Set in a boarding school in Sonoma with rich kids and scholarship kids, this fiction reminds us of our own classes and classmates, and the small triumphs and hurts which made up young lives. Boredom and struggles, study, and success. ROOM AND BOARD await a dorm mother taking on the Vallejo girls’ dorm, who at times neglects her job. Former Manhattan publicist Gillian Brodie arrives back at the school she’d attended, but unfortunately despite some good times, her memories are not happy.   Glen Ellen Academy has changed. Girls look up everyone on Google. Gillian catered to the wrong client in the “me too” controversy, unknowingly defending someone who didn’t have a reputation left to lose. She is part of the Twitter record, and her well-bred students can read every word.   I found that it can be hard to keep track of whether it’s memory or present – if this was filmed it might be easier to understand using visual flashbacks. The school serves both boys and girls, but they are in separate dorms, and the atmosphere gets claustrophobic with the same staff at the same meals and talks. California wine country beckons. I really enjoyed seeing the area through Gillian’s eyes, while she rekindles a friendship with a local winemaker. At school her own friends were Miranda and handsome boy Aiden Lloyd; now Aiden has a winery, a pickup, and a daughter called Rainbow attending Glen Ellen. Other students include bright-eyed Bunny Winthrop and the shy twins with a musical flair, Farrah, and Freddy.    I have my reservations about the way Gillian handles quite a lot of issues. But this is the first time she hasn’t been her own boss in many years, and she’s not used to being physically responsible for many young adults. Also notable is how people just drop Gillian once she is away from Manhattan. The story by Miriam Parker will interest and amuse many readers and remind us to take stock of what we have done with our lives since leaving school. While this standalone ROOM AND BOARD is not simply a romance, it will suit women better than men and has a definite romantic element.