The Goodbye Year

Kaira Rouda

May 2016 · Kaira Rouda

About this ebook

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. 

"Often hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, always engaging. I devoured it!" ~ Meg Mitchell, author of The Admissions

Ratings and reviews

I have long been a fan of Kaira Rouda's books. The Goodbye Year is her best yet. I read it in less than 24 hours. It is set in suburbia and chronicles a senior year in high school from both the student and the parents' perspectives. The characters are so well drawn that they come to life in this book. This is a book about relationships- between parent and child, between spouses, between friends. Each relationship is so well written that you "feel" all of the emotions. This book will appeal to all mothers facing empty-nest syndrome and to all suburban dwellers in type A school districts (which is most everyone). Kaira Rouda has written a powerhouse of a novel. I received an advance copy of this book for an honest review. I honestly loved it

About the author

 Kaira Rouda is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary fiction that sparkles with humor and heart. She lives in Southern California where she is at work on her next novel. Connect at www.KairaRouda.com