Heartening, and unusually thoughtful, this collection of stories places the young women, their feelings and minds (not just their bodies) at the center. In that way, it seems more true to what adolescence in young women can be: full of mistaken attachments, questioning actions, and, sometimes, provocative men who may be a wrong choice, may appear to represent freedom that, in fact, will be due to the young woman's own agency and growth.
~Crystal Wilkinson, recipient of the 2016 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence for The Birds of Opulence
What distinguishes this collection from others of its kind are stories that are engrossing, visceral, and strange enough to be singular.
~Leslie Singleton, University of Illinois
"Some of the many foolhardy, vulnerable and brave ways innocence insists upon bittersweet experience are superbly portrayed in Katie Cortese's Make Way For Her and Other Stories. With sensuous prose, achingly authentic characters and precise narrative skill, Cortese enthralls and stuns, page after page, story upon story. A magnificent, heartbreaking collection."
~Melissa Pritchard, author of A Solmen Pleasure and Palmerino
This collection is not about understanding our young people. It's about living and breathing inside their bodies and heads. Salinger can step aside now. Make way for Katie Cortese!
~Dennis Covington, author of Salvation on Sand Mountain
A welcome addition to the burgeoning canon of finely wrought female stories.
~Kirkus Reviews
Katie Cortese's Make Way for Her and Other Stories offers enticing glimpses of curiously compact, womencentric fictional universes, generally focused on girls, teenagers, women, and the men who affect—but not necessarily impact—their lives. Cortese's writing is smoothly compelling and adapts from voice to voice.
~Foreword Reviews
Katie Cortese's Make Way for Her and Other Stories offers enticing glimpses of curiously compact, womencentric fictional universes, generally focused on girls, teenagers, women, and the men who affect—but not necessarily impact—their lives. Cortese's writing is smoothly compelling and adapts from voice to voice. Though the varied women of Make Way for Her are emerging and evolving, making right and wrong choices along the way, for the most part they share an appealing internal wisdom that keeps them true to their real selves, and will hopefully also keep them on the right course.
~Foreword Reviews
The collections' strongest stories portray fragile romantic connections with unsparing criticism, voice uncomfortable truths about the way young people interact in modern culture, and ask questions about how girls approach freedom and desire. These portraits are a welcome addition to the burgeoning canon of finely wrought female stories.
~Kirkus Reviews
Cortese's collection is sometimes hopeful, sometimes heartbreaking, and always authentic. This beautiful collection is for any woman who desires a trip back to times past and for any girl who wants a roadmap to see what lies ahead.
~Review of Texas Books
