It may seem like all I've been reading is contemporary, but I promise it's not! I've actually gone through a contemporary-mystery (emphasis on the mystery), science-fiction and paranormal/supernatural books. I just haven't been up to instantly writing reviews on here like I was, but I will get better on that! I just couldn't go without writing a review on this book because I think everyone should go out and read it, be warned though that there will be crying and/or possibly tearing up (and when I say possibly, I mean most definitely). I saw this book on Goodreads and when I was at the library, I said "Why not?" I've been in the mood for contemporary and the title had summer involved, so it just seemed appropriate.

Although I had some sort of gist of what this was about beforehand it turned out to be completely different than what I thought. The main protagonist and narrator is Taylor, who's 17-years old. She's been going to the Poconos, and the Lake Phoenix area, every year since she was small considering her parents own a summer house there. From spending all summer at the pool, having slumber parties, or eating Skittles with her best friend Lucy, Taylor never thought anything was going to change. But the summer she's 12-years old, she meets Henry, whom she spends the days racing with, jumping in the lake and walking around the forest with. She makes a terrible mistake that summer, that she goes on to regret, never fully being able to forget the incidence from her mind- no matter how hard she tries. Ever since then Taylor never returned back to Lake Phoenix, but has spent every summer trying to stay busy and away from Lucy, Henry and the area she considered a second home. But when her family gets upsetting news about her father, they all decide to go back and try to spend the summer as it's always been before.

I can't really say anything further than that because I'll be giving things away, but I can say that if you haven't read this book, you need to! It broke my heart, made me cry, made me laugh, made me hug my family a little bit tighter, and made me realize that expressing what you feel is always important. I had tears spilling down my cheeks and chin at 2AM as I was finishing the book, and I haven't had a good tear like that since I read The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. The book has friendship, romance and deals with very realistic familial situations. I absolutely loved it- it had good vocabulary, was well-paced, connected you with every character, and won't let you forget about this family. I've heard that Morgan Matson has written other amazing books, so I guess you consider myself hooked. I will be trying to pick up anything else she's written and I'm definitely buying Second Chance Summer for my bookshelf. Let me know if you've read this or anything else by Morgan Matson! Were there also tears involved?

-Alex