Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! 

 

happiness by taylor swift 

sharpest tool by sabrina carpenter 

 

this book was on the more heavier, emotional side compared to the author’s other romances. this second chance is not only about forgiveness but also about grieving and self discovery through starting over. it was interesting to see the perspective of adam who is a retired hockey player and divorced father in his 40s that recently came out and seeing how lonely his self discovery journey was at this point in his life. we also got to see riley hockey teammate and secret fwb going through the grieving process of losing his beloved father. it was nice seeing riley and adam help each other with their own separate journeys. yes this is a second chance romance of adam trying to win riley back but this book is so much more. layered with so much 

 
spoilers incoming

also this second chance romance was more on the SLOWWWER side. trust takes time to earn back but at times it felt like the plot was dragging. then towards the end, it felt very abrupt like confession then it ended like oh? that’s it? i didn’t love the inconsistency of that where we have a slow building of this relationship throughout the book but we never fully got to see the relationship in the end. the epilogue was nice though. we got to see flashbacks of riley and adam’s past together, i wish we got more of their relationship instead of their sexual chemistry. anyways i still enjoyed riley and adam’s story like the part with the moon snail shell and riley’s dad GOT ME