When I was ready to graduate from high school, I couldn’t believe the amount of stress there was.  College visits, college applications, keeping grades up for potential colleges, getting fitted for graduation clothes.  That was on top of trying to relish the fact that it was my last year with my group of friends and we would all be going our separate ways the next year.  I barely had time to give a thought to everyone else’s stresses, let alone my parents’.

Thank goodness for Kaira Rouda.  She has crafted a novel that focuses on the last year of high school for not just the students but their parents as well.  And if you thought it was tough on the students, well, just you wait…

We have renowned plastic surgeon Jud, his wife Sarah, and their daughter Ashley.  Sarah dreams of traveling as soon as Ashley graduates but has a sinking feeling of something mysterious going on with Jud.

Melanie, mom to Seth and Dane, and her husband Keith.  Melanie is terrified Dane doesn’t have the desire or grades to get into college, which is a requirement in their household.

Will is just plain sick and tired of his wife Carol’s color-coded scheduling of his life.  All he wants is a little freedom which he finds in married Lauren.

And among the students, we have the typical high school issues of drugs, trying to fit in, and how  a picture perfect looking life on the outside is not always what it seems.

I loved how Rouda delved deep into the lives of the parents because it is an issue that rarely comes up when dealing with leaving the nest and finishing school.  Anyone who knows not to judge a book by its cover will appreciate the storylines in this novel.  A lot of it reminded me of a favorite from last year, The Admissions by Meg Mitchell Moore.  I guarantee you’ll get lost in the pages of this novel as soon as you pick it up, eager to see how it all plays out.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the #It’sRainingBooks campaign from BookSparks in exchange for an honest review.