The Lake Effect

by Blake Sebring

When a lake effect snowstorm forces a close-knit group of college students to spend a night in a dorm lounge, one friend shares a theory - everyone has a distinct moment in their life that transforms them into adults. The youthful idealists dismiss the concept, but 15 years later the memory challenges one to travel across the country, renew relationships and test the premise. His encounters may shock, enlighten and cause you to ask ``What was your moment?'' Reading ``The Lake Effect'' won't change your life but will remind you what did.

186 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 20, 2010

About the author

Blake Sebring began working
for The News-Sentinel at age 15 and started
as a full-timer in 1988. After the
legendary Bud Gallmeier retired in
1990, Sebring took over coverage
of the Fort Wayne Komets, the
second-oldest minor league team
in North America.

He is the author of 10 books
and was inducted into the Indiana
Sportswriters and Sportscasters
Association Hall of Fame in 2015.
His hockey work can be followed at news-sentinel.com, and his books are available at blakesebring.com and on Amazon.

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this story and expect this is an excellent book for discussion of then - versus - now. It speaks to the intimate side of relationships. The glad, bitter, thrilling and disappointing times that happen and the unrealistic expectations that occur. It provides a look at how we often enjoy pushing and cajoling ourselves into believing what we are doing is appropriate. I'm sure now that I've read it, I look at life differently - more closely. Pondering a distinguishable moment of becoming an adult, helped me have more balance in the journey. Life is precious - enjoy it every day.

[Djrmel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Told almost as a series of stores, this first novel from journalist Blake Sebring reminded me quite a bit of Charles Baxter's "The Feast of Love", in that the narrator takes the reader along with them on not only a physical journey but an emotional one as well. We go along as he reconnects with a group of friends of college while trying to discover if an idea proposed by one of them, that every person has a moment that they can identify when they became what they perceive to be an adult, turned out to be true. Some of their moments are big, some are small, but to a man (and woman) it turns out the theory was correct. The book is front loaded with setting (you can almost feel the weight of that snow in the book's title) and back loaded with dialog, the latter so much so that it would be an easy screenplay adaptation.

[Jamie Nesbitt · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick plane read. Interesting premise, meh execution. Kept waiting for something major to happen. It didn't.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only know Blake as a sports reporter so when I found out he wrote a novel, I had to buy it and reddit. I really liked it and would suggest that the theme of this book would be great for a book discussion group or a Bible study. In fact, I told two women this afternoon from the Workers Project that they should read it with those groups in mind and they both took down the info.