AUTHOR: Amy Lea GENRE: Adult Romance PAGES: 361 pages RELEASED: 10 January 2023 SERIES: The Influencer #2 SYNOPSIS: Romance-novel connoisseur Tara Chen has had her heart broken ten times by ten different men--all of whom dumped her because of her "stage-five clinger" tendencies. Nevertheless, Tara is determined to find The One. The only problem? Classic meet-cutes are dead thanks to modern dating apps. So Tara decides to revisit her exes in hopes of securing her very own trope-worthy second-chance romance. Boston firefighter Trevor Metcalfe will be the first to rush into a burning building but the last to rush into a relationship. Love just isn't his thing. When his new roommate Tara enlists him to help her reconnect with her exes, he reluctantly agrees. But Tara's journey is leading him to discover his own new chapter. The more time they spend together, the more Tara realizes Trevor seems to be the only one who appreciates her authentic, dramatic self. To claim their happily-ever-after, can Tara and Trevor read between the lines of their growing connection? Sometimes, the second-chance romance trope isn’t all it’s cracked up to be…
After being dumped by her fiance in the lead-up to their wedding, bookstagramer and romance novel fanatic Tara is finally pulling herself out of her slump. Mainly because she needs to move out of her sister’s apartment and in with her future brother-in-law’s best friend Trevor. Ready to fall into a new relationship and inspired by her grandmother’s second-chance romance story, Tara decides to reconnect with her exes in order to have her own swoon-worthy second-chance romance. And she enlists Trevor to help her, which he reluctantly agrees to. As she makes her way through her list, she comes to realise how many of exes saw her as a “stage-five clinger” or the “crazy ex-girlfriend”, and how none of them seemed to care or appreciate her true authentic self. Meanwhile, spending more and more time with Trevor, she is also determined to get him to open up and get to know him better and learn why he doesn’t believe in chasing love. Both have a lot of emotional baggage and past trauma to deal with, and it turns out that it’s easier to work through all that together. Tara’s all about having the ultimate romance novel trope love story, but maybe she’s chasing the wrong one… Once again, Amy really nailed the fun and lowkey flirty banter between Tara and Trevor. Compared to Crystal and Scott in the first book, this was much more of a slow burn as both characters were determined not to have any romantic feelings for their roommate, but ultimately couldn’t fight what their hearts were feeling. The roommate trope is always a favourite of mine, and I really enjoyed the progression of their relationship throughout the story. Like in the first book, I really loved the focus on influencer culture. But instead of the dark side of trolls that we saw with Crystal, this was such a fun and positive view of the book community, which we are obviously all part of. While there wasn’t as big of a focus on the world of influencers like there is in the first book, the focus on the book community was definitely more of a shoutout and a warm hug from an author who appreciates our community. Thinking about it now, writing this review, it all feels very meta and I love it. The spicy scenes may have been a little more few and far between compared to book one, Amy still delivered some top tier smut that was *chefs kiss*. Firefighters are clearly where it’s at… A few trigger warning to be aware of, that Amy outlines at the beginning of the book: emotionally abusive ex, on-page gaslighting, portrayal of a child with an illness, mentions of deaths of loved ones, and deliberate use of the word ‘crazy’ throughout. The moment we met Tara’s ex Seth, I genuinely wanted to force my way into the book and give him the biggest slap - terrible character but extremely well-written on Amy’s part. I also really appreciated how Amy tackled the conversations around using the word ‘crazy’ to describe someone, particularly women who are emotional and/or dramatic. If you’re a romance reader who loves romance, or if you have a soft spot for swoony firefighters, this book is one that needs to be at the top of your TBR. |
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