Scan barcode
A review by amburhostyn
Second Chances: A Romance Writers of America Collection by Sharon Sobel, Alyssa Day, Damon Suede, Liliana Hart, Christina Lauren, Kerri Carpenter, Marilyn Brant, Tara Wyatt, Renee Luke, Tina Ferraro, J. Kenner, Lizzie Shane, Cassandra Dean, CiCi Coughlin, Brandi Willis Schreiber, Ariella Moon, Rachel Hauck
5.0
I've always been a sucker for a good second chance romance, so when I saw that RWA was putting together an anthology titled, Second Chances, I jumped at the chance to read it! I actually didn't look at the author list until I was about to start reading it...and when I saw that the first story in the anthology was written by Christina Lauren, I was thrilled! :D
To be honest, I don't typically read anthologies all the way through, but with this one I did! I did it because I wanted to give the entire anthology a fair shot, and I actually really enjoyed the stories and wanted to keep reading it, too. As I've hinted already, the Second Chances anthology starts off with a story by one of my favourite authors, Christina Lauren! It was titled "The Fisher Men: Levi's Story" and it featured, you guessed it!--Finn's brother, Levi! Levi is one of the secondary characters from their Wild Seasons series, and this anthology was worth reading for me for their story alone. I absolutely LOVED Levi's story and I only wish that it had been longer! haha ;)
Other than Christina Lauren, I hadn't actually read anything by any of the other authors in this anthology until I read their short stories here, but I enjoyed them all. I definitely liked some more than others, but they all had their merits and I think this anthology would be great for all romance readers, especially if you're already a fan of any of these wonderful authors! I was surprised that two of my other standout favourites in the anthology were the historical romances: "Scandalous" by Cassandra Dean, and "The Jilt" by Sharon Sobel. And the last few stories had me tearing up, especially "The Family Tree" by Brandi Willis Schreiber! The final story in the anthology, "Jake's Djinn" by Alyssa Day also surprised me! It's the only fantasy story in the anthology so it felt a little out of place at first, but I loved it (made me want to go back and read the author's books from the same series)!
I think what I loved most about this anthology was that the authors interpreted second chances in different ways. Most of them were what you would expect, couples that had their time together, had some kind of breakup/separation, and they came back together, but they were all still completely unique which I really loved! Other were second chances of another sort, which was interesting! I also loved that there was a mix of genres. Some were contemporary, others were historical, and as I previously mentioned, there was even one fantasy! The age range varied too. A couple of the stories were young adult and were sweeter, light romances, while others were a bit steamier and were aimed at a more mature audience. Most of the stories were m/f romances, but there was one m/m, and all of the stories were definitely adorable! Some of them had me laughing, others had me crying, but they all left me smiling in the end!
Overall, I really loved the Second Chances anthology! I don't think you necessarily have to read all of the stories at once--it would be a great anthology to come back to whenever you were craving a quickie romantic novella, but if you do choose to read them all in one go, like I did, I don't think you'll be disappointed! This is the perfect anthology for anyone who has a romantic side, and loves happy ever afters!
To be honest, I don't typically read anthologies all the way through, but with this one I did! I did it because I wanted to give the entire anthology a fair shot, and I actually really enjoyed the stories and wanted to keep reading it, too. As I've hinted already, the Second Chances anthology starts off with a story by one of my favourite authors, Christina Lauren! It was titled "The Fisher Men: Levi's Story" and it featured, you guessed it!--Finn's brother, Levi! Levi is one of the secondary characters from their Wild Seasons series, and this anthology was worth reading for me for their story alone. I absolutely LOVED Levi's story and I only wish that it had been longer! haha ;)
Other than Christina Lauren, I hadn't actually read anything by any of the other authors in this anthology until I read their short stories here, but I enjoyed them all. I definitely liked some more than others, but they all had their merits and I think this anthology would be great for all romance readers, especially if you're already a fan of any of these wonderful authors! I was surprised that two of my other standout favourites in the anthology were the historical romances: "Scandalous" by Cassandra Dean, and "The Jilt" by Sharon Sobel. And the last few stories had me tearing up, especially "The Family Tree" by Brandi Willis Schreiber! The final story in the anthology, "Jake's Djinn" by Alyssa Day also surprised me! It's the only fantasy story in the anthology so it felt a little out of place at first, but I loved it (made me want to go back and read the author's books from the same series)!
I think what I loved most about this anthology was that the authors interpreted second chances in different ways. Most of them were what you would expect, couples that had their time together, had some kind of breakup/separation, and they came back together, but they were all still completely unique which I really loved! Other were second chances of another sort, which was interesting! I also loved that there was a mix of genres. Some were contemporary, others were historical, and as I previously mentioned, there was even one fantasy! The age range varied too. A couple of the stories were young adult and were sweeter, light romances, while others were a bit steamier and were aimed at a more mature audience. Most of the stories were m/f romances, but there was one m/m, and all of the stories were definitely adorable! Some of them had me laughing, others had me crying, but they all left me smiling in the end!
Overall, I really loved the Second Chances anthology! I don't think you necessarily have to read all of the stories at once--it would be a great anthology to come back to whenever you were craving a quickie romantic novella, but if you do choose to read them all in one go, like I did, I don't think you'll be disappointed! This is the perfect anthology for anyone who has a romantic side, and loves happy ever afters!