3.5 stars

This was not at all what I expected. I thought it might be a little lighter. Toward the middle, I considered a DNF. It was depressing and skeevy. Sherri is a bunny at the Playboy Resort in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in the early 80s. She was an outcast in high school, so while this experience of working for Playboy gives her a certain amount of confidence. However, she still turns to drugs and alcohol to bolster herself. She makes a series of bad choices, some of which lead to some disastrous consequences. However, the ending tied it all up in a satisfactory way. Definitely, not a light read, but it is one that will make you think about the impact of the bad decisions of your youth impacting the trajectory of your life.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read a digital ARC in return for an honest review.

This was not a book that I was expecting. Let me try to make that statement clearer- I expected less depression and more of a back-of-the-scenes look at Playboy Clubs. Now, remember, I'm of an age who remembers these quite clearly!

However, all I can say is that this was one of the longest-winded books I have read in a while and one of the most depressing. Though I admit that it (the novel) has an interesting look into that time in history. I found an interesting bit while doing a little research -"The Lake Geneva Playboy Club opened in May 1968 and remained in business until December 1981".

All in all - I finished the book but had to take an anti-depressant when I was done!

*ARC supplied by the publisher, the author, and NetGalley.

This is a realistic story. Sherri was a very responsible teenager taking full time care of her sick mother for two year before she died. It is not hard to image that afterwards having landed a job as a Playboy bunny she didn’t think to plan for the future and just wanted to have fun. Been a bit naïve she makes mistakes and is been taken advantage of. Sometimes you wonder if she is ever going to survive the type of live she is leading. The circle is complete when she needs to return to her hometown after a 40 year absence. I do not want to give more away of the story because it is a much nicer read if you follow the story without knowing what to expect.

This was very enjoyable. I snagged this ARC from Netgalley. This starts with a woman in her sixties looking back on her life. She was an innocent girl from a small town in Wisconsin and tried out to be a Playboy bunny at the local resort because her best friend wanted to. She talks about sex, drugs, and alcohol. The pressures of being skinny and how her life changed all from having that job, the good and the bad. Of course with that kind of lifestyle bad things will happen, but also a lot of good things can happen too. She blamed herself for many things and this book is about letting the past go. I will definitely look into this author's first book.

I adored Shoulder Season. I first heard about this book on the radio--NPR, maybe? It tells the story of Sherri Taylor, a woman who ends up hired as a Playboy Bunny in Wisconsin. It follows her journey as she deals with her mother's death, grows into herself alongside her playboy bunny friends, and deals with the hard stuff, too, including creepy men.

Trigger warning for drugs and eating disorders.

She eventually leaves this life, but we see her circle back to it, and grow a lot as a person as she looks back on her experiences.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was different than what I expected, but also a powerful story. Highly recommend.

3.5 Stars...

This is a tough book to review. It started out great with Sherri wanting more than her small-town East Troy, Wisconsin life was giving her in 1981. With both her parents having passed away, Sherri, a sweet mid-western church organ player, decides to go with a friend to interview to be a Playboy Bunny at the Lake Geneva Playboy Club (which was a real place btw) on the heels of her mother's death. She's not serious about the job and doesn't expect anything to come of it, but it ends up completely changing her life.

Unfortunately, Sherri's Bunny experience is where she began to lose me. I loved the training and the resort and all the history of what it took to be a Bunny. There were WAY more rules than I would have expected, but Sherri herself changed so much that I had a difficult time tolerating her.

I get being young and wanting to live life to the fullest and have as many experiences as you can, but Sherri was an idiot and a jerk. She became so wrapped up in herself that she started making ridiculous decisions (flying to Texas alone to meet a complete stranger?!) and burned so many bridges with her friends. The rest of the bunnies had plans for their futures and had goals they worked hard to achieve. Sherri was all about the now, the sex and drugs with no thought about her future, and it was such a juxtaposition of her personality at the beginning of the novel that I never really connected with this 'new' Sherri, nor did I like her.

The ending seemed to be an attempt to try and redeem some of Sherri's earlier behavior, but it was too little too late for me. Sherri was only a Bunny for 8 months; then the book zooms 40 years into the future. We miss the entire bulk of her life, yet those 8 months have so completely dictated who she became that I found it all very sad and unbelievable.

In the end, while I really enjoyed the Playboy Club part of the story and the inside look at what it took to be a Playboy Bunny, I really never warmed to Sherri. I didn't dislike her enough to DNF this, but I wasn't sorry when the story was over.

Oh how I adore Christi’s writing! This book was so unique and definitely was one of those books that got me out of my head and completely distracted me from all of the craziness in life - so thank you Christi for a much needed break from reality! Though, there was a reality to her story, which revolved around a Playboy bunny working at a Playboy Resort in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. This resort did in fact exist, and Christi does such a great job describing it and giving us readers an insight into the “bunny hutch”. It reminded me a lot of “City of Girls”, so if you are a fan of that, you definitely need SHOULDER SEASON!

I discovered @clancychristi with last year’s The Second Home and was immediately smitten with her writing. This year she took me to the waning days Lake Geneva, Wisconsin’s Playboy Resort.
Sherri Taylor was raised in a small community, playing the church organ and always adjusting her social circle. Now orphaned at 19, she doesn’t know what to do with her life when her best friend asks her to come with her to apply for a job. When Sherri gets hired as a Bunny and her friend doesn’t, it’s one more thing she feels bad about and it changes her life.
This is a brilliant coming of age story in a unique historical setting. Sherri’s continuing need to find a place to fit in and call home drove me a little crazy at times, but her flaws and choices were honestly depicted and I understood the motivation. This is fantastic historical fiction from the eighties. Sit poolside for this in your swimwear and stilettos with a fruity beverage. 😉
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I can’t say that i liked the protagonist , Sherri, very well but the story did keep me interested.

Hearing how life was for Playboy Bunnies at the 1980s Wisconsin resort was interesting. It made it seem like the hard work it had to be at times.

I also liked the ending where we learned what had happened to Sherri and the rest of the characters from back in the day. It felt like a reunion. I really appreciate knowing how things turn out instead of guessing. Nothing infuriates me more than a book that leaves loose ends. Shoulder Season did not leave loose ends.

All in all, not a bad book but not one that will likely stay with me very long either, hence, the three stars. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy is a coming of age story of a small town girl, Sherri who becomes a Playboy Bunny. Searching for who she is and for love; Sherri meets many different people and experiences many things. . Some bring her happiness and some don't. She ultimately realizes that she has met the love of her life, Arthur. But at a party, Arthur tragically dies. She flees and searches out Mitch; a blast from the past. whom she marries. They have a daughter but after 10 years; the marriage ends. As Sherri, finds her way back to her home town; she discovers that the love of her life; Arthur, may not have been the person he claimed to be after all which allows Sherri to move forward with her current life.

Shoulder Season releases in July, 2021

I love you, NetGalley! Thank you so much for early access to Shoulder Season. I couldn’t advance the pages fast enough and now I’m sad it’s over.

I really enjoyed this book—- especially as a Wisconsin resident. Sherri is a brand new, barely 20 year old Playboy bunny at the Lake Geneva Playboy Resort in Wisconsin. She re-invents herself—- into someone she likes a lot more. She has her heart decimated, and it takes her quite a long time to pick up the pieces. This book is a bit more introspective than you would think, and a very sweet, easy read. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Shoulder Season is a novel about not just the highs and lows of life, but the seasons in between. The novel follows Sherri from a small town, to the Playboy Resort, and on to California and the rest of her life. Sherri is a naive girl in 1981, and she makes quite a few mistakes along the way. This novel was an interesting look inside the life of a Playboy bunny, but more about nostalgia, first love, and how your childhood reverberates throughout your entire life.

"The small town of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin is an unlikely location for a Playboy Resort, and nineteen-year old Sherri Taylor is an unlikely bunny. Growing up in neighboring East Troy, Sherri plays the organ at the local church and has never felt comfortable in her own skin. But when her parents die in quick succession, she leaves the only home she’s ever known for the chance to be part of a glamorous slice of history. In the winter of 1981, in a costume two sizes too small, her toes pinched by towering stilettos, Sherri joins the daughters of dairy farmers and factory workers for the defining experience of her life.

Living in the “bunny hutch”—Playboy’s version of a college dorm, surrounded by a twelve-foot high barbed-wire fence (to keep the men out, and the girls in)—Sherri gets her education in the joys of sisterhood, the thrill of financial independence, the magic of first love, and the heady effects of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. But as spring gives way to summer, Sherri finds herself caught up in a romantic triangle––and the tragedy that ensues will haunt her for the next forty years of her life.

Shoulder Season follows Sherri from her fledgling days as a bunny, when she tries to reinvent herself before she even knows who she is, to the woman she becomes years later. From the Midwestern prairie to the California desert, from Wisconsin lakes to the Pacific Ocean, this is a story of what happens when small town life is sprinkled with stardust, and what we lose—and gain—when we leave home. It’s about the brief but intoxicating experiences of our youth, and how they have the power to shape the rest of our lives."

Thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was looking forward to this book after I really enjoyed her last one. I’m here to say now that this book was so much more than I imagined it was going to be and is easily one of my top reads of 2021. It broke my heart, it had me feeling so sad for Sherri, but also rooting for her when something went right. I wanted to mother her and help her see how awesome she was. It was so well written and I just didn’t want the story to ever end. A beautiful book that I will be recommending to everyone!

Sherri has just lost her mother when her best friend Roberta convinces her to interview for a position as a Playboy Bunny. Her life quickly changes when she is pulled into the world of the bunnies. Suddenly she isn’t the shy girl that is uncomfortable in her skin, she is sexy and making more money than she ever imaged. Will the allure of sex, drugs, and terrible men lead her down the wrong path?

After loving Second Home last year, I needed to get my hands on Shoulder Season. This book is so different from Second Home, but just as good! Ok this book is exactly what I would imagine being a playboy bunny is like. Ready it I was appalled at some of the strict rules, but I also fully believe they are 100% accurate. I definitely wanted to shake Sherri and scream “what are you thinking?” at a few points during the story, but overall I loved following along as she went from a wallflower to the center of attention, to what came next. Overall I really enjoyed this book and cant wait to see what Clancy writes next!

SHOULDER SEASON by Christina Clancy is an intriguing and compelling coming-of-age story both for one woman and a whole era. It is set in the 1980s in a small town in Wisconsin where nineteen-year-old Sherri Taylor is trying to figure out where her life is heading. She has lost both her parents and she doesn’t really fit in with the social life in town. Her best friend, Roberta convinces her to interview to be a bunny at the Playboy resort in nearby Lake Geneva. Surprisingly, she gets the job and so begins a time of excitement and camaraderie with the other young woman who work there. The other bunnies and the rest of the staff become the family Sherri no longer has. The work is demanding but the tips are enticing. However, the woman are soon exposed to a lifestyle involving sex, drugs and alcohol. Sherri will do almost anything to be accepted and she makes some life-altering choices with tragic consequences. As the story unfolds, it is clear that her time as a bunny will shape her life forever. The characters, although often not very likable, were portrayed realistically with compassion and empathy. The story is both enlightening and heart-breaking with a few twists I never saw coming. I enjoyed this well-researched and well-written snapshot of a singular time in American history and I think it would be an interesting choice for a book club read. I look forward to reading more from Christina Clancy in the future. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read an early copy.

Clancy gives us a glimpse of a small town girl’s time as a Bunny in Wisconsin in 1981. Sherri is all alone in the world and extremely naive in the ways of it. Once she becomes a Bunny she experiments with a lot of different things, but most of the decisions she makes are careless and lends to her being very gullible. I started out liking her but quickly grew to dislike her due to her boneheaded decisions and she was plain mean to a few people. It was fun to go back to 1981 and relive all the pop culture references. The last few chapters were the best because what happened to many of the people is revealed and Sherri faces her own reckoning. Where we grow up doesn’t always define us nor does it have to entrap us..

This was such a different and intriguing book. Loved that it was set in a place close to home and was surprisingly relatable. I will always love a coming of age story that I can somehow relate to. Bravo!

A fascinating view of the behind the scenes world of The Playboy Club and the life of the Bunnies back in the heyday! Bunny Sherri gets caught up in the life, but she is young, naive, and very inexperienced and has quite a few lessons to learn. It's hard to watch her navigate her new life and make her way into her own, and there are definitely some heart tugging moments. I really enjoyed this one!

I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. The hard thing is, I can't put my finger on what made me feel that way. It was decently written, decently paced, and was a unique story.
I will admit, I didn't know that there used to be Playboy Mansions all over the US, nor did I have any idea of what they were like. For me, Playboy was a dirty magazine and an LA thing. Oh, and Reese Witherspoon dressed up like a bunny in Legally Blonde. I knew nothing beyond that, so the insider look was mildly interesting, but I didn't get any real depth of character or connection.
Just, for me, it was a simple story that I read, and then on to the next book.