Review: The Second First Chance: A Novel

The Second First Chance: A Novel by Mona Shroff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.3 stars 

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

They had both made decisions based on that fire. 

Riya and Dhillon were townhome neighbors since the age of five and became best friends, until a sophomore dance ends in a kiss. But before they can explore the new turn in their relationship, a fire breaks out in their homes and Riya loses her hero big brother Samir and Dhillon loses his father. Not being able to process those feelings of grief in the same way, they drift apart. Dhillon still lives at home deciding that his mother and younger sister Hetal still need him, while Riya has moved out and is now hiding that she is the new rookie and only woman, at the firehouse. When a puppy gets rescued at a fire and brought to veterinarian Dhillon, he learns about Riya's new occupation. 

She was going to be the death of him. 

And he was completely in love with her. 

The Second First Chance, was a family fiction story that had all those family dynamic emotions with the thread of Riya and Dhillon knowing they loved one another but never being able to admit it to the other. They see each other occasionally because of Dhillon still living next door to her parents and family and cultural celebrations but when Riya's mother has a heartattack and she decides to stay at home for a while to help take care of her mother, their feelings for each other start to come to a head. I went into this thinking there would be more romance than there was. The story is told from alternating pov chapters from Riya and Dhillon, Riya is dealing with trying to fit in at her fire station, dealing with sexual harassment from one of her colleagues, struggling with reconnecting with her parents, and then still loving Dhillon but thinking he wants nothing to do with her, especially since she's a firefighter now. Dhillon is dealing with outgrowing living with his mother and sister, trying to be a father and brother to Hetal, grow his veterinarian business, and loving Riya but thinking they can't be together. These two live busy lives and why, while the romance thread is steady throughout, it spends more time as background music. 

And Dhillon-V never could refuse Riya-D anything. 

Something I really enjoyed in this was how all the characters added to the world, they were all believable and added richness. Riya's jerk co-worker is one with a capital J but who hasn't meet that guy? I would have liked more flushing out of her relationship with her mother, we get some faint explanation that Riya got lost in the grief after her brother died and they do talk and seem to grow a little closer at the end but I would have liked more of a solid, focused emotional scene of them coming together, especially with her mother. Dhillon's sister had a very small secondary romance that my romance loving heart would have liked for them to have their own romance book but I did enjoy how Dhillon and Hetal's relationship was flushed out. 

This was her best friend, her confidant, the man she had loved since she was a little girl. This was her Dhillon-V. 

Readers do come in when Riya and Dhillon already love each other, so I missed some of the development of feelings. I also was disappointed that we didn't get an open door bedroom scene, just as the pants were coming off the door slams shut, I felt the emotional part of the story needed to show their intimacy in this way, would have really brought those feelings in as these two had loved and wanted each other for so long. This happens in the first half of the story and they end up parting thinking the other just saw it as a one night stand, which felt a little meh in keeping these two apart for the rest of the story. 

The pace didn't feel like it had enough steam to make it to the end and then the ending had a rush of a fire, danger, and a black scene that felt forced with Dhillon blaming Riya, Riya blaming herself, and then a quick “eh, misunderstanding”. This does end with a happily ever after but I wouldn't necessarily say read this for the romance. It's obvious from the beginning but be aware there is a death of a pet. If you're looking for a family fiction or book club read, this would give some rich material to discuss.

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