Publishers Weekly
05/31/2021
Clancy (The Second Home) delivers an engaging if overheated story of a woman’s trajectory from naive Midwesterner to Playboy Bunny, and, eventually, a new life in California. In 1981, recently orphaned Sherri Taylor, at 19, is hired to work at the Lake Geneva Playboy Club Resort, near her home of East Troy, Wis. Sherri quickly loses her innocence (by choice) and enters a world where cocaine and diet pills are the norm. An object of desire by guys who turn her off, she eventually encounters two men who steal her heart—one from California, another closer to home—and a heartbreaking accident forces Sherri to reevaluate her life and her friendships. She then drives to Los Angeles, where her luck begins to run out, but as the reader knows from a prologue set in the present day, things will turn out just fine. Despite some over-the-top melodrama, Clancy offers an entertaining behind-the-scenes view of the Lake Geneva resort, where wholesome, fresh-off-the-farm young women wear stiletto heels and skimpy costumes adorned with bunny tails and bunny ears, live in restricted dorms, and must adhere to rules about maintaining their weight and not mixing with customers. It’s not the most memorable tale, but it’s worth taking to the beach. (July)
From the Publisher
Praise for Shoulder Season:
"Don’t head for the beach, pool or lake without this glamorous new read tucked in your tote bag."
—CNN
"An unusual but mesmerizing coming of age tale."
––PopSugar
"A perfect beach read."
––Buzzfeed
"A burst of heady independence and excitement [that] develops into a love triangle with tragic results."
––New York Post
"A striking portrayal of a glamorous piece of history."
––SheKnows.com
"A story filled with tension, excitement, love, indulgence, tragedy, and redemption...Clancy doesn’t disappoint."
––Provincetown Banner
"A rare glimpse into an unexamined world."
––Madison Magazine
"Shoulder Season is a triumph of heart, of courage, and of resilience, and a message that the tragedies that spark our journeys don’t decide their endings. I loved it."
––J. Ryan Stradal, bestselling author of The Lager Queen of Minnesota
"Shoulder Season shines a bright light on a neglected moment in history and tells a coming-of-age story I've truly never read before. In Sherri, Clancy rescues the Playboy Bunny from ridicule and illuminates her inner life with all of the richness and complexity she deserves."
––Lauren Fox, New York Times bestselling author of Send For Me
"I adored the story of Sherri, an unlikely Playboy Bunny, and her wild and poignant adventures inside the Lake Geneva Playboy Resort. Both a tender coming of age novel and a sun-drenched ride, Shoulder Season is an absolute pleasure."
––Amanda Eyre Ward, New York Times bestselling author of The Jetsetters
"Shoulder Season is a delight. Briskly plotted, the book moves like a river through time, sweeping the reader along for an unexpected, humorous, and surprising journey of friendship, exploration, and discovery."
––Nickolas Butler, bestselling author of Shotgun Lovesongs
"With literary flair and great empathy, Clancy chronicles the exhilaration and disillusionment of a small-town girl who takes a job as a Bunny during the waning days of Wisconsin’s Playboy Resort. Seamlessly researched and beautifully written, Shoulder Season vividly evokes a uniquely 1980s kind of glamour that’s almost inconceivable today. Clancy’s story of a young woman’s difficult road to independence hums with contemporary resonance. Clancy is a gifted storyteller, and Shoulder Season is a riveting tale of ambition, romance, friendship, heartbreak and hope."
––Karen Dukess, author of The Last Book Party
"Shoulder Season is a beautifully-written, thrilling, heartbreaking story of a bumpy coming of age. A page-turner full of twists and surprises, Bunnies and bad boyfriends, and lasting sisterhood found in unexpected places. I loved it."
––Julia Claiborne Johnson, bestselling author of Be Frank With Me
"I tore through this vibrant coming-of-age tale of small-town girls seduced by a new life of sex and glitter just miles from their quiet Wisconsin towns. Clancy’s vulnerable characters come roaring to life in full eighties glamour, before spiraling toward a central tragedy that will define their adult lives and the very definition of home."
––Steven Rowley, bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus
"Expertly researched and flawlessly executed, Shoulder Season has a bit of everything: adventure and excess; love and heartbreak; shocking tragedy. You’ll start reading for the wild ride of the Playboy Resort but stay for Sherri, the complex protagonist at the heart of this exquisite novel. Clancy is a master of place, rendering Wisconsin so vividly that I’m homesick for somewhere I’ve never been. I’ll be thinking about this novel for a long time."
––Amy Meyerson, author of The Imperfects
Library Journal
07/01/2021
In 1981, a Playboy resort opens in Lake Geneva, WI, and 19-year-old Sherri Taylor joins the organization. Sherri had spent her teenage years friendless while caring for her terminally ill mother. After her mother's death, Sherri got a last-minute invite from a childhood friend to tag along to Lake Geneva, which led the former church organist to a life she never thought possible—one with friends, parties, and an opportunity to leave her tragic past behind. No longer held down by the expectations of others, Sherri learns to take ownership of her sexuality and pride in her work. Soon, her heart is torn between beautiful, distant bad boy Mitch and kind, smart Arthur. Her inability to choose between the two leads to tragedy, and her life quickly spirals out of control. VERDICT Spanning decades and ranging from the Midwest to California, Clancy's second novel (after The Second House) is an elegiac ode to a place that might feel at once familiar and lost to time. Uneven pacing causes some scenes to fly by too quickly, and the denouement feels like a reading marathon, but fans of J. Ryan Stradal and Jami Attenberg will root anyway for Sherri to come out on top.—Portia Kapraun, Delphi P.L., IN
