I received the Second Home by Christina Clancy as an ARC from Netgalley. I thoroughly enjoyed this story. The novel centers around sisters Ann & Poppy, their adopted brother Michael and their summer home in Wellfleet on Cape Cod. The story switches between the present time and an event that happened 15 years earlier on the Cape that changed everything between their family. Their parents have died and Ann & Poppy are trying to decide what to do about the house when Micheal reappears in their lives. I loved the characters and how real their story was. I highly recommend this book if you enjoy reading about the messiness of real family life.

Great story! Family drama can be the best drama and this story has. It. All. Sister, brother, not brother, parents, family secrets, resentment, loyalty, disloyalty, unintended consequences, and a little bit of romance as well. Our main characters Ann and Michael meet in high school. Michael has no one after the death of his mother and Ann brings him into her family. Ann’s family spends the summers in Cape Cod at the family home and Michael has never seen the ocean before his first summer with the family. He’s enthralled with the place and with his new family. Having a father and sisters for the first time is a new, but wonderful experience for him. Ann loves being around Michael, but different than a sister. The teens are figuring out themselves and the world when a life changing event turns everything upside down..

Women’s fiction does appeal to me if the focal point is not a romance. Relationships to family and to the summer house that they shared is the center of Clancy’s book. It is the type of book you can read on the beach or off and it holds your attention. The characters are not perfect, but are likable even as they make bad decisions. Enjoyable story about imperfect decisions people make and their journey back to each other. I didn’t know what to expect, but loved the story and will be following the author.

Living in Wisconsin and summering on Cape Cod, the Gordon family has one more member this summer. Michael, a boy the same age as Ann, has been adopted by the family and while he has nothing but sisterly feelings for sister Poppy, his feelings about Ann are much more complicated.

Cape Cod is a world away from anything Michael has ever known and he is in love with the old cabin and the island. Ann is taking a babysitting job for one of the wealthy summer residents, watching their two sons means driving them to their many activities and spending time chatting with their mother. The father is a horrible man which is something Ann sees only much too late. 

This summer will change all of their lives forever. Leaving them angry, hurt, and in the dark.

When their parents are killed in a car accident, they all must come together to make decisions about the cabin. But first, they all need to tell the truth. Maybe then they can begin to heal and love again.

I loved each and every flawed character in this book. Except for Anthony. Nope. The book emphasized the stereotypical caste system between the summer people and the islanders. But it also scraped a bit of luster off and showed us the everyday seediness inside. 

On this island, no one is who they seem and nothing is what it looks like. 

NetGalley/  June 2nd, 2020 by St. Martin's

A Big Thank you to NetGalley, the author Christina Clancy and the publisher St. Martin's Press for an early copy of the book for my honest review.

This book started out beautifully, and never stopped. This is a very heartbreaking novel about a family's history and their summer home. These characters are easy to get to know, they are characters you can relate to, and while they are honest and open, they also have many flaws.

The book shows both sides of the good and the bad, and will keep you on your toes until you get to the last page of the book.

After reading this book, I have now added Christina Clancy to my list of authors to follow.

Thank you NetGalley & St Martins Press for the ARC!!
This book made me glad that my family had a will!!!
This novel deals with major family issues.
Very believable characters.
This is a very well written novel.

Sibling relationships always have their ups and downs, and that is shown really well in this book - a little slow at the beginning, but the. It picked up, and I didn’t want the book to end....really well written!

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

It is rare that I do not finish a book, but I just could not accept some of the issues that arose in this story. This is, at least as far as I read, a story about Ann. I accept the teenage angst and sibling rivalry.

There were legal matters:
1. The family took in a homeless boy without the case going through the usual Youth Services intervention. The adoptive father was a teacher and would have known better.
2. Ann managed to get control of the will without probate or her siblings' involvement.

Given these circumstances and other inconsistencies, I felt it was not worth my time.

It’s been 15 years since that terrible summer. The one that changed all their lives forever. Now Ann’s parents have passed and she must go back to get the cape house ready to be sold. The house has been in her family for generations, but coming back here is bringing back all the memories of that last summer. All the sudden, not only are the memories returning, but Michael is suddenly back as well, and wants to set the record straight.

This novel was so great. Clancy’s writing left me feeling like I knew each of the characters, and I could truly imagine the situations they were going through. I’m all about a good family drama and I felt this one was not only great but had a lot of unique storylines that I haven’t seen in a lot of other books. I hated characters, I loved others, and I wanted to scream when they were manipulated and turned against each other. If you enjoy family dramas, I highly recommend picking this one up on June 2nd!

Thank you to St. Martins Press and netgalley for my gifted copy of this book!

A really enjoyable novel about Ann, Poppy and Michael, three siblings who used to be close but because of misunderstandings have grown distant and angry. When their parents die, they need to get together to deal with the property that was left behind. This sort of novel could get all soppy and sentimental but Clancy didn't do that, which is good. I was so caught up in each character's story that there were times I wanted to shake sense into each one of them, especially Ann. It was like watching a train-wreck, their misinterpretations. The alternating points of view worked well, adding in a lot of tension. The secondary characters were nicely developed too. I'll read more by this author.

Really good story of family dynamics. A family with 2 daughters that live in the midwest have a second home on Cape Cod. They summer there. They adopt a teenage boy who has no other family. They are all happy. Then, one of the daughters gets pregnant and the boy disappears...

Such a different read for me. Thought it was a good story. Confusion and loss and finding their way to second chances is what this is about.
I received an advanced copy from netgalley and the publisher

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC. The thoughts here are my own.

This book is an interesting study in the dynamics of a family who adopts a boy the same age as the oldest daughter. As you might imagine, Ann, the oldest daughter, has confusing feelings for Michael. She knows he is not her real brother, but she is very attracted to him. The story takes place mostly on the northeast coast where the rich and famous vacation. The twists and turns in this novel reflect the real life in many families today.

I was disappointed that the author found it necessary to have the characters cuss on occasion. I usually don't continue reading books that contain that kind of language, but for some reason I did. The cussing isn't real prevalent and seems to fit the mood of the character at the time. I just don't get it, though. Many great authors can write many books, sell a lot of them, all without using bad language. Here again, I wish books could have warnings about such things.

I read this book in one sitting. It was such a well written book. I enjoyed all of the main character's stories. Set in Cape Cod, this is a beach read with more depth than some I've read in the past. Pick this one up and you won't be disappointed!

Yeah there were problems with this book but I liked it.

The first part of the book is set in 1999. The Gordon family drives from Milwaukee to Cape Cod every year to stay in an old home that has been in the family for generations. That summer the family is joined by Michael, a homeless boy that the family has taken in and subsequently adopts. The next summer, Poppy, the younger gets into surfing and hanging with a rough crowd. Michael is very grateful to be part of a "normal" family and becomes close to Ed, the father. Ann, the eldest daughter, takes a job as a babysitter for a well to do family and develops a crush on the father, Anthony, with disastrous results.

I had an uneasy feeling through the first part of the book. Ann's nickname was Ann with a Plan but she alternated with being bitchy and naive. I couldn't believe how stupid she acted and her choices caused Michael to disappear and Poppy left to travel the world surfing.

The second half of the book takes place in 2015 after Ed and Connie have passed away and Ann tries to sell the Cape Cod house without consulting Poppy and Michael is still missing. I didn't understand how Ann and Michael could mean so much to each other but still believed the things Anthony told them. I loved all the characters but I felt Ann was just a bitch. She created her situation but seemed to blame everyone else and take it out on them. The end was a bit improbable but all in all I enjoyed the story. I think Poppy was my favorite and I was rooting for her to have peace and a good life.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have never been to the Cape area but it is a destination I hope to get to one day. With Covid-19 running rampant I can only enjoy it by film and book right now!

This book is about what happens to a family when the communication and trust has gone. They start off as this seemly perfect four who summer at their family cottage in Wellfleet, MA. The parents are cool, tuned in and very present with both their girls Poppy and Ann. The girls worship each other and are happy to spend their summers adventuring and hanging with their parents. It is all very twee. Then a new sibling is introduced and the balance is thrown and one summer leads to terrible decisions that ripple beyond the summer months and change the family forever,

Christina Clancy is very good at writing flawed characters. They are twisted and angry, self-centered and full of self-doubt. But they are also loving and fun, passionate and headstrong. Writing such nuanced characters is hard when they may be acting against you, the authors, better judgements. The story is clever too, guiding us through each siblings emotions, ensuring we sympathize with them to then have it over turned as we hear the next siblings story, The end is predictable but that is OK, it was the journey that counted,

A great book to read whe the sun is shining and the waves are crashing.

I love stories about families because you want them to be your childhood vision of a family - happy and giving and forgiving - and as you read, you discover the characters are more like most families - dysfunctional and fearful and ill and childish. In other words, the characters are so real you hear them speak and laugh. You hurt for them. With them.

The setting is Cape Cod. In all it's beauty, and also it's rough edges, you hear the waves crashing on the beach and feel the chill when it's long past summer and all the tourists are gone. And speaking of tourists, you are somewhat ashamed that you, too, have been a tourist and
unknowingly looked down upon.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to Ms. Clancy's next endeavor.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for allowing me to read an ARC.

I was hoping for more from this novel, based off of the location. The author had the opportunity to really ramp up this story using setting details but unfortunately, it missed the mark. This is a family drama with a lot of drama! I found the characters frustrating and the plot moved too slowly for my tastes. All of the family drama just made me feel really sad and frustrated! There was just so much going on for each character that it felt a bit convoluted. I enjoyed a few of the characters and I enjoyed reading this family figure things out but overall, too much drama for my tastes. My thanks to the publisher for the advance reader in exchange for my honest review.

3.75 Cape Cod Stars

The setting alone was cause for me to pick this book up! I’ve always been fascinated by Cape Cod and have enjoyed the limited amount of time that I’ve spent there. This debut novel focuses on one Midwest family that spends summers in an old house on the Cape. Events in one particular summer cause the family to splinter and years go by before anything is worked out.

Ann and her sister Poppy were close growing up, but Poppy learns to surf that fateful summer and later travels the world looking for the next big wave and her identity. Ann puts her plans to go to college on hold and their adopted brother Michael has disappeared.

Fifteen years later with the death of their parents, Ann, Poppy, and Michael must resolve the future of the Cape Cod “second” home and try to reconcile their fractured relationships. Will the secrets stay buried or has time healed some of the wounds?

I enjoyed this one and I think this author holds a lot of promise. There were a few times where I yelled at the characters to talk to each other! There were a few times when I had to suspend belief around legal matters, but it’s fiction, right! This would make for a great summer read.

Couldn’t get past the 1/2 way mark. I usually like family/sibling stories but this one was painful to read from the beginning. Also needs a TW re: sexually assault.

Free ARC via Goodreads; opinions are mine.

"The world was one way, with the family I thought I knew, and then we were strangers with these major secrets."

Christina Clancy writes with such vivid wording and detail, that you almost feel like a character in the book. This debut novel will break your heart and then tenderly put it back together as you switch between three narrators- sisters, Ann and Polly, and their adopted brother, Michael.

Initially, I struggled with this book as I tried to get into it, but around 35% or so when I found out Ann's secret and how it came to be, I was hooked. This family drama mostly takes place on Cape Cod in the family's summer house, or "second home" as the Gordon family calls it. It starts in 1999 and unfolds all the way to 2015 and finishes in 2017.

There is a small scene that involves rape, which can make some people uncomfortable, so if this is a trigger for you I suggest either skimming through or not reading this part.

I will say I didn't connect or care for one of the narrators, which would usually make me stop reading a book, but I was too engrossed in the secret of this book and wanted to find out how everything was going to play out in the end.

If you love complex family dramas that involve secrets and siblings, then this book, with its rich wording and multiple points of view between siblings, is for you.

I received this book for free from St.Martin's via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.