John Clark checking in for the month where darkness causes grown men to tremble. There’s more truth in that statement than most might realize. Once hunting season is in the rear view mirror, and there’s insufficient ice to fish through, many middle aged and older guys are faced with more dark hours than light. Fancy light bulbs and football games on big screen TVs only go so far in alleviating this prevalent, but seldom discussed problem.

Fortunately, I don’t suffer from this. I had to skip hunting thanks to balance issues, and one football game a week (The Pats of course) is an adequate fix for me. Reading and immersion in an extremely challenging computer game-Elden Ring, keep me mentally stable, or as stable as my devious mind allows.

I have slowed down on reading as well as reviewing books, a product of the aging process I suspect, but will still hit 150 books by the end of the year. Two I read recently stand out, but for completely different reasons. Both are young adult, the genre I still prefer most of the time.

Wish You Were Her by Elle McNicoll, Wednesday Books 2025, is unique in that both main characters are autistic. Allegra is eighteen and her growing fame as an actress is becoming too much. She decides to take a summer off and stay in the remote town of Lake Pristine. Her father runs a book shop there and is very involved in a literary festival which is the highlight of the season.

Jonah works for her father and his neurodivergence helps him keep the shop running by creating displays, marking off orders as they come in, and being extremely knowledgeable about many books. He expects to work there forever.

Their connection begins innocently enough when she sends an email to his shop account, inquiring about what the summer in town is like, but does not identify herself. When they meet, Jonah is verbally hostile because his immediate attraction to her is completely unfamiliar territory. Allegra is puzzled and hurt by this seeming to come out of nowhere attitude. Meanwhile they continue emailing each other, neither realizing who is receiving what they send.

Add in that Allegra mistakenly believes it’s the other young man in the shop who sends them, there is jealousy among the local girls, reporters from the tabloids are stalking her, and everyone’s growing worry about the festival failing when the biggest author pulls ou.

Watching the two young people ever so slowly realize what was hostility really was navigating unfamiliar territory, coupled with additional supporting townspeople, and a very satisfying conclusion make this a dandy read. It’s also a very accurate portrayal of how neurodiverse people face a world like ours and we sure as hell need more of this kind of fiction.

How Girls Are Made by Mindy McGinnis, Harper 2025, came out last month and I immediately ordered a copy. Mindy is an author I never fail to read. This time, she has written a book that the word unsettling barely begins to describe.

It opens thusly: “Spring begins with a funeral. High heels sink into wet earth, dragging their owners closer to the dead.”

Readers soon realize that one of the three girls who comprise the main characters has died. Is it Fallon? Is it Shelby? Is it Jobie? The story line is woven so deftly I didn’t figure out who died until it happened. Fallon is a type A worrier who freaks when she realizes her younger sister has no clue about sex. Shelby is a tough girl who fights, hoping to get a contract with a line of athletic ware and go pro, but gets her nose broken by her boyfriend when she confronts him at school for sending nude pictures to another girl. Jobie is Fallon’s long time friend, but worries almost constantly about being irrelevant.

When Fallon decides she needs to do something about her sister’s ignorance and realizes just how many teens of both sexes have little or misinformation, she starts a group at the local community center under the guise of it being a self defense club. Shelby and Jobie join in and before anyone realizes how out of control it will get, they’ve added an anonymous online forum that they believe is hack proof since they’re running it through a VPN.

Meanwhile, Shelby is slowly being reeled in by a new boy at school who is a master manipulator and has her beyond confused as well as losing her self-confidence.

Jobie is on her way down a different rabbit hole when she’s enticed to join a sketchy online group.

The book takes readers through the three girls’ experiences as they’re pulled into some of the worst realities teen girls face these days. Mindy doesn’t sugar coat any of what happens, leaving the reader cringing time after time as each of the three main characters heads toward personal disaster. It’s NOT a book for the faint of heart, but reflects just how dark and evil today’s world can be for unwary teens regardless of gender.