In her acknowledgements right at the beginning of the book,
Beers says that this book is about forgiveness and exploring the question
whether people can change. She also lists a bunch of other questions that arose
in her mind while writing this book. She’s answered them in the story with her
beliefs about those questions, but we’re not convinced.
Charlie Stetko and Emma Grier were high school sweethearts
and the first everything for each other as they discovered their sexuality
together. They moved to different parts of the country to pursue their college
education. During the final phase in college, Charlie is offered a job in
Manhattan by a super successful and super smooth businesswoman, Darcy Wells,
who also happens to be a known player. With little thought for Emma, Charlie
grabs the opportunity and moves to New York without the slightest pang.
Five years later, Charlie finds herself returning to her
parents in the small town of Shaker Falls (after not having seen them for two
years). Darcy has dumped her. While on the high of living with Darcy in a
penthouse in Central Park, Charlie had moved into volunteer work so she is financially
down with nowhere to go. Her return home is grudging at best. (In fact, even as
she is sitting outside the house, she is willing to turn back.) Charlie’s
reluctance to be at home is inexplicable since she has an uncommonly loving family.
In fact, her parents have even made a studio apartment for her in their
basement to afford her whatever privacy she needs. They are desperately
supportive of her every step of the way. Even friends she’d unceremoniously
dropped welcome her with warmth and open arms. It’s not much later that Charlie
learns that Emma is also back in Shaker Falls and owns a newly opened
restaurant, EG.
Charlie spends time feeling rather sorry for herself,
missing Darcy and sending Darcy numerous unanswered text messages. Finally she
decides that she needs to work (with the unstated goal of getting enough money
to leave Shaker Falls) and what do you know! Her mom has explored possible openings
for her and has a job lined up. So Charlie becomes the pie maker at a local
bakery. The bakery and EG exchange food with each other, so Charlie starts
running into Emma more and more. Despite how shabbily Charlie had treated her,
and despite the two and a half years of therapy that Emma needed after Charlie
dumped her, Emma finds herself still attracted to Charlie.
Second chances romances are tricky. They only work if both
the MCs are likeable and the reasons for the separation the first time are
understandable. The reasons can be circumstantial or temporary emotions like
fear or something. But when the reason for the failure of the relationship is
personality based, it is more difficult to sympathise.
Some of the questions Beers explored while writing this book
are: Do we deserve to be forgiven for our mistakes or is lost trust gone
forever? Do those mistakes define us? So the key here is ‘mistakes’. Charlie
doesn’t make ‘mistakes’ in her behaviour. She makes choices which are entirely
based on her personality. Her choices are driven by what she wants in life. We
have no argument with a person following their ambitions but we do have a
problem with calling their choices ‘mistakes’. In fact, the only person who
seemed to have the appropriate reaction to Charlie’s return is her younger
sister.
What is interesting is that despite everything, Charlie is
not dislikeable. In fact, she is undependable (even in her new job),
unremittingly selfish and entirely self-centred but very strangely she is an
okay person to have around and be around – a good hail-fellow-well-met person
to hang around with. Just not someone anyone should invest even the tiniest
emotion or trust in.
Emma is totally understandable even though she apparently seems
to be breaking a lot of hearts. To her credit, though, she’s upfront about her
disinterest in turning her some-nights-stands into a relationship. Usually
breaking hearts behaviour puts us off a character, but Emma doesn’t seem bad at
all. Even her attraction towards Charlie is entirely possible because getting
over a first love, particularly one that shattered you, is very, very
difficult.
At the end of the book, we feel that it can only be a HFN,
not a HEA. Charlie is the same person that she was at the beginning of the
book. We don’t see her lasting long in Shaker Falls, obsessed as she is by ‘big
city’. What we do hope is that this time when they split, Emma is the one who
moves on.
The book is well written, but didn’t work for us.
⭐⭐☆
