Absolutely fantastic. A mix between a beach read, but with being slightly dark and edgy instead of light and fluffy, with mystery and romance. Loved the character development through the years, every character followed a clear and consistent arc.

Ann and Poppy are sisters - daughters of two pseudo hippies from Wisconsin, who also happen to have inherited a house in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Since the parents are teachers, the family is able to spend their summers at the beach house and the girls and their adopted brother, Michael, have many happy memories from those visits. One summer, however, something significant takes place and changes everyone’s lives.

For much of the first half of the book, you get lulled into thinking it’s a book about families and their challenges, but that changes! It seemed to take a long time to get to this point and the author then condensed a lot of years into the remainder of the book. I must admit that I like endings with no loose ends, but this one tied up a bit too predictably for me.

On the positive side, I’m also a fan of books about families and that take place at the beach/shore and so I liked these elements. The historical background of their beach house and learning about Wellfleet were also interesting.

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin’s Publishing Group for the opportunity to read The Second Home in exchange for an honest review.

This was an okay book, but I would read more of this author in the future. The plot seemed stale---estranged siblings and a hidden secret. I did not give up on it, however, and it would make a good beach read. Who wouldn't like a house on the Cape?

The Second Home centers around three siblings and a rather intense summer in their youth. The story time jumps from when they were teenagers and then several years later with them as adults when their parents are killed in a car crash and they are forced with the decision of whether or not to sell their parents' summer home.
It was decently written. There was definitely a villain in the story that feels a bit over the top of still a formidable foe without giving too many spoilers.
Plot wise, there seemed to be a lot of situations and unnecessary drama added to the story with the characters' life choices. Definitely PG-13/moving into R rating. Overall, not really my favorite but not a bad vacation type read.

I only gave this book 3 stars because I felt that the author just went on and on and I guess I wanted her to get to the point of the story. I wanted to like the main characters but Ann and Poppy were selfish and self centered and I can't buy that it took them so long to come together and talk out their problems. Ok read.

The Second Home is a very entertaining novel involving three siblings who drift apart until circumstances bring them back together years later. Each of the siblings has an interesting backstory and appealing presence. The author helps us to get to know them by alternating episodes. Naturally, given the title, a second home is at the center of the story. The plot kept me reading to the end.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this book. It is well written, has interesting characters, and the story moves along at a good pace. It made me want to keep reading more and delving into the story of this family, who live relatively ordinary lives in Wisconsin and vacation at their summer home on Cape Cod. Most of the story happens in the summer, hence making this house quite important to the family. However, a series of circumstances conspire to make the sisters want to sell the house and all its memories and move on with their lives. Fortunately, due to complications and revelations about past secrets, the house was never sold. The story did make me think, do we ever escape our past and does getting rid of material things that remind us of the past really help?

Great premise and well-written details of a complex family structure involving two biological daughters and an adopted (teenage) son. The setting of the beach community was rich with detail as well. However, the one thing that kept me from really investing in the story was the creepiness of the male characters - one who who seduces his babysitter and the other who introduces a young surfer into a world of drugs. They were both cliche and unnatural at the same time. Not sure how to explain it, but I just couldn't get into their storyline. Other than that, the author did a nice job.

Enjoyable book that maybe could have been a little stronger.This revolves around some long-standing family drama, told from multiple points of view---which always makes it interesting. This is debut novel, so I'm sure there will be more good novels to come. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arch in exchange for an honest review.

The book description released by the publisher is a great summary of the story line. The Gordon family is loving yet dysfunctional, unique yet ordinary. I didn’t really love any of the characters, though, and felt annoyed by some of their antics and sins of commission and omission. The last chapter also seemed to be forced and tried quickly to address the wrongs and unite the family once and for all. That being said, it was an easy read and would be a perfect summer beach novel.

The Second Home by Christina Clancy is a good family drama. It takes place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Cape Cod. The writing about Milwaukee and Cape Code were very descriptive and it felt like you were there. I am familiar enough with Milwaukee to know the places the author described and she makes me want to visit Cape Cod.

The main characters were likeable and I was able to sympathize with them. However, at times I wanted to hit them and say wake up. I suppose this and bad decisions go along with teens and growing up. However, bad decision making goes on into their adult life.

The book does fail to develop some story lines that could have been interesting and the ending did seem a bit rushed to tie the story into a neat bow. It is a good debut and I will think about Ann, Poppy, and Michael for a while.

Thank you to #Netgalley for an advanced readers copy of this book for an honest review.

Book Review: The Second Home by Christina Clancy

A second home on the coast that has been in the family for years. The three children who live there and how they’re lives are completely changed after one fateful summer there.

This was a story about family, love and healing. There was a good amount of emotion in this story. I teared up several times reading this and just FELT so much for these people about what was happening in their lives. There was one point in the story that I got so upset with something happening in the storyline that I had to put the book down and walk away. It was so easy to become emotionally invested in there characters! And the way the second home in Wellfleet was described made me wish I had a house like that too!

Really enjoyed this book and gave it 4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!

I don’t think this book was a good fit for me. Although, at first the story was intriguing, I found parts of it that didn’t add up or went unexplained. I had a hard time getting through this one and I really wanted to love it. It just fell short for me personally. I did enjoy the family dynamics, and the raw story that takes place after the death of the parents.

I can't remember the last time I read a book with such a strong sense of place. Christina Clancy doesn't just write about Cape Cod: she gives you Cape Cod in all it's glory. The self-centeredness of the tourists and the newer home owners; the reverse snobbery of the long-time home owners; the frustration of the locals; the amazing scenic contrasts of the Cape itself: it's all there, and so is the reader, throughout the novel. Telling a story that happens as many times and in as many ways as there are families (the falling-out of three siblings, the death of their parents, and the sorting out of the estate), The Second Home asks questions common to all of us. What does it really mean to be a sibling? How does it happen that those who loved each other fiercely as children can be barely civil as adults? How do persons reconcile after years apart? What do family members owe to each other if they are to be a family? Exploring the answers to these questions with each adult member of the Gordon family against the backdrop of their family's homes and the events of a brutally hard Summer on the Cape, Clancy creates a wonderful read with an unexpected resolution.

A word of warning: this novel contains a sexual assault and references to that event.

I wasn't sure how I felt about this book as I read thru it. I was engaged and yet for some reason resistant to it. Not sure how to explain it. I didn't love all of the drug use and how non-chalant and okay that was, so maybe that is where the resistance came from? The two homes were well portrayed I thought and very much portrayed how many people have two homes like this. I didn't really connect to any of the characters on a strong level and yet I wanted to find out how it all played out.

What a book. Most families have deep dark secrets. It took me a while to get into the book because I wasn't fond of any of the characters but one I got past that I enjoyed the book even though it was little choppy at first.

What a fantastic book! The body of the book starts out as kind of a mellow summer at the Cape story, but it quickly moves to a gripping story line which makes you sad and extremely angry on behalf of the characters. The characters all were flawed to various degrees, although even some of their most unattractive behaviors were understandable given how they were manipulated when they were young and vulnerable. I found that I did care about all of them and that each of the three main characters were fully developed. The transitions between their stories and the different time periods were smooth, with small reveals along the way filled in later to make a multi-layered and satisfying narrative.

The only thing I might have liked changed would be to have eliminated the prologue. As it turned out, I wasn't fully engaged at that point and there was a gap in time between when I started and when I got to the body of the book, so I didn't really remember what it had said. When I went back and reread it at the end, though, I felt that it revealed too much too early, so I was glad that I had forgotten it.

In any case, I really loved this book and highly recommend it. Many thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an advance e-copy of the book.

The Second Home is an impressive debut novel by Christina Clancy. The Gordon family from Wisconsin has a summer home on the Cape in New England. The first summer they spend on the Cape with their newly adopted teenage son, and two biological daughters, turns out to be a disaster. The seemingly perfect family is split apart because everyone has secrets they are hiding to protect other members of the family. The story of what happened and how it affected the family is told by the three children. A tragedy years later brings the children back together.

Ms. Clancy does an excellent job writing about the emotions of the family members and how the events of that one summer changed everyone’s lives. I look forward to more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance ebook.

I seem to be in the minority of people who had trouble reading this book. To me there were too many times when I wanted to ask why the characters didn't just communicate. Or how did the parents not notice or intervene at crucial moments. The characters just seemed so illogical to me. They assumed too quickly, gave up too easily, and didn't have normal relationships with anyone. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC. It was an interesting read.

This was a good read. It deals with families and loyalties and lies. The kindness of a family leads to conflict and complications. When daughter Ann discovers, Michael, alone and parentless, she brings him home and he is adopted by her own loving, kooky parents. But, the first complication is that Michael cannot feel brotherly love, rather a much more romantic and sexual longing.

The family spends summers in their decrepit house on Cape Cod. Seeking extra money for college, Ann takes a babysitting job; and thereby hangs this tale. Violence, lies and death follow her. As a reader, I liked the characters and admired the loving family at the start but was saddened by the what ensued.

I really enjoyed the novel and I am always pleased when an author is able to pull all the threads together and lead to a satisfying closure.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this book.