I didn't know quite what to expect from this one - my first experience with this author, but it looked like a summery read (well, in my case listen since I have this on audio) and the setting being mainly in Wisconsin really appealed to me. Sherri, narrator and main character, grew up in Easy Troy (where they have a lovely bookstore that I toured last year for Indie Bookstore Day). Orphaned at 18 in the early 1980s, Sherri feels completely alone. While never popular, her closest and really only friend, urges her to join her at a job interview at the nearby Playboy resort at Lake Geneva.

It's an interesting look at the problems and issues facing the bunnies during this time period. And it's a story that deeply looks at her eight months there, but also spans the decades afterwards. As expected, there's sex, romance, drugs and even a few cameos from famous faces - including Gregg Allman. This is a summery listen that is well-performed. I always looked forward to listening to it and while I didn't always agree with Sherri's choices - or her actions - it was still hard not to root for her.

The storyline holds some surprises - and plenty to talk about. I knew absolutely nothing about this Playboy resort so close to my own home (only to later find out that one of my friends' grandfather was a key holder!). And I also liked that the author included a shout-out to the bookstore that really exists in downtown East Troy, InkLink Books. The ending felt a bit abrupt, but I think that's probably because I just wasn't quite ready to say goodbye to Sherri. I may not have always liked her, but she definitely came fully to life. I think that this would be a great discussion starter for sure - plus the time period and setting really added to the fun!

Oh my gosh why did I wait so long to read this one! I enjoyed it so much and literally couldn't put it down — finished it in one day. I absolutely loved Sherri (in spite of all her flaws). Her relationships — both romantic and with her friends — felt so real to me. It's an ultimate coming of age story that was an absolute joy to read. I loved that the modern-day Sherri bookends the novel because I really loved getting to see how everyone panned out! No spoilers but I'm mad about the Arthur storyline ends up but see how it was needed.

OH and there were a couple factual inaccuracies in the part of the book that takes place in Houston (my hometown) but I'm going to pretend they all got fixed in the final copy! :)

The narrator was really great – she brought Sherri to life for me!

Was unable to listen to this audiobook. Damaged my phone and had to get a new one. When I opened my netgalley app, I was unable to listen.

Thank you NetGalley and McMillan audio for my audiobook. Sex, drugs, without the rock ‘n’ roll is what life is all about for Sherri Taylor. When she is suddenly thrust into this unknown world, she learns how strong ambition can be. This story is a realistic depiction of what happens when naivety is tarnished and misogyny wins out. The narration of the story is perfectly executed adding to the interest of Sherri’s journey. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sherri is a caregiver to her mother for nearly a year until her death. She feels lost and stuck when she auditions with her friend for a server at an infamous resort. In Lake Gevena Wisconsin this infamous resort is one of the Playboy resorts and Sherri becomes a bunny. This novel dives into her her life there, the relationships with the staff and other bunnies, her desire to be loved, a destructive path of drugs and heartbreak that comes when your lost and insecure.

It was a very intriguing beginning, but I lost interest in the middle during the destructive part of her life. I found it fascinating learning about the resort and her role there. Toward the end, the story drew me back in and was overall a good novel. I enjoyed listening to the audiobook and enjoy the narrator. Thank you Netgalley, St. Martian’s Press and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook.

You know a book is well written and developed when it makes you feel … even if those feelings are frustration, disappointment, and enraged. That is how Sherri made me feel for most of the book. She is 19 years old when both her parents pass away and she is searching purpose and a way to survive. She gets a job at the Playboy Resort in Lake Geneva, WI and what ensues is a fast-paced life with many selfish decisions, a love triangle, and a rough journey to self discovery. Ultimately, my heart broke for Sherri and her struggle, but she certainly brought on a lot of her own grief. This historical fiction takes the reader to the early 1980’s with copious sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Buckle up, this book is a hell of a journey.

I was interested in reading Shoulder Season (Christina Clancy) when I read that it took place, at least in part, at the former Playboy Resort in Lake Geneva, WI which closed down in the 1980s. I had an opportunity to attend a corporate function retreat there in 1995 when it reopened as the Grand Geneva Resort and Spa. Some of the former playboy staff had still worked there when it reopened. The spa services were fabulous and we had a wonderful time....but I digress.

Shoulder Season was a coming of age story in part, the type of story which I tend to enjoy. The story starts out with Sherri Taylor, as a woman in her 60s and then get to see her life as a young woman. She was barely out of her teens and trying to figure out what to do with her life after her mother dies. When her friend Roberta convinces her to interview for a job as a Bunny at the Playboy Club, Sherri never expects to get the job but she's hired. Let's just say after all the she went through and was pretty much expected to endure, it's clear that the job of a Bunny isn't the glamorous job some might have expected it to be.

I thought it was strange how Sherri was referred to as "smart or intelligent", on the contrary, I found her anything but. She makes some really poor choices along the way. I did not care for her character at all but, I still had hope that the story would come around that would make me care more about Sherri in the decades following her "bunny life." Unfortunately, after all the depressing details of her younger life when her life improved and she had some things to be proud of, it all seem glossed over. I did like the inside scoop and details a.bout "Bunny life" even though some of it seemed quite trivial.

This audio book was made available by NetGalley and Macmillan Audio in exchange for my unbiased review. The narrator, Karissa Vacker was very good job but, I just wanted more from the story.
https://bibliophilebythesea.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-week-in-review-and-mini-book.html

This was the historical fiction that I didn't know I needed to read this year! Honestly, the only Playboy Bunny fiction I have ever encountered was the movie House Bunny, so this was a nice surprise!

Sherri has "good girl" written all over her. Timid girl from a small town that even plays the organ at church. Sadly, she finds herself orphaned and is roped into trying out to be a playboy Bunny by her friend, Roberta, and gets the gig.

I'm not sure how well this story portrayed the life of a Playbunny as I have never read any of the memoirs that are available now, but this sure was fascinating as hell! I was emotionally exhausted for Sherri at times. The demands of not being able to gain weight and having to stand, sit, and bend certain ways were enough to make me want to scream! It really is ridiculous what these girls have to go through.

Of course this book has everything else you would expect out of a book about Playboy bunnies: gross men, catty girls, romance, scandal, drugs...etc.

4 stars!

Big thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's press for gifting me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Sherri Taylor is 19 years old when she becomes the newest bunny in the hutch at the playboy resort. After her parents die in a short period of time. Sherri quickly settles into a life of sex, drugs and rock and roll.

As she navigates life, love and friendship, she learns what sisterhood really is.

This book is unlike anything that I have read before- I don't even know what category to put it in. I loved the narration as well

Thank you Macmillian Audio for my copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Welcome to the Playboy Bunny Resort at Lake Genova, Wisconsin, publicized to be a family resort. This is the 80's and at the height of the resort Sherry accompanies her friend, Roberta, who is applying for a job. Sherry is not really looking for one but stumbles into one and Roberta is rejected. We get to see the rise and decline of Sherry and what she puts herself through to remain there. It is not a pretty picture but well represented and sets up the rest of her life. I had this one in audiobook and really enjoyed the narrator was excellent.

Shoulder Season has an interesting premise, following the life of Sherri as she navigates the transition from insecure small town girl to Playboy Bunny. It's an interesting look at a culture that, even though this is considered a historical book, is not too distant. I think it would make an interesting book club pick for all the discussion it can prompt about women in society, the 80s, ambition and mysoginy; there's a lot to unpack. The thing is I didn't care much for Sherri, her character was not bad enough to hate, not good enough to root for, so I felt kind of neutral about her and her destiny. Since it was not a character driven book, I fast-paced plot would have drawn me in more, but I also didn't feel that need to know what would happen next. It was an interesting book thematically, a good food for thought/conversation starter type of book, but not one that affected me much.

The narration was very good and helps engage me more in the story.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an engaging tail, pun intended, of a young woman who takes a job as a playboy bunny in early Hefner-era She is thrust into numerous and amorous situations which color and cloud her ability to find a stable and meaningful relationships. I enjoyed this audiobook very much, and I think the narrator did an excellent job with the book’s characters.

Shoulder Season is a story about Sherri, a young woman just out of high school trying to figure out who she is and what to do with her life in a small town in Wisconsin in 1981. A serious of events led her to the Playboy Resort in Geneva, and she finds herself stepping into a life she never imagined. She changes in ways she'd never imagine, and a tumultuous summer ends climatically in a way that has her leaving her hometown only to return 40 years later.

This story was okay.... it kept me just interested enough to keep listening but quite honestly I didn't like the main character and so that made making it through the whole story a bit of a struggle at times. I felt like she made a lot of really frustrating decisions, and failed to grow in ways that while perhaps are pretty realistic caused me to lose some interest in the story. In the end, this story just really wasn't one for me, but might be better received by people who love reading about life in the 80s, or interest in the Playboy resort lifestyle, or listeners who like stories that span from early adulthood jumping into late middle age with a reflective lesson.

The narrator was very easy to listen too. I didn't care for your male voices, but otherwise thought her narration was good.

Thank you to NetGalley, and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Christina Clancey is an expert at writing evocative settings! In Shoulder Season, we follow young Sherri in East Troy, WI. Sherri is stuck and not sure what she wants to do with her life, and she gets roped in to interview for a waitressing gig as a Playboy bunny at the resort in Lake Geneva. I really enjoyed learning about the resort, the demands put on the Bunnies, and watching Sherri make mistakes and grow from them.

I thought the audio narration was great! I would recommend reading this book in print or on audio.

I enjoyed this story from a point of view we rarely see, a playboy bunny. The story kept me entertained from the very beginning. I had to know what came next for Sherry. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fiction. I think the narrator did a good job as well.

The story of Sherri Taylor, a heartfelt story about a woman that experiences a lot of coming of age moments in just a short few years. Sherri's is reaming from the loss of her mother and when a job opportunity presents itself at a Playboy resort to be a bunny, she has to take it to have some sort of income coming through. Sherri tells herself that she won't be like the stereotypical bunnies she's heard about, but the world of love, sex, and drugs gets its teeth in her.

This audiobook had me fully immersed. The narrator, Karissa Vacker, does an amazing job of portraying all the characters in the book: male and female. Sherri's character is so relatable despite I know not many of us have had the experience of being a Playboy bunny. You feel for Sherri on so many of her mistakes and how life pushes her around. This book was one I just genuinely enjoyed being in the story for and wasn't racing to see how it finished out.

Thank you to Christina Clancy, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for this audio ARC in exchange for an honest review. I absolutely loved it.

Goodreads review link: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4109892856
Blog posting link featuring Shoulder Season: https://www.instagram.com/p/CRhAzA6rp22/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Very well developed story line. I love being able to picture the characters and how they may have felt throughout the time in the playboy world

When Sherri gets a job as a Playboy bunny at the Lake Geneva, Wisconsin resort, it starts out sounding like an exciting way to earn money and have fun with women her age. Yes, some men treat Sherry poorly, but so do other women and herself. Reading about the terrible ways she acted wasn’t fun for me to read and it didn’t sound like she was always having the fun she thought she was having, like getting addicted to speed to be skinny but then having to come down from that drug. She also didn’t always treat her female friends the way she should-- especially Roberta. In fact, I was angered by many of her actions and wondered whether any sane person would do half of the dumb stuff that she accomplishes to schlep through.... I expected there to be some meaningful discussion about what how the girls perceived themselves. But the author spent more time talking about cramps and sore feet than what it meant to be a bunny. It became obvious this book was never going to be anything meaningful. I kept finding reasons to listen to anything but this, but finally got beyond the really painful parts where Sherri ran away from the tragedy. I guess the end of the story, which comes back to present day with Jerry dying, is a bit of a redemption and does suggest the theme that you never really understand why your life turns out as it does until years later.

Beach Read Alert!

It's the dawn of the 1980's and Sherri is a bit stuck in a rut in her small town Wisconsin life. She is 19, her parents have just died, she plays the organ at her local church and she lives in the shadow of her more vivacious friend. Then her friend drags her along for an interview at the new Playboy Resort in the neighboring town. Sherri lands the job, moves into the "bunny hutch" and begins her new life as a sexy cocktail waitress. The bunnies live by strict rules, but Sherri loves her new life. She makes new friends, parties hard and meets exciting people. But after one tragic event, Sherri's life changes forever.

This was a story of the heady days of youth and a girl discovering herself and going past her own limits and learning how to regain control. I enjoyed this one and it is a great beach read. I listened to it on audio and it was excellent.

What to listen to while you read...
Kids in America by Kim Wilde
Shake it Up by The Cars
Let's Groove by Earth Wind and Fire
Do Do Do De Da Da Da by The Police
Midnight Rider by Greg Allman

This is the story of nineteen year old Sherri Taylor, who worked for a single summer, at the Playboy resort in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and, how that job literally, influenced the rest of her life (due to an unfortunate event).

The Playboy resort where Sherri worked, brought celebrities and excitement to small town Wisconsin, (some good and some bad…). Shortly after Sherri left, the resort had to close its doors. But Sherri cherished her experiences there, long after those doors closed for the last time.

In #shoulderseason, Clancy brings the Playboy resort back to life, especially, the sisterhood that Sherri Taylor found, living in the #bunny dormitory, memories of Hugh Hefner and the allure of the Playboy empire. (I had the opportunity to visit the Playboy mansion in Los Angeles, I can attest that the description in the book hit the mark).

I received a complimentary digital audiobook from #netgalley and @Macmillanaudio and Karissa Vacker does a great job narrating the audiobook and bringing the story to life. Thank you 🙏🏻 #netgalley and @macmillan.audio for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review. #5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

@christinaclancyauthor @karissavacker #playboybunny #playboybunnysuit #easttroy #wisconsin