I enjoy author Olivia Dade's writing and particularly enjoyed At First Spite, the first book in this series, so I was very excited for Second Chance Romance to come out. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed.
Molly
moved a ton growing up, so she learned not to put down roots and make
attachments. But in high school, she wound up in Harlot's Bay, Maryland,
where she became friends with Karl. They liked each other and almost
kissed, but neither pursued it and Molly abruptly moved across the
country. They stayed in touch for a bit, but eventually, 20 years have
passed and Molly and Karl haven't spoken. Then Molly hears Karl died, so
she heads back to Maryland. He's very much alive, very much wants her
to stick around, and they are both very very bad at communicating.
The basic conflict is good. Molly and Karl both
suck at communicating. Molly has some pretty solid reasons; Karl shows
his feelings via actions, but is truly terrible at actually talking to
people. I probably would have liked this a bit more if Karl were
literally better at talking; a lot of his dialogue is in sentence
fragments, which just grated on me after a while. And I guess some
people are just like this, but it kind of bothered me that there wasn't
any backstory about why Karl, for example, was sick with flu for a week
and told literally nobody about it, even though they were checking in on
him. He doesn't listen when people try to tell him things, and I was a
bit turned off when, very early into Molly's time in Harlot's Bay, he
told her that he wanted her to move across the country for him. (But not
saying it would be "for him," of course.) At that point, he didn't know
much about her life in LA and it just struck me as incredibly
presumptuous.
Molly, happily, is much more likeable, even if she
is also a grump. Her backstory made sense to bring her to the place
where she is in the book. She spends the book trying to figure out
whether she trusts Karl and examining her feelings and trying to
determine what could change her mind (and heart). Her journey felt real
to me. Karl, on the other hand, naturally has some revelations late in
the book, but I just never really warmed up to him.
Still, I like the world of Harlot's Bay. I'd love to read a book about Lise.
⭐⭐⭐⭐I had already gotten A Novel Love Story home from the library when I noticed it's by, Ashley Poston, the author of The Dead Romantics,
which I quite enjoyed. The premise intrigued me--lost in a storm in New
York's Catskills, Elsy takes an exit and winds up in what she realizes
is the town from her favorite romance series. Everything and everyone is
familiar, except Anders, the town's bookstore owner...who also happens
to be the only other one to know that they're in a fictional town.
I
really liked this. The romance series isn't done--the author died in a
car crash between books 4 and 5--and Elsy finds a town that's stuck.
Poston explores whether happily ever afters actually are and the perils
of a town in stasis. She grapples with grief, over the death of a loved
one and the death of a relationship. She examines how people need to be
careful to remain themselves in relationships, both romantic and
friendship, and how easy it can be to just try to be go along and coast
in the wake of someone else.
I loved Elsy getting to interact
with her favorite characters and I think Poston did a good job handling
the details of the magical fictional town (e.g., details like WiFi and
cell coverage). Elsy has to deal with the fact that she's interacting
with people whom she knows intimately but has to act like she doesn't;
she has to try not to butterfly effect anything, but it's hard to
not blurt out what you think after spending years reading and
re-reading and discussing. And getting comments from the various
characters on what their lives are actually like was great; glimpses of
authorial intent vs. reality for the characters. And I liked the reveal
at the end of the book about Anders, as well as Elsy figuring out what
to do with her own life. I liked how much this was about friendship.
That
said, I do wish we had actually seen some of the minor characters; they
were mentioned, and there were a few group scenes, but I don't think
any of them even had a line in the book. I also got frustrated with Elsy
a few times in the book for not figuring out a few things more quickly (). I think Poston managed to make Eloraton come across as less twee than the town in Dead Romantics--though it probably is that twee in the actual series--there were a still a few elements that were a bit much. But the artifice of the premise helped.
Still, I read the vast majority of this book in one sitting. A good balance of high-concept and real emotion.
