The Goodbye Year: a novel by Kaira Rouda. Tempe: Spark Press, 2016. 279 pages ****
Five families are preparing to send their senior to college next year, this is their story. Starting in Sept and ending on December 24th, it is told from the point of view of the student and their parents. It is a universal story of acceptance, love, peer pressure, and conformity. The fallacy of a perfect life as seen through the eyes of their friends demonstrates the basic truth that no one has it all. Each couple has a crisis in their marriage and a vested interest in where their child goes to college. Looking ahead and anticipating an "empty nest" brings previously ignored or hidden issues in the marriage out in the open.
Rouda has captured the high school senior angst and the "empty nest" anxiety that plagues many parents. Telling the story from many points of view is engaging and allows for the various reactions to the impending changes. Parents will be able to identify with the conflicting feelings of pride and frustration. An excellent novel for discussion and will be a favorite for Book Clubs.
Five families are preparing to send their senior to college next year, this is their story. Starting in Sept and ending on December 24th, it is told from the point of view of the student and their parents. It is a universal story of acceptance, love, peer pressure, and conformity. The fallacy of a perfect life as seen through the eyes of their friends demonstrates the basic truth that no one has it all. Each couple has a crisis in their marriage and a vested interest in where their child goes to college. Looking ahead and anticipating an "empty nest" brings previously ignored or hidden issues in the marriage out in the open.
Rouda has captured the high school senior angst and the "empty nest" anxiety that plagues many parents. Telling the story from many points of view is engaging and allows for the various reactions to the impending changes. Parents will be able to identify with the conflicting feelings of pride and frustration. An excellent novel for discussion and will be a favorite for Book Clubs.
I received an Advance Reader Copy from BookSparks for a review.
Kaira Rouda is a USA Today bestselling, multiple award-winning author of contemporary fiction and sexy modern romance novels that sparkle with humor and heart. Previous contemporary fiction novels include Here, Home, Hope, All the Difference, and In The Mirror. A magna cum laude graduate of Vanderbilt University, before turning to fiction she worked in journalism, pubic relations, advertising, and created a national real estate brand, the inspiration for her nonfiction title, Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs. She lives in Southern California with her husband and four almost-grown kids, and is at work on her next novel.
#itsrainingbooks @BookSparks
Kaira Rouda is a USA Today bestselling, multiple award-winning author of contemporary fiction and sexy modern romance novels that sparkle with humor and heart. Previous contemporary fiction novels include Here, Home, Hope, All the Difference, and In The Mirror. A magna cum laude graduate of Vanderbilt University, before turning to fiction she worked in journalism, pubic relations, advertising, and created a national real estate brand, the inspiration for her nonfiction title, Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs. She lives in Southern California with her husband and four almost-grown kids, and is at work on her next novel.
#itsrainingbooks @BookSparks
1 comment:
Thank you so much for your wonderful review of THE GOODBYE YEAR! So glad you enjoyed it!
Post a Comment