I am so glad this book exists
I am so glad there was a sequel for Dairy Queen. I mean, it worked fine as a stand-alone novel, but I wasn't quite ready to let go of DJ Shwenk and her family and friends.
As a sequel, The Off Season didn't disappoint. It moved me as Dairy Queen did - made me laugh and made me cry. Again, I was transported to the inner workings of DJ's mind, even if she didn't know where her thoughts were leading half the time, all it did was add to her character complexity and most of all, her character development (which does not occur enough in YA fiction!). It was never annoying. You had to be in her mind to understand her life.
I want to give away so many spoilers but I will restrain myself! Just be assured, if you loved or even just liked Dairy Queen you'll be very glad to get your hands on this next installment, especially as it picks up more or less exactly where the previous book left off. I feel pretty confident in saying you won't be disappointed. Well, you might be a bit disappointed in one particular character and his particular choices, and you might feel your heart break right along with DJ, but a part of you will say you saw it coming all along. Anyway, that's enough out of me!