The Whole Nine Yards

“I’m good with girls. I have a tal­ent for mak­ing them care for me.” boast Storm Rus­sell, world author­i­ty on girl chas­ing. Indeed, most of his high school years are spent in the relent­less pur­suit of “the per­fect girl.”

Storm’s obses­sion leaves him lit­tle time to think about act­ing respon­si­bly, either in school or at home. When he meets Paula, the girl he real­ly wants, Storm finds him­self total­ly unpre­pared for a seri­ous rela­tion­ship. It’s not until tragedy strikes dur­ing his senior year that Storm, with Paula’s help, finds the strength to con­front his immaturity.

Malm­gren’s remark­able first nov­el offers a poignant yet opti­mistic view of a young man’s growth toward aware­ness and respon­si­bil­i­ty in this del­i­cate com­ing of age nov­el. The Whole Nine Yards received hon­or­able men­tion in the 1984 Dela­corte Press.

Crit­ics response to The Whole Nine Yards:

“Beau­ti­ful­ly limns a teenage boy’s con­flict­ing feel­ing about romance, sex, grief, guilt, and love.  Read­ers will enjoy its refresh­ing­ly can­did tone.”  –Pub­lish­er’s Weekly

“Sopho­moric humor and descrip­tions of high school high jinks that resound with authen­tic­i­ty mask the seri­ous intent of Malm­gren’s sto­ry.”  –Book­list

“An hon­est por­tray­al of ado­les­cent males strug­gling with their hor­mones and test­ing them­selves via prank­ish escapades.”  –Voice of Youth Advocates

We are cur­rent­ly in the process of get­ting The Whole Nine Yards re-issued in eBook for­mat. Expect­ed e‑publication is late 2014!

The Whole Nine Yards