The second home was an unexpected favorite. Follow siblings Ann, Poppy and Michael through the years. This ideal family is not immune to turbulence, which will tear through the foundation of their lives. Follow this story of love, friendship and loss that will stay with you beyond the end of the story.

The Second Home is the story of the Gordon family who travel from Wisconsin to spend their summers on Cape Cod. In the summer that Ann Gordon is entering her senior year in high school, their happy family dynamic goes awry and never recovers from the shock. Years later, after the sudden death of their parents, the Gordon siblings are forced back together to face the events of that last summer together.

I very much enjoyed Christina Clancy’s style and I look forward to reading more from her in the future. She nails the messiness of family relationships. Ann, Poppy, and Michael are wonderfully flawed individuals that made me want them all to have a happy ending to their family discord. Another great thing about the book is the setting in Wellfleet, MA. Clancy has captured the feeling of being on the Cape and the golden days of the Gordon children’s teen years.

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. Where I found fault with the novel was in Ann and Michael’s interactions with the Shaw family. Ann was understandably foolish to get swept up in her attraction to Anthony Shaw, but she was not a stupid young woman. I couldn’t suspend disbelief long enough to believe Ann and Michael would accept anything Anthony said without talking to each other first. Even after it becomes apparent that Anthony lied to each of them, they believed the worst of each other. 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of the novel.

This was a great family drama and the setting in the Outer Cape could not be more perfect. I don't know what it is, but I always tend to like books set in the Cape, even though I've never been there. The story took a little but to pick up for me, but once it did, I was hooked to the Gordon family and wanted to know more. There was definitely quite a bit of darkness here, but hope as well. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

First, I have to admit that I could not finish this book quickly enough and it wasn’t because it was so absorbing. I just wanted it to end and for me to find out the resolution. The story centers around the family dynamics of a teacher Ed, his wife Connie and their teen daughters Ann and Poppy. Add in their adopted teen son Michael and the family is complete. They all live in Milwaukee, but every summer they travel to their house on Cape Cod to spend the summer. The summer featured in the novel is one of many changes for the family and some really poor decisions. The mom and dad seemed very detached, not really caring or paying attention to what their children were doing. The result of their negligence and a terrible night is a teen pregnancy and a family torn apart. When the parents are killed in a car accident, Ann and Poppy have to do something about the summer house that they have not returned to for years. Poppy is a free, troubled spirit who really needs some help. Ann is finding success in her career. Neither of them has the funds to keep the house, so they want to sell it. Then Michael returns and wants to keep the house as well as restore his lost reputation, the reason he fled fifteen years before. I absolutely hated the way the plot was developed, with a hint here and there of what had happened. There were no redeeming characters, but if I have to pick one to like, I choose Michael. He made his life by himself, without help from his adopted family that spurned him. I didn’t like Ann and her weaknesses nor Poppy and all of her drug trips. That being said, the book was okay, but I would not consider it a good beach read since it includes all the reasons not to have a beach house and none of the real fun of having one. Just my opinion, of course, but I would put this in the category of a family drama rather than a beach read. Fans of that genre may like this book, but I did find it slow-paced at times and very frustrating to read.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

This is the debut novel of the author. I enjoyed the blurb and was curious to see the playout of the story. Thankfully I got a digital ARC to satisfy my curiosity.

This is a family drama with complexities, a story which is full of drama, family dynamics, twists, trauma, pain, rape and relationships.

I was hoping for it to be a bit more thrilling and twisted than it was. The story revolves around a couple and their children. Their biological daughters and their adopted son. There are underlying dark themes which make for good reading but somehow after a point, it just seemed too dramatic without the thrills and realism.

I will read more of the author though. It is a good debut novel and she definitely has the skills.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A family's life centered around three young people is forever changed by events that happen at their beach house. The wounds have not healed when the story picks up 15 years later as the two sisters try to make decisions about their parents estate. History has kept three young people separated and living different lives. As they all meet to discuss their way forward, they must first relive that last summer when they were all together. A story that will pull your heart strings while it lays bare the way families come apart then come back together.

2.5 stars. The Second Home is a family saga, centered on the Gordon family from Milwaukee: seemingly hard-working parents, two teenage daughters and a newly adopted teenage son. The family travels each summer to Cape Cod (Wellfleet), where they spend months in a house that has been in the Gordon family for generations.

Although my interest was definitely piqued throughout the first half of the novel, I found the second half to be much less interesting: the once-charming characters were developing into unrealistic versions of their former selves and the plot’s timeline became chopped and somewhat hard to follow at points. A few of the specific scenes (and accompanying dialogue) were so far fetched that I actually rolled my eyes while reading them. I enjoy a good family saga and even a beach read, but this one — although a quick but somewhat heavy/dark read — stretched the willing suspension of disbelief way too far at points.

I realize that this is Cristina Clancy’s debut novel. While it was not exactly my cup of tea, I did find it interesting, and I am anxious to see what she does with her next.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Just a fabulous book about family, love, place, time, and forgiveness.

*I received a free copy of this novel from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my honest review.*

Ann Gordon's parents have died suddenly and it is up to her to get the houses in order to sell - the house in MIlwaukee and the house on Cape Cod. As she meets with the realtor on Cape Cod, she is remembering that one fateful summer that changed everything. The book then drops back to the summers and the family all together including Michael, the teenager the family has taken in. The first year after the adoption is when everything changes. Affter that summer, the novel jumps back to the current time period and we follow the 3 siblings through the aftermath.

Ed and Connie Gordon are the wonderful hippie parents. Ann meet Michael through school and develops a crush and when she learns that his parents are both dead and he is surviving by hiding from authorities, she brings him home and Ed and Connie take him in. Ann is the no-nonsense daughter - Ann with a Plan - who takes care of everything. Poppy is the younger daughter and a free spirit who gets caught up in drugs and a nomad life chasing the perfect wave.

I enjoyed this novel. I thought that the plot was well laid out and the writing was amazing. I was drawn in from the first page. The writing was very descriptive without being overly poetic and drippy. I have never been to Cape Cod, but could almost imagine it after this novel. I did enjoy the parents and felt the enormity of their loss through the siblings in the second half of the book.

There were some things that were glossed over that I wish had been a little more detailed - the changes in the relationship dynamics surrounding the adoption and a relationship after a death in the second half of the book. I feel like these could have been major books on their own. And the latter maybe could have been left out altogether? And things did seem to get wrapped up rather quickly in the end.

Overall, a great debut and I will recommend to others!

The Gordon family spent every summer at their second home in Wellfleet, Cape Cod. Magical summers, swimming, reading, relaxing and enjoying each others company. until the year eldest daughter Anne babysat for the Shaws, Poppy learnt how to surf and adopted son Michael fell in love.

A wonderful book with great scenery and characters to empathise with. A heartbreaking story of a family which suffered from lies, deceit, missed chances and mis- communication.

Echoes of Anita Shreeve, I loved it,

I loved this book featuring siblings Ann, Poppy, and adopted brother Michael. Their journey to adulthood and the different paths they take is moving and relatable. Each chapter is told in the voice of one of the siblings, and the climax comes when their parents die unexpectedly and they clash over selling the family second home - a ramshackle cottage in a less desirable area of the tony town of Wellfleet on Cape Cod. This cottage means different things to each of them, as they share a secret but only one knows the truth.

Poignant and unpredictable, THE SECOND HOME is one of those novels that engages and moves readers as it recounts the events of a single summer spent at the family home on Cape Cod via the diverse perspectives of the three Gordon children, Ann, Poppy and their adopted brother, Michael. A collision between the past and the present dislodges some hard and hidden truths and the reader is drawn back in time some sixteen years as each sibling recounts their memories of the events that altered the family dynamic during that fateful summer.

Clancy’s debut novel is steeped in human drama provided by an eclectic cast of characters as they journey down the rocky path from duplicity and betrayal to understanding and forgiveness. Her detailed description of picturesque and idyllic town of Wellfleet seems deeply personal, as she paints a picture of a place so nostalgically quaint that it’s hard to believe that anything less than perfect could ever happen there………but of course it does

Clancy has provided the perfect beach read.

Wait this was a Debut Novel? Oh my gosh please start writing your next book. What a Great Read!!!! The characters, the plot, the Cape, All of it felt like you were a part of it. I can’t thank you enough Net Galley and St. Martin’s for this Gem of a book. Christina you have real talent.

Oh, my heart and soul! This book! The Second Home is the debut novel releasing in June from author Christina Clancy. If this is her debut, all I have to say is that she has a ton to live up to with her next novel. I can’t remember the last time I was so engrossed and invested in a book!

Anyway, this is about the Gordon family. There are the wonderful and quirky parents, Ed and Connie, their daughters Ann and Poppy, and Michael, whom they adopt when he is a teenager. The family always spends their summers on the Cape in Wellfleet and they all have this magical dynamic until the summer of 2000. Ann takes a job babysitting for the wealthy Shaw family. Michael takes a landscaping job with Jason, which also puts him at the Shaw’s home most of the time, and the youngest, Poppy, learns to surf and get high all of the time. But then, things suddenly go very wrong in Ann’s life, which in turn, throws Michael’s life into a total uproar. But of course, I can’t tell you what happens or I would be spoiling everything.

Fast-forward about fifteen years and Ann is preparing to sell the family home in Wisconsin, as well as, their summer home in Wellfleet in light of their parents’ death. Poppy has spent all of these years traveling, surfing, and doing yoga all over the world and her relationship with Ann is strained/barely existent. Michael is doing his own thing with his own life, yet still misses his adopted family and still harbors enormous regrets over his relationship with Ann. Although heartbreaking, it’s truly family dysfunction at its best.

The Second Home was truly a five-star read for me despite some issues I had with it overall. The writing is beautiful, the characterization is detailed, and there is plenty of family drama. My biggest problem was with Ann, who was a completely unlikable character. She started out o.k. but quickly turned into a selfish, angry, and unreasonable version of herself. Yes, she experienced trauma and a life-changing turn of events, but her anger and resentment were misplaced and turned her into a flat, cold person. Furthermore, this woman had more mood swings than I could count. Why anyone wanted any sort of relationship with her by the end of the novel, I couldn’t guess.

Speaking of the ending… The ending was not my favorite of all time. Depending on the type of novel, I can be either happy or frustrated with ambiguous endings. Two days later and I am still thinking about the ending and trying to decide how I feel about it. I think I would have liked more definitive closure. But nevertheless, I loved this novel.

The Second Home comes with my highest recommendation for women’s fiction lovers, especially those that enjoy family drama that spans decades. Like me, you may not always agree with the characters or understand their motivations, but this one that you won’t be able to put down once you start reading.

*Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The cover sold me on this one. It caught my eye the instant that I seen it on Netgalley. But the writing, the characters, and the lack of consistency in the plot really made me sleepy. 

The consistency. The story had zero consistency. To me it was all over the place and when that happens a lot of things begin to get repetitive throughout. Characters become duller. Not to mention there were a lot of very important scenes (in my opinion) that were extremely downplayed. The author should have taken away from a few other occurrences and added more to those bigger elements. 

Speaking of dull characters. Let's all say hello to Ann. She was awful, rude, and quite annoying. She was a liar and a money hungry woman who drove me crazy the entire way through. The only thing Ann deserved was to visit her city's local jail cell. 

The Second Home had potential. The second I started reading this book I knew that it was going to take some time to get used to. The POV's are all written differently and sometimes the chapters didn't seem to be in order which got to be a little confusing. If you are into self-centered characters and manipulative men and women, you might actually really enjoy this one. You just have to make it through the lack of consistency and Ann first.

There are a lot of triggers in this book it is filled with rape, blackmail, poor teen decisions along with sibling relationships. It was filled with abuse, this is a very twisted filled family drama.

Thank you Netgalley and St Martins Press for my copy of this book for my honest review.

I wanted to like this story so badly., but it fell a bit flat for me. I spent so much time on the Cape growing up and I loved that this was a story celebrating that. But this story just felt so dramatic and outrageous at times. It’s about a family and their cottage on the Cape, but it isn’t a cozy beach read. It’s a harsh look at one family and the secrets they keep from each other.

The Second Home is a family drama that encompasses all the nuances that make a family a family, and then some!
Ann comes back to the family beach home to prepare it to sell, after her parents were killed in a tragic accident. She can’t get a hold of her free-spirited sister Poppy until months later, and they start the process of getting the house ready to sell.
Their estranged adopted brother Michael comes back into the picture and relationships are tested, perceived betrayals still cut deep and the beauty of the summer home is still captivating to all the siblings as they work through all their own issues to create a solution for everyone.

I really liked this book. It was atmospheric and dramatic and unique. If you like family dramas and Elin Hilderbrand/Cape Cod setting you'll love this one.

When we picture the perfect place to spend summers as children, the house that Ed and Connie Gordon travel from Milwaukee to Wellfleet every summer might come to mind. When they adopt a nearly grown teenager who their daughter Ann befriends, the family of five seems complete. Then comes the jealousy, teenage hormones and the problems that too much freedom and too little information breeds. The three children, once close, separate into their own shadowy worlds and it takes the death of their parents, years later, to reunite them. The question of what happens to the Second Home force the issue.

Christina Clancy has created deep characters and a gorgeous setting that propels this book into the "great summer read" category. But it has some dark moments that hold me back from giving it a five-star rating. Every parents dream, and nightmare, all in one book.

This book was provided to me by NetGalley and will be published June 2, 2020.