I Can Fix Her & Key Lime Sky

By Zach Shattuck

I Can Fix Her by Rae Wilde

What’s a little cosmic horror between lovers turned strangers turned lovers again?

This book is for anyone who has ever missed a toxic relationship and also hungers for some well written imagery of the unraveling of the universe.

Rae Wilde’s I Can Fix Her takes place over the course of a single week (or countless iterations of the same week, depending on your perspective). It opens on Johnny blinking away a sense of déjà vu as she sees her ex in a cafe they’ve eaten at before. On a whim, the two return to Alice’s apartment and spend the next week, more or less, together.

“And yet, inside the aching, yawning pit of abandoned promises and daydreams gone stale, is the foul lingering of a sour love.”

Their reunion begins as any between two passionate lovers who have hooked themselves in each other’s hearts: ecstatic, tender, precarious. It devolves as it often does between two people who do not heal and will not change: bitter, jealous, spiteful. Unlike (hopefully) any reunion any reader has had with their toxic yet charismatic ex, reality slowly begins to fissure until it is abruptly torn apart by the refusal of Johnny to leave what is bad for her. The world goes from a hot summer day to an outdoors covered in feet of snow, then it is entirely under water. The apartment, once dingy, hosts an 8-foot-wide fireplace on Tuesday and a twelve-foot-long dining table on Wednesday.

This book does not have a happy ending. This is a book of toxic despair. And it is so, so good. Wilde’s incredible writing paints vivid pictures and presents foreshadowing which feels intriguing at first and then sends a chill down your spine as you read the book again. It’s a quick read too – I think it took me maybe an hour and a half, cover to cover.

Something I enjoyed immensely about this book is that the focus is on Johnny, and I personally emphasized with her a lot in the beginning of the book. Those of us who haven’t been in the grips of a cold yet charismatic ex likely know someone who has been, and I ached for Johnny and her deep yearning for a woman who was both cruel and capricious. However, as the book continued, the picture of Johnny became more and more clear. In a toxic relationship it truly takes two to tango, and the one between Alice and Johnny is no exception.

This book is vivid, fast-paced, graphic, and as the horror paints your mind you find yourself incapable of looking away.

For anyone who misses their toxic ex, this book allows you to explore every single what if a universe can muster. For anyone interested in seeing the universe unravel, especially in the name of a warped and sick love, I’d heartily recommend Rae Wilde’s I Can Fix Her.

This book is available as an e-book through San Diego Public Libraries, though personally I think I’ll be buying a copy from my local bookstore.

Key Lime Sky by Al Hess

“My life had become a bizarre science-fiction soap opera.”

This is the summarizing slice of Al Hess’s book Key Lime Sky. Set in Muddy Gap, Wyoming, Denver Bryant (who is non-binary and uses any pronouns) struggles to make rent from their blog where they give hilariously honest reviews of local pies. Denver is overall rather unknown, but when they are known, it’s as Professor Pie.

When Denver spots what appears to be a UFO while traveling back from a pie review, things start to get out of hand.

Quickly, the town of Muddy Waters starts changing, then disappearing. Trying to figure out why the town is becoming overrun with alien sand and strange plants is only half the headache, as Denver struggles with falling for the new bartender in town, Ezra (he/him). If you love over-the-top, quick-to-fall romance with anxieties and miscommunications, especially in a sci-fi setting, you’ll certainly enjoy Denver and Ezra coming together.

There was an odd insistence, however, that Denver be Native American. The fact that their father is half Cherokee is awkwardly stated multiple times, but it never has weight on any character story development. It felt like tokenized, ham-fisted representation.

Overall though, this book is a fun read. The “saving the world from aliens” trope feels fresh and original. Denver provides witty commentary and delicious descriptions of pie throughout the entire book.

Key Lime Sky is available through San Diego Public Libraries.