This book was a cute read. It was quick and the writing style wasn't great, but in taking the story for what it was a rom com I enjoyed it. There were some parts I didn't care for, but I think Sora and Jack are a cute couple and at the same time a solo February is an intriguing concept considering all the commercialness of the month of love.

Overall it's a cute cold weather read and I enjoyed it.

This was such a cute and quick romance read. Sora swears off men for a February work assignment and quickly finds herself going viral. At the same time, she reconnects with someone from her past and suddenly ends up stuck between her duties to her work & new #gosolo movement and Jack who she is quickly falling for. I appreciated that even the bad guys weren't pure evil in this book.

Thanks NetGalley for the advance copy of this book.

This book was everything I wanted it to be. It had me turned pages without even realizing. It was so good!

Too much judgement in this book. It really bothered me unfortunately.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review

I just couldn’t finish this one. Our main character Sora is so judgmental, constantly making comments about what people eat, wear, their body size. It is quite the disservice to put a midsized character in a book, and make her a total bitch. She is constantly talking about bacon, it is so cliche. I am tired of the healthy at any size movement that is going on right now, it should be unhealthy at every size for our country and the relationship so many of us have with food. I just can’t tolerate reading anymore of this garbage. Sorry.

Bottom Line: Pass

**I received a copy of The Second You’re Single from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.**

This unfortunately was a hard book to read for me. The first reason being I didn't really enjoy the writing; it was very choppy and almost written like a stream of consciousness. While I was very intrigued by the idea behind the book, I think there was a lot lacking in reality. We are supposed to have Sora, a mid-sized girl who is happy to just be herself. But in reality, there is just so much talking about people's size in general, it is distracting. Why shame her skinny sister? Why constantly discuss Jack's big body? Why discuss his "beer belly" at all? I think this entire focus was really lost in translation, and instead of normalizing all bodies, or even trying to be body positive, it had quite the opposite effect. This is also written with lots of over the top scenes (eg. pages worth of bacon-grease covered hands slipping on silk in an exercise class? Does Sora not wash her hands?) as well as lots of pop culture references I think take away from the story. The romance is instalove, even though they are supposed to be pining, and the pacing just seemed off. I think if you like over the top rom-com's you may enjoy this more than I did. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to provide my honest review.

Wish I would've like this book better, dnf @24%...I really dislike this style of writing, few authors can pull of first-person present tense, and Tanamachi falls into the traps of making the story feel disjointed and choppy. No one goes around their daily life narrating everything that they do "I flip the page, I put down the book in frustration, I type my review" which makes the narrative feel weird.

I also wish there was stronger character development, everything seemed more like tell and not show. It's clear that Cara is trying to give Sora the "quirky' vibe and it comes off too much as "not like other girls." Sora's entire personality is that she like bacon. Don't get me wrong...I absolutely a d o r e bacon, but I'd like to think that I'm not solely defined by that? But it seems like the characterization here was quite lazy, where every scene Sora would either be thinking about or physically eating bacon. At this point, it seems like you're just being hit over the head with her love for bacon and that's really her only personality trait I can remember.

Also a lot of the scenes were definitely trying to push for the rom-com funny, but a lot of the comedic elements just pushed straight into cringe for me. Take the aerial yoga scene for example....if one were to teach a class where you are doing yoga while suspended by silk, I'm no expert but I would expect some sort of safety crash course in the beginning or something. But in such case where we can pretend maybe they have different levels and Sora happened to be in the expert level (which how did she even qualify with no experience) and they don't run through safety guidelines.....GIRL WHY DO YOU NOT WASH YOUR HANDS??? I think it is SOOOOO disgusting that Sorya not only a) just uses her hands to double fist bacon while driving (this is slightly more acceptable IMO) but b) DOES NOT WASH HER HANDS AFTER! She explicitly states that her entire hands are greasy and thus cannot get the traction to grab the silk things. THAT IS SO DISGUSTING how do you get grease all over and not just your fingertips and why would you not just wash before engaging in a physical activity that highly requires your hands?????

Wish I enjoyed this book more bc I love a good baker romance but sadly even the main mans (Jack) was underwhelming. Too much of a simp and has no character besides being obsessed with the girl who defended him as a child. blah.

I chose this book due to the cover art and the title but had never heard of the author. I was not disappointed! It's a cute book and I loved Sora and Jack. I didn't want the book to end and it was a very comfy read. I could totally see this book as a movie.

What a fun read! I like Sora. She works from home and wears old tired clothes. I used to work from home and I totally understand the draw to being comfortable. Her life is such a mess. As the book progresses the messes seem to be her normal. I like how some of her messy men drop into the story. But she is a freelance writer and she begins writing an article empowering women to take a month off men, no dating, no hookups, nothing. But then she meets an old friend from elementary school. Now he is all sorts of fine. Can she really give up a chance to hook up? I thought the book was cute and fun. Fabulous ending too!

I was excited to start reading this book, but was quickly disappointed. The premise of the story was cute, but I felt like this story reads like a Kathy comic come to life—the over-the-top emphasis on eating chocolate or other silly “women things” that make me roll my eyes. I wanted to like this one, but it wasn’t my destiny.

I can tell how good a book is by how quickly I read it. I couldn't put this one down! The banter between characters had me laughing out loud. While a key storyline is swearing off men and dating, it doesn't bring the energy of the book down. Sometimes that storyline can feel very negative and boring for me, but this book managed it really well. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a light, fun, laugh out loud kind of read.

This book was so cute! I loved the idea of "Solo February" and how that can have a different meaning for everyone. I loved Jack and Sora's relationship and the friends-to-strangers-to-lovers trope played out. Jack was a cinnamon roll character for sure. Although both MCs had their flaws, I think they were written and dealt with in a way that was easy to follow development. I liked the side characters as well. I think Jack's niece played a large role in this cinnamon roll character trait. The only thing I was not a fan of was the "third act breakup". I feel like the resolution of the breakup happened too quickly. Overall, this was a great story about holding out for the one you truly want until they are ready.

2.5/5 Stars

Okay so I have many thoughts about this one and most of them are not good.

First and foremost being a mid-size girl myself I always love to see the representation but how it was played out and represented in this book rubbed me the wrong way in so many ways. The main character Sora had a very toxic attitude about other people weight and and eating habits and I think it was supposed to be that she was trying to normalize it but it came out the opposite. It made me feel almost uncomfortable reading all the off handed comments she constantly made.

Also there was no chemistry between the love interests from where I was sitting. But I do like a good friends to lovers trope so for that reason I did not hate their relationship completely.

The premise of this caught my eye and I was hoping for a fun, light rom-com featuring a romance-averse protagonist who meets "Mr. Right" when the timing is all wrong.

Sora's #gosolo plan to stay single during the month of February is compelling though not super high stakes. A month is not a long time to wait to be with the man of your dreams. And yet...

Ultimately, I could not get into the story and root for the romance between Sora and Jack due to how the plot was unfolding and the switching of POVs between Sora and Jack. I think their inner monologues were a bit awkward and stilted, Jack's more so than Sora's. I would have preferred to only have Sora's POV. Also, bacon was mentioned on almost every page. Loving bacon is not a character trait. There is a lot of focus on body image throughout.

Of course, reviewing is subjective and while I am sad this did not work out for me, I suspect other readers may be charmed by the plot and chemistry between Sora and Jack.

Many thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read an ARC via NetGalley.

Sora is having a bad time with love. She is divorced and finds her dog and bacon to be the only thing in her life she can count on. As a freelance writer, she pitches a series on being single in February called #GoSolo. The articles are super popular, but Sora reconnects with a childhood friend, Jack, who is also single, or is he? Sora is hesitant to start anther relationship and wants to finish her #GoSolo series. This book has a HEA, but there is a lot of drama to get there from both Sora and Jack. Being from Chicago, I enjoyed the references to the city, but the story was a bit flat. I didn’t quite believe them together.

This book was really cute and an easy read. I thought the premise of the book was great and would recommend this to others!

***I received an arc in exchange for an honest review
I thought that the concept of this book was good but the execution was very lacking. The body commentary was not necessary

I loved this book. I always like to think what I would do in these situations and the author nailed it. Thank you for this incredible novel.

This book chronicles the everyday frustrations of a single woman who has despaired of finding a decent partner and has resorted to taking a one month hiatus from dating and having any relations with the opposite sex. Sora's period of celibacy becomes public and is complicated by the arrival of Jack who presents all kinds of temptations and threatens her resolve. I found both main characters very relatable, the situations more realistic than other books of this genre, and could not resist rooting for them. This quick read kept a steady pace and required minimal effort to remain focused on the story. Would recommend freely.

Sora is a freelance writer and Jack is a talented chef. They were childhood friends and Jack had a crush on her. I do feel like Sora is pretty judgmental in her opinions on others bodies which I did not like very much.