People like Martha Freeman

The Year My Parents Ruined My Life is a 1997 novel written by Martha Freeman.

12-year-old Kate Sommers lives in the fictional Isla Nada, California: she is the president of her sixth grade class and she plays volleyball. Her best friend is class secretary Molly Blossom. Kate also has a boyfriend, a 13-year-old surfer named Josh. She plans to join the Isla Nada Sting Rays in the spring, attend the Valentine dance with Josh and learn to skate in vertical skates in the spring. Her plans are derailed when her father announces the family is moving to Belletoona, Pennsylvania (a portmanteau of Belleview and Altoona), where he has acquired an important new job. Though Kate vocally opposes the move, protesting and even skipping meals by way of a "hunger strike", the family is set to move away before Thanksgiving. With help from Molly, a desperate Kate plans "Operation Defrost": she will save up for a plane ticket back to Isla Nada and "fly back home" as soon as she can, which she hopes will shock her parents into understanding how miserable she is in Belletoona. In the meantime, Molly will convince her parents to let Kate live with her for the next five-and-a half-years, until the pair can graduate from high school. She promises Josh to return to Isla Nada in time for the Valentine dance, implying their relationship will continue long-distance.