“For three very different siblings, a summer house on Cape Cod holds their childhood memories, their tangled family history, and their most closely guarded secrets. In this assured and affecting debut, Christina Clancy evokes the enduring nostalgia of summers past as she introduces you to a family you'll quickly fall in love with and won't soon forget.”

This book really fit the bill for me from several perspectives. The family drama, Cape Cod setting, secrets, love, forgiveness, dysfunction and hope fill this story. Siblings are a topic that can go so many directions. And Christina Clancy took us down several. From childhood into adulthood, the lives of Ann, Poppy and Michael are woven and shredded. The push and pull that binds us, also rips us apart. Often taken our heart with it. This story was well told and endeared me to the charters in many ways.

This book centers on siblings Ann and Poppy and their adoptive brother Michael, who spent summers at their house in Cape Cod. Upon the death of their parents, they have to decide what to do with the house, which holds so many good and bad memories. The book goes back and forth between when they were kids and the current time, when they are adults.

I liked the book and thought it was a quick read. I also felt that the ending was satisfying, leaving me with some questions that I knew I'd think about once I moved on to the next book. My issue with the story, though, was that I didn't believe the characters behaved in a way that was realistic in some cases. Without giving spoilers away, I'll just say that the big situation in the book that caused the rift between family members could have been easily resolved by communication between family members, or at the very least, some trust between them that would cause them to ask some more questions rather than just reacting. I had trouble getting past this because it felt like they did talk about things until this happened I couldn't understand how they would have thought they things they ended up thinking about each other.

Beyond that, though, it was an interesting story and I wanted to see how it all ended up.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars pumped up.

This is a story about the kind of places that we come to inhabit only to find out that it inhabits us and not the other way around. I'm always tentative when it comes to contemporary stories because, let's face it, there's a lot of cliches out there. But this story is not one of those cliches.

Clancy builds her characters layer by layer in a very convincing way. Although there was a lot of telling, I let it slide because of the author's intimate way of handling the telling. The house was the eminent character of all; the author brought it to life and made it familiar. It seemed to resemble the lives of her characters: downtrodden but still standing. Hence, I must commend the title and the beautiful cover that encompassed the essence of the book.

My only problem was the time gaps that seemed to separate the chapters. Sometimes the narrative was simultaneous and sometimes weeks, months, or even years separated where one chapter ended and another started. There were no indications as to how much time had passed and I had to go back and figure it out on my own. Regardless, this is the kind of books I'd recommend to someone who's into family dramas.

Thank you, NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.

Decent read, A bit wordy, I did skim through parts of it. It felt more like a Y.A.book. The plot was really not believable to me, the characters seemed a bit shallow.

This was a book I couldn't put down. Loved the family dynamics. Didn't want this book to end!!

Thanks to author,publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free,it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

I think that my favorite thing about this book was the writing style. Christina Clancy has a gift with her words. This novel deals with a wide spectrum of topics, but it did not ever really feel overdone. I would not have guessed that this was a debut novel, and I am glad I had the fortune to read it. All of the characters felt so real and distinctive, and even when it deals with complicated subjects, it feels as though it is done so with care.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the chance to read this book!