The Golden Season

The Golden Season

Madeline Kay Sneed

Enjoyment: 3.0Quality: 4.5Characters: 4.0Plot: 3.5

How do you love a place that doesn’t love you back? Emmy Quinn is West Texas through and her roots run deep in the sleepy small town of Steinbeck, where God sees all and football is king. She loves her community, but she knows that when she comes out as a lesbian, she may not be able to call Steinbeck—which is steeped in the Southern Baptist tradition—home anymore. After a disastrous conversation with her dad, Emmy meets Cameron, a charismatic, whip-smart grad student from Massachusetts who hates everything Texas. But Texas is in Emmy's blood. Can she build a future with a woman who can't accept the things that make Emmy who she is? Steve Quinn has just been offered his dream job as head coach of the struggling high school football team, the Steinbeck 'Stangs. The board thinks he can win them a state championship for the first time—but they tell him he can’t accept the position if he's got any skeletons in his closet. Steve is still wrestling with Emmy's he loves his daughter, but he’s a man of faith, raised in the Baptist community. How can God ask him to choose between his dreams and his own daughter? This lush, gorgeously written debut is a love letter to the places we call home and asks how we grapple with a complicated love for people and places that might not love us back—at least, not for who we really are. The Golden Season is a powerful examination of faith, queerness and the deep-seated bonds of family, and heralds the arrival of a striking new voice in fiction. Don't miss Madeline Kay Sneed's next riveting novel, Today Tonight Forever , where one wedding weekend results in a dramatic reunion with layers of love, grief, and moving on...

Publication Year: 2022


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  • bigbookbaby
    May 13, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    emmy's pov on it's own was a 5 star read. i was emotionally reeling for her as she navigated <spoiler>her father's painful rejection, her increasingly toxic relationship with cameron, and the loss of the place she loved to call home. i appreciated that this book didn't wrap up perfectly, leaving emmy + readers grieving for her relationship with her father while excitedly welcoming in her new era in houston. the chapters focused on football left me feeling disengaged, their content + sharpness falling flat compared to the emotionality and depth of emmy's chapters. i appreciate the role that football plays in the story + texas culture, but wish there had been less of this and more space for steve to process their relationship. however, i do understand this could have been the intended reading experience, which though powerful in its own way was not totally for me.</spoiler> i appreciate how this story challenged stereotypical portrayals of rural texas and introduced us to many characters whose faith + values were inextricably linked with supporting their [queer] community and chosen family members. overall, an emotionally intense, raw, and tender read. i devoured it in two days, and look forward to reading more by madeline kay sneed!

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  • Fallenlyric
    May 04, 2025
    Enjoyment: 3.0Quality: 4.5Characters: 4.0Plot: 3.5

    This book was not easy to get through. I can’t comment on how one might feel if they don’t have religious trauma relating to homophobia, but this book really hit home for me and I almost had to put it down. There’s a specific chapter that is heavy on the reasons why a Christian might think the way they do, which, I believe, was to let the reader in on why the dad was the way he was, but it was very hard to get through as someone who has had similar things said to them as a kid. If you have triggers relating to religious intolerance, this is not the book for you. I did not personally gain anything from this book that I needed from it, but that’s not to say another person couldn’t. I think I was just relating a little too much to the main character to be able to see the big picture here. With that said, this was a great book, well written, and very emotionally engaging. If you feel secure enough to read it, you should.

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