If you are looking for a book to put in the hands of your teenager, this is it.  The author successfully brought me back to my own days in high school and though the lingo and terms used have changed a LOT, I was able to quickly learn and follow along.  This is important; your teens are more likely to read something written in their language and hip style that they can relate to.  There will probably be regional differences, teens seem to be far ahead of the trends and slang and such and it varies school to school and state to state but this author kept it so balanced between the story line and making it teen friendly that it should translate well in any region, any teens hands.

With that technical point aside and more importantly, this book deals with some very serious topics that all parents and kids will face.  Tough subjects like drinking, drinking and driving, peer pressure, friends that have parents that drink and peers that are involved with criminal activities are present and the characters demonstrate how to rise above peer pressure, self-esteem issues, when and how to tell the right people when crime is present and the impacts of their parent’s reputations on their own and much more.  Don’t let this scare you, parent, put this book in your teen’s hands and read it yourself so you are just as close to what they will learn from it.  I talked to my son about it while thinking over what to write for this review; he wants to read it and he was thrilled that I read it and took an interest in something close to his age range, his interests, and his challenges in public school.  With teenagers, every little common ground we can find helps keep the lines of communication open and this book is good for that in addition to being very touching and inspiring!

Tough issues aside, you can also count on the story’s characters to encourage our youth to set tough goals and reach beyond what typical public schools offer.  I was thrilled with the author’s ability to keep the importance of homework, college planning, open communication and respect for the “rents” and community involvement at the forefront throughout delivering her powerful storyline.  So many layers of responsibilities and common teen issues are present while the writer clearly focused her style on keeping it all at a level that our kids will relate to by speaking to them and not at them.  The characters have various backgrounds, social status and popularity making them very realistic.  It was gripping and I laughed and cried while I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent reading this book.  It is clearly easy to recommend it as a must read for today’s youth and young at heart and I look forward to more great novels by K. C. Sprayberry!

The link where Softly Say Goodbye is currently available is: http://www.amazon.com/Softly-Say-Goodbye-KC-Sprayberry/dp/1625260334/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360786952&sr=1-1&keywords=softly+say+goodbye+by+k.c.+sprayberry

Some links to learn more about the author, KC Sprayberry:  www.kcsprayberry.com https://www.amazon.com/author/kcsprayberry and stop by her Blog: http://outofcontrolcharacters.blogspot.com

Reviewed by Debra L Hartmann, author and editor, http://www.theprobookeditor.com

To get on the list for Author Interviews and Book Reviews, drop a line to mrsdlhartmann@gmail.com and say hello!