From Publishers Weekly

Confirming the promise of Sex and Sunsets and Western Swing , Sandlin has created a lighthearted, amusing and tender story of preteen wisdom, adult immaturity and the fine line between. It's 1963 when 13-year-old Sam Callahan and his tart-tongued, divorced, misbehaving mother, Lydia, are banished to the hick town of GroVont, Wyo., by Lydia's Southern-gentleman father, Casper. The only other intelligent sixth-grader in GroVont is spirited, pretty Maurey Pierce. Sharing their books, Sam and Maurey set out to discover what happens in the lost paragraphs between the first kiss and the happily ever after. With some coaching from liberated Lydia, the kids begin practicing for their first real sexual experience. Complications arise when Sam--envisioning romantic futures in the humorous, perceptive short stories he writes--finds himself in love with Maurey. Strong-willed Maurey, however, insists that they pair off with others for "normal" dating, even after she discovers she's pregnant. Hilarious teenage dating scenes are neatly contrasted with Lydia's unwise romantic entanglements and the pathetic snobbery of small-town social cliques. Narrated in Sam's adolescent voice--authentic in its tone and use of the vernacular--this offbeat, engaging novel elicits nonstop chuckles and, sometimes, a tear or two.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Sandlin ( Western Swing, LJ 4/1/88) continues his quirky brand of humor in a Western setting, but unfortunately with less originality and freshness. Thirteen- year-old Sam Callahan's wild mother Lydia has displeased her father (who controls the purse strings) and so is banished from South Carolina to the quiet town of GroVont, Wyoming. She spends most of her time sitting around being disdainfully witty and drinking gin while son Sam writes short stories. Along comes precocious adolescent Maurey Pierce, who decides it's time she lost her virginity. Sam and Maurey experiment under liberal Lydia's roof; then Maurey gets pregnant. When she goes for an abortion and finds her mother there, all hell breaks loose. Though wittily told (sometimes to the point of being too cutesy), this is reminiscent of Larry McMurtry's The Last Pic ture Show , but kinkier, in its depiction of the decay and hypocrisy behind the seemingly benign facade of small-town life. Basically, it's been done before. A marginal purchase.
- Rosellen Brewer, Monterey Cty. Free Libs., Seaside, Cal.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.