CBR Bingo: Season – Second Chance Romance is set in autumn, and we see the characters dressing for the season on at least one of their dates.
I really like (most of) Olivia Dade’s Spoiler Alert series, so I decided to give her other work a try. I ended up DNFing At First Spite, but did finish Second Chance Romance even if I was a bit unenthusiastic about it.
At First Spite
Even from the beginning, I didn’t love this one. The premise is that the Athena is engaged to be married to some guy whose name I forget, his brother doesn’t approve of the engagement based on whatever the fiancé has told him about her, the brother convinces the fiancé to end things. After the engagement is over, Athena still ends up moving to the little town where her ex-fiancé lives because she bought a house there that we was going to give to him as wedding present. The house is not only connected to her ex-fiancé house, which is why she bought it, it’s also right next to the brother’s house. The ex-fiancé is out of town on what was supposed to be their honeymoon, but the brother is in town. The Brother sees Athena struggling to build a new life, finds her endearing, and I suppose they eventually end up together. I didn’t get that far.
The notion that the ex-fiancé’s brother is the true love interest is already a little bit yuck to me. Then the juxtaposition of the fact that Athena bought a house as a wedding present and the idea that her character is supposed to be unmoored, between jobs, and financially reliant on either her parents or her ex just doesn’t hold water. For me, it was downhill from there. Both main characters are awkward but not endearingly. Athena is petty but in weird, small ways. The Brother is the whole reason her engagement ended and yet he visits her at her new job at the local bakery every day to leave extravagant tips because he feels guilty. I got to a point at which they have warmed up to each other, are hanging out after some event, and go to meet the local bookseller and his pet chicken. The Brother loses all sense around this chicken. He imagines all of the ways that the chicken will make Athena sick (even though it’s a pet to the bookseller and the bookseller seems fine) until he takes off a perfectly functional shirt and rips it up so that it will fit Athena so she can wear long sleeves to hold a chicken. This was too absurd for me, and I put it down. Maybe there’s a justification later, I just couldn’t stick around to wait for one.
Second Chance Romance
I was on vacation when I was reading these, so I think I had a palate cleanser between the first and second books. But, I had already purchased Second Chance Romance so I gave it a go. This also wasn’t a fave, but it was bearable. Karl and Molly were buds as weird high school kids. They both had crushes on each other, but never got together. Then shortly before graduation, Molly moved. They emailed briefly after she left Harlot’s Bay, but she cut it off and they didn’t speak for 20 years. Karl became the town grouch (and baker), and Molly stayed in California and became an audiobook narrator. Karl has been carrying a torch for Molly for two decades. Molly is divorced but seems to still have Karl in her heart somewhere because when she finds out that Karl is dead, she books a flight back to Harlot’s Bay poste haste. Except Karl isn’t dead. The town busybody thought he was because she overheard some sarcastic joking between his friends and didn’t verify her story before publishing it in the town newspaper. So, when Molly appears in Karl’s bakery asking about funeral services, it’s a bit of a surprise for everyone. But, Karl isn’t about to lose the chance to woo his long-lost lady love. It mostly works. Karl’s “grouchiness” is a bit much, and the fact that his friends read him as “loveable” instead of a petulant asshole is miracle that Karl should be thankful for every day. Molly is also kind of a jerk though, so I suppose they are perfect for each other.
