WILDLAND

March - Wildland by Rebecca Hodge.

I attended a writing class with Rebecca Hodge on Sullivan’s Island, so I was eager to get my hands on her debut novel when it came out in February.

I whipped through the pages like the wildfire that ripped through the parched North Carolina mountains.

Three rental homes bring together Kat, Malcolm and his son Nirav, Scott and his daughter Lily.

Kat’s plan was to getaway to the mountains for a quiet retreat to contemplate her options for treating, or not treating, the recurrence of her cancer. Nothing goes the way she planned. She’s not even unpacked before she is confronted with neighbors, their children, a surprise visit from her daughter and dogs. Kat is not a dog person. She’s not really an outdoorsy person either.

But when the wildfire cuts off the only road out and Kat is trapped with the two children and two dogs, she learns that she is more capable than she ever imagined and stronger than she knew. Through the decisions, setbacks, and rescue attempts by the neighbors, we learn that our biases toward others and our beliefs about ourselves, our strengths and our weaknesses don’t rule the outcome.

Wildland gives us characters we love and one’s we might root for even when they aren’t the most loveable. And when Kat and the children, the rescuers and the dispatcher panic, we turn the pages with the same sense of urgency. You can feel the heat and smell the smoke in this survival story.

Never Have I Ever

February - Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson

This was the first book I have read by Joshilyn Jackson, but I will definitely read another. My friend, author, and book coach, Shelia Athens recommended her and I was not disappointed.

Never Have I Ever opens with a neighborhood book club meeting. It was supposed to be another typical boring little meeting. Charlotte started the club and she always picked the titles and ran the meeting like … a meeting. There was an agenda, and printed out questions, and she could be so judgmental if you admitted you hadn’t read the book.

But then came Roux. She was the new neighbor living in the rental house down the street. She walked in with her own agenda and took over. She was pouring drinks like it was her house and her liquor. They didn’t even talk about the book.

Charlotte was so disappointed, and pregnant and left early. Amy walked Charlotte out and when she returned Roux had everybody playing a game that she referred to as Never Have I Ever for adults.

The remaining book club ladies had way too much to drink and were revealing way too much information. Amy will never be able to look at Panda in the same way. (You can’t unhear these things.)

Amy wants the game to end quickly because she doesn’t want to reveal her own dark secrets, but Roux seems to hint that she already knows them. But that seems impossible.

Joshilyn Jackson gives Amy a job as a SCUBA instructor so in addition to a great story, the reader gets an inside look into deep sea diving. Never Have I Ever is a high stakes page-turner where the stakes just keep getting higher.

The Dutch House

January - The Dutch House by Anne Patchett.

My FAB book club chose this novel for our January read. FAB stands for Food And Books, though we admit that it probably should be FWAB because there is usually wine. Lots of people were doing Dry January this year so the discussion was sober, but everybody loved the book.

Ann Patchett delivers another compelling read in The Dutch House. Family. Relationships. It’s complicated. She pulls you into the lives of Danny and Maeve like stepping into a dream. We travel through time as if wandering through the Dutch House opening a door on the history of their childhood and then switching to episodes of them navigating the world as adults.

Maeve and Danny are the orphans lost in the woods and the evil step mother has locked them out of the house and given the step sisters all of the things that should have rightfully been theirs. We want to know what happens in the Dutch House and the lives of the people that lived and worked there.

Danny tells the story of his family with compassion but also a level of distance. He holds himself apart from the telling the same way he distances himself from his relationships. He notices, if only in retrospect, the way he doesn’t ask about the lives of others, how he accepts the way people in his life care for him and he acknowledges that he lacks reciprocating interest. Danny is a man of his time and upbringing. He is a white man of privilege with a sense of entitlement and that success is his for the taking, but he is a character we can empathize with. We see his pain and struggle and we feel that we know him.

The Dutch House explores our connections to both places and people. It looks at our inability to sever those ties even when we should and it reflects the way our childhood lingers and impacts our decisions as adults. It is an enjoyable, thought provoking read.