Nothing Technically Wrong, Yet Much Many Won't Like. In my review of Mason's earlier book, Between You And Me, three years ago last month, I noted that Mason managed to craft a tale "with particulars that I’d never seen done quite this way before, and that is always something I seek out and love to find". That remains true in this tale, seemingly her first attempt at a more lighthearted romcom after several books more in the domestic thriller/ women's fiction space.

And while the particulars are at least somewhat new - while also being a hodgepodge of other ideas and characterizations well known in the romance space in varying forms - it also becomes quite clear that Mason is new to writing within this particular space, as she has the basic formula down quite well... and yet, there is much here that those looking for a truly mindless and hilarious "beach reach" romcom won't find here at all.

To be clear, this book absolutely has its moments of hilarity. It also has at least habanero level spiciness... in a form that many will consider potentially offputting (but is also well known in *ahem* "certain video circles" *ahem* to be quite popular therein). And the book's locations, in coastal California, Santorini, and even the historic areas of Athens (Greece, to be clear, vs Athens, GA, home of my beloved University of Georgia Bulldogs) are shown well... yet don't seem to "hit" quite as well as others within the space. It also has moments of stone-cold seriousness, including when we find out our male lead's "deep dark secret" - and here is yet another point that will be divisive for some, but which I felt was handled in a very realistic manner.

Indeed, perhaps one of the more difficult aspects of this tale is that throughout, it can never really decide if it wants to be a romcom or a "serious women's fiction" type tale... and sadly, the combination of both comes across as disjointed enough to detract from each, rather than enhance each.

This is a book with no actual objective-ish reasons to deduct stars or not recommend, and yet it is still a difficult book to classify and really find an audience that will clearly love it - which is a shame, because Mason has shown herself to be a talented storyteller in prior efforts, and even here shows quite a bit of that talent... in fits and spurts.

So read the book for yourself and see if you can help me sort it out.

Recommended.

Moira and husband Rupert are settling in for a flight to the US to help their 19-year-old daughter Harriet set up for a term of college. But then an incriminating message pops up on his phone and Moira decides to stay on by herself.
Then Harriet announces that she’s fallen madly in love with an American boy, Aiden, and it’s serious! So Moira goes along to meet Aiden and his father Frank in Malibu. It’s hate on first sight for the two older adults but they conspire together to try to break up the fledgling love affair.
This was an entertaining rom-com about two people looking to stop their kids make a mistake by settling down too young who then get caught up in their own flirtation. Plenty of banter, chemistry and summery travel destinations.

Second Chance Romance by Carol Mason was an endearing romance.
This book was an absolute joy to read. The characters were incredible and you will simply fall in love with them. They were just so well written and colorful.

Thank You NetGalley and Bookouture for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

3.5 stars for me

This was my first read from this author, I loved the blurb and was in the mood for a romantic comedy so I grabbed it. While there were some fun moments and I really liked the two adult children in the book I struggled with the 3 parents. Frank was so abrasive I didn’t find myself warming to him until the final chapters and Rupert was even worse. I did enjoy the style of writing and the ending to the story but sadly this wasn’t a hit for me.

Thank you for letting me read this book!

It took me some time to get into the story. A woman who falls in love with, perhaps, her daughter's father-in-law. When you think about it, that sounds dubious. It wasn't until I was halfway through the book that I flew through it. The ending felt predictable, but the love that Moira and Frank have together and grows is wonderful to read.

I thought the beginning had quite a lot of details, but in retrospect they turned out to be necessary to understand the whole story. I do miss some more depth in general. Because of this I thought it was a very entertaining story for in between books.

Moira and Frank hated each other at the first sight. Moira's daughter Harriet is dating Frank's son Aiden. Moira is having troubles with her own marriage while Frank is a successful author. When their children decided to elope, the two suddenly start working together to stop their children from marrying, even travelling all the way to Greece so they could stop their children's wedding.

The plot itself is interesting but overall, I didn't find this book really appealing as I thought it would be. Nearly each and everyone of the characters are all unlikable, particularly Frank who seemed to be really egoistic. The story kind of got a little boring and bland with no direction as to where the story is actually going in my opinion. The banter between Moira and Frank seemed childish at most. It wasn't a great rom com novel but more like an over hyped romance book. However, the ending was a bit OK compared to the rest of the book.

I didn't enjoy this book at all, even though I managed to finish the book really quick. Overall this book is worth 2.5 stars.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC.

This book was not without problems but overall it was a fun read. Kind of annoying at times how dense and ditzy Moira was about her own adult life. She may have been in her 40s but was acting like a teenager and grumpy at Frank for (mostly) acting like an adult. So while this book was written about two older adults, it’s kind of like the author took a plot and attitudes from a young adult book and just aged up the characters. Still not a bad beach read overall,

This was a very interesting book. I’m not going to say it’s one of the best but it was decent. The characters in the book were very relatable.

Moira escapes to Southern California because her live in England is messy. Except her time in America and then Greece becomes messier.
It took a long time for Frank to grow on me because I thought he was very prickly but much better than Rupert.
I also thought Moira and Frank had many causes to be concerned about the swiftness of their kids’ romance. 6 weeks is an eye blink.
I thought Moira dithered way too long in her decision. I kept asking her what are you waiting for???
I loved the Greek setting the best because who can’t help but like the location??

This has to be one of my favourite romance books of this year and I think I am going to be finding myself reading more and more romances in the coming months. I enjoyed the dual perspective and how you don't immediately know which one you are reading from at the start of the chapter. The writing style is easy to read and makes it very quick read for anyone even if they are not a romance reader. I cannot wait to see what Carol Mason comes out with next.

"Second Chance Romance" by Carol Mason is a bright and inviting beach read that follows Moira and Frank, two single parents on a mission to stop their children's elopement. As they travel to Greece, their initial “enemies status “ starts to shift unexpectedly towards romance. While the travel aspects and character growth were enjoyable, I struggled to connect with the both characters, finding their lack of empathy and poor communication frustrating.
Moira's relationship with her daughter and husband also felt very much wrong. However, the banter between Moira and Frank was a highlight, bringing some fun to the story.
Despite its flaws, the book offers a refreshing take on romance for older characters making it a decent summer read for those looking for a light, enemies to lovers story.

I was really hopeful about this book because I'm a fan of second chance romance stories (and enemies to lovers tropes) but this book slightly disappointed. I think the fact that Moira (FMC) hated Frank (MMC) for no real reason in the beginning was a little confusing and unrealistic. I also thought the plot of how they were going to break their kids up was a little underwritten, but as the story went on, I grew to like Frank and Moira together. I wish there was more flirty and friendly banter throughout the book and more humor, but overall it was a quick read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Second Chance Romance follows Moira, a mother who is grappling with her daughter getting older and the possibility of her marriage being over. In an effort to keep her daughter from making what she believes to be a huge mistake, she teams up with Frank, her daughter's boyfriend's father whom she immediately hates, to break the couple up. Along the way, Moira realizes Frank may not be as bad as she'd initially thought.

I really, really love the cover of this book! The cover and the title immediately reeled me in; it's so bright and inviting and it looks like the perfect beach read.

I will be honest though, this was not my favorite book. I did enjoy the travel aspect of the book and I did enjoy seeing how characters seemed to grow throughout the novel, but I struggled at times to stay engaged and I had a lot of trouble connecting with the characters.

I found both Moira and Frank to be insufferable; I didn't think either of them had a whole lot of empathy for others and it made it difficult for me to root for either of them as individuals or as a couple. Their lack of effective communication was frustrating and I didn't feel their relationship shifting from enemies to lovers; it felt like their feelings changed overnight and without warning and I didn't understand how this could happen.

Moira's relationship with her daughter was also troubling to me. Her daughter is a young adult and appears to be very mature, yet Moira treats her as anything but. Moira's relationship with her husband was also troubling because the communication was nonexistent. I understand she was blindsided by her him, but her behavior following the revelation was childish and frustrating as a reader.

I also really wanted to explore more of the LA and Greek landscapes. A lot of the writing throughout the novel as a whole made it feel like like I was just being told things, not shown, making it feel a bit mundane to me.

I do think this would be a good read for someone who is looking for a protagonist who is a little bit older. I wondered while I was reading if maybe I was having trouble with the characters because I'm used to reading novels with main characters who are in their twenties or thirties, so having a character who was a mom to a young adult isn't something I typically read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 2 ⭐️

I was hoping to love this enemies to lovers romance- Second Chance at Love. Starting the book off I felt like it was fun- but then it just became… cringey. After it saying “uplifting and hilarious” on the cover that was pretty disappointing.

Frank is a total jerk the entire book- treating Moira like trash which doesn’t really feel like it’s something that can actually be turned into love. This book REALLY leaned into him being awful. Moira isn’t much better and to be honest is just a horrible mother for most of the book. I also didn’t love the way the book portrayed her as just sexually motivated without any other interest.

All of these things made me really dislike the book, but the children of F&M made the story sweet and likable.

Glad I finished the book as I fought not to dnf it multiple times throughout the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this arc in exchange for my honest review.

DNF at 34%.

Frank was insufferable. He and Moriah were snarky towards each other to an extent that was both funny and annoying. Couldn't continue with the story.

Gosh I wanted to love this, but it just didn’t really feel like a romance! Considering these characters had full blown adult children they were acting so juvenile!!! It wasn’t horrible, but it just wasn’t for me.

Boy what a complicated love story……
I thoroughly enjoyed the back and forth banter between Moira and Frank.
There is so much going on within this closed door romance/enemies to lover story.
I do have to say, some of the things the characters did made me frustrated and cringe.
Thank you NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I had high hopes for this book but was unfortunately really disappointed. The whole thing felt so toxic & ridiculous.
The main character was frankly, rude. I didn’t connect with her at all & her relationship & conversations with her daughter broke my heart. She was so pessimistic & unsupportive.
The love story was hard to believe & soooooo slow. It didn’t feel believable at all & by then, I couldn’t even root for them because they were both such annoying characters to me at that point.
A bummer for sure! I was hoping it was a reserve mamma-mia but that simply wasn’t the case.

AMAZING! This novel was one of my summer highlights. So so fun, fast-paced, hilarious, you name it.

I'm forty, have never been married, and don't have kids, but I could relate to the characters in so many ways. Did I think Frank was an absolute prick at first? Absolutely! Did I think Moira was too soft for her own good and could use a backbone? That too! But that just shows how well the author did her job.

While I didn't love everything about this novel, I loved a lot to recommend it wholeheartedly.

Thank you Bookouture and NetGalley for access to an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I want to express my gratitude to NetGalley and Carol Mason for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This novel is an ideal choice for a romantic summer read. It incorporates some of my favorite tropes, particularly the enemies-to-lovers dynamic. I found the development of this trope to be perfectly paced—it neither rushed nor lagged, allowing the relationship to unfold naturally.

Frank and Moira's interactions were a highlight for me. Their ability to engage in lively, entertaining conversations while also delving into more serious moments showcased their dynamic chemistry. I was consistently intrigued, always eager to see how their relationship would evolve. Despite its brevity, the book felt complete. The story concluded at the right moment, and I appreciated that the plot remained focused without unnecessary prolonging.