Andria’s Comments (group member since Jul 03, 2012)

Andria’s comments from the What's the Name of That Book??? group.

And a good guess, too. :)

Maybe The Last War? I can't find a picture of the cover, but one of the Amazon reviews mentions a scene with rats, and all the reviews I can find mention that it is short and bleak.

I believe it's The Price of Silence

Oh, COOL. This is the first time I've ever seen the author of a "lost" book show up in the discussion thread!

Falling Through Darkness, maybe? I don't know about the scenes you described but it's about a girl dealing with her boyfriend's death through a friendship with an older man (her father's tenant, I think.)

This Stranger, My Father

No problem! Just FYI, there's an edit link next to the thread topic, you can click on that to move your thread into the "solved" or other folders. But one of the moderators will be happy to do it for you, too. :)

Cheryl, you've read it much more recently than I, but isn't there some sort of special ed teacher/therapist that she meets with, that Shannon may have misremembered as psychiatrist?

Will the Real Gertrude Hollings Please Stand Up?

It's mostly about Gertrude coming to terms with her dyslexia, I think, but she does have a rich fantasy life and there is an Olivia the owl, IIRC.

Mudlark by John Sedden?

Maybe The Boys in the Mail Room

I haven't read it, but Right as Rain: A Novel is often suggested as a readalike for The Help and has similar themes, so maybe? Published 2004.

Here's the link:
Last Night I Sang to the Monster

I'll go ahead and add this to our shelves and move the thread to "solved" for Cookie.

I'm glad you figured it out, Trisha! Here's a link to the book:Hard Cash. I'll move this to solved and add the book to our shelves.

Also, for the sake of future searchers looking for this book, the love interest's name is spelled Portia.

Hey Cowboy, Wanna Get Lucky?

or should I say:
Hey! Cowboy! Wanna Get Lucky?!!!!

(author is NPR commentator!!!)

You're welcome!

I agree with Ann, Black and Blue is a good guess. It's well-written, and focuses on the aftermath/healing from abuse, and I think it was a Oprah book club book some years ago, at any rate it was quite popular for a time.

In Lane Three, Alex Archer (which was also published as "Alex" and has a few sequels, is about a teen girl swimmer, trying out for the olympics and (view spoiler)[ her boyfriend dies (hide spoiler)] but I think it's set in New Zealand.

Edit: further Google Books searching confirms the boyfriend's name was Andy and gave her a necklace she called "Andy's tear."

Some other authors to check out if none of the above pan out:

Hila Colman
Ellen Conford
Stella Pevsner
Paula Danziger

It's Not What You Expect, maybe?

edit: never mind, I don't think that's it. That has twins whose parents separate. But maybe something else by Norma Klein?