ArcaMax

My desk drawer is a mess. It’s always a mess. Even after I tidy it up, it reverts to a mess as soon as I close the drawer.

I think it’s because I do things quickly. I move fast and mess things up fast. But even if I slowed down, it would still be a mess, just a mess on slow bake.

My desk is considered communal property in that it sits in ...Read more

Q. My girlfriend and I are moving in together, and while cleaning out her garage, I found a box of photos of her with other guys — except most of the guys are cut out, so it’s basically her with a random torso on a boat, her with a random torso skiing... Do I say something? What’s good ex-etiquette?

A. Ah, the archaeological dig of a ...Read more

Some romances race toward the first kiss. "Only the Small Bones" by C.P. Harris takes the longer road — the one lined with rules that exist for a reason. Do not touch. Do not push. Do not demand words that will not come. Harris opens her tale with urgency, then settles into something more intimate: the hours after crisis, the strange quiet ...Read more

There is a particular silence that follows a fertility appointment. It sits in the car between two people who don’t know what to say. It hums in the background of baby showers and holiday dinners. It lingers in the two-week wait, in the clinic portal notification, in the careful recalculating of hope.

"When Waiting Becomes Life: Encouraging ...Read more

'NORMAL'

Rated R for strong bloody violence, and language.

What it’s about: An interim sheriff discovers a small Minnesota town's violent secret.

The kid attractor factor: This is an action comedy — not for kids.

Good lessons/bad lessons: Never use loaded weapons as decor.

Violence: Extreme bloody violence throughout, shooting, ...Read more

I love a clean car — no trash on the floor, no empty plastic water bottles rolling around, no fossilized fries smashed into floor mats. A clean car makes me happy.

Sometimes, if the car is clean on the inside and the outside, I’m so happy I throw it in park at red lights and car dance like crazy.

Not really. But I’m car dancing on the ...Read more

Q. I just got married to a man with three children. Their mother died two years ago, and we have bonded quite well. Problem is the kids' grandmother -- the children's mother's mother -- seems very jealous and undermines things that I do. She will make appointments for outings directly with the kids that I know nothing about. Or she will show up ...Read more

In his newest novel, Grant Ginder gives the perfect read for 20-somethings, 30-somethings and beyond, and proves to us that friendships may come and go, but the memories never will.

"So Old, So Young" follows a group of six friends over 20 years, as the real world intervenes, adulthood beckons and they struggle to maintain their relationships ...Read more

"Look Twice: Your Guide to Staying Safe in an Unsafe World, Volume I" lands in a steady, practical place. Tim Beard writes like someone who has spent years thinking about risk and then came home to translate that mindset for ordinary life. The result feels less like a lecture and more like a field manual you can carry into Monday morning.

This ...Read more

'YOU, ME & TUSCANY'

Rated PG-13 for some strong language, and sexual material.

What it’s about: A young American woman goes on a spontaneous trip to Italy and falls in love, after many misunderstandings

The kid attractor factor: This rom-com appeals to older audiences, but maybe some appeal for teens.

Good lessons/bad lessons: Book the ...Read more

Q. My ex wants me to give him my friends’ phone numbers so he can call them and arrange playdates with their children when my son is with him. You don’t give people’s phone numbers out without asking them first, and these are my friends. I feel uncomfortable sharing their information, but he says I’m being difficult and preventing our ...Read more

A document detailing our health care expenditures just arrived in the mail.

“Shocking,” I said.

“You mean the cost of health care?” the husband asked.

“No — documentation that we are officially fixer-uppers.”

There it was, right before our eyes. Three months of physical therapy for a back injury from crawling into the far back ...Read more

""Pinky Swear" is another well-crafted story that will have readers on edge as we follow a mother desperately seeking her missing friend and her unborn child."

A baby’s on the way, but the mother goes missing…

Have you ever broken a promise? How about a pinky swear? Alexandra “Lexie” McNeil can’t have children of her own, to the ...Read more

Life is full of choices. A simple twist of fate can send someone towards a winning lottery ticket or into a life filled with fear, confusion and sadness. Life choices can also be a breeding ground for resilience and determination. In the new novel, "Adrift" by author Will Dean, Peggy Jenkins and her son Samson, struggle to make good life choices...Read more