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.

Wowza! What an interesting, intriguing, informative story takes place at the 80’s fabulously waning times of Wisconsin’s Playboy House!

Yes,I know those few words already got your attention! Welcome to the bunnies world! Nope, we’re not reading “Watership Down”, I’m not talking about those lovely, big eared, fluffy, jumping little animals! I’m talking about girls in bunny costumes. A sensational, scandalous era of the history. Do you want to know more about the story? Let’s focus on:

Sherri Taylor raised in small town neighboring East Troy, always having trouble to adjust in her social circle, playing organ at church,living under the criticizing looks of town’s people and now at 19, she’s an orphan: she lost both of her parents, all alone in the world. She has no idea what she’s going to do with her life.

Her best friend Roberta gives her idea to apply for being a “ Playboy bunny” at the resort located at the neighborhood, small town of Lake Geneva. And she cannot believe in her luck because she gets approval.

But she’s a great candidate to be one of the girls who also come from small towns, poverty, dysfunctional family lives, looking for a fresh start. They both learn to walk in their high heeled stilettos, two size tighter costumes show more curves and cleavages. Their innocence and naivety slowly disappear as they’re welcome to the world of men, sex, drugs without rock n roll!

After losing her blood family, Sherri feels like she just created her new one! But her life gets more out of control as she is dragged too deep in this notorious life style.

The author’s way honest and realistic way to tell the story picks your interest and you want to learn more about that part of history has not been much told. It’s well researched, detailed, well-balanced with realistic character analysis.

Sherri’s choices, flaws, mistakes were depicted genuinely even though she is not my favorite literature character, I still understand her motives, her suffering from the consequences of her faults.

It was a fast pacing, captivating novel keeps in your attention intact and hooking you from the first chapters.

Normally I’m not a big fan of historical fiction but trust me! This is easy to read,riveting kind of enjoyable book with great character portraits and honest depictions about the era.

I’m giving my 4 energizer bunny stars with recommendation to genre lovers!

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sharing this digital copy of this unique book in exchange my honest review.

Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy is a look at one girl's life as a Playboy Bunny and what happened after she left the hutch.

Sherri is at loose ends when her friend Roberta mentions she has an interview to be a bunny at the Playboy resort, so Sherri tags along and is hired. She navigates life as a bunny with all its ups and downs, the men, the drinks and the drugs until she no longer is wanted there. From there life is not what she expected and the novel follows her decisions, good and bad to her late life.

I had a hard time feeling empathy for Sherri, I felt she created a lot of her own issues. The author was very descriptive in her narrative and you could see the scenery clearly, putting you right in place with the characters. However, many times I didn't want to be with them. I struggled through much of this.

Thank you to the author, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an ARC in return for my honest opinion.

I read an advanced copy of, Shoulder Season, by Christina Clancy. Sherri is the all american girl next door. I just could not get in to this book. It was interesting about the playboy bunnies and such but I never really warmed up to Sherri.

An interesting take on the choices a young adult makes. Sherri is suddenly on her own when her mom dies and making her own choices for the first time. She sure makes some poor choices. The bulk of the book looks at her time as a playboy bunny. The book takes place when the playboy industry was at it's prime. There is plenty of detail that keeps the book interesting. A wide range of characters added to the tale. I didn't hate it, I didn't love it.

Intriguing story of the time in the life of a nineteen year old novice Playboy bunny. There is friendship and comradery, scandal and back stabbing, and revelry and drugs portrayed realistically and with grit.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Sherri becomes a Playboy bunny to escape her small town life, but remains a small town girl inside. She gets caught up in the bunny life and parties like crazy. She meets and loves men. This is her story...

This was such an amazing story! Sherri is on her own, from a small town in Wisconsin. Her friend Roberta tells her she has an interview at the Playboy Club resort to be a Playboy Bunny. She wants Sherri to come and apply too. Reluctantly, Sherri goes along and is hired, but Roberta is not. Sherri has found a new family among her co-workers. She is looking for glamor, fun, non-stop parties and magical romance. Along the way she makes mistakes, learns from some, but not from others. At the end of the cycle it all comes together for her. I could not do justice in giving more details. It is simply a delightful story.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy is a great historic fiction novel that was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

I enjoyed traveling along with Sherri, her friend Roberta, and the full cast of characters as Sherri navigates small town Wisconsin, the 1980s, and figuring out life in general. I enjoyed Sherri. She was realistic, entertaining, complex, imperfect, yet like able and relatable. Her life certainly was not dull. It was great to follow along while she ventured out, grew into her own, made mistakes, found love, and found herself.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon and B&N accounts upon publication.

I enjoyed the plot, the smooth dialogue, and the pacing. This is the second book I have read from Ms. Clancy, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

This book was one of the easiest to read that I’ve read in a while. From the very first the story flowed very well. It’s an interesting storyline with believable characters. Sherri is the heroine of the story. She lives in a small backwoods town in Wisconsin. Her best friend is Roberta. Sherri’s life is going nowhere. And then Roberta decides to apply to be a Playboy bunny at a that is fairly close to their “one horse” town. I think I knew Sherri when I was in high school ~ that’s how realistic the characters were. That and the fast paced story made this a five-star book. I would definitely read another book from this author and I will recommend it to anyone. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy for my honest review.