Second Chance Alaska by Jennifer SnowMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
When had his best friend started stirring these feelings of desire and yearning within him?
Third in the Wild Coast series, I think I was a little hampered by jumping in here; missing some previous relationship development between our leads Carly and Oliver. These two lead busy lives, Carly runs her own bookstore and museum and Oliver gives tours and maintains the town's historic lighthouse and with tourist season starting, their schedules get packed. The first half, these two barely spent any time together but they were constantly thinking about each other. Oliver lost his wife Alison and eldest daughter Catherine to the sea three years ago, the mystery of why they never came home after sailing has yet to be solved. Alison was Carly's friend, with the tragedy affecting them both, they grew closer to lean on another. That friendship has now had both developing romantic feelings towards each other but both Carly and Oliver are scared to admit it to one another with the fear that it could ruin their friendship.
If he wasn't careful, he was going to lose the only person besides his daughter who meant anything to him.
It's when the town hires a new head of tourism, Sebastian, that Oliver wakes up a bit and gets the nudge he needs towards stepping out of the past. Sebastian and Carly have a little flirt relationship bubbling and Oliver realizes that if he doesn't admit his feelings, he could lose his chance. Carly has pretty much just been in a holding pattern, trying to hide her feelings for Oliver but scared to rush him out of his mourning. Around midway through the book, these two realize they share the same feelings and kiss. Then they spend two days apart and then have an open (warehouse, naughty Oliver is wearing overalls with no underwear!) door scene. I can't say I really felt that sweet tension breaking emotions but if you've followed this couple through the previous two books, it might hit better for you.
It wasn't the kiss of a man afraid of losing his best friend; it was the kiss of a man prepared to fight for what he wanted.
The second half was a little more generous with time given to the leads together, it was mostly open door scenes. Even though I was new to the world and Oliver's pain of losing his wife and daughter, when answers get revealed, I found myself getting emotional during the scene. I really liked how this author wrote her characters' relationships, especially Oliver with his youngest daughter Tess. I thought they felt natural and enjoyed how they seemed to get through the tragedy of losing such important people in their lives together; I would have liked to see Carly and Tess interact more to see the bonding in their relationship.
Now he just needed to figure out a way to prove to Carly that he was all in---and hope that she was too.
Like I said, these two had a lot going on in their lives, Carly with her business, building a float for the Sealena Festival, and keeping under wraps her very lucrative side hustle and Oliver with the lighthouse, Tess, and deciding if staying in Port Serenity and remaining the guardian of the lighthouse was still for him, all while Sebastian's flirting and business dealings were pushing Oliver to open his eyes to how he really felt about Carly and decide once and for all about how he wants his future in Port Serenity to look. It was a good contemporary story but it honestly felt like Carly and Oliver spent a total of three chapters together (a chunk of that in bedroom scenes) and with that lack of time, I felt the romance genre part of this was the weakest. However, with me missing perhaps some previous relationship development, series readers might not have the same problem I did.
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