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Chatam House #5
Second Chance Match
Single mom Jessa Lynn Pagett is grateful for the old Victorian she's fixing up. Now she can fulfill both her dreams: providing a safe home for her young son and opening a florist shop.But Garrett Willows insists he's the rightful owner of the house—and has dreams of his own for the place. With one look at her withdrawn son, the handsome man seems to know that she needs the house more. And his selfless solution will change everyone's lives…forever.
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 24, 2012
17 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
About the author
Arlene James
214 books87 followersArlene James has written romance for four decades, and has published 100+ novels. A mother of sons and now a happy grandmother to the brightest, most talented, and lovely of all granddaughters, she is finding her sixth decade to be great fun.
She and her very supportive husband of 45 years (whom she agreed to marry on their first date!) enjoy a busy social life and have visited much of the world. After calling Texas home for three decades, they now live in beautiful NW Arkansas.
Arlene grew up on a ranch in south central Oklahoma and still maintains strong ties in that area. She firmly believes that writing has afforded her the best of all possible means of earning a living, and credits a junior high school English teacher with proving to her that her dream of being an author was entirely achievable.
After 4 decades of deadlines and multiple-book contracts (for which she is deeply grateful), she is enjoying the ability to write exactly what she feels led to write on her own schedule.
She and her very supportive husband of 45 years (whom she agreed to marry on their first date!) enjoy a busy social life and have visited much of the world. After calling Texas home for three decades, they now live in beautiful NW Arkansas.
Arlene grew up on a ranch in south central Oklahoma and still maintains strong ties in that area. She firmly believes that writing has afforded her the best of all possible means of earning a living, and credits a junior high school English teacher with proving to her that her dream of being an author was entirely achievable.
After 4 decades of deadlines and multiple-book contracts (for which she is deeply grateful), she is enjoying the ability to write exactly what she feels led to write on her own schedule.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 4, 2020
Read in 2008 and 2020
Rating: 4.5 Stars!!
Review:
I read this book back in 2008 so since it was 12 years since i last read this book i decided to revisit the story.
It's still sweet and an enjoyable read but now i see why people say its too predictable. An excellant read for Spring time about a single mother who falls for a Gardener and shares a house with him.
Can't wait to read more by this author in the future!!
Rating: 4.5 Stars!!
Review:
I read this book back in 2008 so since it was 12 years since i last read this book i decided to revisit the story.
It's still sweet and an enjoyable read but now i see why people say its too predictable. An excellant read for Spring time about a single mother who falls for a Gardener and shares a house with him.
Can't wait to read more by this author in the future!!
July 8, 2021
2.5 stars, rounding down to 2.
WHEW!!! I definitely have a lot of thoughts about this book, but I think I need to provide some background before I give you my review.
I am not traditionally a fan of romance, especially not the Harlequin genre. If that disqualifies anything else I'm about to say, I think that's fair.
However, I had the pleasure of stumbling upon Baby Makes a Match (Chatam House #3) a number of years ago and was pleasantly surprised by the book. I felt that the story was unpredictable (in a good way). One of the things that I enjoyed the most about Baby Makes a Match was that Chandler and his father grew both personally and spiritually. It was such a blessing to see a story where two men (with traditionally masculine characteristics) were able to admit their wrongs and make moves to reconcile. I also really appreciated how the concept of love was displayed here. Bethany and Chandler displayed their love for each other through their actions before they ever cultivated a romantic relationship. Love is, regardless of emotion. This relational progression was beautiful, logical, and most importantly, biblically-based.
Another thing that I really enjoyed about Baby Makes a Match was the character of Garrett Willows. For a side character (especially in a book of such short length), he was, in my opinion, very well developed and I was actually kind of disappointed that we didn't get more information about him when the story ended. When I found out that he was the star of another book in this series, I was excited to see how Garrett's character progressed, especially in the context of a romantic relationship.
If you're expecting the same Garrett Willows from Baby Makes a Match, you'll probably be as disappointed as I was. I thought I sensed a glimpse of some of his old character traits at the very end of the story, but they faded as soon as I thought I recognized them. In this story, Garrett is condescending and creepy. On multiple occasions, he muses on how Jessa looks like a child or a teenager, and how this contributes to his attraction to her. Specifically, at one point he says that Jessa looks beautiful because she looks 16, while he is nearly 30 (Jessa is nearly 27). The hair literally stood up on the back of my neck! Aaaah!!!
As I mentioned before, Garrett is honestly quite arrogant towards Jessa. Even though she is quite a hardened woman (I'll talk about that later), he seems to only want to dig information out of her about her past life and criticize every decision she makes. He acts like he knows everything about her. I get that he might be able to spot abuse more astutely than the average person due to the circumstances mentioned in this book and in Baby Makes a Match, but this just isn't the way that a person interacts with another person that they are supposedly romantically attracted to. In fact, Garrett's relationship with Jessa honestly seems more...parental? Like it's his responsibility to guide her and correct her. In any case, it isn't romantic.
I have talked a lot about Garrett and not a lot about Jessa. That's because Jessa is extremely flat and was quite irritating to me. Again, I understand that she has been hardened by abuse, but her anger and reservation towards others just seem unwarranted. It frankly detracts from the storyline. However, Jessa does grow. In fact, she and her son are the only ones who experience any sort of personality change in the story. I guess at this point in the series, all of the other characters have established personalities (although Garrett's personality was way off...), but to transition from multiple characters experiencing transformation in Baby Makes a Match to two characters in Second Chance Match was disappointing.
My final large qualm with this story has been echoed throughout a few other reviews. There is a lot of abuse in this story. I really wish that there had been a warning that accompanied this book. I am blessed to not have been a victim of child abuse, but these scenes were just too much for me. I can only imagine how someone who is triggered by this material might feel. Please note that if child abuse and/or domestic violence is triggering to you, I think it would be best to skip this story.
I don't want you thinking that this book was 100% terrible (I would have given it 1 star if that were the case!). Although I really didn't enjoy the character development and parts of the plot, I really do enjoy Ms. James's writing style. For all that this book isn't, it is well-written, well-edited, and the story is not difficult to follow at all (especially if you have read other books in the series). Also, Garrett's relationship with Hunter was really cute. I liked how Garrett drew on his relationship with his own father in order to be a good role model to Hunter. Even though Hunter was a pretty straightforward "kid" type, he was super cute nonetheless! It was such a joy getting to read about his growth and to see him come out of his shell (despite, at times, his mother's objections). Also, the descriptions of the flowers and floral arrangements were so beautiful! I wish that this book had pictures so that I could see some of them with my own eyes. And, of course, the triplets are back. I loved how we got to see them play an active, nurturing role in Garrett's life. The relationship between Garrett and Magnolia was especially touching.
Sadly, the bad really outweighed the good in this one. It was quite the letdown, especially considering how excellent of a novel that Baby Makes a Match was. Perhaps I took this story a bit too seriously, but I think that this will be my last Harlequin novel, at least for a while.
WHEW!!! I definitely have a lot of thoughts about this book, but I think I need to provide some background before I give you my review.
I am not traditionally a fan of romance, especially not the Harlequin genre. If that disqualifies anything else I'm about to say, I think that's fair.
However, I had the pleasure of stumbling upon Baby Makes a Match (Chatam House #3) a number of years ago and was pleasantly surprised by the book. I felt that the story was unpredictable (in a good way). One of the things that I enjoyed the most about Baby Makes a Match was that Chandler and his father grew both personally and spiritually. It was such a blessing to see a story where two men (with traditionally masculine characteristics) were able to admit their wrongs and make moves to reconcile. I also really appreciated how the concept of love was displayed here. Bethany and Chandler displayed their love for each other through their actions before they ever cultivated a romantic relationship. Love is, regardless of emotion. This relational progression was beautiful, logical, and most importantly, biblically-based.
Another thing that I really enjoyed about Baby Makes a Match was the character of Garrett Willows. For a side character (especially in a book of such short length), he was, in my opinion, very well developed and I was actually kind of disappointed that we didn't get more information about him when the story ended. When I found out that he was the star of another book in this series, I was excited to see how Garrett's character progressed, especially in the context of a romantic relationship.
If you're expecting the same Garrett Willows from Baby Makes a Match, you'll probably be as disappointed as I was. I thought I sensed a glimpse of some of his old character traits at the very end of the story, but they faded as soon as I thought I recognized them. In this story, Garrett is condescending and creepy. On multiple occasions, he muses on how Jessa looks like a child or a teenager, and how this contributes to his attraction to her. Specifically, at one point he says that Jessa looks beautiful because she looks 16, while he is nearly 30 (Jessa is nearly 27). The hair literally stood up on the back of my neck! Aaaah!!!
As I mentioned before, Garrett is honestly quite arrogant towards Jessa. Even though she is quite a hardened woman (I'll talk about that later), he seems to only want to dig information out of her about her past life and criticize every decision she makes. He acts like he knows everything about her. I get that he might be able to spot abuse more astutely than the average person due to the circumstances mentioned in this book and in Baby Makes a Match, but this just isn't the way that a person interacts with another person that they are supposedly romantically attracted to. In fact, Garrett's relationship with Jessa honestly seems more...parental? Like it's his responsibility to guide her and correct her. In any case, it isn't romantic.
I have talked a lot about Garrett and not a lot about Jessa. That's because Jessa is extremely flat and was quite irritating to me. Again, I understand that she has been hardened by abuse, but her anger and reservation towards others just seem unwarranted. It frankly detracts from the storyline. However, Jessa does grow. In fact, she and her son are the only ones who experience any sort of personality change in the story. I guess at this point in the series, all of the other characters have established personalities (although Garrett's personality was way off...), but to transition from multiple characters experiencing transformation in Baby Makes a Match to two characters in Second Chance Match was disappointing.
My final large qualm with this story has been echoed throughout a few other reviews. There is a lot of abuse in this story. I really wish that there had been a warning that accompanied this book. I am blessed to not have been a victim of child abuse, but these scenes were just too much for me. I can only imagine how someone who is triggered by this material might feel. Please note that if child abuse and/or domestic violence is triggering to you, I think it would be best to skip this story.
I don't want you thinking that this book was 100% terrible (I would have given it 1 star if that were the case!). Although I really didn't enjoy the character development and parts of the plot, I really do enjoy Ms. James's writing style. For all that this book isn't, it is well-written, well-edited, and the story is not difficult to follow at all (especially if you have read other books in the series). Also, Garrett's relationship with Hunter was really cute. I liked how Garrett drew on his relationship with his own father in order to be a good role model to Hunter. Even though Hunter was a pretty straightforward "kid" type, he was super cute nonetheless! It was such a joy getting to read about his growth and to see him come out of his shell (despite, at times, his mother's objections). Also, the descriptions of the flowers and floral arrangements were so beautiful! I wish that this book had pictures so that I could see some of them with my own eyes. And, of course, the triplets are back. I loved how we got to see them play an active, nurturing role in Garrett's life. The relationship between Garrett and Magnolia was especially touching.
Sadly, the bad really outweighed the good in this one. It was quite the letdown, especially considering how excellent of a novel that Baby Makes a Match was. Perhaps I took this story a bit too seriously, but I think that this will be my last Harlequin novel, at least for a while.
October 21, 2013
"Second Chance Match" was yet another wonderful sweet Christian romance novel in the Chatam House Series. The story line was wonderful and I thoroughly enjoyed the characters. It was so good that I could hardly put it down and I ended up finishing it in a day. It is definitely worth reading!
April 14, 2019
Jessa Lynn Pagett and her son, Hunter have found the perfect place to set up her florist business. While she is painting her new a room she is knocked off her ladder and falls into the arms of Garrett Willows who also claims he owns the house. Lots of problems between Garrett and Jessa besides the house. There is also child abuse and attempted murder hanging over all their heads. Very good read. Despite so many problems I really liked it. Another great Harlequin Romance.
July 24, 2024
Inspirational romance.
November 7, 2023
House for sale.... unfortunately the 2 owners each promised the home to a different person for their dream home and business... who deserves the house more? Is there a way to please both parties? Does God have a bigger plan than either could have imagined?
September 15, 2012
Somewhere between 3 1/2 and four. Though I am sure the authors will not appreciate this analogy, a romance novel is like a striptease dance - since the outcome is known, what matters is the grace and beauty. Though a very simple and somewhat predictable story, this novel had both. It was sweet. In addition, since both persons were Christian, the religious aspects, such as them praying together, were natural and not at all "preachy."
February 6, 2012
it was such ann interseting read!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
December 27, 2014Miniseries: Chatam House
Category: Inspirational Romance
Category: Inspirational Romance
Read
December 27, 2014Miniseries: Chatam House
Category: Inspirational Romance
Category: Inspirational Romance
March 7, 2012
I enjoy the Chatam House series because of the Chatam Sisters. They seemed to have less spunk in this storyline than others, but I still enjoyed it.
April 27, 2013
A lot of abuse involved in this one, this is the second novel I've read out of the whole series and I found it lacking compared to the other I've read.
June 30, 2015
Jessa is fleeing a bad marriage with her son Hunter in tow. Garrett always seems to be the protector. But at what cost. The Chatam's have two weddings to plan, Jessa can help with the flowers.
October 5, 2015
I loved this book! It is one of the best love inspired books I've ever read.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews