Second Chance Summer – Morgan
Matson
Pages:
468
Publisher:
Simon and
Schuster
Release
Date: 8th
May 2012
Edition:
US hardcover,
purchased
Sandwhiched between two
exceptional siblings, Taylor Edwards never felt like she stood out – except for
her history of running away when things get too complicated. Then her dad
receives unexpected, terrible news, and the family makes the last-minute
decision to spend the summer together in the cramped quarters at their old lake
house.
Taylor hasn’t been to the
summerhouse since she was twelve, and she definitely never planned on going
back. Up at the lake she is confronted with people she thought she left behind,
like her former best friend Lucy, and Henry Crosby, her first crush, who’s all
grown up...and a lot cuter. Suddenly Taylor is surrounded by memories she’d
rather leave in the past – but she can’t run away this time.
As the days lying on the beach
pass into nights gazing at the stars, Taylor realizes she has a second chance –
with friends, with family, maybe even with love. But she knows that once the
summer ends, there is no way to recapture what she stands to lose. From Morgan
Matson, the PW Flying Start author of Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour, this is a remarkable new novel about hope in
the face of heartbreaking grief.
Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour was one of my favourite books of 2010 and it gave me insanely
high hopes for Second Chance Summer;
it pretty much met them.
One of the first dilemmas we’re thrown into is the events of
Taylor’s last summer at Lake Phoenix five years before that prevented her from
ever wanting to come back. Morgan Matson kept us wondering for a good, long
while before she finally revealed what event would turn Henry and Lucy so
strongly against her that they’d still be holding a grudge five years later.
I loved how the impact of that summer was emphasise with
sporadic flashback chapters that related to what was currently going on with
Taylor and the rest of her family, Lucy and Henry. It actually felt quite
similar to We’ll
Always Have Summer by Jenny Han
in that respect; even the format at style of the chapter headings looked the
same! Both books are amazing though so that only made me love Second Chance Summer even more as I remembered
the awesome of Han’s trilogy.
Once Taylor’s faux pas her twelve-year-old self made is
revealed, she just becomes even more lovable as it completely fits with her
characters. She wouldn’t have been able to do anything else in that situation. I
think that was one fo the things that captured me about Second Chance Summer, just how real Taylor is. She has made
mistakes, hurt people unintentionally, has fears, regrets and hopes just like
any other seventeen-year-old, just with a worrying tendency to run away. But then
again, I’d want to run away from some of the things she faces during the
summer. I know what it’s like to have a parent battle cancer, and luckily my
mum is still fighting after five years, and so I felt deeply for her and her
family.
As Taylr’s dad succumbed further and further to the cancer, I
could barely see the words on the page through my tears – it was heartbreaking.
To see Taylor push everyone away and focus only on what she’s losing choked me
up and by the end of the novel I was a sobbing mess. I even had to stop reading
a pull myself together so I could see again to carry on to the end. And then
you had the reveal of her dad’s secret project which started another avalanche
of tears.
Along with the torrent of feels came a cameo from Amy and
Roger and my day was made. I loved Second
Chance Summer and I’m already keeping my eyes peeled for Morgan Matson’s
next book.
Sophie
Oh god. I thought thi sbook started off a little slow and I was starting to be a little disappointed. And then tears came to my eyes. And then my heart hurt. And I was becoming more and more emotional. And by the end, just like you I was an emotional wreck. Had to put the book down and walk away. Beautiful book.
ReplyDeleteI just got a copy of this this morning! I am SO excited to read it! Amazing review, Sophie! ;)
ReplyDeletegreat review sophie, I was the same with this book, it was so good but by the end i could barely read for the tears!
ReplyDeleteYes, it really did have a Jenny Han feel. Didn't it? I knew it reminded me of another book but I couldn't put my finger on it. I balled my eyes out.
ReplyDelete