Book Review: Turn Around by Carole Wolfe

Reviewed by Addison Ciuchta

A fun and hopeful read about friendship, loyalty, and love

Turn Around is set in Stadium, Texas, a small football-centric town. Heather Ramsay is up for a promotion to principal of Stadium High, her marriage is strained, and her daughter keeps changing her college major, causing the family financial hardship to cover her tuition.

Luckily, she has a tight-knit group of friends who are part of a running club who lend her clothes to wear for her confirmation as new principal and offer emotional support when, out of nowhere, the school board gives the principal job to a newcomer instead. Now she’s not only faced with being passed over by the board, but also Heather’s financial situation is floundering without the promotion, and she must deal with the demands of the new principal who doesn’t seem to understand Stadium’s culture. Will Heather, her marriage, and her friendships make it in the face of rising tensions as the principal makes decisions that send shockwaves throughout their small community?

Turn Around is great at tugging on emotional heartstrings for Heather as the downfalls she face just keep piling up on her. Each time she seems to find some stable ground, yet another thing happens to set her back in a new way. Not only is she passed up for the principal job, but she’s also dealing with her marriage problems, tuition money, a critical mother, a difficult new boss, and an outraged community as she carries out the new principal’s rules despite how wrong they seem for her school. Rules like a strict attendance policy which, in their small town where many of the students work on their parents’ farms or miss class for football, is a difficult standard for many to meet causing some players to be unable to play, resulting in backlash from the community.

In the face of it all, though, she’s determined to find a solution, sacrificing even her most favorite things to make ends meet. She does it for her daughter. She reaches out to her husband even when it often ends in arguments. She shows up for work every day and does more than she’s asked for the students she loves. Her passion is what makes her a character who is easy to connect to and root for, putting all her efforts into a job that often has little to no acknowledgement but finding purpose in the job anyway. I also adored her love for raising chickens, her fancy chicken coop and all. The chickens really showcase her personality and even in her friends’ personalities.

The pacing does seem slightly off. The vast majority of this relatively short book is rising tension with new and added stakes stacking on top of each other from maybe too many directions. Then the resolution feels a little short and storylines wrap up too abruptly, like those involving her mother and the football coach.

While there might be slightly too many of them, the sources of tension in the book all touch on the troubles of everyday life. They make perfect sense for Heather and the parameters of her life. These aren’t the grandiose tensions of an action-packed thriller, but the tensions of daily life in the form of financial stress, relationship problems, workplace disappointment, and sacrificing what she loves for the sake of her family. These are things almost everyone has experienced, and the author does a great job of scaling the story to the characters and the setting.

The friend group is where the heart of this book truly lives, as Heather and her friends support, push, and take care of each other in their times of need. Based on the epilogue, the next book in the series will focus on one of Heather’s friends, with hopefully more to follow. I look forward to reading more about their dynamics, history, and their quirky small town from the others’ points of view in the future.

Turn Around is a sweet, heartwarming story of friendship, strength, and perseverance in the face of daily struggles. It’s not a grand adventure of a novel but a quiet peek into the lives of Heather and the residents of Stadium, Texas. I’d recommend Turn Around as a book club pick or for those looking for something hopeful and realistic.

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