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genthebookworm's review against another edition
5.0
I normally try and wait to review books that have publishing dates that are 6+ months away but after I read the book summary of Christina Clancy's debut novel I knew I had to read it right away. I am a big family of sagas that follow a family over time and The Second Home centers around the Gordon family and spans multiple decades.
Clancy's writing style is incredibly detailed and engrossing and I felt like I could picture each of her main characters so well. They were layered and raw and while I couldn't always relate to them (Poppy) I felt like I could understand them because of Clancy's gifted character development.
The Cape Cod setting was perfect for this family drama that reads like a beach read but has a depth that made it so much more than that. Through the shifting perspectives of Ann, Poppy, and Michael, secrets are revealed and family bonds are tested.
The ending was particularly satisfying and I loved how the charactered connected and reconnected throughout time and the idea that family can sometimes be something you create on your own.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy.
Clancy's writing style is incredibly detailed and engrossing and I felt like I could picture each of her main characters so well. They were layered and raw and while I couldn't always relate to them (Poppy) I felt like I could understand them because of Clancy's gifted character development.
The Cape Cod setting was perfect for this family drama that reads like a beach read but has a depth that made it so much more than that. Through the shifting perspectives of Ann, Poppy, and Michael, secrets are revealed and family bonds are tested.
The ending was particularly satisfying and I loved how the charactered connected and reconnected throughout time and the idea that family can sometimes be something you create on your own.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy.
serinde4books's review against another edition
3.0
I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for giving me the opportunity to review this book. I this was great story about family and trauma, and healing.
dovesfalling's review against another edition
5.0
It's very difficult to believe that this is Christina Clancy's first book. It reads like it comes from a confident and seasoned author. While there are (of course) stumbles along the way, for the most part, I just loved The Second Home. I found it... beguiling. Both in its premise and its acute sense of place.
With one eye firmly on the past, The Second Home introduces us to the Gordons - Ed and Connie, the loving parents, Ann the elder sister, free-spirited Poppy, and their adopted brother Michael. While they live in Milwaukee, their hearts reside in their much-loved summer home on the Cape - and its there that the Gordons' lives change forever. During one summer, Ann develops a secret that threatens to tear the family asunder, and when the repercussions finally land, they are devastating - for both the siblings and their parents.
Fifteen years later, Connie and Ed have died, and it's up to Ann and Poppy to sort out what will happen to their beloved home on the Cape. When Michael makes an unexpected return - everything that the sisters believed to be true is up-ended, and their memories are opened up to reveal new truths, like prisms of light.
A caveat that much of the book rides on miscommunication, which is somewhat annoying - there's this sense of just TALK to each other). The ending is also very rushed, and I wanted much more time to savour the new relationships forming. In the beginning, I felt Poppy might be a waste of a POV - but over time, she became one of my favourites. Always searching for her place in the circle, always looking for inclusion. Never settling, never still, always riding that wave. She's a fascinating bundle of insecurities and bursting with love that she's never able to express.
Many reviewers have written about their dislike of Ann. While I agree she's not all that likable as an adult, I think what happened to her justifies that prickliness and distrust. At her most sensitive and at that cusp-age of just sixteen, she had everything ripped apart and scattered to the winds. It's no wonder that she struggles to reconnect with Michael, or Poppy for that matter. Everyone she loved went away, in the end.
I felt a real sense of grief over the deaths of Ed and Connie, and most of all, for Michael. It's Michael who is the true tragic figure in this story - on the brink of a family, and only to have it torn out from under his feet. I loved what Clancy did with his character, but I so wish he could have had that final moment with his parents, and again, I wanted so much more from his reunion with Ann. That ending is just too quick, like the blink of an eye.
(Perhaps that is a testament to the power of the book... I just didn't want to leave it)
Oh, but the journey toward that ending is gorgeous. The writing is slyly funny in parts and beautifully volatile and vulnerable in others. The descriptions of the Cape and Wellfleet and Milwaukee and even all of the exotic locales that Poppy visits - you could just sink into them, like a languid drowning, like the pond that Ann slipped into and never really returned from ... this story is like that, you submerge yourself only to be changed, the water like silk scarves, pulling you under and away.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
With one eye firmly on the past, The Second Home introduces us to the Gordons - Ed and Connie, the loving parents, Ann the elder sister, free-spirited Poppy, and their adopted brother Michael. While they live in Milwaukee, their hearts reside in their much-loved summer home on the Cape - and its there that the Gordons' lives change forever. During one summer, Ann develops a secret that threatens to tear the family asunder, and when the repercussions finally land, they are devastating - for both the siblings and their parents.
Fifteen years later, Connie and Ed have died, and it's up to Ann and Poppy to sort out what will happen to their beloved home on the Cape. When Michael makes an unexpected return - everything that the sisters believed to be true is up-ended, and their memories are opened up to reveal new truths, like prisms of light.
A caveat that much of the book rides on miscommunication, which is somewhat annoying - there's this sense of just TALK to each other). The ending is also very rushed, and I wanted much more time to savour the new relationships forming. In the beginning, I felt Poppy might be a waste of a POV - but over time, she became one of my favourites. Always searching for her place in the circle, always looking for inclusion. Never settling, never still, always riding that wave. She's a fascinating bundle of insecurities and bursting with love that she's never able to express.
Many reviewers have written about their dislike of Ann. While I agree she's not all that likable as an adult, I think what happened to her justifies that prickliness and distrust. At her most sensitive and at that cusp-age of just sixteen, she had everything ripped apart and scattered to the winds. It's no wonder that she struggles to reconnect with Michael, or Poppy for that matter. Everyone she loved went away, in the end.
I felt a real sense of grief over the deaths of Ed and Connie, and most of all, for Michael. It's Michael who is the true tragic figure in this story - on the brink of a family, and only to have it torn out from under his feet. I loved what Clancy did with his character, but I so wish he could have had that final moment with his parents, and again, I wanted so much more from his reunion with Ann. That ending is just too quick, like the blink of an eye.
(Perhaps that is a testament to the power of the book... I just didn't want to leave it)
Oh, but the journey toward that ending is gorgeous. The writing is slyly funny in parts and beautifully volatile and vulnerable in others. The descriptions of the Cape and Wellfleet and Milwaukee and even all of the exotic locales that Poppy visits - you could just sink into them, like a languid drowning, like the pond that Ann slipped into and never really returned from ... this story is like that, you submerge yourself only to be changed, the water like silk scarves, pulling you under and away.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
mickikala's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this book from beginning to end. I have recently been getting let down by book endings but this one I was really happy with. The author did a great job of emotionally connecting you with each character, keeping you along for the ride.
aallyoop_reads's review against another edition
4.0
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for an early copy of The Second Home!
This was a wonderful family drama. It reminded me a bit of an Elin Hilderbrand novel, which I always enjoy. Christina Clancy is a talented writer, and I was engrossed in the teenage years of Poppy, Anne and Michael. Michael’s story was really heartbreaking, and I loved that he found a family in the Gordon’s. That all changed one night in Cape Cod, which affected the family for years to come.
This book had me turning the pages to see what, if anything, would bring the family back together. I was so invested in this book until Poppy returned to Cape Cod, then I became a little frustrated with the characters. Still, I really enjoyed the story and look forward to Christina Clancy’s next book!
This was a wonderful family drama. It reminded me a bit of an Elin Hilderbrand novel, which I always enjoy. Christina Clancy is a talented writer, and I was engrossed in the teenage years of Poppy, Anne and Michael. Michael’s story was really heartbreaking, and I loved that he found a family in the Gordon’s. That all changed one night in Cape Cod, which affected the family for years to come.
This book had me turning the pages to see what, if anything, would bring the family back together. I was so invested in this book until Poppy returned to Cape Cod, then I became a little frustrated with the characters. Still, I really enjoyed the story and look forward to Christina Clancy’s next book!
tarapollardyork's review against another edition
5.0
I love family dramas in this one was really beautiful!!
sp3cia1j's review against another edition
5.0
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Once again, I’m thankful to NetGalley - otherwise I’m not sure I would have ever picked up this book. This book took me by surprise - I was expecting a very character driven drama, and it was so much more than that. I was very engrossed by the plot. The characters are wonderfully written. They are certainly flawed - I did read a review complaining that they were unlikable, but it didn’t bother me at all.
There were points when I found myself guessing what would happen or thinking that circumstances were too convenient to be realistic, but by the end things had shifted enough to not be so cookie cutter clean. My only gripe is that there is a part of the ending intentionally left vague that I would have loved to have seen fleshed out. A surprising 5 stars for me - I love an underhyped book
Once again, I’m thankful to NetGalley - otherwise I’m not sure I would have ever picked up this book. This book took me by surprise - I was expecting a very character driven drama, and it was so much more than that. I was very engrossed by the plot. The characters are wonderfully written. They are certainly flawed - I did read a review complaining that they were unlikable, but it didn’t bother me at all.
There were points when I found myself guessing what would happen or thinking that circumstances were too convenient to be realistic, but by the end things had shifted enough to not be so cookie cutter clean. My only gripe is that there is a part of the ending intentionally left vague that I would have loved to have seen fleshed out. A surprising 5 stars for me - I love an underhyped book
milenagallo's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I enjoyed this read for the most part, but I always hate a miscommunication troupe which this included. I felt so bad for Ann because to what she went through but she was also kind of an annoying adult. Bottom line is all these people need therapy. I also didn’t like how at the end Ann and Michael just got together with little to no explaination. I still think it’s a little weird that they’re technically siblings and are dating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Suicide, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
Minor: Car accident and Abortion