Second Chances

by K.L. Phelps

How far would you go to uncover the truth? Nathan King lost his wife a year ago. He thought he’d come to terms with her death. However, when he sees her in a crowded airport, he knows his world will never be the same again.

What would you do if you discovered your entire life was a lie? When a man approaches Paige Kendall and claims to be her husband, she thinks he must be joking. But when he produces photographs and shares details of her past that she knows no one else could possibly know, she is forced to question everything she believes.

Together they set off on a perilous adventure to find out what really happened to Nathan’s wife and discover who Paige really is. Every answer brings them a step closer to the truth, a step closer to danger, and a step closer to finding the answer to the ultimate question: Are there such things as second chances?

381 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 3, 2013

About the author

K.L. Phelps never wanted to be a cop, fireman or baseball player. He fell in love with books at a very early age and (aside from the summer of 1977 when he wanted to be Luke Skywalker) he never wanted to be anything other than a writer. Somehow he took a left when he should have gone right (or write) and spent 17+ years as an oncology nurse. He is now back to pursuing this childhood dream. Thriller, suspense, mysteries, paranormal, humor/comedy, there are very few genres that don't interest him and he intends to take a crack at them all.

Reviews

[ReadAlongWithSue ★⋆. ࿐࿔catching up · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the author approached me and asked me if I would like to read this with a possible view to my review, good or bad, I looked at the cover, then the read the blurb. I thought it sounded interesting.

I have to say, this was MORE than interesting, it kept me awake reading this into the early hours. It was an unexpected conclusion at the end, I had a hunch part way through but I dismissed it thinking I was so far off the scale, I was shocked to see that I was right.

Although a thriller/suspense, it has some quirky moments in there from Nathan. Some retorts made me laugh.

I loved how the authors teased me by writing a small chapter here and there with something else going on in the middle of it all which kept my attention throughout. Loved it.

For a fairly new up and coming author I thought it was a superb well thought out suspense. The characters were true, real and you could relate to.

I passed a few hours reading this and was very entertained, so I must thank the author for approaching me and giving the chance to read it. I said I had a long list, but promised to slip this one in, I am so glad that I did.

[Diamond Drake · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd give Second Chances a 2.5 because the storyline itself was interesting. It was the telling of it that made the book challenging to read at times. There were a lot of words used to basically say the same thing and that made the story drag, to me. The characters' constant gesturing, trembling hands, and things of that nature grew tiring after a while and contributed to me feeling like the book lumbered on rather that flowed smoothly. However, it was the stilted, formal sounding dialogue that kept me from really connecting with the characters or the story. Most times I just didn't believe people would speak that way. The same was true for a lot of the inner dialogue. I often found myself wondering if someone in that situation would REALLY be thinking about that. It just seemed odd, but of course that's only my opinion. Overall, I found the idea of Second Chances interesting and I wish the author much success with his writing career.

[Julia Leru · Rating 2 out of 5]

Я пыталась, честно пыталась. Не смогла, бросила на 1/3, наверное. Да, сама история обещала быть интересной. Но зачем описывать одно и то же разными словами по нескольку раз? В какой-то момент мне просто стало скучно. Не рекомендую. Хотя книга обещала многое.

[Dian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

Intriguing, fast pace, keeps you guessing on what was going on . Hard to put down kept reading til the end!

[Rebecca McCray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd describe this book as a mix between a light-hearted mystery and a love story - filled with intrigue, strong emotions, and little dabs of humor scattered throughout. You're introduced to Nathan in chapter 1, the main character. He lost his wife a year before and is still grappling with it. When all of sudden, he sees her in a crowded airport. The rest of the book tells the story of how they work together to discover what happened in the past and what their future will be.

The two main characters, Nathan and Paige, are easy to love. They are well-developed and interesting. Granted they are both struggling with strong emotions in a rather strange situation, but you simply can't help but to cheer for them.

The writing style is an easy one. I think the author could tighten up the writing a bit, but on the whole, I didn't find that distracting.

What I loved most about the book, though, was the surprise ending. I spent the entire novel trying to guess how Nathan had suddenly found his wife after her death and I didn't come close to the truth. The pieces of the puzzle were cleverly strung together, though not blatant enough to give away the plot.

So if you're looking for an intriguing and fun-to-read story, this would be a good choice.

[J&B Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Good Read!

Second Chances was a very good story. It held my attention from start to finish. I especially liked Nathan, the main character. His pain from the loss of his wife was well expressed and it was very easy to feel the deep sadness that he lived with every day. Paige, the other main character was also well drawn but I found some of her actions to be a little less believable.

And the less believable parts of this book are the reason why I gave it four stars instead of five. There are no spoilers here, just an opinion. The final explanation of the deception was a little far-fetched. Frankly, the author's idea for the resolution was a good one, I just think that there were too many layers to the deception. He could have quit after the plot was revealed and a few layers peeled off. And not to be too much of a nit picker about spelling and grammar, but I really got tired of seeing the word past spelled passed quite frequently.

Do I recommend it. Yes, absolutely. I was caught up in it from the first page to the last page.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts off as a promising read with potential. However I found it to be too descriptive and went off on a tangent just as it had built up well to what you would expect to be an integral part of the story.
So whilst as the reader I was eager to find out what happened next there would be paragraph after paragraph of what a character was thinking about the situation, about the past, about the future etc
Overall good idea for the plot but ends rather abruptly after an intriguing build up.

[Patricia Nightingale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked this book.

I almost didn't buy this book because of the bad reviews. Lots of times that sways my decision on whether to buy a book. This book was a good choice. I don't usually like mysteries but the science fiction twist added 2 stars.
Easy read and the plot moved along. Read in a weekend.

[Kay Catto · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most interesting book I've read in a while

If you have ever thought you've seen your deceased spouse or parent in a crowd, and knew it couldn't be but you ran after them anyway, hoping against hope, this is the book for you. Wouldn't you want a second chance?

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book, kept me guessing.

[Lynn H. Gwyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Book

It has a lot of action and an interesting plot. I enjoyed the read. I'll be looking for more by this author.