The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Phillips, Ashleigh Bryant. Sleepovers. Spartanburg, South Carolina: Hub City Press, 2020.

Sleepovers is a collection of 23 short stories by debut author Ashleigh Bryant Phillips.

In “Shania,” a woman reflects on a friendship she had during childhood with a Cherokee girl named Shania. They were very close until the narrator's parents forbid her from going to Shania's house anymore because her father assaulted her mother. As an adult, the narrator saw Shania working at a grocery store.

In “Charlie Elliott,” a young man named Charlie with an intellectual disability is emotionally abused by his parents and develops dark, violent thoughts in response. One day, he meets a woman that cares for him and helps him move beyond his traumatic past. He marries her, but shortly thereafter he chokes to death on a sandwich. Years later, when Charlie's wife dies, his father refuses to allow her to be buried beside Charlie. But when Charlie's father dies, his siblings have his wife's body moved beside Charlie's in the family plot.

In “Mind Craft,” a young woman named Maddie experiences emotional and sexual confusion as a result of her mother abandoning her and her father many years earlier to explore a romantic relationship with another woman.

In “The Locket,” an adult woman named Shirley attempts to develop a friendship with a teenager named Krystal at a swim club. A former champion horse rider, Shirley believes she hears the voice of her horse Norma (who died years earlier) cheering her on in this pursuit. When Shirley goes home, her mother berates her, and Shirley responds by throwing a hot pot of soup on her.

In “Sister,” a child narrator is upset because her younger sister has mono and is therefore quarantined in their aunt's house.

In “An Unspoken,” a married couple named Hal and Clara Parker contend with the emotional fallout of the death of their baby many years after it happened. Clara developed a maternal relationship with their neighbor, Corey, whose own mother died when he was two years old, while Hal turned to drinking. Clara observes Corey, now an adult, sexually assaulting his dog. Hal calls the police, and Corey shoots the dog. Clara runs outside weeping, fearing Corey has shot himself. The Parkers go to church and Clara asks the congregation to pray an unspoken prayer for Corey.

In “Uncle Elmer,” a woman recalls her uncle behaving inappropriately with her when she was a child.

In “The Bass,” a depressed man named Donnie Dunlow catches a fish in the same lake in which he once tried to drown himself. He visits the trailer of his wife's friend to fix her toilet and then tries to have sex with her, but her children interrupt. Donnie goes home and shows his wife, Melissa, the bass. She expresses delight and makes Donnie feel better about himself. However, when Melissa is called to work later that night, Donnie drinks heavily and goes outside to search for the fish's skeleton, which he regards as a symbol of hope for the future.

In “The Bear,” a young woman living on a farm hears that some hunters have killed a bear and left it in her family's field. The bear reminds her of her brother, Abner, who has an intellectual disability.

In “Lorene,” a teenage girl suffering from depression is sent to live with her sister and brother-in-law. Her brother-in-law initiates a sexual relationship, taking her to Acapulco and ultimately leaving her there.

In “Jacuzzi,” a woman recalls taking vacations to Myrtle Beach with a friend named Courtney who was much more adventurous and interested in boys than she was. When Courtney lied to their classmates, claiming they got drunk and made out with boys in a jacuzzi, the narrator ended the friendship.

In “Sleepovers,” a woman recalls a friendship with a girl named Nicki when she was in school. Nicki's family moved away after her father suffered a catastrophic injury on their hog farm.

In “Return to Coondog Castle,” an adult man seduces a teenage girl and the relationship has repercussions for numerous residents of the small town in which the story is set.

“You Go Into the ABC Store and the Saleslady Says” is a monologue given by a woman working at a liquor store. She tells her customer about her husband, who is suffering from Alzheimer's, and the woman that is singing outside the store, who suffered a violent attack many years earlier.

In “The Mattress,” a woman contemplates her dissatisfaction with her sex life while her husband attempts to sell a mattress to a grief-addled customer.

In “Earth to Amy,” a young woman working at a grocery store contends with financial and personal challenges while looking after her Alzheimer's-afflicted father.

In “Buttercup,” a young woman recalls a special bond she had as a teenager with her friend's cousin Tina, who had an intellectual disability.

“The Country Woman” is about an unnamed woman moving back to her rural hometown after living in the city for years. She invites a woman she meets at the grocery store to live with her on her farm but later learns that the woman has been violently abusing her son.

In “Snowball Jr.,” a woman is reincarnated as a deer and reflects on the differences between her two lives.

In “The Hunting Lodge,” a young woman moves back to her rural hometown after college and struggles to make friends. She develops an online relationship with a man named Sam and falls in love with him. They plan to meet, but Sam gradually stops talking to her and they never do.

In “The Virgin,” a woman goes to a nearby town to have her iPhone fixed and develops an attachment to the Apple Store employee that helps her. On the way home, her car breaks down and she is invited into a nursing home to wait for a ride. She eats dinner with the residents and makes up stories about her life, claiming the Apple Store employee is her boyfriend.

In “The Truth About Miss Katie,” a child narrator explains that she has just overheard a hurtful phone conversation between her favorite teacher, Miss Katie, and an unknown party. The narrator believed that she and Miss Katie were friends, but she heard her complaining about the town and the school being poor and unsafe.

In “The Chopping Block,” an unnamed narrator is grieving after her boyfriend left her for another woman. She is staying with her sister because she is depressed and suicidal. She goes to the cemetery to reflect on the family members she has lost and then breaks into the home of a couple that bought her father's chopping block after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. The couple discovers her in their kitchen and kindly escorts her home.