Nothing to See Here
By: Kevin Wilson
Imagine being down on your luck when an old-friend offers you a sweet deal. Lots of money put in your bank account, clothes and goods all on the very nice house you’re going to get to live in rent free and all you have to do is take care of two traumatized children.
So what’s the catch?
Well those children tend to catch on fire when their emotions get the better of them. It doesn’t hurt them but it certainly might hurt you and cause lots and lots of property damage.
Hence the choice Lillian makes. Her life is stuck in the mud when her old friend Madison gets in touch. Madison is beautiful, smart, rich on her own and married to a politician whose looking at a chance to become even more powerful.
Save for those pesky, pesky fire-fueled kids from his first marriage. Lillian agrees… cause how hard can it be really?
Bessie and Roland aren’t just fire-powered but they’ve been very hurt by their parents and bounced around to people who are incapable of taking care of them. They don’t trust Lillian, who despite her good intentions, perhaps isn’t the best parental figure either. Yet all three quickly realize they’re in pretty desperate situations here.
This book was a pleasant surprise. It’s a fun, quick read and very good for a reading slump! I liked all the characters and Madison and Lillian’s friendship was nice and messy and complex. And that’s basically what Nothing to See Here brilliant boils down to… Despite its strange premise it’s about messy people with messy histories (including the children), and coming to terms with the people and the trauma that makes you.
Nothing to See Here is good for a reading slump breaker and a good pick for the holidays as it’s quiet but pretty darned addictive.
The only issue I had is it gets to the point where the solution to everyone’s problems is super obvious to the reader but not so much the characters. I wound up yelling more than a few times, “Why don’t you just…?”
Recommend: Yes.