Holly Macintosh is sitting round her kitchen table with her oldest friends, friends she hasn’t seen since school - now reunited by an unexpected tragedy and catching up on the past 20 years. On the surface, they are all successful and happy.

But scratch a little deeper after that extra glass of wine and it’s not quite so straightforward: Paul and Anna are struggling to have a baby, Saffron the actress is still waiting for that really big break that, at 39, is looking less and less likely, and Olivia, always the wallflower of the group, is newly single and mourning her lost love.

And what about Holly Mac? Can she and her husband Marcus get their marriage back on track for the sake of the children? Or has someone just come back into her life who will change everything forever?

Having really disliked Jemima J - I barely got to 30 or so pages before giving up, I had a pre-conceived opinion on Second Chance and judged it before I’d even read it. However I really enjoyed Second Chance and found it a quick and absorbing read.

First off I have to mention the beautiful, shiny cover which I really love. It’s green, shiny and I really like it.

Now on to the story. The whole plot is about a group of friends reunited after twenty years after a tragedy involving one of the gang. We follow their lives and discover all is not as rosy as first seems: Holly Mac is having marriage doubts, Saffron is an actress still waiting for her big break, Olivia is still in love with her ex and Paul & Anna are trying for a baby with little success.

I found the way in which the tragedy occured slightly odd - I don’t want to mention it but it’s such a small and irrelevant part of the story that I’m not really spoiling anything. The tragedy is more the starting point to the story, and so is not the main focus of the book, and the way in which it happens is, as I said, odd. Why bring in a terrorist attack only for it to be unused and completely ignored. I think terrorism is too big a subject to plop into a chicklit novel only to be used sparingly. It could have been done a different way.

I enjoyed the main story, the old friends reuniting and felt it was well explored and written. All of the friends were completely different and had changed so much yet it still felt so comfortable for them to get back to the friendship of old.

Where Jemima J alternated between writing styles - first person, third person, etc - Second Chance was written in third-person as if the narrator was talking directly to you which I eventually got used to and enjoyed. It must be quite a difficult writing style to keep up but Jane does that well.

Of the characters I really enjoyed reading about Saffron - she was my favourite and I loved when we came to a part about her; Paul & Anna - I thought Anna was brilliantly written and Olivia - she seemed more in the background than the other characters which was a shame as I enjoyed her chapters too.

The only character I didn’t really like was Holly Mac. I found her far too indecisive and I hated the way we kept getting the “she would never cheat, never” rammed down our throat every few sentences. Especially since I didn’t believe a word of it.

I enjoyed Will’s character but the disappeared at the end, which was a shame. Marcus was irritating and seemed to get progressively worse during the novel - obviously our designated villain - however I didn’t find him that bad - a bit pompous sure but nearly not as bad as some men are written!

Overall - while this review may seem a tad negative since I didn’t particularly like the main main character, I did actually enjoy the book and loved all parts of the novel bar Holly Mac’s which I found myself skimming through particularly as I got closer to the end of the novel.

I also liked that Jane tackled some serious subjects like Paul and Anna’s difficulty having a baby. I will definitely give some of Jane’s older books a try, maybe not Jemima J, and will try her two newest ones The Beach House & Girl Friday (which is released next month)

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book review: jane green, jane green

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