Review: Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
10:00
Series: None
Author: Morgan Matson
Published May 7th 2015 by Simon & Schuster
Goodreads Synopsis
From the Flying Start author of Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour, a powerful novel about hope in the face of heartbreak.
Taylor Edwards’ family might not be the closest-knit—everyone is a little too busy and overscheduled—but for the most part, they get along just fine. Then Taylor’s dad gets devastating news, and her parents decide that the family will spend one last summer all together at their old lake house in the Pocono Mountains.
Crammed into a place much smaller and more rustic than they are used to, they begin to get to know each other again. And Taylor discovers that the people she thought she had left behind haven’t actually gone anywhere. Her former best friend is still around, as is her first boyfriend…and he’s much cuter at seventeen than he was at twelve.
As the summer progresses and the Edwards become more of a family, they’re more aware than ever that they’re battling a ticking clock. Sometimes, though, there is just enough time to get a second chance—with family, with friends, and with love.
Goodreads
Review
Second Chance Summer is just that, a second chance. After Taylor's father gets a terminal diagnosis, the entire Edwards' family decide to get to get for one last summer, at their old lake house. The whole family have always been a little self occupied and not the closest, but knowing that they need to band together before the worst happens, they start to learn more about one another, and become a true family. Taylor seems to struggle the most, and doesn't want to let her guard down, especially around her former friends, Lucy and Henry, who have moved on since she was last there. However, as the summer, and Taylor's dad's illness progresses, we see Taylor becoming more open.
Now, I was nervous going into this book. I've always liked Morgan's books, but I was reading this just a year after my gran died from cancer, and the thought of it dragging up all those feelings really worried me. Instead, I found it quite cathartic, because it was just enough removed from my situation, but still close enough to help me think about some of the feelings of grief and sadness I still had. Taylor was a character who was difficult to engage with first, but as we got to know her more, and see that she had built up these walls that were slowly crumbling under the pressure, we appreciated her more. Her family all were wonderful, especially towards the end of the book, when they became a proper family unit again, rather than a whole lot of separate people with the same surname. The sub plot of Taylor reconnecting with once best friend, Lucy, and ex-boyfriend, Henry, was a nice reprieve from the hard hitting cancer story line, and another way in which we see Taylor's growth as she stops running and hiding from problems, but instead faces it, head on.
Dates Read:
September 15-18, 2018
Rating
4 Stars
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