Dani Noir

Author: Nova Ren Suma

First line: A slow fade-in on my life: There's this little mountain town, smack between two long highways that go nowhere in either direction.

Why you should read this book: Were she a femme fatale in an old black-and-white movie, Danielle Callanzano knows exactly how the light would hit her face and how her stiletto heels would echo in the darkness, but the unfortunate truth is that Dani's a lonely teenager in platform sneakers who can't get any bars on her cell phone, and doesn't get calls or even texts when she does manage to find a signal. Her father lied and cheated and left her mother for another woman, so she's never going to forgive him, and when she suspects her old babysitter's new boyfriend of subterfuge, she's determined to investigate. In her bright, modern debut novel, the author makes deep cuts into the meat of her heroine's motivations, demanding, finally, honesty and compassion in a world filled with selfish deception.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You've learned it's best to mind your own business.