Second Chance Summer
by Morgan Matson
Published: 5.8.12
Pages: 468

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 seventeen than he was at twelve.
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.

It's official. I don't have a heart of stone anymore. Almost any book can make me cry now. Second Chance Summer is a cry book, and I went into it knowing that, but it didn't change the fact that I found myself sobbing my heart out in the bathroom as I read the beautiful ending. Oh my feels. The wonderful wonderful feels.
Let's start with Taylor. I fell into her shoes right from the start. She has a lovely When we first meet her she's trying to run away. Literally. We find that it's a habit she's developed to get it of and ignore her problems. Throughout this book, I found that this quality, while practically her greatest weakness, connected me to her so much. It was admittedly hard to watch her struggle with numerous relationships, happenings and the like. But at the same time, she goes through so much and ultimately comes out stronger in a beautiful way. Like a butterfly!

I absolutely loved the relationship between Taylor and her Dad. Obviously this book focuses a lot on relationships old, new and broken. I loved it all. Her dad was quirky and fun. His personality and puns made me laugh and just want to hug him. It was really sad as the inevitable ending came closer and closer. Maybe having a dad who I love as much as Taylor does just made this whole situation tug at my hear strings even more. I don't know what, but I just loved him.

One of the biggest parts of the relationships are building back up the fallen friendships and romantic interests that she left behind five years ago. Without a word, without and explanation. There are lots of grudges to be found and it's left unclear what exactly happened until maybe a third of the way into the book. That alone was completely intriguing. I wanted to know what happened. What horrible tragedy made her lose her first crush and best friend. And it was sad, and while a part of me felt it was a LITTLE hypped, I'm glad that Lucy and Henry weren't horrible about it.

They were kind of awesome actually. It was Taylor who had to get the heck over what happened, but once she made up I just loved them all to death. Lucy is a funny best friend who know how to have fun and make any situation fun. She's just fun okay?! And Henry, sweet boy is your typical crush, handsome...strong with a weakness and a nicely sized spoonful of swoon factor. It all works.

Morgan's writing is beautiful! Her descriptions of places and feels and characters were done so well, and being inside Taylor's head just works. You connect instantly and just FEEL for Taylor. FEELS are everywhere. There's one style of Morgan's that is really obvious though. And it's funny how often it showed up that I wanted to mention it. It's not bad at all. I just thought it was interesting. Morgan uses a lot of flashback. She'll set a paragraph or two for the current scene and then jump back in time and play up to that moment, or a previous moment that relates to the current scene. Then we jump back forward in time to current scene and it proceeds on. It was all done so well that it worked flawlessly. But being a writer, it's always interesting to notice the different styles portrayed.
Obviously we all know that the end of the book is a sob fest. It's touching, painful, sweet, heart-wrenching and ALL THE FEELS. All the beautiful feels that make a book so wonderful. I love a good cry book and sitting there sobbing my heart out with Taylor was like a good cleanse. #random. But it needed and Taylor came out stronger for it.

So all in all? The feels the characters the sweet story and EVERYTHING just worked in this book. This is the perfect summer read if you are looking for one.

Content: Mild
[as far as I remember, some mild language and kissing]
ALL THE FEELS. What are you feels on the matter? You agree? You disagree? You agree to disagree? Let me know! XOXO,