Blog Tour Review/Giveaway ~ The Kingdom of Childhood by Rebecca Coleman

Title: The Kingdom of Childhood
Author: Rebecca Coleman
Release Date: October 4, 2011

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis:

The Kingdom of Childhood is the story of a boy and a woman; sixteen-year-old Zach Patterson, uprooted and struggling to reconcile his knowledge of his mother's extramarital affair, and Judy McFarland, a kindergarten teacher watching her family unravel before her eyes. Thrown together to organize a fundraiser for their failing private school and bonded by loneliness, they begin an affair that at first thrills, then corrupts each of them. Judy sees in Zachthe elements of a young man she loved as a child, but what Zach does not realize is that their relationship is, for Judy, only the latest in a lifetime of disturbing secrets.

Rebecca Coleman's manuscript forThe Kingdom of Childhood was a semifinalist in the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Competition. An emotionally tense, increasingly chilling work of fiction set in the controversial Waldorf school community, it is equal parts enchanting and unsettling and is sure to be a much discussed and much-debated novel.

Review:

WOWZERS!  This stunning debut shows the destructive power sexual obsession can have on one's life!

Judy MacFarland is a kindergarten teacher at a failing private school in Maryland.  Now that her husband Russ has begun his doctoral dissertation he seems to have all but forgotten that he even has a family.  Their son, Scott, is one of the "cool kids" at the school who would rather spend time with his friends than his family and their daughter Maggie is away at college.  If you add all those things PLUS the recent death of her best friend you get a VERY lonely woman on a downward spiral.

Now this is where things start to get interesting....Sixteen year old Zach Patterson is new to the school and is a friend of Scott's.  Plus he has some family issues going on at home.  When Judy is approached by Zach's mom to supervise him while he is working on a project for the school auction, Judy jumps at the chance.  This is where the sexual tension between Zach and Judy starts to increase as the two of them spend more and more time together.

 While the subject matter may be disturbing to some, I believe that Coleman's writing is captivating as she gives us the readers a glimpse inside the minds of her flawed and, in my opinion, emotionally barren characters. The more we learn about the true depth of Judy's emotional disturbance, the more we are drawn into the story and you really can't help but feel for Judy.


GIVEAWAY!

In an effort to clear some space on my bookcase before my niece/nephew shows up in March, I am giving away my copy of this book.  All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post with a valid email address AND please leave a comment on the guest post as well.  The giveaway ends 11/5/2011.  US and Canada addresses only please.