Lies Between Us (YA chiller)

     When it comes to authoring YA chillers, Jessica Goodman is in a class of her own. She has the ability to create complex characters with hidden desires and motives complicating even their most intimate relationships. The drama rises from their far from perfect personalities and interactions. Her latest masterpiece, Lies Between Us, perfectly illustrates this dynamic. 

     The affluent Gold sisters--Lucy, Millie, and Frankie lead a seemingly perfect life in their beachfront island mansion. Their best friends, the Silver brothers--Ethan, Trevor, and Alex--live next door and are like family. There's very little crime and a deep sense of security in their sheltered community. At the start of what promises to be another idyllic summer the girls' most pressing concern seems to be the impending departure of Lucy and Ethan for college. 

     But nothing is as picture perfect as it seems on the surface. It turns out that the Gold girls have some pretty serious secrets that have the potential to mess things up. Lucy and Ethan have been planning to go to college together as the next step in their relationship. Lucy, however, has chosen a further away college. She's not sure she wants what Ethan has to offer. She also isn't sure when she'll tell him. Millie, meanwhile, is seriously and secretly coveting Ethan. Little sister Frankie seems to be channeling Nancy Drew, digging up the dirt on quite a few people...

     ...and there's plenty of dirt to dig up. Seems like the sisters aren't the only ones with closely guarded secrets.

     The catalyst that really sets the narrative in motion happens on the heels of a late night party thrown by Ethan's best friend, Billy. Billy disappears and is found dead in the ocean at the beach where Ethan and Millie are on life guard duty. His death doesn't seem to be due to simple drowning. There's evidence of foul play.

     Other than Ethan, most people didn't like Billy. There are plenty of people with motive and opportunity, even in his family. 

     The police investigating Billy's death are being totally inept. Frankie is in full Nancy Drew mode, determined to solve the case despite admonitions to leave the detective work to the professionals. And everyone is clinging more tightly to their secrets. 

     Can you deduce the identity of Billy's killer before Goodman reveals it. I have to admit I couldn't. 

On a purrrsonal note, we celebrated 🥳 🎉 🎊 🍾 Fathers Day on Saturday. It was the most perfect day imaginable. Katie and Adam came up from Southern Maine. They, Eugene, Amber, Brian, and I went yard saling and got great finds. My favorites were butterflies 🦋 print Vans high tops, an Annabelle dress for Halloween, a cat Christmas sweater, a Hello Kitty and Friends hoodie, and darling rain boots. Then Katie, Adam, Eugene, and I went to Route 1A Relics, an amazing 3 floor antique store. It was Katie and Adam's first time there and they loved it. I found 3 Squishmallows Eugene picked up the tab for. Katie treated us all to a scrumptious subs and French fries lunch. Then we explored an antique and book store housed in what used to be an industrial chicken coop. I actually found 5 YA books which was very fortunate because that night I ran out of library books. Then we went to an ice cream 🍦 😋 place. I remembered Dr. Teddy instructing me to decide what foods I missed the most and now and then have a small portion. Ice cream tops my list. With my little dish of sea salt caramel I was in seventh heaven. The perfect ending for a perfect day.

A great big shout out goes out to Eugene, our children's wonderful father who is also the love of my life. 

Jules Hathaway 

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Banana 🍌 bread baked from scratch

When my son-in-law, Brian, gave Eugene a bunch of bananas Saturday I knew just what I'd use some of them for. Now Eugene has a surprise to come home to. Of all the baking recipes that I have it's my absolute favorite. Doesn't it look yummy 😋 😍 maybe even professional?

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Me at last week's vigil

Don't you love the flower crown? Bailey and Cam gave me it. When I was a teen people called us flower 🌼 🌸 children. I guess I haven't changed. What sometimes scares me is that what we're protesting seems to have gotten worse if anything. War: more deadly technologies and weapons. Environmental destruction: rapidly escalating. Inequalities: widening. And now there's book banning, curriculum censorship and so much more. Sometimes I wonder if things will ever change for the better. But I'm in the fight for as long as possible, especially since I brought children into this world. 

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Flowers

This little beauty self propagated from last year. 

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Flowers

Here's another one. 

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Flowers

One of the flowers I planted in my garden. 

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America, U. S. A (adult nonfiction)

     I'm not really a fan of July 4th commemorating. Sure, I like my sister-in-law's barbecue. When the kids were still at home I enjoyed the special family time. I'd be lying if I claimed to not like fireworks. But the premise of the whole thing--bogus AF. You don't claim to be creating a nation dedicated to the premise that all men are created equal while proudly practicing land theft, genocide, and enslavement with its attendant evils. The annual Disneyficatation of our nation's history leaves me cold. And big year celebrations leave me especially cold. I was around for the Bicentennial. I saw how much energy and time was put into presenting a ruthlessly curated version of our origins to the world. 

     This year, with the White House  incumberance (not a misspelling) running the show I am really apprehensive. Imagine my delight when I learned that a renowned scholar had written a whole book addressing the issue. Eddie S. Glaude Jr.'s America, U. S. A.: How Race Shadows The Nation's Anniversaries is a brilliant revelation of the huge gaps between the nation we celebrate and the nation we actually inhabit at different points in time. 

     Glaude's theory gets right to the heart of the matter:

     "American double consciousness is the consequence of a nation that defines itself with the foundational principle of the equality of men and, yet, holds others as chattel or resigns them to second-class status...It is the split that comes with the American promise and contempt for that promise--warring ideals, from the beginning, that have threatened and continue to threaten to the tear the nation apart."

     In other words America is either a nation for all or a whites only nation. People are usually fighting over which it is and should be. Sometimes whites try to do better or look like we do better for BIPOC. But when we tire of trying we can lash out in pretty vicious ways. When an event is coming up that will turn the attention of the world on America--say a milestone anniversary--those in charge will demand consensus on the shining light on the hill narrative, making sure people with legit grievances are not seen or heard.

     Our Centennial came close on the heels of the Civil War. Slavery had been outlawed. Blacks were voting and even getting elected to offices. Didn't that rile a lot of whites! Not to mention whites on both sides of the Mason Dixon Line were getting tired of Reconstruction. Whole lot of violence being committed by those angry whites. Well the Centennial was focused on the beauty of the North and the South reuniting after a bloody civil war. The plight of the nation's blacks was swept under the rug. 

     The Sesquicentennial came right in the middle of the roaring twenties. A world war and a global pandemic were over. A whole lot of invention and innovation were going on. But there was something sinister afoot. The film Birth of a Nation had rekindled white race paranoia, enabling the KKK to go mainstream and become hugely popular, even in Maine. Immigration restrictions on "certain racial types" became the law of the land and eugenics its secular religion, the better to keep the undesirables from taking over the nation...

     ...See any resemblance to our times?...

     ...And while all that was going down President Coolidge was reassuring the world that whatever crisis or conflict America faced its citizens could look back to its birth for the solution.  "It was not only the principles declared, but the fact that therewith a new nation was born founded upon those principles and which from that time forth in its development has actually maintained those principles, that makes this pronouncement an incomparable event in the history of government."

     Glaude does due diligence for each anniversary including the one we're stuck in now. I'm really impressed with the breadth and depth of his scholarship and the passion and urgency he brings to the topic.

     If you, like me, are not quite sold on the semiquincentennial as cause for unquestioning celebration most definitely put America, U. S. A. on your summer reading list. 

On a purrrsonal note, it's been a really good week. Tuesday Bailey, Cam, and I had a picnic at Orono Community Garden. The weather was purrrfect. I showed them the gardens and they were really impressed. Later I took pictures for the children's garden and volunteered in the community garden. Wednesday I participated in the weekly vigil. I wore the flower 🌼 🌸 crown Bailey gave me. I had a new sign I made: HONK IF YOU WANT PEACE. We  had a record 164 honks. Before our record was 112.

A great big shout out goes out to Bailey, Cam, gardeners big and small, and the faithful vigil crew.

Jules Hathaway 

     

     

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