This was my first book by Christina Clancy and I’m so thankful I had the opportunity to experience such a wonderful story. It was a beautifully written love story, with heartache and suspense mixed in. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about romance, sibling relationships and childhood memories. The book does have a scene which describes a graphic description of non consensual sex, just as a warning to anyone who may be triggered.

Although this wasn’t my typical genre, and had a bit too much exposition for my personal taste, I still enjoyed it and there’s definitely a demographic (think Elin Hildebrand fans) who will eat this up. This will definitely make a fun summer “beach read”.

3.5 stars.
Novel about 3 very different siblings reuniting after the death of their parents and trying to overcome the hurts and miscommunications of their teen years, when everything fell apart.
Somewhat predictable as far as the "terrible event that separated them" but still an enjoyable read. And the relationship between Ann and Maureen that developed was a nice surprise.

Very well written, lovely prose. The plot was fairly predictable but overall I enjoyed this book. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I'm a sucker for stories where families have a summer home out East. Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, or Maine all make me wish for a house on the beach to spend the summers. The Gordon family hails from Milwaukee, but treks to Cape Cod each summer to live their best lives. The story is told between the past and the present from the POV of Ann, Poppy, and Michael. I had some issues with elements of the plot, but I don't want to give away the story. I enjoyed the writing and most of the characters enough to give it four stars. Though it was set in the late nineties/early 2000s then present day, it felt as though it could have been in the 50s or 60s. I think some of my issues with elements of the story would be moot if that were the case. This was definitely worth reading. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

Although this book wasn’t for me, I can understand some people enjoying it. I found two of the main characters completely unbelievable and couldn’t get past the main premise of the book. I did find the setting of Cape Cod enjoyable, but I couldn’t buy into the main character being so completely clueless and naive. Really wanted to like this book - disappointing!

Communication within a family is so necessary and so very very difficult. Especially for the characters in this story. An in-depth tale of how families can go so wrong. Well put together story with difficult characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for my review.

I am having a hard time rating and reviewing this book. It was a decent story, but somehow I feel that I have heard it before. It was a sort of mixup of several previous reads.

Ann and Poppy are the teenaged daughters of a couple of 60s hippies who are now school teachers and weird, but loving parents. Michael is a classmate of Ann's whose mother has recently died, leaving him parentless and homeless. When Ed and Carol Gordon learn about Michael's circumstances, they invite him to live with them, and soon make the decision to adopt him.

The Gordons own an old cottage on Cape Cod, where they visit every summer, and that is where the story actually happens. Ann is babysitting for a rich couple in a big house, Michael is working on their landscaping crew, and Poppy is surfing and getting stoned. Then an event takes place that changes everything. Although not guilty, Michael takes the blame and disappears. Ann stays with her parents and gives up her college scholarships, and Poppy just disappears.

Years later, while returning to Wisconsin from the Cape, Ed and Carol Gordon are killed in a head-on collision. Ann, as the only one reachable, declares herself executor of their estate and begins to get rid of her past, in an effort to erase it.

Nothing works out as Ann has planned and in the end everyone lives happily ever after.

The book opens with Ann, an attorney and single mom living in Boston, meeting with a realtor to initiate the sale of her family’s rustic cottage on Cape Cod. Ann and her sister Poppy inherited the cottage when their aging parents were killed in a car accident. Poppy fell in love with surfing on the Cape and built an itinerant life focused on practicing/teaching yoga and chasing big waves. In flashbacks, it is revealed that they also have an adopted brother named Michael who shares the inheritance. Most of the book focuses on one quietly explosive Cape Cod summer when Ann, Poppy and Michael shifted from childhood and became adults. The events of that summer changed all of their lives drastically. Will returning to their second home on the Cape help them heal?

I received an ARC of The Second Home in exchange for an honest review. This is a family saga that centers around a summer home that has been in the family for generations. One fateful summer, things happen that change the dynamics of the family, which was heading for changes anyway. Lies and secrets contribute to the misunderstandings taking place in the family. This is an excellent beach read, especially since it centers around a beach community. Nice quick read.

So loved the setting of this read as I spent several weeks every summer vacationing on the Cape as a child and then again as an adult, within a 5 minute walk of the Beachcomber in Wellfleet. So many memories flooded my brain as restaurants etc. were mentioned. It really was an incredible place to visit.
Love to read books about families and their high and low tides getting in the way of their relationships. I loved the parents, but have to say most of the rest seemed one dimensional much of the time. Michael seemed more developed as a character and I found myself cheering for him on many occasions. I did enjoy reading about Poppy surfing as I don’t know much about it and found it very interesting. Found the dynamics between Ann and Maureen difficult to fathom.
An enjoyable read that held my interest until the very end. Many thanks to Christina Clancy, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read this ARC , to be published in June of 2020. Three and a half stars.

This book was so good. I didn't to put it down! The characters were well rounded, and the storyline sucked you into it and made you feel like you were really there. The author did an great job telling this story.

When I picked up this book to read it the description intrigued me. I thought it sounded interested.

What I wasn't prepared for was how much I was going to get invested in the story and characters.

The story starts with Ann one of the Gordon kids. Through her, we get introduced to Michael and Poppy. From the beginning, you are sucked into the Gordon family and the secrets they have but also the love and family connection.

As the story unfolds alternating from past to present through each character you begin to see the story unfold from multiple points of view which were really fun. You got to see how each choice made by a family member affected the others.

Christine writes a beautiful story about family, love, and finding your way back, She also takes us a journey through heartbreak, tragedy, and unspeakable acts of darkness. She wrote in a way that I felt Gordon's pain, love, happiness, sadness, anger and eventually forgiveness. It was truly a wonderful journey that I would take again and again.

Not an original story.

The first half of this novel explores the relationships between two sisters, an adopted brother, and the parents. The setting is the summer home in the Cape.

Nothing about this book is novel or original. The first half was especially clichéd, and the second half was a maudlin acceptance. The writing is good. The characters and plot are fleshed out. However, it’s a story that’s been told thousands of times. Nothing new to read here.

Thank you to Christina Clancy, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

This was a great family drama, written by my new favorite author. The only thing I didn't like was the ending between Michael and Ann. Other than that, it was an entertaining read.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review. I hate that I waited so long to start this book. This was a great story of family, traditions, love, miscommunication, sexual assault and forgiveness. I enjoyed this novel and loved most of the characters. This book was well written, you could truly feel the emotion being experienced by the characters. . I definitely enjoyed how characters that were known to the siblings when they were children came back into the story during their adulthood.

If you like a good story about family drama this book is for you! Thank you to the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book, I will definitely be seeking more books by this author.

This novel, The Second Home, was an amazing read. I don’t think I have ever felt so many different emotions for one novel: love, hate, sorrow, and joy. And all done with such intrigue that I was speed reading one minute and then slowing, then speeding up again and again. My heart raced, I cried, I rejoiced, it was just a phenomenal book to read. The characters were well developed, the story line never dragged or got boring, everything flowed.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this ARC. This book was given to me for free for my honest review.

This was a great book for those who love a romantic story. The “second home” was described so well that I could picture it in my mind. Such great detail.

In Catherine Clancy’s debut novel, The Second Home, she gives us the idyllic setting of a summer retreat: Cape Cod, where else? With her descriptive prose, you don’t have to do much to imagine days and evenings filled with oysters, Lilly Pulitzer, and sandy beaches. The family at the center of the book, the Gordons, are, at first glimpse, a solid unit, with parents who could best be described as “such good people.” They open their home to a classmate of their daughters’, a young man who has been orphaned. As the story progresses, a number of plot twists (along with those that are to be expected when children grow up) shake the family’s seemingly perfect foundation. While the characters were initially promising, Poppy and Ann felt increasingly one-dimensional and predictable in the latter half of the book. About a 3.25 for me—a solid book for the beach. I look forward to reading more by Christina Clancy, and I’m very grateful to her (along with NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press) for allowing me the opportunity to read and review an advance copy.

Just a nice relaxed summer read. Has everything you would want for the genre. Nice writing style and a good flow to the story