Amy Grant – Unguarded

★★★★☆?

It’s difficult for me to assign a star rating to this title because it’s been in my life almost as long as I have.

I first bought this LP at The Mall of Memphis when I was 5 (or rather, my dad did, and I put my name on the “from” label on my mom’s Christmas gift). I didn’t know anything about this album or artist except the cover was frickin’ RAD, and who wouldn’t want to get this as a present? My dad, I guess, shrugged his shoulders and let me go through with it. Maybe he knew who Amy Grant was and thought it was a decent selection. Anyway, thank you, Dad. It’s a memory I love.

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My Best Friend’s Exorcism – Grady Hendrix

★★★★★

It’s the 80s, and there’s so much of it. Abby invites everyone in school to her birthday party at the roller rink, and only one person, Gretchen, shows up. Gretchen gives a disappointing present, but the two girls become best friends. We follow them through the grades, the boys, the catty friends, until a small group of them try some drugs, try to go skinny dipping, and Gretchen gets lost in the woods. She comes back with maybe some PTSD, and she gets worse before she gets better. Stops bathing. Stops changing her clothes. Stops being normal. Everyone’s worried, but the more 

Abby tries to get to the bottom of what happened and how she can help her friend, everyone turns on her instead. Why is Abby spreading lies, they ask? Why is Abby being such a bad influence? Abby is surely the reason behind Gretchen’s downward spiral, and we don’t want our daughter associating with her anymore. If it’s not Abby . . .

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