The Goodbye Year - by Kaira Rouda (Paperback)

About the Book

As a handful of parents and their children face the all-important senior year of high school--an intense time of change for the kids and their soon-to-be-empty-nest parents--the cracks beneath the surface of their seemingly perfect lives begin to appear.

Book Synopsis

As featured in: Working Mother * Woman's Day * Redbook * Chico's * Sunset magazine * Coastal Living * SheKnows * Woman's World * Yahoo! Beauty * Fox 28 * The Berry
Melanie, a perfectionist mom who views the approaching end of parenting as a type of death, can't believe she has only one more year to live vicariously through her slacker senior son, Dane. Gorgeous mom Sarah has just begun to realize that her only daughter, Ashley, has been serving as a stand-in for her traveling husband, and the thought of her daughter leaving for college is cracking the carefully cultivated façade of her life. Will and his wife are fine--as long as he follows the instructions on the family calendar and is sure to keep secret his whole other life with Lauren, the woman he turns to for fun (and who also happens to have a daughter in the senior class). Told from the points of view of both the parents and the kids, The Goodbye Year explores high school peer pressure, what it's like for young people to face the unknown of life after high school, and how a transition that should be the beginning of a couple's second act together--empty nesting--might possibly be the end.

Review Quotes

"Rouda deftly examines the difficult transition parents and their children face as they prepare for the end of one life and the beginning of another. Her latest is a compelling story and a thoughtful examination of the nature of change and the importance of working to accept it." --Booklist
"The Goodbye Year is an often hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, always engaging look at the last year before high school seniors leave their families for good. I devoured it!" -Meg Mitchell Moore, author of The Admissions, So Far Away, and The Arrivals
"The family dramas and dynamics are things that we can all relate to..." -Redbook magazine, "20 Best Books to Read Come Spring"
"Kaira Rouda channels Peyton Place meets The Real Housewives of Orange County with her newest book, The Goodbye Year." --Working Mother magazine
"Kaira Rouda provides a delicious glimpse into an affluent, dysfunctional community that feels so real it borders on voyeurism. Light-hearted and ultimately optimistic, The Goodbye Year also tackles weighty issues, including infidelity, homosexuality, and alcoholism, creating a compelling and highly entertaining novel. If you're a fan of reality television, you'll love The Goodbye Year." --Lori Nelson Spielman, author of The Life List
"Who knew that Peyton Place is in Orange County? Kaira Rouda proves that money can't buy you love in The Goodbye Year." --Leslie Lehr, screenwriter, novel consultant, and award-winning author of 66 Laps, Wife Goes On, and What a Mother Knows
"The Goodbye Year is a perfect blend of Desperate Housewives and Beverly Hills 90210. If you enjoy a fast-paced story with twists that will both surprise and delight you--this is the one!" --Kellie Coates Gilbert, author of the Texas Gold novels
"Kaira Rouda's latest romp through the world of the Orange County elite follows five seemingly perfect families through their children's senior year--a pressure-cooker of college applications, drugs, infidelities, and keeping up appearances. Will anyone survive? Funny, insightful and sometimes downright shocking, The Goodbye Year is ultimately an uplifting tale examining the fears and challenges that come with letting go." --Colleen Oakley, author of Before I Go
"Five families, seven kids, and one small town seething with gossip and intrigue. With skill, sensitivity and grace, Kaira Rouda charts the lives and loves of her mismatched characters, laying bare their deepest secrets--the ones they pray will never be revealed. Yet truth has a way of coming out, and when it does, the consequences are shattering in ways none of them could have ever expected." --Yona Zeldis McDonough, author of The House on Primrose Pond
"The Goodbye Year is a book about the profound transition that takes place in families as children prepare to graduate from high school and begin independent lives. Told from varying perspectives --husbands, wives, sons, and daughters--The Goodbye Year offers a fascinating glimpse behind the façade of perfection in small, well-heeled community where image is everything. As college acceptances roll in, or don't, and marriages evolve, or don't, parents and children alike struggle to write a future for themselves that may not be the one they planned. A compassionate, wise, and suspenseful tale about the end of one life stage and the beginning of another." --Kate Hilton, international best-selling author of The Hole in the Middle
"In The Goodbye Year, Kaira Rouda takes us behind the gates of the Orange County elite as they attempt to navigate their children's senior year and fast-approaching empty nest. Trust is broken, secrets are revealed. It's delicious fun! The Goodbye Year will have you wishing you never had to say farewell." --Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, authors of The Status of All Things

About the Author

Kaira Rouda is a USA Today bestselling, award-winning author of contemporary women's fiction and modern romance novels that sparkle with humor and heart. Her previous award-winning and best-selling women's fiction novels include Here, Home, Hope and In the Mirror. When she's not writing, she can be found walking the beach, practicing yoga, playing Pickleball, and enjoying as much time as possible with her family. Connect with her at www.kairarouda.com.