A Walk in the Sun

February 29, 2016
A mysterious stranger comes to town in this story of romance, loss, and new beginnings. After Rose Darrow’s mother dies and her father is consumed by grief, she is left running the family’s New York State farm and watching everyone she graduated with leave for college or otherwise pursue their dreams. Bodhi Lowell, 18, is a quintessential loner, given to wandering from place to place, yet he settles in for the summer to help Rose keep the farm going. There’s immediate chemistry when the two meet, but they initially resist their attraction. Zink’s third-person narration can at times seem overly distant, the quick shifts in attention between Rose and Bodhi hindering the flow of the story as it gets underway. Regardless, Zink (Promises I Made) does a fine job of scene-setting, immersing readers in the routines and responsibilities of managing a farm, while allowing the emerging relationship between Rose and Bodhi to come to life as they tenderly draw each other’s losses and struggles to the surface. Ages 13–up. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House.

March 15, 2016
Lonesome, tenderhearted cowboy? Check. Grieving and fiercely independent young woman who's sworn never again to open herself up to love? Check. An undeniable chemistry "like the charge in the air just before lightning cracks the sky?" Double check. Rose Darrow, a newly minted high school graduate, is neither college bound nor setting off to explore the world she longs to see. Instead, she will remain at home to run the farm where her family has lived for generations while grieving the loss of her mother and tending to her broken-hearted father. Enter 18-year-old Bodhi Lowell, a cowboy who left home at 14 and never turned back. Hired by Rose's aunt as a summer hand, Bodhi arrives at the Darrow farm, and the inevitable sparks begin to fly. Though it's predictable and rife with hyperbolic professions of love and longing, readers who know the score and are willing to go along for the ride will find plenty to enjoy. The white teens are both likable and damaged just enough to engage easy sympathy, and fans will surely find themselves rooting for Bodhi and Rose to get together and for their predestined (both figurative and literal) roll in the hay. Channeling the likes of Nicholas Sparks, Zink offers readers a formulaic, saccharine-sweet summer romance that will leave fans of the genre with racing hearts and others with their teeth aching. (Romance. 13 & up)

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March 1, 2016

Gr 8 Up-Rose Darrow has dreamed of traveling, seeing a world beyond the cows, hay, and mundane farm life she has known for 18 years. Her future is uncertain now that her mother has died and her father has entered into a debilitating depression, leaving Rose to take care of the farm herself. Help for the summer is just what Rose needs, and when it shows up in the form of 18-year-old Bodhi Lowell, Rose finds herself falling for the handsome stranger. Bodhi has spent most of his teenage years running from a painful past, but when his alcoholic father shows up at the Darrows' door, Bodhi must open up to Rose and face his future. He purchases two plane tickets for him and Rose to start their journey together in Edinburgh. Rose must choose between the duty she feels to her family and an uncertain adventure with her summer love. Zink takes care to build Rose and Bodhi's relationship without sacrificing Rose's journey through grief and the struggle to let herself love and be loved again. Their relationship is consummated with both actively choosing to participate and the focus being on their emotional connection throughout the book. Rose is a strong female protagonist, making choices for herself and putting her family first-readers will not find a fainting belle here. Ultimately, this is a story about love of all kinds, including love for oneself. VERDICT Romance seekers will be rewarded with this charming summer love story.-Carrie Fox, South Park High School, PA

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2016
Grades 8-11 For Rose, high-school graduation seems unlikely to lead to a new life of independence. In fact, since her mother died, Rose has assumed nearly all responsibility for maintaining their large farm. Rose's father, devastated by grief, can barely care for himself. She gets some help from Will, a good friend who is graduating with her, but Rose can't count on Will foreveror anyone, really, since losing people is so painful. Meanwhile, farmhand Bodhi takes the opposite approach to pain aversion. He keeps moving, working his way from farm to farm, distancing himself from his abusive father. When Bodhi shows up to help out on Rose's farm over the summer, neither anticipate that their lives will change. But a slow-burning attraction leads to intense, passionate romance between the two wounded souls. Although the story arc is entirely predictable, Zink's intelligent writing makes the evolution of Rose and Bodhi's love a true pleasure, and an excellent example of sweet romance. Recommend to fans of Stephanie Perkins or Susane Colasanti.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)