Name: Kim's review of Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
Item: Second Chance Summer
Rating: 5
Author: Kim

Morgan Matson

Taylor Edwards family might not be that close - everyone is a little too busy and overscheduled, but for the most part, they get along just fine. Then Taylor's dad gets some devastating news, and her parents decide that the family will spend on last summer together at their old lake house in the Pcocono Mountains. Crammed into a place much smaller than they are used to, they begin to get to know each other again, but as the summer progresses they're more aware than ever that they're battling a ticking clock. And as Taylor tries to deal with the drama at home, she is faced with the fact that the friends she thought she'd left behind haven't actually gone anywhere. Her former summer best friend is still living across the lake and still as mad with Taylor as she was five years ago, and her first boyfriend has moved in next door… but he's much cuter at seventeen than he was at twelve. Can one summer be enough time to get a second chance - with family, friends, and love?

Second Chance Summer

"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"--

Second chance summer

Could use a little grammer fixing, but other than that: AN AMAZING BOOK! Also really, really, really sad book. I cried ten times.

Ari 😚

Monicap

Morgan Matson's books have a wonderful way of finding yourself in them, even in the midst of pain and grief and flaws.

Mel 

Bring the tissues for this one because wow.
I loved everything about this book and I really felt for Taylor and her entire family despite not having personally experienced having a terminally ill close family member.
It was a sad, moving, coming-of-age journey that focused a lot on family and I was here for it! Just read this book. Morgan Matson, I will read anything and everything you write! Definitely one of my favourite contemporary authors.

trixie

this remains my favorite morgan matson book of all time. ugly cried through the last 100 pages, again. there is magic in these pages.

I ACCIDENTALLY DELETED MY LONG REVIEW HERE WHAT THE FFFFF

WILL EDIT THIS LATER WOW I'M SO ANNOYED

Ivan

“The thing is that people only get hurt—really hurt—when they’re trying to play it safe. That’s when people get injured, when they pull back at the last second because they’re scared. They hurt themselves and other people.”  

After reading Matson's Amy and Roger's Epic Detour (which I also gave 5 stars), I knew I would enjoy and love her other works,  Second Chance Summer  per se. Reading the former left me like,  "That was it?!"  (in a good way), while reading the latter left me like,  "YEAH. That was it. "

Margon's writing style definitely fits my standard. She creates realistic, endearing characters that almost everyone can relate to. Not flawless. Not perfect. Personally, I could relate to Taylor because I'm not affectionate toward my family. I'm not close with my brother. I can't say 'I love you' to my parents. And just like her, I often times  run  when problems arise. 

I love everything about this book. It doesn't focus on snappy romance. It is mixed with what really life is all about—friendship, family, problems. It is balanced. I know not everyone will like Matson's slow-paced writing, but I don't care... I really adore it. The characters' development is what important, and Matson nailed it. I was emotionally attached to Taylor and her family. With the help of this book, I've proven that I really do have weak tear ducts.

I learned life's lessons on this book. To have courage; always take a leap of faith. To appreciate all the wonderful things we have now, before they're gone. And to take second chance as if there would be no third chance.


 “And I’ve realized that the Beatles got it wrong. Love isn’t all we need—love is all there is.”

Melissa Palmer

Book #20 Read in 2013
Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson (YA)

Taylor's father is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He wants to spend the last summer at the summer home, all of them together, as a family. Taylor and her family are dreading the thought of losing him, but life continues to go on. Taylor needs to repair relationships with her friends from the summer town, namely Lucy and Henry. As she attempts to do so, she connects with her father and learns more about him and ultimately, learns about herself.

This was a good read and yes I did tear up while reading it. I think my favorite quote was near the end of the book and Taylor states that "today was a day that would split my life into before and after". This totally captured how I felt when I lost my mom when I was a teenager. Your life is never the same. Besides emotional power, this book included great characters (loved Taylor and her father), romance, and wonderful canine in Murphy the dog. I recommend it.

http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com

Denaiir

I really enjoyed this book which was the right amount of joyful/summery and serious/sad. The family was great and the dad's illness was handled well. I cried a lot at the end but it was beautifully done.
I also really enjoyed the romance, the friendships and the side characters (and the dog!).
The only thing I didn't like was the main character's flaw, her tendency to run away from her problems. I know she had to have some flaw or another but this one created quite frustrating scenes that I wasn't in love with.

alexandra

3.5/5 ♡ second chance summer was a story of beginnings and endings.
 
of all the morgan matson books, this novel is probably my least favorite. not because i didn't like it or anything, i just felt there could've been more. taylor, the main character, wasn't my favorite because i couldn't clearly see her. given her situation, it's understandable to be emotionally distraught, but even after finishing the book i still don't really know who she is? some of her actions were also SO frustrating.

although some of the characters were questionable, i LOVE the family relationships in this one. it's probably my favorite part of the novel. the way everything played out made me reconsider and be more aware of my own family. even when things in the plot are falling apart, their family is also coming together like never before.

the romantic relationships, however, made me feel pretty neutral. although yes, i did like their relationship, i also thought it escaladed too suddenly. before we even get to know the personality of the main love interest, they're making out. that's another thing: all they ever did was kiss. what of the talking? and confiding? and comforting? i dunno, it bothered me a bit.

given the lack of connection with taylor, i was surprisingly invested at the end. people kept telling me i'd be crying by the end and i actually did cry. it just made me realize and feel a lot of feelings.

although i felt the characters and relationships were lacking in some parts, i still really enjoyed this novel! i love the family and general message/plotline. i love how emotional it made me at times. i love the character development and friendships. overall, i'm glad i read this book but i don't think it will stick with me as much as morgan matson's other novels.

"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"--Provided by publisher.

Victoria

It's just one of those stories that made me feel everything. It made me laugh hard, it made me smile, and hell, it made me cry buckets.

Yet another amazing summer read from Morgan Matson.

Alexa M

**4.5/5 stars** 
FUCK!!!!!!! Probably shouldn't have done my makeup before finishing this.....

Rachel Kanyid

UGH.
I think Morgan Matson has a strange and evil fascination with making all her readers cry their eyeballs out.

Jeannette Ordas

Turn up your standard issue teen novel with a sweet summer romance, a lot of growing up and a dying parent? An enjoyable read while sacked out on the couch with a spring cold.

Shan

This is a new favorite. You will feel every emotion during this wonderfully beautiful novel about love. Not just loving someone, but everyone - including yourself.

Annie Qiu

this book made me cry but only cuz it talks about death, overall it was stupid

Emi Gilmore 

4/5 stars 

It's late, I'm tired, and my phone is about to die, so my review is going to be short. 

As the title suggests, Second Chance Summer is about second chances, and told the heartbreaking story of a family coming together for one last second chance. This story broke my heart, as all the Morgan Matson books I've read have, and also made me wish to be young (wait a second, I am young...) and in love.

Amanda Kordeliski

Warning: This is a sobbing, puffy eyes, crying book from the first page to the last. Well written story about Taylor, a girl whose father has unexpectedly been diagnosed with cancer and given 4 months to live. He chooses to take his family back to the lake house for his last summer. This is a book about family relationships, first love, mending friendships and coping with the impending death of a loved one. I opened the book with trepidation because crying books are not my thing but this is a beautiful story that is about so much more than death.

Flavia Louise

4 stars
I really like Morgan Matson's writing style and how her stories seem to progress very naturally. I leave this book with a heavy heart for more than one reason.

Tamara Al-Qaisi-Coleman

I am crying so hard. I can't stop. This book was phenomenal

Palak

This was the perfect contemporary novels. It seems very cliche when you first pick it up but in just a few chapters I was emotionally attached to the characters. I loved the way the author built the environment of Lake Phoenix and made he place and the people there seem so perfect in the midst of all the trouble the protagonist is having while living there. The contrast between these makes the story so much more effective. The writing is personable and I was crying at the end. Fully recommended. 4.75/5 stars

Jordan Goers

I would completely recommend this book if you like reading about someone dealing with their past to create peace for their future. Everyone has a past, some worse than others, and Morgan Matson does an amazing job describing everything and creating a great storyline. This book is a tear jerker and it does involve death. I first read this book in middle school, and to this day it remains my favorite book.

chloe mcpherson

When Taylor’s dad received news that he was dying, her family decide to spend their last summer all together at their old lake house in Pocono Mountains. 
As Taylor’s family gets to reconnect she discovers her former best friend and her first boyfriend haven’t left. 

Matson’s books are so easy to read and impossible to put down, her books can be read within one day (if you don’t have a busy schedule)

Before you read this book you might wants to grab some tissues because this book made me bawl my eyes out and that doesn’t happen often.

Kathryn 

So many tears but oh goodness i loved it.

Find this review and more at 
  kimberlyfaye reads.


I’ve wanted to read Second Chance Summer for years and I’ve had a copy both on my shelves and on my eReader since shortly after it came out, but I just wasn’t brave enough to pick it up and read it until last weekend. And even then, I was equal parts excited to finally read a book by an author who I consider to be one of my favorites and terrified because I knew it would bring a whole lot of potentially devastating feels. I’m a grown ass woman who is lucky enough to still have both of her parents, but I struggle so hard with books/TV shows/movies where a parent is sick or dying. It’s something I don’t think you’re ever ready for when its your own parent and reading books or watching a show or movie automatically puts you in the spot of that character who is watching their parent die or dealing with the aftermath of an unexpected death. Or at least that’s what I find myself doing. It’s something I avoid pretty much at all costs, yet I felt compelled to read this book over the weekend and, while it was as painful as I expected at times, it was also a beautiful read and easily one of my favorites for May.

I’m not even sure what to say about this book that hasn’t been said roughly a thousand times before, so I’m not going to waste a lot of your time with an unnecessarily long review. I loved the characters. Taylor was so very easy to identify with, on a number of fronts. I adored her father (*weeps*) and the rest of her family. Though I was initially on the fence about Henry and Lucy – her childhood crush and childhood best friend – I definitely grew to love them, too. I liked how Taylor grew over the course of the book, reconciling with Henry and Lucy after five years of being apart after some immature actions on her part. The friendships were strong and, while it took a little while for the romance to really gain traction, I eventually found myself grinning like a fool while reading the scenes with Taylor and Henry. I loved how she took responsibility for how she ran when she was younger and attempted to build something new and honest with each of them. She needed all the friends she could get to help deal with her dad’s illness and who better than the people who have known her for years?

I’m filing this book under “painful, but totally worth it.” It pummeled my heart at times, but it also made me happy in others. It was a really conflicting reading experience as I juggled the feelings I had about her dad’s deteriorating condition and the happier feelings about the friendship and romance… and even the way her family was coming together during this time, as they all tried to balance their own fears and feelings. Add to that the way I put myself in her position and imagined what it would feel like if it was one of my parents and I was basically one big ball of feels. I cried so much that I literally gave myself a headache. I’m not even kidding. It was an ugly, ugly cry. You know the one… with the shaking shoulders and hiccups and swollen eyes. I simultaneously loved and hated Morgan Matson and these characters for making me feel so damn much. But, at the end of the day (or the book anyhow), I loved it for so many reasons. Yes, it will make you cry. It will likely rip your heart out like it did mine. But it’s totally worth it. The sadness isn’t totally offset (in my opinion) by the hopefulness, but it’s pretty darn close. Regardless, it was a wonderful read that I just can’t recommend highly enough.

FAVORITE QUOTES

  And despite the circumstances that had brought us here, I couldn’t help being glad for just a moment that we were sharing this together, as a family, at last.

It wasn’t until now, when every day I had with my father was suddenly numbered, that I realized just how precious they had been. A thousand moments that I had just taken for granted–mostly because I had assumed that there would be a thousand more. 

And so I lay there, just listening, knowing that each breath was another moment he was still here and, simultaneously, that meant meant he had just moved a little closer to being gone. 

I’ve realized that the Beatles got it wrong. Love isn’t all we need–love is all there is.

Kim &
Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

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