Well, here's another book that I expect will be included in my Top 10 favorites of 2008. In The Comeback Season by Jennifer E. Smith, we are introduced to fifteen year old Ryan Walsh. It's been five years since her father died in a white water rafting accident. It's been five years that she's been remembering him and idolizing him; his jokes, his words of wisdom, his optimism.

They were avid Chicago Cubs fans, the team that hasn't won a World Series in 100 years. So, it's appropriate that she should meet Nick on an April day she's cutting class to go to a game. Nick is new at school, having been there a month. He's popular and has lots of friends. She, on the other hand, has become more of a loner over the past few years. Her childhood friends have moved on while Ryan has stayed static, reliving the days with her father. To add to her pain, on the anniversary of her father’s death, her mother and step father announce that they are expecting a child.

Ryan and Nick's relationship quickly develops into more than just a friendship. It's an easy going relationship, lots of quiet times, lots of understanding, lots of good times. So it comes as a shock when he tells her that he won't be seeing her during the summer. After watching a Cub winning game on TV in late June, she runs to Nick’s house to celebrate. It is then that she learns why he wasn’t planning on seeing her.

Avid Cubs fans have a lot of faith that next year will be different; that next year they will come back to victory. The Comeback Season is a book about faith and hope and love; family and friendship.

The Comeback Season is extremely well written. It conveys the devotion of Cubs fans. It conveys the love between Nick and Ryan. It confirms the importance of family and friends. I won't deny it. I got misty-eyed towards the end of the book, but then again, I'm a softy. I loved this debut novel and will be first on line to get Smith’s next offering.

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