• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (July 26, 2016)

The heart of Friday Night Lights meets the emotional resonance and nostalgia of My So-Called Life in this moving debut novel about tradition, family, love, and football.

As the high school football coach in his small, rural Maryland town, Dean is a hero who reorganized the athletic program and brought the state championship to the community. When he married Nicole, the beloved town sweetheart, he seemed to have it all—until his troubled wife committed suicide. Now, everything Dean thought he knew is thrown off kilter as Nicole’s death forces him to re-evaluate all of his relationships, including those with his team and his three children.

Dean’s eleven-year old son, Robbie, is withdrawing at home and running away from school. Bry, who is only eight, is struggling to understand his mother’s untimely death and his place in the family. Eighteen-year-old Stephanie, a freshman at Swarthmore, is torn between her new identity as a rebellious and sophisticated college student, her responsibility towards her brothers, and reeling from missing her mother. As Dean struggles to continue to lead his team to victory in light of his overwhelming personal loss, he must fix his fractured family—and himself. When a new family emergency arises, Dean discovers that he’ll never view the world in the same way again.

Transporting readers to the heart of small town America, Home Field is an unforgettable, poignant story about the pull of the past and the power of forgiveness.

*****

I’m a fan of debut novels. And, I love the concept of a novel that says, “The heart of Friday Night Lights”, since I loved high school football in my hometown. But, this debut wasn’t for me for several reasons. I don’t like to read novels that deal with depression. It hits too close to home since my late husband and his mother both suffered from it. I lived with someone who had it. I don’t need to read about it. 

But, my biggest problem with the book was the lack of emotion. Call it soul or personality, but the narrator was too detached from the story. I didn’t feel as if there was any heart in the characters.I actually didn’t finish it, only reading about a fourth of the book. 

To be fair to a debut author, though, I’m listing the other blogs for the blog tour. If you’re interested in the novel, you may want to read what a couple other bloggers had to say about it. The book just wasn’t for me.

Tuesday, July 26th: BookNAround

Wednesday, July 27th: A Tattered Copy

Thursday, July 28th: A Bookish Way of Life

Friday, July 29th: Broken Teepee

Monday, August 1st: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Tuesday, August 2nd: Lesa’s Book Critiques

Wednesday, August 3rd: bookchickdi

Thursday, August 4th: A Bookish Affair

Monday, August 8th: Bibliotica

Tuesday, August 9th: From the TBR Pile

Wednesday, August 10th: Sweet Southern Home