Second Chance Summer

By: Morgan Matson

Narrated by: Brittany Pressley

From the author of Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour, a powerful novel about hope in the face of heartbreak.

Taylor Edwards’ family might not be the closest-knit - everyone is a little too busy and overscheduled - but for the most part, they get along just fine.

Then Taylor’s dad gets devastating news, and her parents decide that the family will spend one last summer all together at their old lake house in the Pocono Mountains. Crammed into a place much smaller and more rustic than they are used to, they begin to get to know each other again. And Taylor discovers that the people she thought she had left behind haven’t actually gone anywhere. Her former best friend is still around, as is her first boyfriend…and he’s much cuter at 17 than he was at 12.

As the summer progresses and the Edwards become more of a family, they’re more aware than ever that they’re battling a ticking clock. Sometimes, though, there is just enough time to get a second chance - with family, with friends, and with love.

©2012 Morgan Matson (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Awesome!

I don't usually write reviews. This book was so well written, intensely emotional.
I loved how the characters evolved and would love for there to be a sequel to this book. a few years later. Taylor and Henry's love story and how everyone else has grown and the changes in their lives.

I SOBBED OKAY

A real, heartbreaking story of the deterioration of a loved one. It's a story that really hit close to home for me, and the end stages mirrored what I had experienced. Now it's 3:40 am and I'm hugging my cat who would much rather be sleeping in peace or playing in the toilet. I'm a wreck. If you want to feel feels, step up and check this out.

Walk In, Roll Out

A teenage girl spends the summer with her family at their vacation home in the Poconos, one last summer with her father who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. In addition to her family drama, she has to deal with the fallout from her previous Pocono summer five years earlier that left her estranged from her best friend and first boyfriend.

As an old guy in my 60s, I shouldn't really pass judgement on YA Realistic Fiction, even though I used to read a lot of YA Fantasy and Dystopian Fiction along with my daughters (they're now too old for that). It's certainly highly competent writing, even if the story is paint by numbers. And I certainly appreciated the symbols, metaphors and objective correlatives that formed the basis of almost every chapter.

But the real reason I read this book is because the fictional Lake Phoenix and the community built around it is based on a real place where I have summered for nearly twenty years (and have lived almost full-time during this year of pandemic). Morgan Matson spend her childhood summers there and rented a house to prepare for writing this book. The "dip" is a realistic detail, as well as the motto of the local diner, "Walk in, roll out".

Longtime residents at the Lake love it, are totally proud of it, we know this book is based on it, so I just had to listen to it, even though I am not its target audience. Way to go, Morgan -- you totally captured the spirit of the Lake.

This book broke me

I don't cry in books it's a very rare thing to happen. However this book got to and I loved it like all the other Morgan Matson books.

Perfect summer read

Or in my case the perfect winter read when I wanted to feel like it's still summer. I knew going in that it wasn't going to be a light read; it was after all dealing with death but the difficult topic was handled beautifully.