[Review] Second Chance Summer - Morgan Matson

Title of Book : Second Chance Summer
Author : Morgan Matson
Publisher : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

From the Flying Start author of Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour, a powerful novel about hope in the face of heartbreak. 

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.

I read Second Chance Summer at Pulseit.com.

I’ve never heard about this book before, but I do know Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour and I heard good things about it. I was hoping the same for this book. I didn’t think that Second Chance Summer would be one of my favorite contemporary books. Well, turns out it is. At a first glance, you might think that this book is about teenage romance during summer. But no, Second Chance Summer goes deeper than that.

This is an easy read. I did feel a bit bored at the first few chapters. But then as I kept reading I started to get what this book is really about. The main character, Taylor, struggles with how she always runs away from things when it gets tough. This results in her bad relationship with her ex and her former best friend. Beside this, she also has to deal with the reality that her father has a cancer and that summer might be the last summer she gets to spend with her whole family. I think the summer is a key point of this book. It is when Taylor finally gets the second chance to fix her relationship with people around her.

Second Chance Summer is a total tear-jerker. I cried a lot while reading this book. Although the ending is a bit cheesy, I don’t care at all because I was too sad to care about it. The father-daughter relationship between Taylor and her father is heartwarming but also heartbreaking. Taylor never told her father how she loves him and with her father’s sickness, she spends most of her summer time bonding with her father. There are also her brother and her little sister, each with their own uniqueness. It’s fun reading about them because I feel that this balances the amount of sadness contained in this book.

I really recommend Second Chance Summer. This book teaches me to not taking anyone you love for granted. I read on Goodreads that some people read this book on Father’s Day. Me? Err, I’m not sure if I could handle the tears.