A Walk in the Sun

by Michelle Zink

Overview

Katie Cotugno meets The Bridges of Madison County in a magnetic tale about summer love that stays with you long after the seasons change.

Rose Darrow never wanted to spend her life working on her family’s farm. But when her family is rocked by an unexpected tragedy she has no choice but to put her plans for the future—and dreams of escaping her small town—on hold.

Bodhi Lowell left home as a kid and hasn’t looked back. Years of working farm jobs has given him the one thing he wants most: freedom to travel without answering to anyone. He’s already looking past his job at Darrow Farm and plans on leaving in September—until he meets Rose.

Neither Rose nor Bodhi can deny the sparks flying between them, but with the end of summer looming, they must decide if it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. . . .  

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062434463
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	05/03/2016
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	13 Years

About the Author

Michelle Zink lives in New York with her four children. Her first novel, Prophecy of the Sisters, was chosen as one of ALA Booklist's Top Ten Novels for Youth of 2009 and as one of the Chicago Public Library's Best Books for Young Readers. It has also been listed on the New York Public Library's Stuff for the Teen Age and the Lone Star Reading List.

Editorial Reviews

02/29/2016
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. (May)

Publishers Weekly

03/01/2016
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

School Library Journal

After Rose Darrow’s mother passes away in January, her dad pretty much gives up caring about anything. It is difficult, but Rose has been working hard to keep the family farm going while she finishes her senior year of high school. With summer coming—the busiest time of the year on a farm—Rose’s aunt Marty steps in to hire Bodhi Lowell. Escaping from an abusive father at the age of fourteen, Bodhi started seasonal labor work out west and soon had a number of farms and ranches happy to rehire him. Now, at eighteen and ready for a new challenge, he sees the Darrow Farm in Milford, New York, the farthest east he has ever been, as a great starting place for his future travels. The instant chemistry between Rose and Bodhi and their reluctance to recognize it are the driving forces of this story. Will, the literal boy-next-door, has an unspoken amorous interest in Rose, creating a little extra angst. A small number of characters keeps the focus squarely on the relationships. The idea that one teen, still attending high school, could run a large farm with minimal help might be stretching reality. There is also a lost opportunity to show this father and daughter dealing with the grief of loss and the ways they learn to cope with such a significant change. Teens will enjoy the easy-to-read writing style and dreamy, sigh-worthy romance that develops between the main characters. The ending will feel like the cherry on top. Reviewer: Stacey Hayman; Ages 12 to 18.

VOYA, June 2016 (Vol. 39, No. 2) - Stacey Hayman

2016-03-02
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)

Kirkus Reviews