Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

Title: Second Chance Summer

Author: Morgan Matson

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Books

Release Date: May 8, 2012

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

Taylor Edwards made leaving things behind into an art form. When things get tough, she gets going. Then her dad gets some terrible news and the whole family decides to spend the summer at their old lake house, where Taylor is forced to confront her past. She hadn't been to the lake for years and isn't keen to go back, but then she starts to reconnect with the people she thought she'd left behind--including Henry, her first crush, who's even cuter at seventeen than he was at twelve…

With fireworks, fireflies and midnight swims, the summer feels full of possibility and, for the first time, Taylor wants to hold on to the moment but is one summer really enough to have a second chance--with family, friends and love?

Despite constantly hearing how great Morgan Matson and her books are, it took me a long time to finally pick one up. Second Chance Summer was a fabulous summer read that I just sped through.

For the last few summers, Taylor Edwards has been perfectly happy not going to her family's lake house in Lake Phoenix. Especially with the way she left things the last time she was there. But after her family gets some bad news about her father, Taylor's parents decide they need should all spend one last summer together at the lake house. Taylor isn't looking forward to a whole summer in Lake Phoenix, but now she has to confront her past. But things aren't as bad as Taylor thought they were going to be. It doesn't take long before she starts reconnecting with old friends, even with her old crush. But the summer is about a lot more than coming to terms with the past, it's also about second chances.

So I really, really loved Morgan Matson's Second Chance Summer. At the time I read it, it was the perfect read for the mood I was in and that's probably why I loved it as much as I did. What was particularly great about the story in Second Chance Summer was that as lighthearted as it could be at certain times, at other times it was serious and really pulled at my heartstrings. But the way Morgan Matson did this made it so those different moments mixed in together. With the story written that way, it made it so the story wasn't too heavy. But still, I found myself tearing up, if not actually crying, on more than one occasion. And that made the story even better.

While I loved the story in Second Chance Summer, I had my issues with some of the characters. With Taylor, there were times where I could sort of see where she was coming form, but at other times I got a little annoyed with her. The way she talked about what happened the last time she was at her lake house made it sound like it was awful, but then it didn't end up being all that bad. But at the end of the day, because of everything happening, Taylor was suffering so I could sort of see why she acted the way she did. With the other characters, I could understand them more, but I would have liked to get a little more of their back stories. But at the same time, that could have been difficult to do since the story was told form Taylor's perspective.

Overall, I really loved Morgan Matson's Second Chance Summer. While I had some problems with the characters, the story was touching, and at times even heartbreaking. I will now be sure to go back and read Morgan Matson's other book, Amy & Roger's Epic Detour.