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This week I read the book Bonfire, by Krysten Ritter. You might recognize her name from her acting work on Veronica Mars, Breaking Bad, Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23, Jessica Jones, and more.  I love her acting work, and wanted to see how she did as a writer. My verdict? It’s pretty good! Not amazing, but most first-time writers struggle to find their voice. I’m not deeply interested in lawyer books; but for sure if you are – this would be a good one to read.

From Amazon:

“It has been ten years since Abby Williams left home and scrubbed away all visible evidence of her small-town roots. Now working as an environmental lawyer in Chicago, she has a thriving career, a modern apartment, and her pick of meaningless one-night stands.

But when a new case takes her back home to Barrens, Indiana, the life Abby painstakingly created begins to crack. Tasked with investigating Optimal Plastics, the town’s most high-profile company and economic heart, Abby begins to find strange connections to Barrens’s biggest scandal from more than a decade ago, involving the popular Kaycee Mitchell and her closest friends—just before Kaycee disappeared for good.

Abby knows the key to solving any case lies in the weak spots, the unanswered questions. But as she tries desperately to find out what really happened to Kaycee, troubling memories begin to resurface and she begins to doubt her own observations. And when she unearths an even more disturbing secret—a ritual called “The Game”—it will threaten reputations, and lives, in the community and risk exposing a darkness that may consume her.

With tantalizing twists, slow-burning suspense, and a remote rural town of just five claustrophobic square miles, Bonfire is a dark exploration of what happens when your past and present collide.”

Check out Spontaneous, by Aaron Starmer!

We love to read books, and to talk about books. Check out our entire series here! Need more book chatting and suggestions in your life? Listen to our Books and Beverages podcast!

I like to read YA books- but they have to be interesting. This book fulfilled that qualification, without a single doubt! I read this over two days – the second evening I stayed up way too late to finish it because I couldn’t put it down. Like some of the other commenters, I did not love the ending – but I’d still read it again because it was so interesting.

Mara, the main character, is a senior in high school. She’s smart and sarcastic – always good things for a protagonist. A kid in her math class suddenly explodes one day – a big shock to everyone. The second kid exploding was also a shock. So was the third kid. By the time a dozen have exploded, the FBI are involved along with all kinds of other individuals and organizations who are trying to figure out how these kids are spontaneously exploding.

From Amazon:

“A TIME magazine Top 10 YA & Children’s Book of 2016!
An ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults selection

With all the perfectly lovely young adult novels out there, you decided to check this one out? It’s got spontaneously combusting teenagers in it, dude. Not the slow burning type either. We’re talking the randomly exploding variety. Seniors in high school just walking along, heading to class, whistling Beyoncé, when—WA-BAM!— they’re suddenly dripping off the lockers.

Is that really something you’re into?

Confession: I’m actually kinda into that too. So, now that we’ve established we’re both thoroughly weird and, I assume, thoroughly open-minded, we can give it shot, right? Let’s at least read the opening chapters of this bad-boy and see if it features some of the more intriguing elements such as…

–       Exploding teenagers (obviously).
–       Hallucinogenic mushrooms.
–       Pyromaniacal boyfriends.
–       Triplet toddlers in powder blue suits.
–       Amur leopards and doomsday preppers.
–       A foul-mouthed female POTUS.
–       Ashtanga yoga.
–       ­Youtube sensations.
–       Self-driving Priuses.
–       Rogue FBI agents.
–       Mad scientists.
–       Homecoming.
–       Spring break.
–       Prom.
–       And … Jennifer Lawrence.

Notice how I put Jennifer Lawrence last. She’s in the book, so it’s not cheating. And hey, if it takes America’s most beloved movie star to sell this thing, then that’s what it takes.

So, in closing: Jennifer Lawrence.”