for? Had he hoped to retrieve something of greater value? Or simply blot another thing out? Anything to fill his desire, his need - no matter the destruction. Anything to feelgood, if only for the moment." (page 74)