Shoulder Season

SHOULDER SEASON is a nuanced, thought-provoking coming of age story about a young woman, Sherri Taylor, who has lost her parents and through a series of decisions, finds herself thrust from the relative security of her small Wisconsin hometown to a world of sophistication and grown-up challenges when she accepts a job as a bunny at The Playboy Resort in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, in 1981. Suddenly she's smack in the middle of a new lifestyle, surrounded by random sex, wild parties, and free-flowing drinking and drug use.

I was captivated by the camaraderie Clancy explores with the motley group of women Sherri works alongside, each with their own reason for taking a job at the resort. While much of the story revolves around her time there as a Bunny, the latter part of the book shows Sherri traveling to southern California where she eventually learns to grow into her own person and jettison her earlier need for approval from the men in her life. I loved emerging myself in the details of the bunny life which I wasn't all that aware of despite living in the area. Sherri was like a girlfriend I alternatively wanted to shake and then lecture about the careless mistakes she was making, bringing havoc not only to her own life but those around her, and causing her life to spiral downward in predictable ways. But I came to realize her evolution was part and parcel of her journey and there is no doubt Clancy has created a fascinating and complex character.

You'll love Sherri or hate her or a bit of both but you won't soon forget her or this complex, well-researched, and ultimately satisfying story.

Thanks to the author and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC in a recent Goodreads Giveaway. The novel released July 6, 2021.