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House of Girls #1
Stay Out of That Room
In the summer of 1965, disaster struck when, like a migrating goose, our wackadoodle Great Aunt Polly arrived from New Mexico with her signature eye patch matching the enormous turquoise muumuu barely stretching over her bulk. Since our family had a tradition of helping out its elderly relatives, they assigned Kitty and me to stay at her ancient crumbling mansion on lake Minnetonka. Our job was to work for Aunt Polly, whatever that meant.
Cooking, cleaning, and running errands were alright. Even the arduous task of prying Aunt Polly out of her antique automobile was not so bad. But her rules were endless. Could she expect us to obey them all? "Stay out of that room!" She said about the house's one locked door. That was an invitation to misbehavior, indeed!
We tried to keep boredom at bay by other means. For instance, we managed to catch the eyes of the hunky guys next door. But as two sheltered girls from South Minneapolis, we soon felt out of place among the trendy sophisticates of Lake Minnetonka. So, we had no choice but to search for keys to the forbidden room where we unlocked family secrets from decades past.
Our coming-of-age story will make you giggle, cringe, squirm, and gasp. If you secretly wish to visit the 1960s, then Stay Out of That Room is for you.
(Stay Out of That Room is book 1 in the House of Girls series based on the crazy adventures of a family with eight daughters.)
Cooking, cleaning, and running errands were alright. Even the arduous task of prying Aunt Polly out of her antique automobile was not so bad. But her rules were endless. Could she expect us to obey them all? "Stay out of that room!" She said about the house's one locked door. That was an invitation to misbehavior, indeed!
We tried to keep boredom at bay by other means. For instance, we managed to catch the eyes of the hunky guys next door. But as two sheltered girls from South Minneapolis, we soon felt out of place among the trendy sophisticates of Lake Minnetonka. So, we had no choice but to search for keys to the forbidden room where we unlocked family secrets from decades past.
Our coming-of-age story will make you giggle, cringe, squirm, and gasp. If you secretly wish to visit the 1960s, then Stay Out of That Room is for you.
(Stay Out of That Room is book 1 in the House of Girls series based on the crazy adventures of a family with eight daughters.)
- GenresFiction
332 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 16, 2023
8 people are currently reading
29 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 17, 2023
A delightfully comical read!! Clare Bills writes a hilarious and witty coming-of-age story of a young girl growing up in the suburbs of Minneapolis. The finely detailed descriptions place you in the moment, and make it impossible not to imagine yourself there with Cindy and her sister as they care for her elderly, eccentric aunt and go on their summer adventures. I found myself flying through the pages, making it hard to put down.
July 20, 2023
I loved this book about two of eight sisters who spend several weeks taking care of their great aunt on Lake Minnetonka. Since I live in Minneapolis, MN, I enjoyed the local setting. The description of first love in the 1960s including song titles, slang and culture of that time is perfect. I laughed out loud and relived many of my memories from my own youth. Sweet, funny read that I loved!
January 13, 2025
i would say this is a great memoir because it was real but she wrote it like it was mix of real and fictional.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews