DNF at 32%. I am honestly so triggered by the blatant fat phobia in this book. First of all, size 14 is not a bad size. The main female character is OBSESSED with bacon to the point it’s distracting, as well as being such a stupid cliche for a “fat” character. The male character is formerly fat and was called “Piggy Jack” by a bully. Honestly I cannot suffer through a book written this poorly with mean characters that criticize the MFC.

Really and truly incredibly disappointed by the blatant fat phobia and fat shaming obsession in this book. I don’t know how something like this gets published in 2022.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Truly disappointing!

I was granted instant access on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review…. To be honest, if I wasn’t reading this for NetGalley, I probably would have DNF this book. When I get early access, I feel like I owe it to them to give it a shot. But in the month it took me to get through this book, I read other more enjoyable books.

Let’s start with what I liked, which isn’t much… I enjoyed the self care/do what makes you happy. I’ve #gonesolo to focus on self love, and feel like it’s a good thing.

The banter between Jack and Sora was also enjoyable.

Okay so next up, dislikes… Sora’s articles are dull. I wound up skimming to get through. Her boss is toxic. She can’t even follow through with her pledge, yet she’s the one that created it. Like honey, why.

Characters are unlikeable. Body shaming sister/mom. Caring so much about people being perfect. The only character I really liked was Allie(I think that’s her name(the niece)). The others were blah and had no great qualities.

Bacon every 2.5 seconds. Don’t get me wrong, I love bacon as much as the next girl, but it was overdone. The book should have been called ode to bacon.

Overall, I’m going to give this book 2 stars, because I don’t like being too harsh… but at the same time this one was not for me.

Sora and Jack knew each other in elementary school, until Jack left after the fourth grade. Sora is coming out of another failed relationship, and starts the #GoSolo challenge, to spend February dateless and getting to know herself. Then they bump into each other at the grocery store and sparks (and exes!) fly. Will Sora break her pledge? Is Jack too good to be true? And what's up with his ex?

Overall, I enjoyed this book, with a few caveats. It was funny and flowed as you'd expect. Sora is a smart character but needed to undergo some growth. There are plenty of family dynamics, which we slightly get into but could have been a deeper dive. I love that she had a rescue dog. The biggest caveat is how they talk about food and weight. Sora and her mom's dynamic is very familiar but that doesn't make it healthy (not that the author is trying to say it's healthy). However, the thread continues throughout - with how Sora judges and thinks about others (and the words used, like "gross" bellies), how she thinks about food, Jack's focus on how he was a chubby kid. I know people are like this and have some of these thoughts myself but oof I wish there was more of a balance or at least realization about it. The other piece that was more confusing to me is how Jack thought of his ex, Mal. I don't see why he thought she has no heart when he also saw all the other pieces and felt empathy for her.

This is a no spice romance book, told from two POVs. Fair warning about the language used throughout regarding body sizes and food. Content warning also for pregnancy loss.

The premise of this book is the perfect rom com setup, a female writer swears to go solo for February and give up men writing about her solo journey for her job, only to meet the perfect man while doing it. I loved that they tried to include body positivity and have a size 14 character, but I wish they had talked about size, and dieting, and salads less, it didn’t add to the story and missed the mark on being body positive. I appreciated the representation of different ethnicities in this book. I wanted to love this book and give it 5 stars, but the falling in love in this book was a little too instant and lacked depth to me, and that is the backbone of any good rom com for me. The main characters were quirky and likable, and the premise was cute, a fun easy read. I received an ARC and this is my honest review.

Delightful rom-com with characters to love. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey of Sora and Jack, rooting for them the whole way. The characters have great chemistry and banter and Jack's grand gesture makes the ending perfect. Also love the fact Sora adopted a disabled dog -- so many disabled dogs and cats wait a lifetime for forever homes.

Thanks NetGalley for the advance copy of this book.

Also reviewed on Goodreads

I wanted to like the book but I had a problem with the way Sora obsessed with what other people ate, their bodies, and weight. To me that was cringe-y as all get out. To me it was just body shaming people and well that is unacceptable even in fiction.

Okay... this book wasn't horrible but how many times did this author need to bring up bacon?? By the 10th mention I was annoyed. I did go ahead and finish it and I didn't hate it... but it definitely wasn't my favorite I've read this month. It was pretty predictable. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me the privilege of reading this book.

A cute laugh out loud romance perfect for lovers of the unhoneymooners.
Our Mc is a curvy bacon loving woman who has had bad luck in the dating department, she decides to write an article for solo February to boycott valentines day but the hits keep coming. She runs into a childhood friend at the grocery store who has had a serious glam up- think brawny paper towels guy. But also her ex husband and surprise surprise brawny hottie ex shows up too. They manage to reconnect and flirting and escapades continue. Also an adorable dog is involved!
This was a cute and fun story on growth, love, friendship and being happy with who you are-bacon lovers unite!

I received an e-arc of this book as well as won an arc on Goodreads. Despite that, I could not get into this book and felt that the premise fell entirely flat. The synopsis was far more attractive than the actual book was - and the actual book read like a fatphobic dissertation. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free advanced copy.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley and Publisher.

I had to DNF at 50%. I normally do not review books I have not finished but since this is an ARC it’s requested to have a review.

The execution of a mid size body in this book was horrible. Saying the guy who has a dad- bod is not the “gross fat” or when they are in the middle of a sex scene having the FMC day he is “not too skinny, not too fat” was the last straw for me. As someone with a fat body it is really harmful to read continued fatphobic comments in books that are striving for representation. I just wish people would be more cautious with how they represent fat bodies.

There is so much focus on bodies, weight and food that this book might make people who have fat bodies not feel safe.

I also never thought I would hate bacon ever but I’m contemplating never eating it again after how much it was talked about in this book.

The premise of the book was solid and there was some funny moments I wish she had made the couple wait to add more tension and then it could have been a slow burn.

I was graciously given the opportunity to read “The Second Your Single” as an advance reader copy. However, I just gotta say it: Insta-love trope is insta-bad. There are a lot of cringey things about this book. A grown man holding basing most of his life lessons on a kindergarten crush, A woman who says the word “like” too many times and instantly breaks the one rule she had for herself, the minute a nice guy offers her pastries. Not to mention the predictability of the ex girlfriend who can’t take no for an answer then, “Snap!” has an instant “I’m a good person” and help bring the couple back together moment. Or the dead beat fiancé turning out to be exactly how we excepted, yet still attempt to make it shocking (it wasn’t). This book was predictable. You can’t even call it a second chance romance because the couple met in kindergarten and never talked to each other again. Felt too forced and didn’t have much depth to it.

This book was super cute and enjoyable, and it got me out of my reading slump. I loved every chapter!

This book made me smile, but more chic-lit than contemporary li. The fade-to-black sexy times, not that I mind that, but that all there was. There's no spice level whatsoever in this book.

Big lack of communication between her and Jack really annoyed me. I needed a bit more depth in their relationship.

This one was MEH for me, I almost DNF'ed it but i pushed thorugh hoping for a better ending. Well there are some ways I relate to Sora about having bad relation ships and wanting to find love. However i feeel like the dynamic between her and jack is what we read alot in romance books but it just wasnt there for me.

I truly enjoyed this book! Sora represents so many woman who have been in bad relationships, wondering if it is worth trying to find love. Her promotion of Solo February obviously resonated with thousands of women. Meeting Jack after so many years, and instantly connecting with him gives her hope that not all men are worthless. I appreciated that she needed to take time for some self care, and not worry about what others expect of her. Jack also has some relationship baggage and between the two of them, Jack and Sora still manage to find hemselves drawn together, I would recommend this book to anyone who likes romance.

Honestly, this was a DNF for me. The characters were shallow and I just couldn't get into the story at all. When I initially read the synopsis, it seemed like a cute premise, but the story unfortunately fell flat.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of The Second You’re Single.

I found the writing style kind of stressful and I don’t enjoy when a main character is quirky for quirky sake. It was hard for me to connect to this story, it felt a bit played out.

The dialogue and banter was fun.

If you like friends to lovers, sarcastic main characters, good banter, and the guy falls first trope, then this book will give you some happy feelings.

Sora is a freelance writer, who despises how commercialized valentine’s day is, and pledges to take a break from dating for the month of February; She encourages her readers to celebrate being single through her entertaining and thoughtful daily posts. My opinion is this book could have been better and here’s why.

Parts of this book are really funny, and the chemistry between Sora and Jack is clear. We do see our main characters get to know each other, but I wish their relationship was developed a bit more. He had a crush on her when they were children, they have a chance encounter as adults, and then they go from being in lust to in love pretty quickly.

I didn’t care for how judgmental Sora was about her own body and other people’s bodies. I think the representation and the intention to show body image struggles for people of all sizes was there, especially when you have a parent who is constantly criticizing their own weight and yo-yo dieting, but the execution didn’t sit well with me.

I think parts of this book were smart and sweet, but I cannot overlook certain unnecessary stereotypes.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from St. Martin’s Press and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Enjoyable, entertaining and fun to read.

Thank you Cara Tanamachi, St.Martin's Press and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. The Second You're Single comes out January 13,2023.

When freelance writer, Sora, decides to #GoSolo during the month of September, I don't think she was thinking she was going to run into her childhood friend Jack. She for sure wasn't expecting him to be super hot, sweet and everything she has been looking for in a partner. What is a girl to do when the perfect for her man arrives during a month of no relationships.

I thought this story was cute and had moments where it was funny. I did like the main characters, I just kept thinking that I wanted more interaction between the two. I also felt like Sora's family was kind of horrible at the start, especially when it came to the characters weight. I loved Jack's family but they were mentioned in the beginning and then I felt like their characters were dropped. I think that it was more a story of Sora's journey of self appreciation, with a romance in the background. I mentioned this briefly but I felt like there was some toxic ideas about food and weight, if you do struggle with those things I would into recommend.