Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy

Summary

The small town of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin is an unlikely location for a Playboy Resort, and nineteen-year old Sherri Taylor is an unlikely bunny. Growing up in neighboring East Troy, Sherri plays the organ at the local church and has never felt comfortable in her own skin. But when her parents die in quick succession, she leaves the only home she’s ever known for the chance to be part of a glamorous slice of history. In the winter of 1981, in a costume two sizes too small, her toes pinched by stilettos, Sherri joins the daughters of dairy farmers and factory workers for the defining experience of her life.

Living in the “bunny hutch”—Playboy’s version of a college dorm—Sherri gets her education in the joys of sisterhood, the thrill of financial independence, the magic of first love, and the heady effects of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. But as spring gives way to summer, Sherri finds herself caught in a romantic triangle—and the tragedy that ensues will haunt her for the next forty years.

From the Midwestern prairie to the California desert, from Wisconsin lakes to the Pacific Ocean, this is a story of what happens when small town life is sprinkled with stardust, and what we lose—and gain—when we leave home. With a heroine to root for and a narrative to get lost in, Shoulder Season is a sexy, evocative tale, drenched in longing and desire, that captures a fleeting moment in American history with nostalgia and heart.

 
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Book Setting: Wisconsin & California

  1. Palm Springs Art Museum

  2. East Troy

  3. The Movie Colony

  4. Lake Geneva 

  5. Booth Lake

  6. Camp Edwards YMCA 

  7. Alpine Valley Music Theatre

  8. Grand Geneva Resort & Spa

  9. Beloit 

  10. Sugar Shack

  11. Lake Beulah

  12. Island Drive

  13. Mill Pond Park

  14. St. Peter’s Catholic Church

  15. Hogs & Kisses

  16. O’Donnell Golf Club

Reviews

"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

"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

"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