Author: Kaira Rouda
Publisher: Sparkpress
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Source:  Purchased

Goodreads:  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 facade 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 is often actually the end.”

Ope’s Opinion:  It helped to see what the parents were going through to understand the student.  The parents drama was too much for me.  They were worse then their teenage counter parts!!

I love seeing a student try to find their next step after high school.  It is fun to see them find themselves.  It is helpful when the parents see their student realistically – which did not happen much in this book.

I was a little disappointed you didn’t see a parent who was excited for the empty nest.  I love my girls, but I was excited for the freedom of being spontaneous.  My empty nest meant my girls became my friends – it has been fun!