Push the Envelope

Finished July 27

Push the Envelope by Rochelle Paige

This new adult novel is focused on college-aged Alexa, and is the first in a series focused on her and her friends. Alexa grew up in this college town, raised by her widowed father. He is a pilot and so is Alexa, who is continuing to gain more flying credentials as well as studying business at college to prepare to grow and eventually take on her father's private plane business. She has recently come up with a new gimmick to get bookings, a "Mile High" flight service, where she has short flights that return to the same airport, allowing amorous couples to add some spice to their love life.

Alexa has had a serious boyfriend in the past, but when he cheated and started stalking her when she dumped him, she decided to take some time away from dating. Her best friend Aubrey is very much into the dating scene, not ready for a serious relationship. 

Alexa's father wanted her to more fully experience the college life, so she and Aubrey are in a dorm apartment with a couple of other girls. Aubrey's older brother, Jackson, is a great guy and played a big role protecting her when her earlier relationship became troublesome. Alexa thinks of him as a big brother, which I understood, but would have liked to develop into something else. 

Instead, Alexa is drawn to a newly transferred student in the same fraternity house as Jackson, Drake. Drake has a reputation as a smooth talker and casual dater, not what Alexa is looking for in a relationship, but her pursues her strongly, and the chemistry between them is strong. 

Despite this, I really didn't like Drake. He seldom calls Alexa by her name, calling her 'babe' a lot, which felt to me that he didn't see her as her own person. He was also very possessive and jealous, talking about her like she was property. He seemed to feel his wealth should get him whatever he wanted. The dialogue in the book felt unnatural and stilted or formulaic, and I had a hard time getting through it. 

The whole relationship felt very focused on sex and less about the people, and the characters lacked any depth. I feel there are much better reads for the in the new adult genre which depict more healthy relationships. 

If We Had Known

Finished January 22

If We Had Known by Elise Juska

This novel is set around a shooting in a small college town in Maine. The shooting occurs in a mall and the shooter is a recent graduate of the college. Maggie Daley recognizes the name of the shooter, Nathan Dugan, as a former student. She teaches English composition a required course that many of her fellow teachers resented because of the challenge of teaching students who didn't want to take English. But Maggie is an enthusiastic teacher who loved the challenge. The students wrote papers, shared them in class, and talked about them with each other. In many cases the topics were deeply personal and the experience was a meaningful one in their lives. Maggie loves her job and really enjoys getting the students enthused about writing about something important to them. After Maggie's marriage ended she begin seeing Richard, another teacher at the college, but he still lives with his wife even though he says their marriage is over. Because he is worried about his wife's mental health, he and Maggie have kept their relationship secret. 

While Maggie is at the center of the story, she is not the only voice here. Another is the voice of her daughter Anna, who is just about to leave for college herself. Maggie and her husband Tom divorced and Anna hasn't been taking it well. Anna has a history of anxiety issues that began a few years ago and that this event is somewhat triggering for. As Anna leaves home, and adjusts to college life, she finds a good friend in her roommate, but soon is triggered in another way by someone new in her life and finds herself struggling again.

A third voice in the story is Suzanne, Richard's wife, who can see that Richard is pulling away from her and suspects that he is having an affair. She had a brief contact with one of the shooting victims and finds herself reacting to the news with a lot of emotion. We see as she discovers who Richard is seeing and takes some action against Maggie. 

Another voice in this book is Luke Finch, who was in Maggie's class at the same time as Nathan. For some reason he doesn't fully understand himself, Luke posts on Facebook about his memories of Nathan and then is taken aback when the post goes viral. People start responding to it from all over, and Luke has a variety of reactions to it. Luke is living at home, working in a donut shop and dreaming of a different life. His sudden fame has him reacting, but not always in a way that is helpful for him.

As these four people try to move on with their lives, but find themselves connected in a variety of ways, we see how this terrible event has changed their circumstance so their lives won't be the same. 

Maggie struggles to figure out whether she should have or could have noticed that this young man would do something so awful and tried to help him. She isn't sure of her ability to connect with the students anymore and we see her become more and more isolated. With Anna at college, she is alone, and she cuts off most of the world. 

This is a book that looks at our connectedness to others and what our responsibility to each other is in a larger way. These four people react in different ways, some of them harmful to others, some harmful to themselves, as they try to figure out how to move forward from in their own lives. 

A gripping story. 

Such a Quiet Place

Finished February 21

Such a Quiet Place by Megan Miranda

This suspense novel takes place in Hollow's Edge, a college town somewhere in the northeastern United States. Harper Nash has lived in the community for several years, first with her fiance Aidan, and then after he left her, with a younger woman, Ruby Fletcher. Ruby's dad had retired and moved away and she needed a place to stay. A year and a half before this story starts, Harper's next door neighbours, Brandon and Fiona Truett were found dead in their home, victims of carbon monoxide poisoning. Since their detector was missing, foul play was suspected, and things got very tense. After a short trial, Ruby was found guilty of their murder. But her conviction has now been overturned and Ruby is back. Back in the neighbourhood and back in Harper's house. Harper isn't sure why, it isn't like her job is still there, and Harper disposed of most of her stuff after the conviction, but she isn't the type of woman to ask Ruby to leave, and so she does nothing about it.

As Ruby makes herself at home, talking to people, borrowing Harper's clothes and car, and beginning to ask questions. Questions about what other people were doing that night. When it becomes clear that others have secrets that they aren't telling about that time, things get very tense. Harper is in the middle of things and she too begins asking question. Questions about what people saw, about who they told, about what security cameras picked up and didn't pick up. And then she starts getting threatening notes, and she realizes that she must step outside her comfort zone and face the issues that underlie the tension.

This is a story of a community where everyone seems to know everyone, but they don't know anything beyond the surface. A story where Harper has already faced betrayal and lost friends. Harper is a woman who tries to not make waves, who avoids conflict, and she must act in ways she isn't entirely comfortable with to find the truth. A very interesting story of community and secrets.