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siritheowlcat 's review for:

The Second Home by Christina Clancy
4.0
emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Wow my feelings about this book are complicated. 

The book was a slog to start, but picked up around 25-30% in. The parts of the story and memories set in Milwaukee truly felt like a love letter to the upper east side and lakefront. Unfortunately 60% of the book is set in Cape Cod and doesn't nearly have that level of description and attention to the area. The estranged family dynamic was the main plot, but somehow Poppy felt like a character added just to serve parts of the plot and not really necessary to the story even though most of the second half of the book follows her.
Yet.... I really enjoyed this once it got going!