Secrets She Left Behind

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book is the sequel to Before the Storm, although the cover doesn't identify it as such. DEFINITELY read that book first, because this one gives away the ending to that one.

In this story, seventeen-year-old Keith Weston is still struggling to recover from multiple injuries caused by a church fire over a year ago. Then his mother disappears on the same day the person responsible for the fire is released from prison.

This was a very exciting story with some surprises.

The Bad Weather Friend

 Fiction by Dean Koontz

https://www.amazon.com

This story begins with a mysterious package, sent from Florida to California, from an old man to a young one. When 23-year-old Benny Catspaw receives the package, it's identified as a "blessing that will transform your life," coming from an uncle he never realized he had. The uncle's message tells him, cryptically, "There is no reason to be afraid, though there may seem to be...."

Then some strange things start to happen!

This was an interesting a fun story. It's less creepy than one expects from Dean Koontz but still weird.

I also read recently by this author: The Big Dark Sky

The Secret Life of Sunflowers

 Fiction by Marta Molnar

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This story is about Johanna Bogner, the nineteenth-century Dutch woman who married Theo Van Gogh. Apparently she was the one who made sure Vincent Van Gogh's paintings weren't lost to the world. It's fairly common knowledge that Van Gogh's works went unappreciated during his lifetime; Johanna and Theo inherited the (ostensibly worthless) lot of them after Vincent's death. Then Theo himself died and left his wife with the paintings, along with a baby to raise and almost no money. It's amazing that she believed in the paintings' worth enough to expend time and energy getting them displayed.

The story is told through the vehicle of a modern woman called Emery who inherits Johanna's diary. I was very interested in learning about the history in this book, but found the modern part ( a straight romance) less compelling. Still, this was a good novel.

Before the Storm

 Fiction by Diane Chamberlain

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Andy Lockwood is fifteen years old, but he seems younger. This is because he has developmental delays from FASD (fetal alcohol syndrome disorder.) But he still wants to fit in and be a normal teenager; that's why he goes to a youth lock-in at the local church. Then the church catches on fire, and Andy's unusual way of thinking helps him find a way out of the building and help save some of the other kids. Things turn dark, however, when it's discovered that the fire was deliberately set, and Andy is accused of arson.

This was a really good book with great characters. There were several surprises in store as well.

I also read recently by this author: Fire and Rain

After Anna

 Fiction by Lisa Scottoline

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

At the beginning of this book, Dr. Noah Alderman is on trial for the murder of his stepdaughter Anna. There seems to be an awful lot of evidence against him, but he maintains his innocence. Then the story goes back in time a bit to explain what happened before.  

So the first 300 pages went that way: a chapter about the progression of the trial and then a chapter about the backstory: how Anna had unexpectedly come to live with her mother and Noah and had immediately begun stirring up trouble.

The whole setup gave me a bad case of Oh-No-I-Can’t-Look Syndrome**, because Noah and his wife were making glaring mistakes in dealing with Anna’s manipulative tactics. Anna was obviously aiming to set Noah up as the bad guy, and everyone played right into her hands. Still, it didn’t make sense that she’d ended up murdered. 

That is, it didn’t make sense until we got to the twist. After that, the story got really interesting! (finally) I just don’t know why it took us 300 pages to get to the twist; the whole book is less than 400. 

So this was a good book at the end, if you can get through the (long) beginning.

I also read recently by this author: What Happened to the Bennetts

** Oh-No-I-Can't-Look Syndrome

(See The Southern Book Club... by Grady Hendrix)

That's when you know a main character is making a major error in judgement that's going to have huge and terrible consequences.

Local Gone Missing

 Fiction by Fiona Barton

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In the small seaside town of Ebbing, locals resent the influx of new-money transplants and city weekenders. Then there's an outdoor music festival that results in a couple of near-deaths for teenagers of local families, and right after that a man called Charlie Perry disappears.

Detective Inspector Elise King is on a medical leave, but she quickly begins to investigate. She finds that Charlie was known and liked by locals and weekenders alike, as far as everyone says. But it becomes more and more apparent that someone wanted him gone...

I also recently read by this author: The Child

The Forgotten Girls

Subtitled: A Memoir of Friendship and Lost Promise in Rural America

Nonfiction by Monica Potts

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

According to some recent data, the "least educated" of white Americans, particularly women and especially in rural areas, have experienced a significant drop in life expectancy. This author, a reporter, decided to try to investigate the reason why the simple lack of a high school degree could possibly cut off years of living for these people.

Monica Potts grew up in a rural town in the Ozarks, but escaped to the city as an adult. She decided to go back to her hometown of Clinton, Arkansas, to research the lives of people there. This book is the result.

Monica spends much of the book telling the story of Darci, her friend from childhood who stayed in Clinton, and how lack of education and trouble with drug abuse ruined Darci’s life. Monica contrasts her own “successful” life (good career, stable relationships, financial security) with Darci’s “failure” (abusive relationships, jail time, kids in state custody).

Darci’s story is what makes the book interesting (the rest is speculation and pontificating) but it also doesn’t really make the point the author wants to make, in my opinion. (Also it’s a bit smug on Monica’s part.) The author wants to say that Darci could have been “saved”simply by getting more education and leaving the area. 

But people’s lives are so much more complex than that! There are a myriad of factors involved in Darci’s “failed” life, which I have to point out ISN’T OVER! I kept expecting Darci to die at the end of the book, the way Monica talked about her, but she didn’t! (Ooops! Spoiler!) The poor girl wasn’t even forty years old when the story ended, and who in the world is qualified to deem anyone’s entire life a failure, for that matter! 

But I digress. This book was interesting to read, (and obviously invoked quite an emotional reaction from me!) but it didn’t really make much of a case for the life-saving properties of a diploma.