Dead Letters

A debut novel by Caite Dolan-Leach. Ava and Zelda are twins, raised in a dysfunctional, alcoholic family: owners of a failing vineyard. Straitlaced, well behaved Ava was primed to take over the family business and care for her mother with early onset dementia, until wild-child Zelda betrayed her. So Ava ran to Paris, and has kept silence with her sister for two years. Now she's back at the vineyard, for Zelda has fallen asleep in the barn with a lit candle. She is dead; burned up. But this is too pat for Ava... just too Zelda. It's surely one of her games. Then she gets an email from her sister.  There is a lot of drinking in here; and some associated messiness. Mind your triggers. An engaging book.

The Most Dangerous Place on Earth

The debut novel by Lindsey Lee Johnson seems spot on; and I am so extraordinarily grateful to have escaped high school before the days of ubiquitous social media! My own high school experience was extremely negative as it is; if I had the ills of seeing the cruelty of my peers in my own home through a gadget I held in my hand... I may not have made it. This novel is about the real people under the typical high school stereotypes and how decisions made affect everyone. How cyber bullying works and it's effects. The difference a teacher can have, both positive and negative, on a student's life. And the feedback a teacher may get from his/her peers. A sorry book. Some elegant writing, just the wrong vehicle for me.

The River at Night

Erica Ferencik wrote this novel. It requires a suspension of disbelief  - a "what else could go wrong" mentality to get through. And if you can do that, it sucks you right in, leaving you staying up way too late to read one more chapter... and another... and another. Our narrator is Winifred Allen, middle - aged, recently divorced, stuck in a go-nowhere job, reeling from the death of her brother. Her annual girls' trip with her three best friends is coming up; they've chosen white-water rafting in the Maine wilderness. It becomes the trip to Hell and back, a thrill a minute, making your heart beat as fast as the current of the river.

Public Library and Other Stories

I enjoyed this collection of short stories by Ali Smith. The stories are about books; how they charge us to be mindful while helping us forget, how they change and challenge us. Interspersed with Smith's short stories are conversations with writers who are also readers about the importance of libraries in their lives. The blurb on the back of the book calls this a work of "literary activism"; I love the term!

Nutshell

This is a novel by Ian McEwan. It tells the pedestrian tale of Trudy, who has ejected John, her husband, from his ancestral home, and installed his brother, Claude. The ancestral home is a decrepit pile worth an absolute fortune on the London market; but it is still owned by John. Therefore, Trudy and Claude are planning his demise. It all sounds so tawdry. What makes the novel is the narrator: the resident of Trudy's womb. Nine months along, John's son hears all, and makes this novel a retelling of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Fascinating.

A is for Actress

A Malibu Mystery by Rebecca Cantrell and Sean Black. This is the first in an alphabetic series featuring Sofia Selgado, one - time child star of The Half-Pint Detective, who has quit show business and joined the private investigative agency of Brendan Maloney, who once served as the technical consultant on her show. Another fluff piece for my Kindle.. I enjoyed it enough that if the others in the series show up free as this one did, I'll pick them up too.

Present Over Perfect

Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living. This is a collection of essays by Shauna Niequist that blend mindfulness with Spirituality. They tell the story of Niequist's frantic life trying to earn her worth and the journey she took becoming present to those she loves, stilled and rested, content in her worth as a child of God. So much I could relate to here - if you're religious at all and looking for purpose, read this one.