Stealing Hope: Book Eight in theClarksonville Series

Clarksonville #8

by Barbara L. Clanton

Sam Payton is a high school senior with a bit of an identity crisis. Raised in a well-to-do family, she dutifully plays the role of Samantha Rose Payton the wealthy debutante. Now, almost one full year into her life-changing relationship with Lisa Brown, Sam is hit with many life-challenging events. Her best friend, Susie Torres, is struggling with alcohol addiction and a wrecked home life as her parents go through a bitter divorce, and Sam tries to help her friend keep her head above water. In another struggle, two friends cross the line between friendship and intimacy – a line that should not have been approached, and Sam finds herself trying to make them see how incredibly serious the transgressions were for all involved. And to top it all off, Sam’s mother is diagnosed with a serious illness. Through the love of her parents and her girlfriend, Sam navigates these challenges the best way she can all while trying to fulfill everyone’s varying expectations of her. Sam struggles to break free of the preconceived roles she seems to be bound by to figure out who she really is. It ultimately comes down to whether Sam can make everyone see that she is both a softball-playing ice-hockey-loving lesbian named Sam as well as a classically-music trained debutante named Samantha Rose.

298 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 1, 2019

About the author

Barbara L. Clanton writes young adult lesbian fiction because she wants girls and young women to experience positive lesbian coming out stories. Clanton hopes her books will be safe harbors for young people coming out to themselves, their friends, family, and society.

From the author's website: Barbara L. Clanton is
- a writer of Young Adult Fiction
- a writer of Children's Fiction
- a New York Mets fan
- a New York Jets fan
- a Florida resident
- a native-born New Yawker
- a softball pitcher
- ASANA Hall of Fame inductee
- a bass player in her band
- the proud "mama" to several cats
- proudly in a long-term relationship
- a Buffy fan
- a Xena & Gabrielle fan
- a mathematics teacher
- wishing she were a snow-bird
- wishing she were at a Mets game
- happy that you read her bio! ;)

Reviews

[Cindy Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

The latest book in this series focuses on Samantha, the wealthy daughter of the county's dominant upper class family. Sam is one of the four main characters in the series along with her girlfriend Lisa and their best friends, Marlee and Susie, also a couple. This book chronicles the end of senior year for Sam, Marlee and Susie (Lisa is a junior) as they complete their high school softball careers, contemplate college and deal with a number of family issues. For Sam, the book is about coming to terms with her own needs, instead of those of her prestigious family and taking risks.

The book is long. Longer than it needs to be. The plot really doesn't get going until the second half and there's a lot that could have been cut from the first third. For readers of the series, spending time with these characters is what likely counts most, but as a novel unto itself, it needed to be tighter.

This is the third book in the series I've read. I'm rating this 3.5 and rounding up to a 4.