Sarah's had difficult years before - what high school teacher hasn't? - but this year is the worst. Although Sarah's managed as a single mother well enough, she's frequently exhausted and still angry at the curves life has thrown her way. Shepherding her painfully shy daughter, Jenny, through high school as well as the return of her ex-husband after a twelve-year absence shakes Sarah's fragile equilibrium. Additional trouble comes through the classroom door as Sarah winds up in a disastrous war with two senior boys who are determined to undermine Sarah and dominate her debate team. Anger and revenge, joy and frustration, and ultimately consequences trap Sarah, her students, and her children as they all learn--through tragedy--that love isn't ownership and that only forgiveness can heal families. With the backdrop of an American high school, this is a story for anyone who understands that growing up is a life long process, but it is also a story about the dedicated people who teach children. Annette Haws has a clear, steady voice as she opens a w indow into the troubled world of adolescent angst and the lives of teachers trying to see into that world. Annette Haws has hit a homerun. Ms. Haws clearly understands the vast issues facing teachers as they deal with their own personal lives and the lives of their students. Parents of students will gain a greater insight into the dynamics of adolescent students, their peers, and their teachers in this novel of teenage traumas and adult dilemmas. --Steven E. Dunn, Ed D., Dean, School of Education, Newman University As I read about the faculty lounge, I could smell the some times invigorating and other times stultifying atmosphere that lived there. I came to really know Sarah, Meg, Tom, Tyler, Brax, Mr. Cottle, the Assistant Principal, and many others, because I already knew them. I see them every day. I believe that if the reader really wants to know what goes on within a high school community and come to treasure the devotion and dedication wonderful teachers give to their students, no matter how misguided the teachers' efforts and attempts at times might be, the book is worth reading. However, this is not a novel just about a high school, but about the pit and pratfalls a marvelous teacher encounters and experiences while living in a small community. --Stuart Howell, Vice Principal, Logan High School This funny, realistic glimpse into an American high school captures the reader from the first pages. I kept picking it up to read "just a few more pages" realizing later that an hour had lapsed. But it's more than an engrossing plot, it's a story of a family struggling to heal, a story with a message that will touch everyone. --Stacey Bess, Author of Nobody Don't Love Nobody, soon to be made into a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie I wouldn't call Sarah Williams an anti-hero, but she comes close in Waiting for the Light to Change by Annette Haws. She's not a likable person, though she is a character most of us will be able to identify with, especially on those occasions when we over-react or act before we think. And she's certainly not a Molly Mormon though she is a member of the Church and active. She's had a hard life. She had the misfortune of marrying a charming, handsome doctor who deserted her and their three small children twelve years before the story begins. With no money or way of caring for her children and supporting them at the same time, she left Ohio to return to her mother in Utah where she could teach high school debate while her mother took care of her children. Unfortunately her mother is neither a caring nor honest person. The boys are okay; they spend most of their day at school, but little Jenny becomes an insecure, social misfit. The mother, without Sarah's knowledge, intercepts letters and money from Sarah's errant husband and prevents him from seeing the children. The boys grow up hating their father and Jenny is just lost. Sarah faces a challenging year when Jenny starts high school with no friends, her oldest son on whom she's quite emotionally dependent is in another country serving a mission, she and her close friend and fellow teacher face an arrogant, cruel senior who disrupts her classes and debate meets, her ex-husband and his air-head wife move to their small town, the local sheriff takes a romantic interest in her, and Jenny decides she wants to live with her father and date the town bad boy. There is a lot of raw anger and unresolved issues at play in this story. There are serious consequences for wrong choices that may have seemed justified at the time. This book is one where the reader can become emotionally involved without feeling emotions are being manipulated. The author's first hand knowledge of high school teaching, students, and activities comes through to lend the story a realistic background. Some readers may feel this book is a little too edgy, but I found it realistic and honest without ever straying into vulgarity. Both t