Some authors, like some company, are enchanting in small doses and exhausting in big lumps. J. California Cooper is one such writer. In short doses, her confidential, back-porch style of writing is flattering, like a neighborhood friend letting you in on a secret. So Wild Stars Seeking Midnight Suns is a perfect display of Cooper at her best: brief, bright, and friendly. A typical story, “As Time Goes By,” begins “This story happened in this small town to a friend of mine….”. You can practically hear the porch chairs scoot closer together.

Too, in small doses, Cooper’s constant references to the Will of God feel like narrative asides instead of narrative anvils. It’s easy to accept a little front-porch preaching from the woman telling you about her friend she grew up with - you know, the pretty one - rather than a lot of distant advice from a third-person narrator.

Cooper’s stories are never complicated, focusing on simple, familiar morals that nonetheless seem to need repeating for some people. Don’t look for happiness in another person. Don’t mistake sex for love. Don’t mistake money for success. Don’t let fear keep you from a good thing, or push you into a bad one.

Don’t go to a nightclub after church and get involved in an orgy.

Okay, that last one is probably not useful too often. But when it is relevant, you’d do well to listen to J.California Cooper’s warning, because that sort of thing always ends in tears.

But most of the tales end in smiles, or at least in some enlightenment and some chance of hope. If people are led astray by bad choices and lack of faith, well, there’s at least the chance that good choices might right them again. There are precious few midnight suns, but with a little guidance, a few wild stars might find them.