I liked and enjoyed that the FMC was very funny. Her sense of humor was the highlight of this book.
This book seemed to be about body positivity, but I felt that this could have been executed better through the story.

Did not finish, I tried to look past all the talk about weight, but it just kept coming. Thank you for my copy.

I read this a while back. I know I was going to have trouble writing this review because I had mixed feeling about. Thought I’d wait for a bit to write this.
It was some way’s enjoyable and easy reading. However, I had difficulty with the fat shaming, fat naming, and anything regarding being overweight. It was just too repetitive even Sora (main character) was okay with herself with weight problems. And her love for bacon, come on. We get it after one or two times explaining her obsession with bacon. But being repetitive in almost every other chapter. It’s just a bit too much. Now, as for Jack who’s had a thing for Sora since childhood things she’s awesome overweight and beautiful. That’s cool, but doesn’t Sora have a personality? Seriously!
Her sister is pretty annoying. I just wanted to throw the book at her to shut her up.
I get the plot and it’s cute and sweet but overdoing the weight is just bit too much for me.
Three low stars from me.
Thank you for allowing me to read this ARC St. Martin’s and Netgalley.
As usual, all my reviews are purely my own without any influence from any of the publishers.

Uhhh what I liked: the FMC was very funny. Her sense of humor was the highlight of this book.
What I disliked: This book seemed like it was supposed to be about body positivity, but the execution of it failed horribly.

Sora is not a fan of Valentine’s Day as one of the reasons that it was ruined for her. So as a journalist when she sees an opportunity to be able to finally prove herself by not dating for the whole month of February. But just a couple of days into her solo challenge, she reconnects with an old childhood friend, Josh.

At first I was trying to figure out that the inclusion of both of their exes which was a bit of a storyline of how it was going to be handled. Which by the way, I’m not a fan of the MMC’s ex; ugh 😩. I really loved Sora’s characterization and mending that relationship.

Overall, I’d say that I enjoyed this book. A sort-of second chance, childhood friends to lovers story isn’t always my cup of tea, but look. When you make a man built like a brick house a BAKER?! I’m powerless.

This was a cute romance! Solo February.. no men what so ever but there is always an exception to the rule. Overall this was a good listen but Cara mentioned bacon way too much. I love bacon do not get me wrong but a little goes a long way. Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for my honest feedback!

🧁🩷Book Review:
Title: The Second You're Single
Author: Cara Tanamachi
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/4 stars

Whew, I read some pretty bad reviews on this book, but I loved it! I was entertained throughout the whole story and laughed quite a bit!

Sora Reid loves her bacon and her curvy shape. Writing her #gosolo articles for an online women's magazine, during the month of February (hello, Valentine’s Day), she bans men for the month and chooses to focus on herself. Which is going great until she runs into Jack Mann, a classmate from elementary school.

Jack Mann is an incredible baker with hopes and dreams to open his own bakery. And dang, does he have muscles that completely throws Sora in a tailspin. No men this month! Will she be a hypocrite and break her own commitment or will she make herself miserable? I enjoyed this book, so there!!!

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I loved the premise for this book. FMC fed up with relationships and the commercialization of Valentine’s Day creates an empowering, viral #gosolo campaign only to fall in love with her childhood friend?! Sounds amazing!

Unfortunately, I found things to be…lacking? The empowerment I was expecting wasn’t entirely there. While the romance between Sora and Jake was sweet, I didn’t feel the chemistry between them was ever fully present. I appreciated the dual POVs, I love when both characters views are presented to readers!

I’ve seen a lot of reviews mention fat phobia and feelings of plus-size misrepresentation, and I can see where they’re coming from. Aside from the obviously not plus-sized girl on the cover, there were some uncomfortable moments surrounding body weight and body shaming, that might warrant a content warning? Just something to think about.

This was a cute and quick read, and I’m curious as to what other books are in the works for the author.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s for the complimentary arc. All opinions are my own.

This was an enjoyable romance that I didn't want to put down. I loved the main characters and the story was well developed.

This was such a cute fun read! Perfect for Valentine's Day or anytime you're looking for a sweet romance that will keep you turning the pages until the end.

Thank you NetGalley, the publishers and the author for the review copy!

This book is hilarious, soo cute, extremely fun to read & very enjoyable🤍
Really like it❤️

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Griffin for a copy of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

This book was so cute. I love friends to lovers books, and this had the added bonus of it being a reconnection book too. Plus it involved baking, finding oneself, learning it is okay to be single, and a one-eyed pupper. Did I keep thinking of Kingdom Hearts when I read Sora? Sure! But thats a me problem. Sora is a strong woman who really grew as a character and learned to love herself and learn what she needed. Jack is an adorable puppy of a man - plus he BAKES! - and I just wanted to hug him. He also really grew as a character and I thought that was a nice change, since it feels like a lot of the time it is only one of the characters that has a big character development/change. I also appreciated the family dynamics of both characters & their families, the diversity of the characters, and how realistic it seemed. Plus I also hate Valentines Day, so it was nice to see how that was addressed & changed, because I could relate. Overall this was a super cute book and a nice easy romance read.

"You are the one in charge of your own happiness. Not anyone else."

After multiple failed relationships, Sora Reid has decided she's staying single from now on, especially during the most cheesiest holiday of all: valentine's day. She's so dedicated to staying single that she's even gotten her boss to agree to her next blog post: #gosolo. For her blog, Sora's decided she's not going on any dates for a whole month. And let's just say: her words are a hit. So many fellow readers are here for Sora's concept of falling in love with bacon instead of men. A perfect life, right? Wrong. Sora's got her mom pestering her to lose weight. Meanwhile, her sister's wedding is coming up and she's being demanded to find a date. Looks like #gosolo has a bit of a challenge. On top of that, at the supermarket, Sora has a run-in with a childhood classmate, Jack Mann, aka a hot baker😏 and hold on is there chemistry between the two? There may be, but what about Sora's pledge to stay solo? How will her boss and readers take it if they find out Sora's lowkey crushing on a man? Also, is Jack really worth the risk of losing her readers, especially when Sora believes relationships always come to an end? A lot of chaos and entertainment going on here. But I need to give a special shoutout to Jack's niece, Allie. That child, while being a leukemia survivor, is the strongest child you'll ever meet. Also, a best friend shoutout goes to Stella, because that girl is always there for Sora no matter what. A wonderful book with a cute friends-to-lovers trope😍

While the premise of The Second You’re Single was fun, the book didn’t grab me as much as I expected it to. I’m not exactly sure why, because there was plenty I liked–I just didn’t love it.

The pros: a cute one-eyed dog, a hot childhood second chance, and a fun premise. I loved the idea of the “go solo” challenge, despite being happily engaged. It’s so important to learn to love yourself first before jumping into a relationship.

Unfortunately, the way that Sora was portrayed as the crazy ex-girlfriend kind of rubbed me the wrong way. The book could have delved into some heavier topics that were mentioned just in passing–like Sora’s miscarriage–and it just left me wanting more than a surface-level love story. I also felt like I couldn’t get behind the romance, because they never seemed to get to know each other.

Even though I didn’t love this one, it might be perfect for a lover of slow-burn second-chance romance or someone looking for a quick Valentine’s day read.

The Second You’re Single by Cara Tanamachi is the perfect read for Valentine’s Day. It is a sweet second chance romance featuring the friends-to-lovers trope. I can see myself revisiting this story year after year.

Sora, a freelance writer, known for her fluff pieces is spending the entire month of February documenting her decision to be single. Jake, a baker at a local grocery store is working tirelessly to open his very own shop. The two attended elementary school together until they were separated by a move. A chance encounter reunites them decades later, but it soon becomes evident that staying strictly friends is off the table. Will they be able to survive Sora’s single February, or will they lose touch once more?

Part of what made this book so endearing was the childhood friendship between Jake and Sora. Jake’s early school experiences consisted of being bullied for his weight. He struggled with self-esteem and sticking up for himself. Sora was the only person to not only befriend him, but speak up on his behalf.

*Tanamachi does a fantastic job of representing diverse characters and disputing the notion that body insecurities are a female issue!!!

Special thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

I felt this book had a good premise and I liked some of it but at times I was really annoyed by the main character and her lack of will power. I think it could have been better.

The Second You’re Single was enjoyable as long as you didn’t think too deeply. . I think another rewrite could have helped. Too many bacon comments (and I love bacon!) too much of Sora not really thinking about her actions and not enough of why Jack finds her to be his soulmate from childhood memories. My favorite parts were the articles she wrote to advise others (but had trouble following herself)

Social researchers have taught us that it takes 5 positive thoughts/interactions to balance every 1 negative interaction. This book, the ratio between pos/neg was more like 3/1!

Positives:
I enjoyed Sora take on #solofebruary and to Go Solo to find the good in yourself and how you can be independent in a world that thinks singles are doomed.
I really liked the POV told from Jack.
If you can stick around long enough it does get better.

Not so much:
Sora’s perspective was nauseating. She was entirely wrapped up in BACON and being fat (which obvi she wasn’t) that it was a mega turnoff and you could tell it wasn’t written by anyone who ever had weight issues.
I found the weight and bacon thing was a failed joke attempt and I found myself uncomfortable reading it.

Thank you @smpromance for my gifted copy.

I really enjoyed that this one was more than just a romance, I liked the main character's journey of finding herself throughout this story. I really enjoyed the characters in this one and would definitely recommend.

This review has been added to Goodreads, Literal and Storygraph, as well as Barnes & Noble and Amazon. This will be posted to my instagram (@manymerrybooks) within the week.

Thank you for allowing me to listen to this story!!