Fragment: A Midlife Urban Fantasy of Dangerous Doorways and Impossible Choices

by Mira McKinney

They may be able to build a door big enough to bring him home. But if they open it, they could kill everyone on the planet.

Stephanie Cross thought her husband was dead. Instead, Daniel is alive and trapped inside the boundary between the human world and a hellish reality known as the Beyond. Her team believes there may be a way to reach him. But any path to Daniel could become a path for whatever is waiting beside him.

And something on the other side has noticed her nineteen-year-old twins.

Stephanie can seal tears in reality with her bare hands. She cannot be everywhere at once—and the Watch will put her entire team in a cell for what she is about to try.

Reaching Daniel means opening a way into the Beyond. It may also mean opening a way out.

Bring her husband home. Keep her nineteen-year-old twins beyond the reach of a monster.

She cannot do both.

And she has already spent nineteen years living with the consequences of someone else’s choice.

For readers who love the high-stakes magic of Ilona Andrews and the formidable midlife heroines of K.F. Breene.

Inside Book Two of the Lattice A heroine over forty with dangerous new powersA husband trapped between worldsNineteen-year-old twins developing abilities of their ownFound family in a secret facility beneath BostonMagic built from resonance, sigils, specialized blades, and engineered alloyDimensional rifts and monsters waiting beyond the seamsA forbidden rescue that could open the wrong doorA slow burn that stays slowLow heat and impossible stakesIf you like your midlife urban fantasy on the action end of the shelf—closer to covert ops than a cozy coven—Book Two of the Lattice series forces one mother to choose between the husband she thought she lost and the nineteen-year-old twins she refuses to give up.

Continue the Lattice series now and discover how far Stephanie will go to bring Daniel home.

425 pages, Paperback

Published October 21, 2026

About the author

Mira McKinney writes emotionally rich urban fantasy and paranormal women’s fiction about ordinary people transformed by impossible discoveries. Urban fantasy for women who've lived a little.

ARC review copies of Fracture and Fragment available on Book Sprout.
https://booksprout.co/reviewer/review...

Reviews

[Catbug · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the midlife urban fantasy genre, and Fragment is the epitome of this. Steph is a woman in her 40s, with twin adult children that she raised as a single mum after losing her husband in an accident when the twins were 6 months old. This is the second book in the series, with Fracture being the first.

I absolutely devoured Fracture. It was unlike anything I had ever read. The urban fantasy system is unique across what I have read, and it was a breath of fresh air. I couldn't wait to read the next book. Fragment didn't disappoint.

I felt some of the themes were darker than those in Fracture, which had Steph having amnesia due to the supposed traffic accident that took her husband. She became a science teacher and raised the twins as best she could as a single parent. Then her world was turned upside down when her old world returned, and she found her memories were taken, not lost, and she had to make the choice to leave her safe life, to risk everything to save the world.

Fragment took that much further. Finding that her husband was alive, if you could call it that, and had been able to keep watch over her and their children. He saw all theur important events in his way, but had been prevented from joining them due to the accident. So the purpose of Fragment was to find a way to free him from his prison, at the same time as preventing another big bad from escaping.

Like I said, this book felt darker, and showed a side of Steph that wasn't in the first book. Steph may not be as crystal clean as she appeared, and hid some of her returned memories from both her team and the readers. This was an interesting take of the author, and I felt it was well done.

I can't wait for the next part of the series.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Nadina Hnatiw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, not sure where to start on this one. I was rooting for Cal and I still am. I'm sad about Daniel but I can't see a way out for him that makes sense. And in all honesty as much as his story sucks he needs to stay where he is until he can have his own story arch. This is a situation where that tragedy (In my opinion) can't and shouldn't be resolved until this arch is all wrapped up. I swear if MM kills off C just to have some late happy ending for D and S I might just go rougue.
Hmm what else to say....C is truly the most patient, green flag of a man I have ever read about. I don't actually know what to do about that. He feels a little too perfect. I get a little frustrated with Steph because even with all the heartbreak it feels like she's tried to eat her cake and have a backup one too...also not sure how to feel about that...
This has been a strange one for me and a bit of a struggle. Still brilliantly written, great ongoing plot but there were parts where I wanted to shout "what the hell are you doing" when her whole aim has been getting D back. Admittedly she's never hidden it, but you don't treat a guy like C as a reserve. So summary: Great plot, great progress, emotional and tense and romantic and sad and happy and aim for greater good. Also for god's sake please people get rid of the loose end before it bites you in the butt!!!.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the first book, so I was really looking forward to this one, and it didn't disappoint!
One of the things I love about this series is Steph herself. She's in her forties, she's a mother, she's exhausted half the time, and she's constantly pushing herself beyond her limits. She's far from perfect, which makes her all the more relatable to me.
I also love the team. There's a wonderful sense of friendship between these characters, even when things get messy. And they certainly get messy in this book!
The story is darker this time around, with some difficult decisions and quite a few emotional moments. I especially liked that the author didn't make things easy for Steph or the people around her.
The ending left me desperate to find out what happens next. I'm sticking with this series for sure!
Thank you for the ARC.