The Comeback Season - Hardcover

"A wonderfully written story about love, heartache, and loss that digs deep into the most important lesson sports have to offer us -- hope. As Smith so eloquently tells us, it's not about winning or losing, it's about stepping up to the plate, over and over again. This story -- impossible to put down -- will stay with you like your biggest loss...and your greatest comeback." -- Tim Green, author of Football Genius and Football Hero

"Jennifer E. Smith has taken the themes of young love, deep loss, and professional baseball -- in the form of the hapless Cubs -- and turned them into a terrific read that overflows with passion and insight. Lessons about the saving nature of hope pervade this story of memory and yearning. Here's one old sportswriter who calls The Comeback Season a leadoff homer by an All-Star rookie." -Rick Telander, senior sports columnist, Chicago Sun-Times

"In a deeply touching and profound debut, Jennifer E. Smith sensitively explores the parallels and intersections between the game of baseball and the game of life. Smith is a writer and a fan who understands the details and depth of the great American pastime and of the human heart as well." -- Bob Krech, author of Rebound

"The Comeback Season is a warm and brave, if heartbreaking, story about first love. It will make you cry and laugh and cry again!" -- Melissa de la Cruz, author of The Au Pairs and Blue Bloods

"The Comeback Season is one of those books that breaks your heart -- and can't be put down. It is a beautifully written story about loss of innocence, the strength of the human spirit, and why there is nothing quite like being a Chicago Cubs fan." -- John Feinstein, bestselling author of Last Shot, Vanishing Act, and Cover-up

Finding herself on the subway to attend the Chicago Cubs' opening day, Ryan looks back two years previous to the day when her father died and everything changed, but a surprising encounter with a cute boy at the stadium gives her hope and reignites emotions inside her that have been dormant for so long.