“Grave Girl”

So many characters. Like jigsaw pieces floating in my head…trying to fit…looking for a solution.

A kidnapped millionaire. An NFL prospect. A private investigator. An ex-gang banger. A sheriff with Aspergers.  A burglary ring. A dead ex-con. An overbearing mother. AND a lot of baggage!!

How do we drive out the demons that haunt us? Does it help to throw ourselves headlong into work? Therapy? Avoiding relationships?  Avoiding confrontation? How do these demons threaten our self worth? How do we let others in to help?

Pieces in the puzzle coming together. Common threads. Community. Family. 

This is the first installment in a series of eight books by Dan Padavona.

“The Grass Harp”

 

I think I must have missed something… An impressionable pre-teen. Two aging sisters. A BFF that stuffs her mouth with cotton. A “good ole boy.”  A judge. A sheriff. A grifter. A free love gypsy with 15 children.

Trapped.

Trapped in relationships. Trapped by their own limitations. Trapped by their lack of empathy. Trapped by social conventions.

Hmmm, maybe I understood more than I thought…

“And Then There’s Margaret”

 

“A daughter is a daughter, all her life. A son is a son ‘til he takes a wife.”

 -Irish proverb

I love my mother-in-law. If anything were ever to happen to my relationship with her son, she would take me in, in a heartbeat (or at least that’s what she’s always said). I have two daughter-in-laws…one is like a daughter to me, the other is rather aloof. I wonder how they would describe me as a mother-in-law?

Being on both sides of this relationship, I had a hard time finding the laugh-out-loud moments in this novel. I found Allison to be selfish and a little self-centered. I know from life that there is a reason behind every behavior (20+ years of teaching middle school taught me that). Whether we realize it or not, we don’t arbitrarily react…there is always a reason. Knowing that, I knew that Margaret had her reasons for her behavior.

Point of view. Perspective. Communication. Understanding. Once we look deeper. Listen more completely. Ask the hard questions. Show compassion. Then, we begin to understand. 

“Monster”

Mary Wollstoncraft Godwin Shelley.

That about says it all, right? But what led her to write her horror novel, Frankenstein? How does her relationship with her philosopher father affect her decisions as a teen? How does her biological mother’s writing about feminism affect her moral compass? Education. Incest. Free love. Jealousy. Authorship. Family. Grief. Challenges.

As teenagers we pick and choose what it is we like about our parents' ideas about life. We morph them into our own ideas. We base our future lives on their teachings. Then we look to others who share our ideas. We plan a future. An identity. We work towards achieving that goal.

Then…a dare sets your course. 

Mary Shelley was many things. Complicated. Loving. Stubborn. Smart. Persistent. Jealous. Accommodating. Patient. Brilliant.

More thoughts on books and stuff at mytossiecup.blogspot.com

“The Maid”

I never thought of the relationship between housekeeping at a hotel with the guests as intimate. But, I suppose it is. They can peek at your underwear, smell your pillow, and create a snapshot of your life by emptying your trash. So, what does one do with all that information when they stumble upon a murder? Who better to question than housekeeping for the details of your life? What if that intimate relationship gets in the way of the truth? 

Quirky characters that I loved. Manipulative characters that I hated. Hardships. Friendships. Misunderstandings. A great plot twist.Vigilante justice. Grandmother's roadmap. Love.

More thoughts on books and stuff at mytossiecup.blogspot.com