Second Chance Spring: A Novel by JoAnn RossMy rating: 2 of 5 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.
What the hell was Lily Carpenter doing in Honeymoon Harbor?
Second Chance Spring is the story of a second chance romance between guarded Lily and Burke, a NFL QB who she broke up with by text. I wasn't aware it was a part of a series, Honeymoon Harbor, when I started it and because of how much series characters play a part in this one, that greatly impacted my enjoyment. Burke is living in New York, where he's the starting QB for the Gotham Knights and trying to figure out if he wants to become a free agent, sign with the Knights again, or retire. He gets a call from his brother that their mother was in a car accident, so he rushes home only to find that Lily, the woman he dated for three months and was already starting to think was the one, now lives in his hometown.
And now that day had come. It was time, she knew, to face the music.
After having a horrible childhood where her mother, father, and grandmother played tug of war with her through the courts, Lily changed her last name when she was eighteen and tries to live a guarded single life. When she met Burke at a charity function they instantly were attracted to each other but she warns him right away that it can only be hook-ups between them and when Lily starts to have deeper feelings for Burke, she breaks up with him and runs. Bouncing from town to town, Lily remembers how Burke talked about his hometown and how she fell in love with it through his words, so she decides to stay a few months there, only to end up staying and building roots and relationships with everyone. Now two years later and Lily and Burke are coming face to face again.
But the one thing Burke knew was that nothing was going to interfere with him coming up with a game plan to win Lily Carpenter.
If you're a frequent reader of the Honeymoon Harbor series, you'd probably enjoy all the past characters that make up Burke's family (his mother and father are the novella couple that start off the series) and the townspeople that are at length shown in the beginning. As a new reader, it was overwhelming with so many characters, especially when I was just trying to get to know Burke and Lily. A big chunk of the beginning was more small-town and family fiction as everyone came in and out of the picture. It's mentioned that Lily has a big secret, something to do with not wanting to be recognized by the press and that is why she's fighting hard to stay away from Burke and around 50% she reveals what it is. It has to do with her past and how damaging it was to be in the news, honestly, something that didn't feel like too big a deal to me as a reader and obviously to the characters in the story. Burke shrugs it off, along with the friends Lily has made in the town when she tells them about her past. It was such a non-entity that was supposed to be the block and angst keeping Lily and Burke apart but pretty much flopped as a reveal because of how it wasn't a big deal and not really dealt with again.
But just then, in that very special moment, seated on a quilt, sharing tacos with the man she loved, she was living her best life.
The second half has the reveal done with and Burke and Lily tentatively try to bond again and I thought here was where the romantic relationship between the two was really going to get going and while they spend more time together finally, there was also a secondary romance taking place and more of that small town, family fiction eclipsing Lily and Burke. There wasn't much to their relationship on page emotional development, more of a condensed stop and go showing of their foreplay, fade to black bedroom scenes, and then some more sexual by-play. Then the ending gives a rushed resolution that even when it's supposed to be the romantic wrap-up to how these two are going to work out being together the story seems to be more concerned with Burke's career. I typically love details to characters and story but this had too many characters in it, all those little details began to feel pointless, trivial, and really slowed the pace down for me. Again, if you're a Honeymoon Harbor reader, you'd probably enjoy this a lot more than me as a newcomer because you would know these characters and care about them. I wanted to get to know Burke and Lily but they were often playing second fiddle in their own book and neither character gave me an emotional connection, which definitely lead to their romance feeling perfunctory. This wasn't about the heat and emotion of a singular romance but rather a broad look-in at the characters of Honeymoon Harbor and a small-town, family fiction vibe.
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