We are so excited for Kaira Rouda’s wonderful new book that came out May 3. Redbook magazine calls it a must read for spring, saying THE GOODBYE YEAR is an often hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, look at the year before high school seniors leave their families.
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.
Doesn’t that sounds amazing! Kaira stopped by the blog to share some fun tidbits about herself.
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Kaira Rouda
- I moved around a lot when I was young. My parents are both from Northern California, but I never lived there. I was born in Evanston, Illinois, where my dad got his PhD at Northwestern; my sister came along next, when my dad was a professor at University of Southern California. When my dad became a professor at University of Texas, Austin, my brother was born. We moved on from there to Boston when my dad became a professor at Harvard. The final stop was Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. That’s where I went to middle school and high school. I raised my kids in the same suburb until the first one went off to college at Chapman University in Southern California. We all followed him.
- My first book, REAL YOU INCORPORATED: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs was one of the first business books for women. It was based on my experience working with my husband to build the first national residential real estate brand acknowledging that women are the key decision makers in all real estate purchases – influencing or making 91 percent of all home purchases. Until Real Living Real Estate was launched, all advertising was directed toward men. Not kidding. I’m proud of that accomplishment – and the fact we stayed married after working together closely for seven years!
- My husband and I went to the same high school in Upper Arlington, Ohio, but didn’t meet until I was a reporter for Business First, a business newspaper, and he was an attorney at a law firm in town. I have three boys and one girl, and she is number 2. Coffee: black. I love lavender and I make a killer Kale salad! I’m vegetarian and gluten free.
- I was the society columnist for Columbus, Ohio, for more than 10 years.
- When I laugh, I honk. Yes, like a goose at times. I laugh a lot with friends. Friends mean the world to me.
- I’m almost always smiling. I feel very blessed to be living the life of my dreams. The only exception is when I am asked to write opinion pieces and blog posts about empty nesting, as it is quite relevant to my latest novel, The Goodbye Year. While writing those, I’m usually crying. 🙁 #emptynestday237 #whoiscounting? #me
- I don’t like math, or budgets but I love painting, and photography.
- I’m only as happy as my saddest kid. I am 1/8 Cherokee, a member of Daughter’s of the America Revolution. My ancestor, John Sturdivant landed in Jamestown in 1623. I love doing ancestry research.
- My dream, since as long as I could remember, was to be a novelist. It took awhile, so I tell people to never give up! My first novel, Here, Home, Hope was published in my 40s! Things happen for a reason, when they’re supposed to, as long as you keep believing in yourself.
- I almost always wear the “e” key off of my computers. I am confident I can win any hula hoop contest. I love to paddleboard as long as the waves are tiny and the sun is shining. I am finally living at the beach – a place I’ve dreamed of living since I was little. And I’m really happy to be a Tall Poppy!
Kaira Rouda is a USA Today bestselling, multiple award-winning author of contemporary women’s fiction and sexy modern romance novels that sparkle with humor and heart. Her women’s fiction titles include THE GOODBYE YEAR, HERE, HOME, HOPE, ALL THE DIFFERENCE and IN THE MIRROR. Her bestselling short story is titled, A MOTHER’S DAY. Her sexy contemporary romance series include the LAGUNA BEACH Series, the INDIGO ISLAND Series and a new MALIBU Series launching in 2016. In July of 2016, Kaira Rouda’s Laguna Beach Kindle World will launch in partnership with Amazon.com.Her nonfiction titles, REAL YOU INCORPORATED: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs, and REAL YOU FOR AUTHORS: 8 Essentials for Women Writers (available for free download on her website) continue to inspire. Kaira’s work has won numerous awards including the Indie Excellence Award, USA Book Awards, the Reader’s Choice Awards and honorable mention in the Writer’s Digest International Book Awards. She lives in Southern California with her husband and four almost-grown kids, and is at work on her next novel.
