I enjoyed this book. Wasn’t fantastic, but I’m glad I read it. Especially liked the ending. The backdrop of the story being the Playboy mansion was interesting.

Maybe it's because I know this area so well, but I just loved this book.
It was so fun to read about all these places because I have driven down Hwy 50,
and been to Lake Geneva (LG), and even the Girl Scout camps nearby.
Happy Hollow will live forever in my heart! (also Juniper Knoll)
I also loved the descriptions of the Elegant Farmer, as I have been there many times.
Same for the shout out to many LG restaurants.

While I never went to the Playboy club, I found this story to be fun, and to ring true.
I could empathize with the main character, who didn't know what direction she wanted her life to take. I felt very much the same way as a young woman.
The only real quibble I had was the descriptions of how she felt on cocaine.
My understanding is this is usually a very quick high, and doesn't last long, but in the story, it was described as if it was incredible euphoria lasting for hours on end.
The party atmosphere described however was certainly spot-on for that time.
Descriptions of LG homes, pontoon boats, etc, were also very accurate.

I did feel like there wasn't much fill-in for the middle years, but the Palm Desert stories were also fun to read.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved Christina Clancy's The Second Home so I was thrilled to be able to get my hands on an early copy Shoulder Season.

Unfortunately, I didn't love this book. I really struggled to get into the story and as it progressed, I didn't feel bad/sorry for Sherri despite her struggles. I did enjoy her time at the resort and the characters she encountered. Overall, it was just OK but I seem to be in the minority! There are great reviews for this book and I think it will do well. I look forward to Christina Clancy's next offering.

Thank you to #Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

This is a story about a teenager named Sherri from a small town in Wisconsin and her journey growing up. It is an interesting and fun read about her time as a Playboy bunny and the friends she made and people she met along the way. There are enough twists and turns in the story, even towards the end, to keep me turning the pages. This is a lovely, well-written and researched work of fiction. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I was interested in this book mainly because of the setting. Coming from a big city, I love reading about the suburbs of the Midwest and the things that denizens of those places value and call fun. The narrator is very successful in making you have empathy for the main character, and this makes the twists is her life especially dramatic. However, I found the narration to be very distant from the main character's internal struggle, not really dwelling on the important bits, just chugging along, sometimes skipping or summarizing what I would consider important scenes.

SHOULDER SEASON is an interesting read about a young woman from a small town in Wisconsin who goes to work as a bunny at the Playboy resort in Lake Geneva. The protagonist , Sherri, has just lost her mother and is feeling unmoored when she becomes Bunny Sherri. SHOULDR SEASON describes how the experience of being a bunny shapes Sherri's perception of herself. When a tragedy occurs, Sherri feels overwhelming guilt, which shapes the next chapter of her life. But it is only by going home that Sherri learns the truth about who she is and what really happened. Decent read but I felt there was too much exposition - to much "telling" not enough "showing.."

An enjoyable book about a world and a lifestyle that few people know - I enjoyed the book and the main character, even if she was a bit vapid at times. A nice change of pace from the thrillers I usually read, and sort of a step into a time machine of times gone by.

Sherri Taylor hates the little town of East Troy, Wisconsin where she’d grown up. She has fond memories of time spent with her father in his clock repair shop before he died, and of playing the organ with her mother, but finds it to be too boring. After her mother passes away she decides to become a Bunny at a nearby Playboy Resort, where she expects to earn lots of tips and find the excitement she’s been missing.

Life as a Bunny is hard, but Sherri is determined to build her future around the resort. She ignores advice to better her life, instead getting involved with drinking, drugs and men. As a result of her selfish lifestyle her whole world comes crashing down, leaving her to travel the road of hard knocks before she realizes what was always in front of her.

I wasn’t a fan, finding Sherri to be vapid, emotionally insecure, immature, and lots of other similar adjectives. However, perhaps some reader might find a connection with her insecurities and road to redemption, so I will give it 3 stars just for them.

For Adults.

I received an advance reading copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

At the age of nineteen, Sherri Taylor is at a crossroads. Her parents have recently died, and although she owns the building that has been their home, she can't really afford to keep it. She decides to try for a job as a Bunny at the Playboy Club in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, a short distance from her small-town home of East Troy, Wisconsin. She's always been shy and awkward, and never felt like she belonged anywhere. Being a Bunny changes all that. She has an affair that ends tragically and haunts her for many years, long after she moves on from Wisconsin to find success and happiness as an event planner for a museum in Palm Springs. The illness of an old friend eventually brings her back to East Troy for a visit, during which she discovers that things were not what they seemed to her at the time. Great story about a small town girl who gets caught up in a new life and goes too far, too fast.

A really fun and delightful read!

I started reading "Shoulder Season" because I was interested in glimpsing behind the curtain of 1980s Playboy Bunny style allure - but I kept reading for the believable characters; great dialogue; and honest storytelling.

My only complaint about "Shoulder Season" is that the ending - and subsequently, any realizations that Sherri has - feel incredibly rushed.

Nevertheless, thank you to Netgalley; the publisher; and Clancy herself for the chance to enjoy such a fun read!

I found this a really entertaining read.The 1980s Palm Springs. A young small town girl arrives there to become a playboy bunny in training.We follow her through her adventures.Took me back to a different time and place a time of glamor,a time where Playboy bunnies were the Itgirls.#netgalley #st.martinsboojs.

Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy is best when you go in blind, not knowing what to expect because there is no telling where Ms. Clancy is going with the story. It's about a naive young woman who lost both her parents years apart but still too soon for her to the know the ins and outs of life on her own. After high school with no other opinions, Sherri Taylor found herself on the bunny farm for a job interview.

The story starts in Wisconsin on Lake Geneva, an unlikely place for a Playboy mansion, but she gets the job, and her life changes forever. Her naivete may have help or hinder her life, but this story is her journey and what a journey it is!

This was a pretty fun read!
What I liked: the themes of this book hit home for me. How time changes us. How really all we have in this life is ourself. How home is where you choose it to be.
I also liked how Sherri needed to make a lot of mistakes to grow as a person. This was a great coming of age story for her.
What I didn't like: I wanted more of Sherri's present life. We only got that in the first chapter and then the last few chapters.

A unique theme + a great read = I will definitely recommend this to friends!

Having really enjoyed Christina Clancy’s debut novel The Second Home, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to read her second novel Shoulder Season!

This novel centers around Sherri Taylor, a sweet 19 year old who is looking to find her new normal after losing both her mom and dad. Sherri ultimately scores a job as a waitress at a Playboy Club which is both exhilarating and terrifying in equal measures! Feeling alone in the world, Sherri tries to create a family of sorts in Playboy bunny community. It was at this point I when I was so intrigued as to where Christina Clancy would take Sherri (and spoilers alert she did not disappoint)!

Christina Clancy does a fantastic job with taking us back in time to the 1980’s throughout this book. The descriptions were so spot-on that this novel played out like a movie in my mind. The character development was on-point, so much so, I felt as if I actually knew them. As per usual, I am already looking forward to getting lost in Christina Clancy’s next novel!

I've been super picky with my historical fiction recently, but sometimes I find the good ones and the good ones are absolutely amazing.

The aspect I loved most about this book was the self-confidence aspect. There is a certain amount of empowerment that comes from looking good and knowing it, and this embraces that instead of shaming it. It never ever shames working as a Playboy bunny or working as a stripper, while it also highlights how this work could be problematic through the way Sherri's experience ends.

I loved the boys in this book. It's not super romantic and doesn't focused on a love story, but all the same I felt like I could put myself in Sherri's shoes in how she interacted with the male love interests and the way she fell so quickly and built worlds around each while being initially blind to flaws. Other side characters also rung true--Jerry's role felt so minor at first but it was fascinating how he continued to pop up, and the evolution of Sherri's relationship with Raylee was also poignant.

I had to skim read through the section where Sherri betrayed Roberta by taking Mitch to the Allman Brothers concert. I physically hurt for Roberta. That was the absolute worst and truly demonstrated Sherri's fall from grace. If someone did that to me with my most idolized bands, it would take me forty years to forgive them!

Clancy has written a well-rounded novel with lots of relevant details, a setting that feels both quaint and confining, and characters that fit together like puzzle pieces.

I love this delightful fiction novel about a playmate. This book transported me to another time of glamour and intrigue. I highly recommend this transfixing story.

A few thoughts after finishing this one. First, the title really doesn’t fit with the story, in my opinion. Second, while I loved the middle of the novel, the end was just a bit too cheesy for me. However, there were a few twists and turns that stopped me from simply skimming straight through to the end. If anything, I was prompted to google the Playboy resorts and fell down a “rabbit hole” on the internet. 🐰

Having visited Lake Geneva, Wisconsin frequently, this was a fun read!

Heading off to live in the Playboy Resort, Sherri Taylor is about to have a culture shock! Meeting the other girls and living the life of a bunny is something she never expected as a small town girl. The Resort and all of its experiences shape her future and become a memory she will never forget.

Easy reading but just didn’t hold my attention. It’s the 1980s and Sherri Taylor decides to accompany her friend Roberta to an interview at the Playboy Resort at Lake Geneva, in Michigan. Sherri doesn’t have exhibit a lot of motivation other than getting the job. Her character seems very naive and doesn’t really develop despite interactions with a host of men that enter and fade throughout Sherri’s tenure as a bunny even after moving to California.
Reads like one long episode but I wanted more.
Thank you NetGalley for theARC in exchange for comments.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for a digital ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review. I'll admit that I didn't realize WHAT shoulder season was until reading this book. The Playboy Bunny era. So intriguing and something that we wouldn't aspire to today. This book had very well done characters, and each had an interesting back story. The plot rang true, and there is a plot twist that threw me completely. I love a book where the author goes for originality and puts her heart in it, and you can feel that Ms. Clancy did that. Highly recommended.