Rules for Second Chances had a writing style that wasn't for me. It was very difficult to get into. I didnt think the book flowed well - kind of choppy. The chapters didn't flow together.

The cover is absolutely beautiful!!

Thank you to Netgally and St. Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

2.25/5⭐️

OK, at the risk of not sounding sympathetic/supportive of neurodivergent characters, I waffled on finishing this book. Ultimately I’m glad I stuck with it, but I still was not satisfied. As a debut, I will say that it was very well written and included lots of great humor.

My issues were both with the female protagonist and some of the storyline. Liz, as a socially awkward woman working for an outdoor wilderness guide business wants to become her own person, get some of the magic that her outgoing, friendly husband has, win a business pitch contest for a promotion, gain respect from her colleagues and family and oh yeah, move out and divorce her perfect husband. Lots going on here.

At the beginning of the book I felt like I was stepping into a story with previous history that I had no idea about. With that said, I had zero connection to or understanding of Liz as she came off as uncompromising and a bit arrogant in her relationship with her husband (wilderness guide) Tobin. As the story developed and Liz began making inroads into “blossoming” through the use of improv and becoming more self-aware, we begin to see that both Liz and Tobin have issues, both personal and as spouses. However, I STILL felt that Liz was too judgmental toward Tobin while being wishy-washy herself. She broke her own boundary rules with him and was constantly pulled toward his “hotness”…while he tried to respect said boundaries and put in the work to save their marriage. And a personal pet peeve? Confusing the important issues of marital disharmony with the easy weapon/distraction of sex.

The storyline felt all over the place (too many distractions) with odd twists and strange outcomes in some cases.

So while I did appreciate the authentic representation and feel of the treatment/understanding/bias against autism, I felt Liz was a high functioning, low-on-the-spectrum adult who did not treat her husband with basic courtesy during a lot of their screen time…until basically the denouement of the book.

Again, impressively written, great laughs, and yes, this will probably be an unpopular opinion, and that’s OK…it’s just my take.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for providing the free early arc of Rules for Second Chances for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

I enjoyed reading Rules for Second Chances by Maggie North. You will fall in love with all the characters. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy Reading!

3.5 stars to this great story about finding the courage to be yourself even when it seems like the whole world is against you doing so.

Liz Lewis is an extreme introvert and people pleaser married to handsome and outgoing Tobin. They both work for a nature tour company that pushes Tobin into more and more work that keeps him gone for long times while Liz is hidden as the lone person in the ops department. She used to dream of being a major guide and contributing ideas and her marriage used to be her safe place, but her worry about doing or saying the wrong thing has her shut up in a metaphorical box of loneliness that no one seems willing to let her out of. A random comment from her jerk of a boss has her sign up for an improv class that will let Liz realize what she's really made of and it begins a massive change in Liz and those around her.

It's a heck of a downer for a large part of it. Liz has obvious issues but it's like people are just happy to ignore that and let the status quo continue as long as she keeps acting exactly like they expect from her. It's almost physically painful to read her being so uncomfortable in most situations. I was happy to see her start to assert herself mostly because it stopped the awkwardness. There is a good message and some moments of laughter, but it's just such a heavy book overall that I couldn't enjoy it.

I do give major props to North for a line somewhere in the beginning where Liz recognizes that all their relationship issues would be solved if only they actually talked to each other as they should. It's little details like this that make the awkward and sad parts bearable. I appreciate the message and how Liz manages to overcome and/or learn to live with her limits while also proving to others that she can do more than they think.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the read!

It took me a little while to get into this book because I was expecting more of a romance novel. Although this was a novel about trying to save a marriage it was more about the main character, Liz trying to find herself and figuring out if her marriage is even worth saving.

I did think the journey that Liz went on was a great one and it was full of self discovery. While I struggled through most of this book the ending did make up for it.

This was such a sweet and emotional book! I loved that the second chance was the marriage in trouble (and not a past relationship like most) and the improv was such a unique idea!! I loved Liz and Tobin, and I also really loved Liz's personal journey and growth. Such a great read!

I picked up the book and listened to the audiobook. I had a hard time following this second-chance romance between Liz and Tobin. I enjoyed the first half but got lost in the second half. I'm sure others will enjoy this "marriage-in-crisis" book, but it was not for me. I LOVED the cover and the premise, but I'm sad this book was a miss for me overall. I wanted to enjoy it.

I really nejoyed this one! It felt sweet and soft, and I loved the setting nad writing. I did listen to the audiobook, but I think I would have preferred reading it instead.

Lots to unpack in this book. Liz and Tobin are at a crossroads. They are so very different in many ways. Liz has always been shy, uncomfortable in most social situations and to most of those who know her, a bit different. Tobin is the one everyone gravitates towards. He is the center of whatever space he is in and liked by everyone he meets. She relies on him in so many ways until she realizes she has become invisible to most, treated poorly, underestimated, taken advantage of by many and has become a background player in her own life. She goes along until one day she realizes she has had enough. Its a long and emotional road to her finding herself, making herself seen and heard and them finding their way back to each other with a lot of hard work, emotional conversations and honestly.

I really enjoyed this book. There are so many books about the start of relationships but not as many after the initial excitement has worn off. I loved going through all the ups and down of dealing with learning about yourself in a new chapter and how to come out the other side.

Super introverted and socially awkward Liz is tired of being overlooked by everyone in her life and she’s fed up with her husband both being a total pushover to everyone else in their lives and also not being a great communicator. It’s basically a co-dependent mess of terrible family members as Liz walks out of her birthday party held at her mother-in-law’s house (where someone has mistaken her for a server), next door to her own house, packs her stuff, and then goes three houses down to her childhood home where her single mother sister lives with a six-year old niece. Liz’s husband Tobin is the ultimate nice guy and life of the party and has his own issues of trying to be perfect so that people don’t leave him. Add on the fact that Liz is tired of being overlooked at work and somehow gets voluntold to take an improv class to help her social awkwardness. And then having no friends to practice her improv with, she ends up working with Tobin on various scenarios from a relationship self-help book that uses improv as a communication technique. This book is told from Liz’s point of view and you can definitely feel all the levels of anxiety she’s experiencing as she’s going through all of these uncomfortable situations. While this book was definitely emotional, I had a hard time relating to the lack of communication between Liz and Tobin, and both of their respective families are pretty much terrible and contributed to the downfall of their relationship. I was glad to see them work out their issues and communicate better, but they’d probably be better served moving away from their over-involved family members.

This book was great! I read it on a long road trip and found I couldn’t put it down. I loved how real the characters felt. Seeing Liz find herself over the course of the book tugged at your heart at times and made you proud of her bravery at others. This book would be a perfect read for anyone feeling unsure of themselves or their relationship.

The initial start of this grabbed my attention immediately. But then, I am not sure where the disconnect began. I wouldn't say this is a rom-com in any capacity. It is more of a woman's fiction with romantic undertones. This really brings to light how we can outgrow things, especially relationships. Which is where the majority of this story goes and brushes on. Liz is confronted with a lot of personal issues that she is forced to face (her job, her marriage, her family). I related to her a lot in this aspect and I think if it was categorized as a more woman's fiction genre, it would grab a better audience. It wasn't a horrible book, but the romance part of it lacked a lot. It is more of the growth and development of ones life as they outgrow relationships.

This cover is GORGEOUS, one of the most beautiful I've seen recently. Unfortunately, I can tell three chapters in that this one won't be for me and reading a handful of early reviews confirms it. I don't want to give a one-star rating since it certainly has its target audience; that audience just isn't me.

Rules for Second Chances manages to teeter between a really deep and moving story of self-discovery and entering 30’s, and sillier lightheartedness and the unique premise and approach to a second-hand romance immediately caught my attention.

Liz and Tobin are in a marriage rut and really faced some large curveballs basically on their wedding day they never recovered from which I found so relatable and I think many others will. The idea of using a improv based completely different approach to working through their issues and starting to communicate as a couple was brilliant. I highlighted a ton of passages and thought the advice and strategies sounded so logical and fun even if they were entirely made up by the author?!?!

I’m probably always going to love an autistic representation and this one was done really well. I also really enjoyed the bisexual representation and how organically it was written. Liz was just generally a very cool character.

I tend to prefer one POV, but surprisingly found myself kind of wishing it was two POVs as I wanted to hear Tobins unfiltered thoughts, not the filtered ones through Liz. But part of the magic and discovery is sorting through her perception which is greatly impacted by her not yet diagnosed autism.

I rate it 4.5 stars rounded up! The only thing that knocked the book down a half star for me is that at times the pacing was a little slower than I like and I found my mind wandering, but it’s a super fantastic debut book and I really enjoyed it!

Thank you to Maggie North, NetGalley, St Martins Press for the arc.

Overall, I did enjoy this book, but as I was writing my review I found I had more criticisms than I thought. But I want to reiterate, regardless of the criticisms, I did enjoy the book.

I really liked the premise, story line and nature of each of the characters. And marriage in crisis has become one of my all time favourite tropes, so I was incredibly excited for Rules for Second Chances. Unfortunately, it fell a little flat for me and the main reason is because I wasn't convinced of Liz and Tobin's love for one another.

Typically I have found that in marriage in crisis books, one of my favourite parts is that its very obvious that the main characters love each other - they got married in the first place, so hopefully there is some lingering love there - but they're simply going through a difficult time, feeling stuck/lack of self identity or struggling to communicate effectively after their relationship has grown and changed. However, Rules for Second Chances didn't convince me that the love between Liz and Tobin was worth saving, nor was I convinced they should have been married in the first place?

Tobin's character felt under developed, and I think that could have been resolved if the book was dual POV.

I did like Liz's character and her determination to be seen, heard as a woman and finally accepting that she is likely on the spectrum. However, I definitely found myself getting frustrated with her at times for how strongly she pushed Tobin away. Then once she finally realized that she didn't want to push him away, Tobin finally stood up for himself and chose to walk away from her.

This book had a lot of self discovery which I greatly appreciated, however I wanted more from Tobin and Liz's relationship development. It felt like everything came together. The characters were deciding if they could handle giving their relationship another try and suddenly it was the last chapter of the book and they both grand gestured and lived happily ever after.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

I. NEED. HER. NEXT. BOOK. IMMEDIATELY.

i read this at the recommendation of jessica joyce, one of my favorite contemporary romance authors and boy was i not let down!!!! this had it all- the deep, realistic characters, swoon worthy romance, and an unforgettable story 🥹 i dont want to give too much away, but if you’ve found yourself considering this one, i highly recommend it as well and would absolutely implore you check it out.

This book was a heart-breakingly honest look at a marriage in trouble. And not the obvious kind of trouble. The kind that lurks in quiet corners until it's almost too late.

Liz & Tobin are wonderful representatives of fighting for your marriage. The good, the bad, the ugly, and the rest ... I really felt their plight throughout the book.

I'm glad the author kept it real instead of maybe trying to mask some of the hard stuff. Put it all out there, and let people see the ugly. I think that's the only way to survive.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I requested this book expecting a second chance romance but really it’s a book about the main character’s journey with self discovery, self development, with a little bit of second chance romance on the side.

Unfortunately because I was expecting something else I was a bit disappointed and didn’t enjoy the book as much as I’d hoped. It was great to follow Liz along her journey and I saw a lot of myself in her but not 100% sure how I feel about her trying to change herself to fit it, especially when the people she’s trying to fit in with aren’t the best and definitely don’t deserve her.

Alas, not the book for me but if you’re into personal growth/development journeys, this one’s worth checking out.

3/5 stars

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for sending me an arc in exchange for an hosnest review.

I really enjoyed this one! It was refreshing to read about older MC's (aka not twentysomethings) working through life's hardships. It took until about 30% of the book to really get into the story and invest in the characters, but once I got to that point, I flew through the rest! I loved the 'scenarios' that Tobin and Liz participated in and I felt like the author did a really great job showing growth of their characters individually and as a whole in their relationship.

Definitely would recommend this book if you're a lover of second chance romances, older MCs, neurodiverse representation and fun side characters.

Thank you so much again to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this book!