Review: 'From the Sideline' by Amy Avanzino (2016)

After losing her marriage, life savings, and waistline, Autumn Kovac is terrified of being hit by more heartache. So when her only child decides to try out for the football team, the overprotective, sports-illiterate mom has a near phobic reaction. But Zachary hasn’t smiled since his father left, and she’s desperate to make him happy (and doing nothing and hoping for the best hasn’t been working). She reluctantly enters a new world of youth competitive sports, full of overzealous coaches with Vince Lombardi dreams and fanatical parents trying to achieve vicarious glory. 
Unexpectedly, Autumn begins transforming within this strangely addictive new culture, finding her voice, facing her past, tackling her fears…and uncovering the secret that’s been keeping her from her son. After meeting her ideal catch, she finds herself back in the dating game and discovers some fierce competition of her own. Will Autumn make it off the sideline? Can the underdog finally win?
Last year I read and reviewed Amy Avanzino's first novel of her 'Wake-Up Call' series, titled 'Wake-Up Call', and it was a book I really enjoyed (click here to read my review). This week, on the 19th of July to be exact, the second instalment of the series was released by Henery Press, namely 'From the Sideline.' I was contacted by Amy herself with the question of whether I would be up for reviewing her newest book within its release week and I was more than happy to lend a hand and help out! 
As a single mother, Autumn Kovac knows how challenging it can be to raise a child all by yourself. She wants nothing more for her ten-year-old son Zachary than for him to be happy, especially since he's had a rough time without his father. But when Zachary decides he wants to join the local football team, Autumn isn't too sure. Football, or sports in general, isn't really her thing and she's afraid the world might be a bit too competitive for her and Zachary. She decides to give it a chance, though, and before she knows it she's not just learning how to appreciate sports, but learning a lot of things about herself and Zachary as well.
‘From the Sideline’ is the second part of Amy Avanzino’s ‘Wake-Up Call’ series, but at the same time a book that can definitely be read as a stand-alone. Except for a familiar face here and there, the story stands by itself and doesn’t need any prior background knowledge. The novel focuses mainly on single mum Autumn Kovac and her son Zachary, who desperately wants to start playing football. It took me a bit of time to warm to Autumn and her overprotective behaviour towards her son, but as the story progressed and I learned more about Autumn, her ex-husband and her background, I really felt as if I got to know her better and understood why she made certain decisions. It was also easy to like ten-year-old Zachary, who is overall just a great kid. 
I have to admit I personally know absolutely nothing about football and it plays quite an important role in this book. While I do feel there could have been slightly less football description and more dialogue between the characters, the main focus of the story really is motherhood and the importance of family. Even though I’m not a mother myself, I can imagine this read is quite realistic and numerous readers will be able to relate to Autumn and her struggles. Overall, I think ‘From the Sideline’ is a captivating and realistic book that once again shows author Amy Avanzino’s writing skills, and is a worthwhile second instalment of this series!

Rating:8,5/10

  For more information about this book: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com / Goodreads
Thanks to the author for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Blog Tour: 'Wake-Up Call' by Amy Avanzino

Sarah Winslow wakes up with a terrible hangover…and a kid in her boyfriend’s bed. She makes the horrifying discovery that, due to a head injury, it’s not a hangover. She’s got memory loss. Overnight, five years have disappeared, and she’s no longer the hard-living, fast-track, ad executive party girl she thinks she is. Now, she’s the unemployed, pudgy, married, stay-at-home-mom of three kids under five, including twins.
As she slowly pieces together the mystery of how her dreams and aspirations could have disintegrated so completely in five short years, she finds herself utterly failing to manage this life she can’t imagine choosing. When Sarah meets the man of her dreams, she realizes she’s got to make a choice: Does she follow her bliss and “do-over” her life? Or does the Sarah she’s forgotten hold the answers to how she got here…and how she can stay?
Today I’m excited to be part of the blog tour for author Amy Avanzino’s debut novel ‘Wake-Up Call’! I was actually contacted by Amy herself with the question whether I’d be interested to be a part of the blog tour and straight away liked the sound of her novel. ‘Wake-Up Call’ was released on the 1st of September and is part of the Henery Press Chick Lit Collection. I’ve had the pleasure of reading some other Henery Press chick lit titles (such as Phoebe Fox’s ‘The Break-Up Doctor’ series, click here to read my review) and really enjoyed them, so I was looking forward to checking out Amy Avanzino’s novel as well. The book is actually the first part of the ‘Wake-Up Call’ series, so I had my fingers crossed for a promising start!  
28-year-old Sarah Winslow loves her life. She’s working hard on her career, has a nice apartment in the city, spends evenings drinking cocktails with her girlfriends, and shares passionate nights with her handsome boyfriend. Then, one morning, Sarah wakes up with a terrible headache. She immediately thinks it must be the hangover from hell, but when she finds a little kid in the bed she starts to freak out. She quickly discovers she hit her head in a skateboarding accident and is actually suffering from amnesia. She’s no longer 28, but 5 years have passed and she’s now married, a full-time mum to her three little kids (including twins), and living in the suburbs. Sarah can’t believe this is her life at 32; what happened to all of her hopes and dreams? She realises she needs to make the best of things, but does that mean turning her life upside down, longing for the past, or learning to accept the new Sarah and everything that comes with it?
Don't we all sometimes wish we could look into the future and see what our life will look like in a couple of years? That's what happens to leading lady Sarah Winslow in 'Wake-Up Call', except for Sarah it's not just a quick look into the future but a permanent one. She's suffering from amnesia and suddenly loses 5 years of her life, which happen to be the 5 years in which she got married, had 3 kids, moved to the suburbs, and gave up her job. I loved the storyline of this novel and really felt for Sarah, suddenly having to deal with so many changes in her life and not being able to remember anything that happened during the past 5 years. Occasionally, Sarah's behaviour annoyed me a bit and I thought she was quite selfish, but to be honest, who knows how I would react in her situation?
There are not that many characters in the novel, and the ones that are there are easily likeable. Sarah's kids are just the cutest and really made me both smile and laugh out loud quite a few times. It was a relatively quick read (I finished it in two sittings), thanks to the well-paced and easy-to-get-into writing style of the author; I was almost flying through the pages! I personally wouldn't have minded if another element had been added to the storyline, which just focused on Sarah and her amnesia, but it was still a read I enjoyed very much. Great for people who always think the grass is greener on the other side, 'Wake-Up Call' is a light, fun, and thought-provoking read and a promising start to a new chick lit series!

Rating:8,5/10

  For more information about this book: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com / Goodreads

Thanks to the author for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.