The Cortlandt Boys



For Readers Of: Dan Brown, Robert Ludlum, Nora Roberts
Print Length: 291 pages
ISBN: B00R8I2672
Publisher: Laura Vanderkam Books
Publication Date: December 18, 2014
Language: English


About the Book   
A small town high school basketball team wins the Pennsylvania state championship with an improbable last second three point shot. The Cortlandt Cavaliers celebrate their unlikely victory, but good fortune changes the boys’ worlds in unpredictable ways. This story revisits the characters 10 and 20 years later as the ramifications of their youthful success play out over the course of their lives, forever linking them and the people around them to this little town that has its ways of not quite letting you go.

My Impressions: 

 In her debut novel, Laura Vanderkam does a marvelous job developing characters and a story line that are easy for readers to connect to.  Written from two separate points of view, Max and James, this book offers a glimpse into the lives of the Cortlandt Cavaliers who won the Pennsylvania state boys basketball championship and the lives of those in the community. 

I grew up in the small town of Belview Minnesota, so I can relate to the struggles of small town living and the fear that grips you when making the decision to stay or go. This was a story that could not have been told any better than how the author did it. The characters had depth, the story moved quickly and with every page you were left wanting more. The Cavaliers are stuck in the past and cannot move forward. They relieve their victories and set backs daily and it determines the course their lives take individually and as a team. I really do not want to give any of the plot away so I will say this book take a big twist about half way through that I was not expecting at all. Just when I thought I had it all figured out and how it would end, bam I was thrown for a curve. This story will leave you heart broken and filled with hope at the same.

Disclaimer: I was provided a free copy of this book, via Noise Trade, in exchange for my honest review.

About the Author: 

Laura Vanderkam in a journalist who likes to write books and articles that make people think.
She is the author of several time management and productivity books, including the forthcoming I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make The Most Of Their Time (Portfolio, June 2015). Based on a time diary study of 1001 days in the lives of professional women and their families, this book takes a practical approach to the question of how people combine work and family while enjoying their own sweet time too. 

 Laura is also the author of What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast (Portfolio, 2013), 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think (Portfolio, 2010), and All the Money in the World: What the Happiest People Know About Wealth (Portfolio, 2012). She is the author of a novel, The Cortlandt Boys, available as an ebook.

 Laura is a frequent contributor to Fast Company’s website and a member of USA Today’s Board of Contributors. 

 Her work has appeared in numerous publications including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reader’s Digest, City Journal, Fortune, and Prevention. 

 She has appeared on numerous television programs, including The Today Show and Fox & Friends, hundreds of radio segments, and has spoken about time, money, and productivity to audiences of all sizes, including graduating seniors at her high school, the Indiana Academy, who brought her back as a commencement speaker in 2006. 

She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and four children. She blogs daily at LauraVanderkam.com. 
  
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