Reviews and Endorsements for Stay Out of That Room

Two girls in silhouette in front of a cracked wall. Stay Out of That Room cover art.

Amazon Customer

Very quick read. Very funny, entertaining and brought back a lot of memories of my own childhood.

Anonymous

Toy Collector

Let’s Find Those Keys“This 300-plus page book is the first in a planned series of historical fiction. It is meant for youngsters over the age of twelve. Aunt Polly relocated to Minnesota from New Mexico in the summer of 1965, and she got her two nieces as indentured servants to help her care for her crumbling Lake Minnetonka mansion. Polly’s requirements had been fulfilled for weeks.

Polly had a lot of restrictions for them to obey, so the sisters weren’t sure the hot Minnetonka boys living next door would be interested in two sheltered south Minneapolis girls enough to make the summer fun. The girls were told to keep out of one room with a locked door, but that is easier said than done. Not only did they find a way to get to visit with the guy’s next door, but the hunt for the keys to the forbidden room revealed family secrets from decades past.

This summer coming-of-age story follows two sisters as they discover family secrets, crushes on boys, an aged aunt, and each other. They discover that nothing in life is ever as it appears. The book contains highly detailed descriptions that thoroughly immerse you in the action and transport you there. It runs smoothly and keeps you interested.”

Jolene Philo

Professional Endorsement

“When weird Great-aunt Polly drags Cindy and Kitty to her crumbling lake house in the 1960s and orders them to stay out of the locked room on the first floor, the girls can’t help themselves. They have to get inside it. Between embarrassing trips to the grocery store, fixing meals to satisfy their great-aunt’s prodigious appetites, and trying to catch the attention of the boys next door, Cindy and Kitty snoop their way into trouble. Stay Out of That Room! is everything a mystery should be and more. Author Clare Bills keeps readers turning pages filled with renegade squirrels, glass eyes, swimsuit malfunctions, a pampered kitty cat, and summer romance. You’ll laugh until you cry when Cindy and Kitty discover Aunt Polly’s secret and see their eccentric, lonely relative with newfound compassion and respect. “
Jolene Stratton Philo, author of See Jane Run! and the rest of the West River Mystery Series

Irene O’Garden

Professional endorsements for Stay Out of That Room

“I so enjoyed this book! In sharp detail (Pez dispensers! Hydrox!) Bills brings to life the bygone world in which many of us came of age. She writes with rich emotional imagination and a grinning way with similes (“earrings dangled like bait on a hook.”) Cindy, her sweet-tart narrator, trembles (literally) on the brink of womanhood, trying to navigate Catholicism, cake and curious cute boys.  As Cindy might say, “Park your keester!” and enjoy an entertaining and evocative read!”
Irene O’Garden– Off-Broadway playwright, poet, author and transplanted Midwesterner

Amazon Customer

As usual Clare makes you feel like you know the characters and are somehow right there with them.
I like the way she takes you back to those childhood years that we all reminisce about. Your inquisitive mind wants to
The aunt in this story reminds you of that one family member that you love but don’t quite like, if that makes sense. I think we all have one in our families.
All in all, another great book by Clare Bills.

Jake

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.

Sue W.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book so engagingly describing life in the 60’s in Minneapolis, my home town. I can vividly picture the setting of Lake Minnetonka and the antics of young teenage girls going to Regina, an all girl school. I was caught laughing at some of the predicaments the girls were caught in, and so relatable to. The book kept me anxious to keep reading. Thanks for helping me “remember when”!

K. Paxton

…keen sense of humor.” I went back to find Clare Bills’s other books.
If you love stories about family secrets, you will adore Stay Out of That Room! By Clare Bills. Or if like me you come from a small family with no sisters, you will love Bills’s keyhole view of a large family of sisters in the 1960s. Stay Out of That Room! Is a summer coming of age story set on a Midwestern lake where two of the sisters learn about family secrets, boy crushes, their aging aunt and each other. They learn that life is never as it appears to be on the surface.
In Stay Out of That Room! Clare Bills addresses timeless and serious topics in a lovely setting with her keen sense of humor. You will almost smell Aunt Polly’s old house and feel the tingle of young love as you watch Cindy and Kitty claim their independence while seeking forbidden family clues and scoring first dates with the boys next door.
Reading this book made me go back and find “Mountains of Trouble,” also by Clare Bills. “Mountains” is set in a more distant time and place, but also addresses timeless struggles of young women trying to weave their ways through difficult situations.

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