Made the Grade: The Farewell Season by Ann Herrick

Format: Kindle Edition | File Size: 1024 KB | Release Date: May 2011 | Publisher: Puddletown Publishing Group | Obtained: Amazon.com

"The Farewell Season" by Ann Herrick

My Book Summary : Eric is dealing with a lot ever since his father died about four months ago, anger, grief, and the unknown of how his life is going to be from now on. But mostly he's not really dealing with those feelings at all yet bottling them up. Therefore, now that football training has begun he's doing things he's never done before...lashing out at his coach, fighting with his best friend, and finding disenchantment with football. Things get better for him once he starts a friendship with Glynnie, a high school columnist, but can he work through some of his anger and grief before he makes decisions that will change his life...

My Book Review : 3 out of 5 stars. A teenage guy deals with the death of his father. I liked the way this novel shows Eric's grief and how Glynnie, unintentionally and intentionally, helps him deal with it.

I recommend this to anyone who likes dramatic YA novels that have a slight romance to them.

Author's Novel Extras : Are you living in your Soulplace? | A Weighty Romance | Cross Genre

Book Teaser(s) :

"They don't give up, do they?" Glynnie asked.
"They're relentless," I said. "They go through all the effort of swimming upstream no matter what, just so they can spawn and die."
"Too bad some fathers don't do that," Glynnie said sarcastically. She clapped her hand over her mouth. "Oh, Eric ... I didn't mean ... I was thinking of my ... oh, me and my big mouth."
"No problem," I said quickly. I knew what she meant. Still, the mood was broken and we both knew it. It was too late to go back and recapture that rare moment of feeling carefree.
"I really messed up. I'm sorry. You brought me all the way up here, for a few minutes it actually took my mind off everything, and I blow it."
I couldn't stand the way Glynnie's brief look of happiness faded into a gloomy sorrow that seemed to weigh her down. "There's only one way to deal with such incompetence." I scooped Glynnie up in my arms, carried her over to the fingerling collecting area and held her over the water.
"And now, you will swim with the fishes." I'm not sure how mob-like I sounded, but it was the best I could do on short notice. I guess my plan worked, because Glynnie's shrieks were of laughter, not terror.
I had to put her down. Her laughter was catching. I tried to hold it in, but I couldn't.
We both stopped, looked at each other, then there was another spurt of laughs and snorts. ~ within Chapter 9

For more information on this book and/or any other books by Ann, then please check out her website.