This was a first time read for me by this author, so I didn't go in with any particular expectations. The story was entertaining and I enjoyed getting to know the characters. Sora and Jack's chemistry was evident throughout. Sora is a freelance writer and she has had enough of Valentine's Day and the stereotypes that go along with it. She encourages her readers to embrace being single. Jack and Sora went to school together and he has held a torch for since they were kids. They have a chance encounter as adults, and the attraction is strong. But Sora is conflicted, she's just pledged to be solo, so how can she start a relationship? The relationship she's always wanted is within her grasp, so what is she to do?
Jack and Sora were a cute couple and I was rooting for them the whole time. Miscommunication rears its ugly head and causes some complications, but the characters have a chance to grow and self discover, which I liked.
My thanks to Netgalley for providing a complimentary copy. This is my voluntary review.

I was so excited by the summary of this book, but as I started reading, I found that I did not care for any of the characters. The female characters felt very one dimensional, and I had a hard time connecting with any of them. I enjoyed seeing Jack's point of view when he met Sora, but I ended up DNF this book at 20% because I could not get into the story. Cute premise, but it just didn't hit the nail on the head for me.

there were giggles, i enjoyed reading the heartaches of the FMC, Sora and her distaste of valentines day. Writing about being single in February while also falling for a guy. It’s a great premise for a book.

2.5⭐️

There were several problems I had with this book that I could not get past in order to finish reading. The forced humor grated one me, the absurd number of times bacon was mentioned, the problematic discussion of body image and dieting, the insta-love, and the unlikeable characters and mixed feelings I had about the female characters especially were disappointing. I did appreciate the wide inclusion of diverse characters, specifically across various Asian backgrounds and LGBTQ+ characters, but it wasn't enough to make up for the lack of interest I had in getting to the HEA.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the early copy!

This #GoSolo story was a wild romp of romance, comedy, introspection, and learning. As with all things having to do with learning more about yourself, there were ups and downs. There was also quite a bit of comedy between the Heroine and Hero. But, at the end of the story the main female character ended up with her Happily Ever After. This is the kind of book I Love to read!

I liked the premise of this book.
I didn’t love the body comments. It was used repeatedly and I thought the author could have gotten her point across in better ways.

The story is cute and I do like the character relationships. Sora does learn to stand up for herself and the ending is really cute between Sora and Jack.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for letting me read an eARC of The Second You’re Single! I hadn’t heard anything about this book before I requested it on Netgalley, but I thought the summary was super fun and I really liked the cover, so I hit the button to request it and I’m so glad I did!
The Second You’re Single 4/5 Stars
Summary from Goodreads: Cheerfully irreverent, bitingly funny, and filled with romantic charm, The Second You're Single is all about navigating the most romantic month of the year, and how love always seems to arrive when you least expect it.
Freelance writer Sora Reid believes in inertia. She’s the odd one out in a close-knit family of go-getters, including her Japanese-American mom, who hints about her need to lose weight, and her soon-to-be married, overachieving younger sister, who needs her to have a date for the wedding, since a wedding party couples' dance with their Scottish great uncle Bob simply won't do. For Sora, minimal input, minimal expectations is the way to go. She’d rather stay at home with her insufferable neighbor and her adorable pitbull.
The one thing that disrupts her inertia: an intense dislike for Valentine’s Day. What is it with the commercial love machine? Why do we pin our hopes on one romantic day, when staying home with a package of bacon and a bottle of tequila would be way better? Sora’s been betrayed and disappointed more than once and her heart is starting to feel like her Grandma Mitsuye’s antique Japanese ceramic bowl, with its many gold-filled cracks.
When her pledge to stay single in February inspires readers to #gosolo, Sora has a responsibility to empower her readers. But relationships aren’t built to last, so it shouldn’t be that hard. Right?
Enter Jack Mann. A muscle-bound baker who looks like he lifts logs on the weekends, Sora hasn’t thought of Jack since they were in elementary school together. When they see each other at the local grocery store and the attraction hits hard, Sora knows she has to shut it down, quick. She can’t #gosolo AND get the guy. She can’t let down her readers. And relationships always end, so why should Jack be any different–even though he’s confounding all her long-held expectations of love?
The Second You’re Single was a really fun read! I loved the idea of Sora doing a solo February after having so many terrible experiences with men, and then learning about the traumatic experience that happened during her marriage, it made a lot of things start making sense. I also really liked Jack as a person and how close he is to his family and how he has problematic exes of his own. I think it’s super cute that they met up again randomly after not having seen each other since elementary school. There were so many times throughout the book where I just wanted to shake the two of them and be like communicate!!! But that’s what makes a fun rom-com, right? And then, the ending was super cute and fun, so I can’t complain! Overall, I really enjoyed The Second You’re Single and I think y’all should pick it up today!

Link to be added once post goes live

The Second You're Single by Cara Tanamachi was a really cute read and I thought it was very enjoyable! This is another book where I was really surprised by the low average on Goodreads, and while Sora professes her love for bacon pretty heavily throughout the story, there is nothing wrong with that in my eyes. The #gosolo thing she did was an interesting concept and through it, she was able to figure out what she truly wanted for herself. Surprise, what she really wanted was a relationship that fulfilled her, and the answer to that came in the form of Jack. I loved that the book alternated between their 2 viewpoints, and the best part was probably Sora's dog. The humor between her pup and the neighbor got me laughing, and I thought the romance ended up being really sweet as well.

I'm not sure if this will be something that will stick with me for a particularly long time, but that doesn't really mean anything considering how many books I actually remember (hint, not many). It flowed really well, and I loved the audiobook which is narrated by Michael Braun & Cindy Kay. They were awesome to listen to and I was very happy with them as narrators, so I would highly recommend it. I didn't have the same issues that others did with the constant mentions of bacon, or Sora's concern over others' eating habits, and I was just able to immerse myself and really enjoy the funny parts as well as the romance and general storyline. The Second You're Single worked out really well for me, and if you are a fan of romances and think it sounds good, I would recommend giving it a shot.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Really enjoyed reading this book. It was so different from all the books I usually read.. And Sora and Jack had so much chemistry.

I thought this book was cute and a fast read. I laughed quite a few times at Sora’s self depreciating humor. Yes bacon is mentioned A LOT and there were some other repetitive aspects but it didn’t bother me. I finished a fantasy before this where the writing was trying way too hard, so the easy flow of this one was a win for me. It is a closed door romance so anyone looking for smut will be disappointed.

Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for an e-arc of in exchange for an honest review!

I went into this book blind, and I really enjoyed it! I listened to parts of it, and loved the audio. This book is fun, lighthearted -would make a perfect palate cleanser type book, and a quick read! There is a little bit of steam, and a whole lot of self care/love and figuring out it’s okay to be single/in a relationship no matter what stage of life you are in, as long as you are happy. This book takes place primarily in the month of February, with lots of focus on Valentine’s Day!

Freelance writer Sora Reid believes in inertia. She’s the odd one out in a close-knit family of go-getters, including her Japanese-American mom, who hints about her need to lose weight, and her soon-to-be married, overachieving younger sister, who needs her to have a date for the wedding, since a wedding party couples' dance with their Scottish great uncle Bob simply won't do. For Sora, minimal input, minimal expectations is the way to go. She’d rather stay at home with her insufferable neighbor and her adorable pitbull.

The one thing that disrupts her inertia: an intense dislike for Valentine’s Day. What is it with the commercial love machine? Why do we pin our hopes on one romantic day, when staying home with a package of bacon and a bottle of tequila would be way better? Sora’s been betrayed and disappointed more than once and her heart is starting to feel like her Grandma Mitsuye’s antique Japanese ceramic bowl, with its many gold-filled cracks.

When her pledge to stay single in February inspires readers to #gosolo, Sora has a responsibility to empower her readers. But relationships aren’t built to last, so it shouldn’t be that hard. Right?

Enter Jack Mann. A muscle-bound baker who looks like he lifts logs on the weekends, Sora hasn’t thought of Jack since they were in elementary school together. When they see each other at the local grocery store and the attraction hits hard, Sora knows she has to shut it down, quick. She can’t #gosolo AND get the guy. She can’t let down her readers. And relationships always end, so why should Jack be any different–even though he’s confounding all her long-held expectations of love?

A cute, modern romance, I couldn’t put it down. The characters were quirky and it was a fun escape from the real world. I can’t wait to read what the author puts out next.

I was a bit conflicted with this book - I liked the promise of having different orientations, sizes, ethnicities, etc. being represented but while getting all of that in - it just seemed to fall a bit flat for me. I found it hard to relate to the characters. I also didn't really believe that someone from elementary school is still gushing over their crush into their adult years. I just struggled too much throughout this book to really get a good grasp on it.

This was cute in places but I had to DNF it because the endless body comments were triggering. I've always been a very big girl and I don't read books to think about body size, eating habits, or weight. Also, the MC has a stupidly weird obsession with bacon...she mentions it almost 50x in the 1st half of the book that I read! It's supposed to be funny, but it was ridiculous after the first few times. Sadly this book just doesn't have the kind of writing I find funny.

Thanks NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was a cute, quick read that had its moments. It was almost a little too fast paced. It didn't feel like we got to feet Sora and Jack's struggles enough. Everything kind of resolved too quickly and the characters seemed a bit immature.
The writing was nice and I really enjoyed the side characters. Overall this book was okay, but not great.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I liked this book, it has a lot of funny moments.
Sora Reid is a freelance writer who hates Valentine’s Day. It’s become too commercialized and she doesn’t think there should be a single day to express love. Sora decides to write about staying single during February, #gosolo. It shouldn’t be too hard, all her relationships ended badly anyway. She’s thrilled (and vindicated) when her hashtag goes viral.

Unfortunately for her #gosolo project, she runs into Jack, a guy she had a crush on in elementary school, and he’s grown up into a gorgeous hunk with muscles in all the right places. Plus, he’s a baker.
How can she write about how fortunate she is to be alone when all she wants is to date Jack?
I appreciated the representation in this book, Sora is plus sized and Asian. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my

A charming, witty story. I didn’t like the body image references but it was an interesting read.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Lemme start with the majority of the side characters pissed me TF off! Sora’s mom. Sora’s sister. Sora’s exes. Jack’s ex. They had me seeing red and I wanted to strangle them bc they both deserved so much more. But that makes sense as we see their character growth (which is done super well, btw).

Sora is a freelance writer who ends up starting “GoSolo” for the month of February to put off men and dating and to work on herself. She does daily posts to empower others… that is until she runs into a hot ass baker who just so happens to be someone she was friends with in elementary school. And he had the cutest crush on her back then. He’s working towards opening his own bakery, but his devil of an ex-girlfriend makes things difficult. BUT, regardless of reconnecting with Sora and her “gosolofeb”, he’s willing to wait for her *enter swooooon*.

This was well written and hit me in the feels and made me feel too seen with some of it. Sora and Jack definitely needed to learn boundaries (which I’m also guilty of). Definitely a great romcom that warmed my heart!

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you to RB Media for a free copy of the audiobook.

As a lover of the movie How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, I knew I had to read The Second You’re Single. The premise is similar except that Sora Reid has to stay single for the month of February. Sora is writing a column and posting on social media how great it is to #gosolo and empowers her readers to do the same. Of course…when you least expect to find love…you do.

This was a fun book to read leading up to February. It was funny and full of romantic charm. Sora represents so many women who have been in bad relationships. The characters have great chemistry and banter making this book super cute and enjoyable.

The audiobook was narrated by both a male and a female. This made listening enjoyable.

4 Stars

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