"Steplings is a tender and deeply touching story that deftly unwinds the tale of an endearing young man's coming-of-age and first love with such pitch-perfect dialogue and engrossing plot that its characters that leap off of the page and into your heart. Steplings is a novel as timeless as it is unforgettable." ~

-Sarah Bird, How Perfect Is That, The Yokota Officers’ Club, and The Gap Year

"You know when some horrible accident occurs and you can't look away? Something that commands your reluctant horrified attention? Like a train wreck, plane crash, volcanic eruption? Meet Jason Sanborn. He is that train....." ~

-Michelle Lancaster
Texas Book Girl and Library Thing
(read full review)

“Launched with scenes and exchanges of dialogue that are laugh-out-loud funny, C.W. Smith's Steplings maintains the rare wit but sobers up in a hurry. A nineteen-year-old boy, grieving over a first love's broken heart, and his eleven-year-old stepsister, yearning for her prior home and family, take off hitchhiking in the middle of the night and share an adventure that is hair-raising, tender, and wise. Here is an accomplished novelist at the top of his game.” ~

-Jan Reid, author of Comanche Sundown and
The Bullet Meant for Me

".... The author tucks in complications and minor adventures for all (the young folk are never put into real danger), plus a realistic if poignant resolution, but these only form a backdrop for his exploration of each character’s constellation of strengths and flaws.... rich in psychological insight and lit by occasional flashes of humor. (Fiction. 15-19, adult)" ~

-Kirkus Review (Aug 1, 2011)
(read full review)

“With Steplings, Charlie Smith has flawlessly captured the experience of being young, misunderstood, and full of longing. He manages to craft a tale that is at once gorgeously heartbreaking and a page-turning adventure. His ear for dialogue and lyrical prose are irresistible, as are his complex, loveable Jason and Emily—these aren't characters in a novel, they're people I know."~

-Melissa Kirsch, author of The Girl's Guide to Absolutely Everything

"Smith’s prose is rich and sophisticated, yet accessible, and the dialogue is right on….Though Jason and Emily grapple with universal teen issues, their troubles feel like uncharted territory when expressed through pitch-perfect narrative voices. Steplings is “a friendly, hopeful, humorous, and thoughtful book about growing up,” said Powell, though “watching Jason self-destruct is akin to watching someone in a horror film go down into the basement.” ~

-Mary Powell, author of Auslander and
Galveston Rose

"Steplings touches our hearts with the struggles and failures that are a part of finding our way, whatever our age. With both sensitivity and a strong narrative thrust, the book portrays the tugs between generations, couples, and, most especially those conflicts within ourselves as we come into adulthood, which often takes an entire lifetime. C.W. Smith's deftly written book is compelling on many levels.” ~

-Kate Lehrer, author of Confessions of a Bigamist

"Lordy, Steplings is a novel you read with increasing awe and dread, for C. W. Smith, page by page by artful page, is laying bare the illusions by which the American family sustains--and deceives--itself...~

-Lee K. Abbott, author of Dreams of Distant Lives, Living After Midnight, and All Things, All at Once

"...Smith has accomplished that rarest of literary feats: to leave the reader on the final page equal parts exhilarated at having finished a gripping work of fiction, and forlorn at not being able to spend more time in the world he crafted.” ~

-Melissa Kirsch, author of The Girl's Guide to Absolutely Everything