Second Chance at Us by Stacy Travis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Second Chance Romance lets you find love again
When you find true love but you’re sixteen and ill-equipped to handle it, is it possible to find it again?
What you need to know about Second Chance at Us:
✔ Friends to Lovers
✔ Second Chance Romance
✔ Berkeley Hills Series (Book One)
✔ Flashbacks to high school
✔ Hot formerly nerdy Chef Blake “the original jerk”
✔ Beautiful wild child Obstetrics Nurse Becca
✔ Can be read as a Complete Standalone
In high school, after Rebecca’s father dies from a brain tumour and she is grieving in the two weeks following his death, she one day runs into Blake Fulton. Blake is a quiet guy whose mother passed away the year before. Not that anyone at the school knows about this. He keeps to himself most of the time. But on this one day he sees popular girl Rebecca struggling and decides to reach out. They ditch school and spend the day flying kites, eating, driving around, talking about grief and death, going to the drive-in and staying up all night.
“There’s no real way to prepare for the complete lack of a person. The hole.” – Rebecca
Rebecca decides she wants her future to include Blake. She feels the numbness of the loss of her Dad slipping away the longer she’s with him. Blake is unsure if they will fit together as a couple within the social constraints of high school. They have that one perfect day and night together, make promises and then, Blake shows up at school and acts like he doesn’t know Rebecca. This shocking betrayal, coming on the heels of the death of her father sends Rebecca into a spiral.
Fifteen years later Becca is an obstetrics nurse at a Bay Area hospital where she runs into Blake again. He’s just gotten better looking and Becca has never really been able to move on from that experience. Now Blake is tending to a woman about to give birth and Becca is her nurse. But Blake wants to talk to her and explain what happened all those years ago…
Stacy Travis creates characters that feel real and have rich and complex lives. In this book, the pain of Rebecca’s loss was very real to me. I’ve experienced the feeling of having that “hole” in my life and the numbness that follows so I felt very close to Rebecca’s character. It was beautiful to see her relationship with Blake, first in high school for that one day and then fifteen years later.
These are characters trying to overcome their pasts. They do so with a little trepidation and some mistakes made but with the best intentions.
Becca’s large family of siblings is very present in her life and in the story. They each have a role to play in helping or hindering the relationship. I loved the scenes of the family dinners. They bicker with love and see through each other, support one another and offer help, all with lots of good food (and wine!).
The backdrop of the Bay Area is also very much a part of the story. Each area lends a certain beauty and character to the memories they form, from the parks to the restaurants and drive-ins to Blake’s new restaurant.
This friends to enemies to lovers, second chance romance is down-to-earth, with real emotions many of us can relate to: from Blake’s fears as a teenager and Becca’s loss and pain to being slightly scarred by our pasts as adults. Becca and Blake’s story is one of overcoming our pasts and being able to move on. I loved that U2’s “Stuck in a Moment” was a theme throughout the book. (This time will pass) This is a very romantic book (and steamy!) and I found myself swooning right along with Becca.
WRITING STYLE: 4/5
PLOT: 4/5
WORLD-BUILDING: 4/5
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 4/5
ROMANCE: 4/5
HEAT: 4/5
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If you enjoy second chance romances, you might also enjoy Karina Halle’s The One That Got Away.
