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The Road to Second Chance
In the tradition of Claire Lombardo and Anna Quindlen, The Road to Second Chance is a gorgeously written page-turner about the goodness and light that can thrive inside us despite unexpected death and grief. A story for our time of darkness and turmoil.
The year is 1962. In Second Chance, West Virginia, the enchanting landscape belies the poverty of a dying coal town, and tragedy shatters the idyllic life of two-year-old Laney Mae Martin, when her father, Gil, dies in a fatal car crash alongside a mystery woman.
Her mother Faye, bitter and humiliated that her husband was with another woman, uproots Laney Mae and her older brother Neal from their familiar rural surroundings and moves them to the D.C. suburbs. Faye forbids mention of Gil and refuses to ever speak his name again, leaving Laney Mae without answers about a father she cannot remember.
Branded as "hillbillies" in the suburbs, Laney Mae and her brother endure mockery, and psychological scars inflicted by a deranged housekeeper, an abusive stepfather, and her emotionally detached mother, who fails to protect them. Amidst the chaos, little Laney Mae finds solace in a portrait of President Kennedy, whose death has devastated the nation as her own father's death shattered her family, pouring out her heart and conjuring an idealized father figure.
As she navigates an era of assassinations, racial discord, and the war in Vietnam, the scars of her past remind her of what she has lost and her obsession about her dead father grows. When she receives her mother's terminal cancer diagnosis, Laney Mae's desperate search for truth takes an unexpected turn.
What kind of a man was her father, really? Who was the mystery woman in the car with him that night? Can Laney Mae get any answers from her mother before it's too late? Embark on a poignant journey as Laney Mae unravels secrets, confronts grief and seeks forgiveness -- a second chance that holds the power to heal - a lesson for our turbulent times.
Andrews' lyrical and tender style and memorable characters transport readers inside a drama of family secrets, fierce love, inexplicable grief, and redemption. The Road to Second Chance is a captivating tale of the enduring resilience of the human spirit and its uncanny ability to heal.
The year is 1962. In Second Chance, West Virginia, the enchanting landscape belies the poverty of a dying coal town, and tragedy shatters the idyllic life of two-year-old Laney Mae Martin, when her father, Gil, dies in a fatal car crash alongside a mystery woman.
Her mother Faye, bitter and humiliated that her husband was with another woman, uproots Laney Mae and her older brother Neal from their familiar rural surroundings and moves them to the D.C. suburbs. Faye forbids mention of Gil and refuses to ever speak his name again, leaving Laney Mae without answers about a father she cannot remember.
Branded as "hillbillies" in the suburbs, Laney Mae and her brother endure mockery, and psychological scars inflicted by a deranged housekeeper, an abusive stepfather, and her emotionally detached mother, who fails to protect them. Amidst the chaos, little Laney Mae finds solace in a portrait of President Kennedy, whose death has devastated the nation as her own father's death shattered her family, pouring out her heart and conjuring an idealized father figure.
As she navigates an era of assassinations, racial discord, and the war in Vietnam, the scars of her past remind her of what she has lost and her obsession about her dead father grows. When she receives her mother's terminal cancer diagnosis, Laney Mae's desperate search for truth takes an unexpected turn.
What kind of a man was her father, really? Who was the mystery woman in the car with him that night? Can Laney Mae get any answers from her mother before it's too late? Embark on a poignant journey as Laney Mae unravels secrets, confronts grief and seeks forgiveness -- a second chance that holds the power to heal - a lesson for our turbulent times.
Andrews' lyrical and tender style and memorable characters transport readers inside a drama of family secrets, fierce love, inexplicable grief, and redemption. The Road to Second Chance is a captivating tale of the enduring resilience of the human spirit and its uncanny ability to heal.
- GenresFiction
416 pages, Paperback
Published September 30, 2023
20 people are currently reading
6780 people want to read
About the author
Toni M. Andrews
1 book34 followersToni M. Andrews developed her love for creative writing in elementary school with the encouragement of teachers and classmates. In college, she shifted to journalism and is currently a communications and public relations professional working in higher education.
Her professional career has included work on a local newspaper, governmental affairs, as well as media relations at The White House. She owned and operated a full-service marketing, advertising, and public relations firm for over twelve years and served as vice president of communications for a community bank. She has served on a variety of business, educational and community organization boards.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Government & Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park, with a minor in journalism and contemporary U.S. History. She worked on a weekly newspaper and as a freelance writer for a magazine. Two of her creative works have been published in The Washington Post.
Toni is the founder of the Facebook Group, The Baby Boomer Experience, which explores the political, social, and cultural events of that era and their impact on the “coolest” generation. She currently resides in Virginia where she has been active in the community while raising her two children. She loves sharing stories and songs from her youth with her granddaughter, Tillie.
This is her first novel.
Her professional career has included work on a local newspaper, governmental affairs, as well as media relations at The White House. She owned and operated a full-service marketing, advertising, and public relations firm for over twelve years and served as vice president of communications for a community bank. She has served on a variety of business, educational and community organization boards.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Government & Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park, with a minor in journalism and contemporary U.S. History. She worked on a weekly newspaper and as a freelance writer for a magazine. Two of her creative works have been published in The Washington Post.
Toni is the founder of the Facebook Group, The Baby Boomer Experience, which explores the political, social, and cultural events of that era and their impact on the “coolest” generation. She currently resides in Virginia where she has been active in the community while raising her two children. She loves sharing stories and songs from her youth with her granddaughter, Tillie.
This is her first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 26, 2025
This is a very emotional book, and I ended up in tears. That said, I am so glad I read it.
There is sadness, joy, family love & information about life in West Virginia. Some things had me laughing out loud!
Seeing historical things that happened, from a different perspective, was enlightening. Everything felt so real, even though I knew it was fiction. It felt like history “up close & personal”. This was an experience that those of our time went through, but for most of us it wasn’t as personal. The horror & fear, for those of us living close, was bad enough.
I hope a lot of people read it!
There is sadness, joy, family love & information about life in West Virginia. Some things had me laughing out loud!
Seeing historical things that happened, from a different perspective, was enlightening. Everything felt so real, even though I knew it was fiction. It felt like history “up close & personal”. This was an experience that those of our time went through, but for most of us it wasn’t as personal. The horror & fear, for those of us living close, was bad enough.
I hope a lot of people read it!
January 1, 2024
This was an entertaining story. A story that was defiantly original, I have not seen in any books before. Which is very refreshing reading something not written a lot about.
The story is about a family whose father dies in a car accident. In the car with him is a woman. So here is where there is a bit of a mystery.
The mother assumes that he was cheating on her. She then for the rest of her life is consumed with hatred.
The young daughter is obsessed with knowing anything about her father and knowing what he looks like, because her mother refuses to talk about him and has thrown away everything of his and everything there was that had anything to with him. She also forbids anyone to even mention his name much less talk about him to her kids.
Then there is an older son, who remembers him. He can tell his sister only a little of what he remembers of his father.
As they grow into adults the hatred and obsession does not go away.
This is where I think the author went overboard and it kind of took away from the story, it was a bit too much hatred and obsession. All in all, I liked it.
The story is about a family whose father dies in a car accident. In the car with him is a woman. So here is where there is a bit of a mystery.
The mother assumes that he was cheating on her. She then for the rest of her life is consumed with hatred.
The young daughter is obsessed with knowing anything about her father and knowing what he looks like, because her mother refuses to talk about him and has thrown away everything of his and everything there was that had anything to with him. She also forbids anyone to even mention his name much less talk about him to her kids.
Then there is an older son, who remembers him. He can tell his sister only a little of what he remembers of his father.
As they grow into adults the hatred and obsession does not go away.
This is where I think the author went overboard and it kind of took away from the story, it was a bit too much hatred and obsession. All in all, I liked it.
March 16, 2025
A story of family, secrets, loss, and forgiveness. As Laney Mae’s mother is losing her battle with cancer she realizes that this is her last chance to learn about the father who died when she was only two. Laney Mae is angry and focused on the absence of her father in her life and her mother’s refusal to even speak his name. After her mother passes and she is reunited with her West Virginia relatives she begins to make peace with the past even as she finds surprising answers.
Laney Mae was a hard character to like. She seemed so selfish in her unrelenting pursuit of information, unable to think of anyone else’s feelings or find her own agency in her story. There was often a bit too much in this story. Did it need a villainous stepfather and a villainous nanny for example? What I did love was the familial love that shines through. Laney Mae and her brother and the bond they share as well as the way he ups his game as father figure to her son and the family dynamics with their aunts, uncles, and cousins gave this book so much heart.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Laney Mae was a hard character to like. She seemed so selfish in her unrelenting pursuit of information, unable to think of anyone else’s feelings or find her own agency in her story. There was often a bit too much in this story. Did it need a villainous stepfather and a villainous nanny for example? What I did love was the familial love that shines through. Laney Mae and her brother and the bond they share as well as the way he ups his game as father figure to her son and the family dynamics with their aunts, uncles, and cousins gave this book so much heart.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
January 13, 2024
Laney Mae is divorced with a young son, and not only is she dealing with the divorce, but her mother is dying. Through all of this, Laney Mae is hyper-focused on finding out information about the father she does not remember, who was killed in a car wreck. She is positively obsessed by this, to the point of harassing her mother on her deathbed. Even the hospice nurse tells her to stop doing it. This obsession continues throughout the book and frankly made me want to take Laney Mae and slap her silly. She is not acting like a mature woman. Her other obsession is imagining her father, whom she refers to as Dandy. While Dandy does give good advice and seems to be a nice person, Laney's obsession with this is a bit over the top too, although it might not be if she had been 10 and not 42. The comic relief involving transporting her deceased mother to the town of Second Chance, WV, was out of place, even if it was amusing.
I have a lot of family in WV, and I appreciate the way the author handled that. Too many times, people from WV are made to be uneducated and very backwards, but the people we meet in Second Chance remind me of people in my family, so that made me smile.
Overall, the book was an entertaining read. I think the obsessions could have been toned down, but the overall story was good, and it ended right (as my mother-in-law used to say).
***I received a free copy of this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program in exchange for an honest review.**
I have a lot of family in WV, and I appreciate the way the author handled that. Too many times, people from WV are made to be uneducated and very backwards, but the people we meet in Second Chance remind me of people in my family, so that made me smile.
Overall, the book was an entertaining read. I think the obsessions could have been toned down, but the overall story was good, and it ended right (as my mother-in-law used to say).
***I received a free copy of this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program in exchange for an honest review.**
November 25, 2025
I really enjoyed reading The Road To Second Chance by Toni M. Andrews. Her book reminds me of Anne Tyler's, with the strong emphasis on developing characters and placing them in difficult situations.
The main character is Lannie May; she is 42, bitter about her husband's betrayal and divorce. She is now in charge of taking care of her dying mother, Faye Martin. Faye has held a grudge against her husband for many years after he died in a car accident. He and another woman died. Faye assumed that he was cheating on her and threw out all of his belongings and would not answer her daughter, Lannie May's, questions about her father.
Lannie May was born and raised in Second Chance, West Virginia until her father's death, then her mother's moves her family to Virginia and started working at the Pentagon. Later, cancer takes over her life, Lannie May moves in with her mother and her son, Christopher. Lannie keeps hoping that her mother would forgive her father and let her know about her father. She was only two years old and does not feel complete without knowing about him.
There was anger, tears, grief, forgiveness, and moments of humor and tenderness. I really loved this book and I hope that Toni M. Andrews writes many more books!
The main character is Lannie May; she is 42, bitter about her husband's betrayal and divorce. She is now in charge of taking care of her dying mother, Faye Martin. Faye has held a grudge against her husband for many years after he died in a car accident. He and another woman died. Faye assumed that he was cheating on her and threw out all of his belongings and would not answer her daughter, Lannie May's, questions about her father.
Lannie May was born and raised in Second Chance, West Virginia until her father's death, then her mother's moves her family to Virginia and started working at the Pentagon. Later, cancer takes over her life, Lannie May moves in with her mother and her son, Christopher. Lannie keeps hoping that her mother would forgive her father and let her know about her father. She was only two years old and does not feel complete without knowing about him.
There was anger, tears, grief, forgiveness, and moments of humor and tenderness. I really loved this book and I hope that Toni M. Andrews writes many more books!
February 11, 2026
Thanks to Goodreads and Andrews for the opportunity to read and write an honest review of A Road to Second Chances.
A captivating book that I couldn’t put down from the first page to the last! A story of searching for truth, navigating trauma, and finding where one belongs in a difficult family dynamic. This book speaks volumes about misunderstandings, forgiveness, and love.
The characters were flawed, making them so real, making both the pain and the joy tangible. This read was extremely emotional for me with moments of tears and yet times of laughter.
The storyline was brilliant although Laney Mae frustrated me at times due to her extreme selfishness in her unrelenting pursuit for information about her deceased father. This obsession could have been toned down and still been effective!
Looking for a heart wrenching yet uplifting story that comes together beautifully in the end reminding you that even in darkness healing is possible, pick this one up and read it!
A captivating book that I couldn’t put down from the first page to the last! A story of searching for truth, navigating trauma, and finding where one belongs in a difficult family dynamic. This book speaks volumes about misunderstandings, forgiveness, and love.
The characters were flawed, making them so real, making both the pain and the joy tangible. This read was extremely emotional for me with moments of tears and yet times of laughter.
The storyline was brilliant although Laney Mae frustrated me at times due to her extreme selfishness in her unrelenting pursuit for information about her deceased father. This obsession could have been toned down and still been effective!
Looking for a heart wrenching yet uplifting story that comes together beautifully in the end reminding you that even in darkness healing is possible, pick this one up and read it!
October 1, 2025
The synopsis of The Road to Second Chance immediately pulled me in with its emotional depth and sense of mystery. It feels like one of those family sagas that stays with you, not just because of the story, but because of the raw humanity at its center. The themes of grief, secrets, forgiveness, and resilience feel incredibly relatable, especially in today’s world. Laney Mae’s journey of loss and discovery seems heartbreaking yet hopeful, and the setting in the 1960s with all its turmoil and change adds another powerful layer. From the description alone, this sounds like a beautiful, thought-provoking read that will resonate with anyone who has faced family struggles or longed for healing.
November 12, 2025
Heartbreaking, Luminous, and Unforgettable.”
This novel is pure literary gold the kind of story that reaches into your chest and doesn’t let go. Set against the haunting backdrop of 1960s America, it captures loss, longing, and the aching search for truth with a tenderness that feels timeless.
Laney Mae’s journey from a small West Virginia town to the suburbs of D.C. is devastating and beautiful all at once. Every emotion grief, confusion, resilience is rendered so vividly you feel it. The Kennedy parallels are stunningly symbolic: both personal and national tragedies entwined, showing how hope can flicker even in darkness.
This novel is pure literary gold the kind of story that reaches into your chest and doesn’t let go. Set against the haunting backdrop of 1960s America, it captures loss, longing, and the aching search for truth with a tenderness that feels timeless.
Laney Mae’s journey from a small West Virginia town to the suburbs of D.C. is devastating and beautiful all at once. Every emotion grief, confusion, resilience is rendered so vividly you feel it. The Kennedy parallels are stunningly symbolic: both personal and national tragedies entwined, showing how hope can flicker even in darkness.
September 24, 2025
This book gripped me from the very first page. Toni M. Andrews paints such a vivid picture of 1960s America that I felt like I was walking the streets of Second Chance, West Virginia myself. Laney Mae’s story is both heartbreaking and inspiring—her resilience through grief, betrayal, and loss had me in tears more than once. It’s rare to find a book that is so beautifully written yet so emotionally raw. Absolutely unforgettable.
December 13, 2025
The Road to Second Chance is a beautifully moving story about loss, resilience, and the search for truth. Toni M. Andrews masterfully captures the weight of grief and the power of redemption through unforgettable characters. This book is both heart-wrenching and uplifting, reminding us that even in darkness, hope and healing are possible.
June 12, 2025
Well written book about a family during the 60’s. I really enjoyed reading this book❣️♥️🕊️☮️
February 10, 2024
Thank you to LibraryThing, the publisher and the author.
Laney Mae was a 42 year old divorced woman living with her 10 year old son with her mom who was dying. All she wanted to know was about her father who died when she was 2 years old because she doesn't remember him. She bugged her older brother for years and he told her what he could. Her mom refuses to talk about him and there are no pictures of him anywhere. She'll never find out more or will she?
It goes back and forth from the 1960s to now (which was 2001) which makes it interestingly enough to keep it from being maudlin and sad with her mother's death in the present.
There was some comic relief with cousin Jake who was an assistant in a funeral home in their home town of West Virginia, who came to Virginia to pick up Mama Faye in a pink hearse and they traveled to Arlington Cemetery to “visit” one of Mama Faye's brothers per her wish and also JFK and RFK's grave. She loved both of them and had a picture of JFK in her living room.
I know this is not an ARC but the typos are there. Don't authors read their books or their editors? I don't care if it is a small publisher. Someone should catch them. Very noticeable especially one that was not funny. The funeral home was named The Final Rest and all of a sudden it was named “The Final Restaurant.” If I see brakes spelled breaks one more time I'm going to scream.
All in all a good book.
Laney Mae was a 42 year old divorced woman living with her 10 year old son with her mom who was dying. All she wanted to know was about her father who died when she was 2 years old because she doesn't remember him. She bugged her older brother for years and he told her what he could. Her mom refuses to talk about him and there are no pictures of him anywhere. She'll never find out more or will she?
It goes back and forth from the 1960s to now (which was 2001) which makes it interestingly enough to keep it from being maudlin and sad with her mother's death in the present.
There was some comic relief with cousin Jake who was an assistant in a funeral home in their home town of West Virginia, who came to Virginia to pick up Mama Faye in a pink hearse and they traveled to Arlington Cemetery to “visit” one of Mama Faye's brothers per her wish and also JFK and RFK's grave. She loved both of them and had a picture of JFK in her living room.
I know this is not an ARC but the typos are there. Don't authors read their books or their editors? I don't care if it is a small publisher. Someone should catch them. Very noticeable especially one that was not funny. The funeral home was named The Final Rest and all of a sudden it was named “The Final Restaurant.” If I see brakes spelled breaks one more time I'm going to scream.
All in all a good book.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews