This is a great story of a remarkable woman and good old fashioned American hard work turning into a dream business. I was so pleased to receive this for review. Thank you to both the publisher and to Net Galley. In today's electronic age it is important to remember America's farmers are hard working people that put our food on the table through very hard times. 
 This is the story of  Sarah Frey . She grew up on a failing family farm that finally went into bankruptcy.  She had ideas at a young age to save the farm and expand their business. At a young age she was already leaving home to create her own business. When she returned to find her family farm was further in  bankruptcy she took over and implemented her own ideas of how the business would expand and run successfully.   Soon she was taking meetings and making changes that she implemented with much push back against her as a woman. She persisted and today she has a growing business  that is one of America's largest produce businesses. 

I admire her and what she built out of an idea and hard work. She is a true American icon to the Agricultural industry. A woman to be admired for how she succeeded when men told her she would not. She has a amazing story here that I highly recommend.

Author # Sarah Frey has a wonderful new novel '#The Growing Season'. For a full review head over to Instagram at Maddie_approves_book_reviews which has a picture also. This author is such a uplifting person you will not forget.
Thank you,
#Netgalley, #Sarah Frey, and #Penguin Random

"The Growing Season" was selected as Country Living magazine's Sept. 2020 book club pick! A review was posted at CountryLiving.com and Q&A with the author was posted to @countrylivingmag Instagram Stories.

Inspiring story! Any lover of farmers markets will love reading this inspiring story. Sarah Frey is an inspiration! Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

THE GROWING SEASON by Sarah Frey ("America's pumpkin queen") was for me a surprisingly inspirational read. Frey tells the story of growing up in Southern Illinois with a dysfunctional family amidst extreme poverty. There were so many times when I would have given up – yet, she somehow found the inner strength to continue on. Examples include how isolated she and her siblings were and how hard they had to work on the family farm as well as several amusing anecdotes ("Who needed guard dogs when you had Baa-Baa the ram?"). One especially vivid memory concerns a dangerous snapping turtle that her father ordered her to capture; while some readers may find that they question the credibility of a few events like that one, they will certainly be entertained and encouraged by Frey's account, subtitled "How I Saved an American Farm--and Built a New Life." Fans of memoirs like Walls' The Glass Castle and/or stories of entrepreneurial success will find much to enjoy in THE GROWING SEASON which received a starred review ("A must-read") from Library Journal. Highly recommended.

**I received and voluntarily read an e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Overall, it's a 3/5, mostly because it's nice to read about a woman succeeding in a male dominated business. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to start their own business.

I liked the message of hard work paying off. Sarah's tenacity proves that it can work. Sometimes. But it also helps out that even though they weren't in the best of financial situations, especially with 21 children, Sarah's family still had more than the nothing that a lot of people who go on to start businesses begin with.

In general, to me it reads as if "I was poor, but I got better thanks to hard work and discipline. And you can do it too!" Personally, I just couldn't connect to the author.

Sarah Frey shares how she started a tiny produce delivery business out of an old pick up truck as a teen and turned it into a nationally recognized company doing business with major retailers.

The youngest of a combined twenty one (!!!) children, Frey learned to take care of herself from an early age. Her mom and dad have a rather dramatic/messy love story and the family struggled to make ends meet while her dad refused to give up dreams he had for their farm, which fell in to ruin. 
Frey attended both high school and community college at the same time while working multiple jobs and moving out to live with her brother.
She had tons of tenacity, put in hard work, and had a lot of understanding teachers for her to be living on her own before she could even drive a car.

This memoir combines personal accounts of her childhood with brief descriptions of major deals she landed and how she’s branded her business. She touches on work-life balance, being a female in a male-dominated industry, and focuses on her family and how they have been the driving force behind her determination to succeed.
Inspiring and well-written, I breezed through this in just a few hours and was amazed at how Frey never let a thing stand in her way or intimidate her.

Thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The Growing Season: How I Saved an American Farm—And Built a New Life is scheduled for release on August 25, 2020.

I just finished this inspirational memoir about Sarah Frey, known as the “Pumpkin Queen of America.” Sarah’s story is one of resilience, determination, and redemption—a true rags-to-riches success story. Sarah is the youngest of 21 kids (and the only girl) who grew up in rural Illinois having experienced poverty, neglect, and abuse as a child. At age 15, she started selling melons and cantaloupes out of the back of a truck and saved the family farm from bankruptcy at the age of 17. This young girl personified grit and self-confidence! She was barely old enough to drink and was selling $10-12 million of produce a year to Walmart! If you’ve ever eaten a melon, it probably came from her farm. For the fans of “Educated” and “The Glass Castle,” I would recommend this one to you. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC. I enjoyed it very much! My kind of book!

I enjoyed this story.  I'm a sucker for a tales of women creating the lives that they want.  I also farm tales.  Frey does a nice job conveying a sense of place with descriptions of the farm.

Sarah Frey grew up in a poor household and could not wait to escape..  The youngest sibling and only sister felt more alone as each brother peeled away and her parent's financial troubles and difficult relationship worsened.  Eventually, she does a 180 and purchases her family farm and grows into a very successful enterprise.  

Told in a very matter of fact way, and a somewhat bragging manner (sometimes-although true as well). this is a memoir of family, farming and a strong woman making it in a very male environment.

The Growing Season by Sarah Frey.  What an outstanding book by an outstanding woman!  Sarah Frey has so much to say and share. She kept me captivated.  Who would have thought that the memoir of a lady farmer, as she calls herself, would be so interesting.  I really enjoyed this book and hope everyone gives it a read. Thanks Net Galley and Ballentine Books for the opportunity to read this memoir.

As a woman business owner myself, I was interested in reading this memoir.  I truly enjoy a memoir where the subject has a very different life than mine, as i always learn something. This was a well thought out and edited book. The mix of the author's background and the business were well done, with her childhood and formation of the business being half the story and life since the other half.. I was not familiar with the Frey company founder's story, but found the book fascinating.

“The Growing Season” is a bootstrap saga like “Educated” or “Hillbillly Elegy.” Author grew up in the sticks in the USA; rose to power and prominence.  The bootstrap memoir may be a DOA pre-pandemic trend, but who knows. The USA may continue to crave a rags-to-riches story with a hearty dollop of child abuse thrown in. 

However, unlike other bestsellers along these lines, some of Frey’s childhood anecdotes, which make up almost a third of the book, seem contrived or even fanciful. Her parents’ reactions seem even more far-fetched, and wildly inconsistent. Frey attempts a “Glass Castle” vibe on the parents, grossly abusive and neglectful yet deeply lovable--a bold leap for a first-time author. For this reader, it flopped. I liked her mother only when her mother was hauling watermelons, and disliked her father intensely.

A woman actually in the dirt growing food is compelling. Woman against the elements, against the weeds, against encroaching wildlife. The scene in which the author weeps in the field over crop rot of a whole pumpkin harvest is grand; you can visualize it like a panorama shot. I was less compelled by boardroom showdowns and harrowing stories of truck weight law evasions, but they at least had the feel of the author in her element, where so much of the book feels forced. Must be abused here. Must put in something vague about immigrant labor here that will offend no one. Dear old dad’s been absent for like 20 chapters, bring him back before the end.

If Frey were a guy, she’d write “The Pumpkin Principle: How I Pushed Product Into Every Big Box Store.” When Frey talks about her fiery and apparently innate drive to succeed, to grow, to innovate, it’s inspiring. It rings true. More land! More plants! More products! Come on, my big family! Go go go! In her narrative, when she writes her real passion, she’s like a benevolent Once-ler, flipping derelict farms and feeding literally millions of people real fresh food. The “Poor Little Girl Abused Girl Makes Good” angle is a waste of space in a book by a bona fide corporate titan.

I received an advanced readers copy of this book from Netgalley and Ballantine Books and was encouraged to submit a review.

The Growing Season is an extraordinary read. I was shocked and pleased to read in the prologue that the author grew up just 30 miles from where I did. Many things she spoke of resonated with me, about wanting to flee southern Illinois, yet appreciating how she grew up. She attended one of the IIEC colleges, as did I. Sarah Frey is tenacious, determined, and successful. Her childhood was fraught with issues, but she bulldozed through it to create a monolithic  agribusiness family oriented empire. It's impressive and noteworthy. I thoroughly enjoyed reading her story. It was also inspiring. Hats off to Frey Farms.

I found out about this book because recently we visited Frey Farms for watermelon, cantaloupe and fresh fruit drinks. The author's niece was handing out flyers and telling us 'my aunt wrote a book about how she started this farm and it's available for pre-order."

I was instantly intrigued and searched NetGalley as soon as I got home and was fortunate to receive early access. The Growing Season: How I Saved an American Farm -- And Built a New Life  is an excellent memoir. 

Sarah and her family grew up poor in a rural area of Southern Illinois. Some of her memories mirror my own upbringing, but much more was vastly different. 

To say her family life was complicated is an understatement. She is the youngest of her parents' combined 21 children...yes you read that correctly. Growing up with her older brothers she learned to grow, hunt, or catch their food --or they often wouldn't eat. This early experience gave her an appreciation and respect for the land and how it provides.

They often went without because of their father's ill-advised attempts at seeking his fortune. Their mother started a produce route to supplement the family's meager income and Sarah was eager to ride along. Those early routes with her mother established work habits and skills that helped her grow Frey Farms into a billion-dollar farming business.

Sarah always daydreamed (and worked hard) to escape the hardscrabble life of a Southern Illinois farm family. She was working her own produce route, going to school and working another part time job with her eyes on life in the big city. At 17, she traded in those big city dreams and bought her family's bankrupt farm and began to build a family legacy. 

Some of these memories were clearly difficult for the author to re-visit, but it felt raw, honest and vulnerable. I admire her tenacity, business acumen and people skills. Perhaps more, I admire that she avoided the blame game. While it would have been easy to blame her life's circumstance and the failing of her parents, she acknowledges with pride and affection the valuable lessons she learned and the value of family. 

I am especially grateful to read a local gal's rise to success and watch how it positively impacts her community. 

Thank you to Sarah Frey, NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the complimentary digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

Sarah Frey is a total boss, and I have so much respect for her. Back in the late 90s, my English teacher made us read the autobiography of Lee Iacocca, so that we could see how one person can take a business to unbelievable heights.  If I were to assign kids a book today about the entrepreneurial spirit in America, this would be my choice.  What a great memoir!

I really enjoyed reading about Sarah Fey's hard beginning and the hard lessons she learned along the way that enabled her to become a very successful farmer and business woman. I found it very inspirational to read about how she was able to overcome an early life of hardship and deprivation to go on and become very successful!

More Tara Westover than Jack Welsh.

Judging a book by its cover, I expected a business biography, like so many I read before. I don't want to say that I was disappointed - not at all - I just was surprised to say the least. Sarah Frey describes in some frank at time gruesome way her upbringing in rural Illinois. This stretches for the first half of the book, before it turns into a story about the business she built. 

I think that the business story is providing some background, but the core story is how Sarah as a person was formed by her upbringing, parents, siblings. How ethics and habits were formed that helped her to manage and succeed later in live 'despite' the fact she was a woman in a mans world. 

A highly motivational story for young women with the clear message: you can do anything, regardless how tough your life is, if you put the energy and dedication behind it.  I give it 4 stars, just because it does not do justice to the title in the sense that the emphasis is the person, not the produce. Still an excellent book, and everyone who enjoyed "Educated' will like this one.

I enjoyed this biographical novel by Sarah Frey.  She is really an inspiration to women and young people.  It compares but is  more believable than Educated!  If you are looking for inspiration, or aware of Frey Farms, this is a must read!  #The Growing Season

A delightful novel of a gal with tremendous courage and stamina who started her own company. .  The story is fresh, funny and real.  It's so heartwarming that you won't want to put it down.