Friday, July 26, 2013

Review: Second Chance Cafe



About the Book:
Growing up, Kaylie Flynn was shuffled from foster home to foster home before being welcomed into Winton and May Wise’s family. It was May who taught Kaylie the comfort of home, and the healing power of baking the perfect brownie. Years later, May leaves Kaylie the money she needs to open her own café in the charming Victorian house they once shared. Now back in Hope Springs, Kaylie’s determined to finally make all her dreams a reality—and unearth answers to lingering questions about her past.

Soon, however, Kaylie’s carefully laid plans take an unexpected turn. The house needs far more work than she realized, and Tennessee Keller, the carpenter Kaylie hires, is proving to be a very handsome and very unneeded distraction from her quest to uncover the truth about her parents. When a crisis threatens to destroy everything she’s worked so hard to build, Kaylie must decide where her heart lies: with the ghosts of her past or the love and promise of her future.

My Comments:
It's funny how books that have nothing to do with each other can have so much in common.  This is the third book I've read this weekend and they've all dealt in one way or another with people having to decide how much of the past to hang onto and how much to let go.  We all know that living in the past rather than the present isn't a sign of a mentally well person, but the mentally healthy know that the past has, to some extent, made them who they are.  

People in Kaylie's past have abandoned her.  She comes to Hope Springs seeking more information about her past, but then is afraid to seek it too much.  She finds that other people have things in their pasts that they'd rather forget.  As secrets are unearthed, people come together to find healing.

While this book is a romance and does focus primarily on Kaylie and Tennessee, it really goes deeper into other relationships in their lives than is typical in a romance novel.  The writing is also better than I usually associate with this genre.  It has a couple of very steamy scenes but it is a book I'd recommend to romance/women's fiction readers despite those scenes, which can be skimmed/skipped without missing any real plot points.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade:  B+

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