A Second Chance In The Show Me State by Jessie Gussman (5 stars)
A ‘Parent Trap’-esque story and charming in its characterizations!
The twin boys are opposites in personality: one is hyper and acts before he thinks. The other is a more deliberate, calm kid. As is always the case, the kids in Ms. Gussman’s stories act like the age they are meant to be. And their dialogues also sound authentic. (In keeping with her rather perfect comedic timing, we switch to one of the kid’s POV near the end of the book and the kid is just so hyper and so naive and so clueless that it is downright funny!)
You kind of want to sit Reid and Emerson down and force them to talk! They both still love one another and yet pride has reared it’s ugly head and neither wants to make himself/herself vulnerable to hurting worse than he/she already does. It’s a study in marriage relations and how trust, humility and communication are so vital!
*spoiler alert* The couple, in a true Parent Trap-esque moment are finally ‘trapped’ together and are forced into talking. At that point, all the impatience the reader may have felt leading to this moment is rewarded with the sweetest and funniest and most realistic, yet romantic dialogue that it’s totally worth the wait! (The moment in the story where Reid says, “Instalove.” I burst out laughing. You’ll know it when you get there.)
Jessie Gussman excels at dialogues that are goofy, funny, insightful and romantic all at the same time and this book is just a delightful read!
*poor, **ok, ***good, ****very good, *****something special