The Drugstore: 1

In this coming of age novel 15-year-old Olivia Stephens works behind the soda fountain in the drugstore of a small town in rural Oklahoma. Obsessed with boys and the self-inflicted drama in her life Livy is oblivious to the fascinating quirky characters who frequent the towns social hub including a wannabe paramour a delusional woman who thinks she is a famous movie star and a 100-year-old Slim Jim and Snickers shop-lifting customer. In addition because Livy likes to stick her nose in where it doesnt belong she along with her grandmother are thrown right into the middle of the towns most notable mystery - one with the most surprising of outcomes. Livys naivety makes for a comical pilgrimage through the inside workings of Southern small-town life and the amusing idiosyncratic and lovable characters that make the place what it is. Only after returning to her hometown as an adult does she realize the gift she was given by being raised in a place that taught her the most valuable of life lessons--that the lowliest are also the loveliest and being different means being blessed.