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A Second Chance
After almost eighteen years of marriage Katie Cameron is left by her husband Brogan as he apparently feels he has been trapped into a life he is not ready to accept. Their twin son and daughter, Mitchell and Libby, take matters into their own hands when it appears Katie and Brogan are drifting towards a permanent break-up. Will they succeed in a reconciliation…or is it too late?
116 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 26, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 12, 2022
I'm going with 2.5 stars, rounded up. This British story focuses on a man who legs it from his wife of many years and the adolescent kids to tromp around town with another woman on his arm. He's a straight-up ass throughout the book and I'm not sure what would make the h miss him or want him back after that public dismissal as his main lady.
This book felt a little like many of the Harlequins from the 90's so many of us love to read. The H was dismissive and blustery and just so ignorant. The h, while demonstrating several strengths, including self-sufficiency and business acumen, just rolled over and let this louse back into her house and bed. Definitely some betraying body syndrome going on here. The H maintains that he didn't cheat because he never had sex with the OW - they did plenty of other things, which were never discussed by the H and h. He also gets pissed that she is hesitant to have him back. Ick.
Ultimately, this is a quick read if you need a dose of infidelity in your TBR pile, but for me, it just didn't scratch that itch.
This book felt a little like many of the Harlequins from the 90's so many of us love to read. The H was dismissive and blustery and just so ignorant. The h, while demonstrating several strengths, including self-sufficiency and business acumen, just rolled over and let this louse back into her house and bed. Definitely some betraying body syndrome going on here. The H maintains that he didn't cheat because he never had sex with the OW - they did plenty of other things, which were never discussed by the H and h. He also gets pissed that she is hesitant to have him back. Ick.
Ultimately, this is a quick read if you need a dose of infidelity in your TBR pile, but for me, it just didn't scratch that itch.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 12, 2022
A self-aggrandized moron and a doormat reconciliation story.
Is it too much to ask for some semblance of a grovel??
Is it too much to ask for some semblance of a grovel??
April 19, 2022
Trouble rating this. He left his wife for another woman and he kissed her more than once. They never slept together but his thoughts were just disturbing to me. Plus he was a bit of a jerk. Wait that is wrong. He was a total jerk. I hated him for most of the story and then he wants her back and is still blowing hot and cold. I just didn't like him. Yes there was an HEA and shows them seven years later but I just kept thinking how easy he left them before, for 10 months no less . And the writing seemed improved too.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 10, 2023
No Grovel
Ugh. The H was just an arrogant jerk and never really acted like what he did was bad. And the h was a doormat.
Ugh. The H was just an arrogant jerk and never really acted like what he did was bad. And the h was a doormat.
br-on-the-rocks
January 25, 2025I know I read this
March 26, 2024
I am really puzzled. The book is another case of very poor psychological insight.
The hero has been married for 18 years to the heroine and suddenly he decides he misses his college wild years and leaves the heroine and their children.
Hes infatuated with a more glamorous woman that he parades everywhere without regards for her and the children. The woman is kind of nasty but I couldn’t hate her as I did the hero. She wanted the hero to have custody of his son while the daughter should stay with her mother, because she was jealous of the girl. The hero goes along with this idiocy. The heroine has also had a secret job, she’s a seamstress, she kept this job a secret because imo she never trusted her husband ex manwhore totally, which makes her a very smart woman, so now she opens a shop as a seamstress. The hero is also a very bad father, he doesn’t want his son to study art and design and thinks it’s the heroines fault if he doesn’t want to be an accountant like him. I rest my case. The hero is a pompous conceited ass, not an ounce of remorse for splitting his family, not a real cause beside the fact that his puny weak ego was flattered by this ow attentions. It’s all about himself. He doesn’t care if the heroine is alone with two children, he seems to be angry with her for trapping him, btw when they married he was about thirty and the heroine was not pregnant so why he thinks she trapped him, I wouldn’t know.
The worst part is when they all are attending his company’s Christmas party, and he’s at the main table with ow at his side, and he doesn’t even greet them, not the heroine nor his own children.
The man is one of the worst heroes I’ve read of.
Had I been the heroine I would have taken him to the cleaners that in the end he didn’t even own a pair of socks anymore.
And of course he’s jealous because om are kind to his discarded wife.
In the end he realizes he’s wrong and goes back to his family but it’s all very bad and wrong, he doesn’t even apologize and he acts like a little bitch when the heroine doesn’t immediately take him back. Again, I would have divorced his sorry ass and taken half of his company and most of his assets.
The book is inconsistent, again, the heroines feelings are downplayed and overlooked, the hero is unforgivable and nasty with his own children and even if he doesn’t have sex with ow to me it’s a worst cheating because he wined and dined her officially to all his friends and associates and he wasn’t even dicvorced. He keeps getting angry with the heroine and he belittles her new job and her accomplishments, all this without a real cause. He was the one to leave and he was the one to cheat, the heroine was always by his side and has no faults, but he’s always mean to her and always thinks the worst of her. A man like this doesn’t deserve anything beside a nasty divorce. And the heroine takes him back with a minimum fuss. What is wrong with these female authors?
The hero has been married for 18 years to the heroine and suddenly he decides he misses his college wild years and leaves the heroine and their children.
Hes infatuated with a more glamorous woman that he parades everywhere without regards for her and the children. The woman is kind of nasty but I couldn’t hate her as I did the hero. She wanted the hero to have custody of his son while the daughter should stay with her mother, because she was jealous of the girl. The hero goes along with this idiocy. The heroine has also had a secret job, she’s a seamstress, she kept this job a secret because imo she never trusted her husband ex manwhore totally, which makes her a very smart woman, so now she opens a shop as a seamstress. The hero is also a very bad father, he doesn’t want his son to study art and design and thinks it’s the heroines fault if he doesn’t want to be an accountant like him. I rest my case. The hero is a pompous conceited ass, not an ounce of remorse for splitting his family, not a real cause beside the fact that his puny weak ego was flattered by this ow attentions. It’s all about himself. He doesn’t care if the heroine is alone with two children, he seems to be angry with her for trapping him, btw when they married he was about thirty and the heroine was not pregnant so why he thinks she trapped him, I wouldn’t know.
The worst part is when they all are attending his company’s Christmas party, and he’s at the main table with ow at his side, and he doesn’t even greet them, not the heroine nor his own children.
The man is one of the worst heroes I’ve read of.
Had I been the heroine I would have taken him to the cleaners that in the end he didn’t even own a pair of socks anymore.
And of course he’s jealous because om are kind to his discarded wife.
In the end he realizes he’s wrong and goes back to his family but it’s all very bad and wrong, he doesn’t even apologize and he acts like a little bitch when the heroine doesn’t immediately take him back. Again, I would have divorced his sorry ass and taken half of his company and most of his assets.
The book is inconsistent, again, the heroines feelings are downplayed and overlooked, the hero is unforgivable and nasty with his own children and even if he doesn’t have sex with ow to me it’s a worst cheating because he wined and dined her officially to all his friends and associates and he wasn’t even dicvorced. He keeps getting angry with the heroine and he belittles her new job and her accomplishments, all this without a real cause. He was the one to leave and he was the one to cheat, the heroine was always by his side and has no faults, but he’s always mean to her and always thinks the worst of her. A man like this doesn’t deserve anything beside a nasty divorce. And the heroine takes him back with a minimum fuss. What is wrong with these female authors?
May 30, 2025
Katie and Brogan have been married almost 20 years. They have 15-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, Mitch and Libby. One day Mitch makes a comment about wanting to study art and not become a "boring accountant like Dad."
This comment started Brogan on a midlife crisis. He asked for a separation to get them out of their rut. Katie didn't know they were in a rut. Brogan said they could reevaluate in a few weeks. He's been gone for six months. Recently, he started dating someone he met through work, Pippa.
Katie accepts that they are not going to reevaluate anything or get back together. She starts moving on with her life. She was a stay at home mom with a little side hustle doing alterations and sewing, and she opens a full time business to start making more income.
This is where it gets weird. The kids don't think either parent is paying enough attention to them. So they decide to run away over the Christmas break, and make each parent believe they are staying with the other parent, so the parents don't realize they are missing.
Right before Christmas, Brogan decides to bring Pippa and Katie to the company Xmas party, with the kids present. It was the weirdest thing I've ever read. There was no reason for Katie to be invited in the first place, especially if he was going with Pippa as his date. It was truly bizarre.
So, over the Xmas break, the kids go forward with their plan, and one day Brogan shows up at Kattie's house to see the kids, and they aren't there. Katie doesn't understand why the kids aren't with Brogan. Luckily, the kids ran away to a lakeside cottage where they have stayed before, and the neighbor who recognizes them calls Katie's landline to tell her what's going on. So this part of the story is what the blurb is about, but actually it is resolved pretty quickly.
So now that the kids are back home safe, Brogan wants his family back and wants to move back in. But Katie isn't so sure. She continues sniping at him because she's hurt and angry. Instead of apologizing or having a conversation, he just says, "This will only work if you're prepared to meet
me half way." I'm sorry, sir, what? You're getting ahead of yourself. She never said she wanted it to work.
There are several more scenes like this where it's obvious he just wants things to go back to normal without him having to make an effort. He thinks all the right things, like his family is the most important thing, he shouldn't belittle his wife, etc., but he can't humble himself to say any of that. He makes an apology after an argument, when Katie and the kids had spent the night at his parents house to let him cool off, and he didn't like being alone. They all just decide to forgive him and move on.
One thing I thought was cute was that they never did anything without having their breakfast and tea first. Kids are missing? I'll make breakfast, then we can find out if they were kidnapped. Marriage ending? I'll put on the kettle and make some toast. It was funny.
This comment started Brogan on a midlife crisis. He asked for a separation to get them out of their rut. Katie didn't know they were in a rut. Brogan said they could reevaluate in a few weeks. He's been gone for six months. Recently, he started dating someone he met through work, Pippa.
Katie accepts that they are not going to reevaluate anything or get back together. She starts moving on with her life. She was a stay at home mom with a little side hustle doing alterations and sewing, and she opens a full time business to start making more income.
This is where it gets weird. The kids don't think either parent is paying enough attention to them. So they decide to run away over the Christmas break, and make each parent believe they are staying with the other parent, so the parents don't realize they are missing.
Right before Christmas, Brogan decides to bring Pippa and Katie to the company Xmas party, with the kids present. It was the weirdest thing I've ever read. There was no reason for Katie to be invited in the first place, especially if he was going with Pippa as his date. It was truly bizarre.
So, over the Xmas break, the kids go forward with their plan, and one day Brogan shows up at Kattie's house to see the kids, and they aren't there. Katie doesn't understand why the kids aren't with Brogan. Luckily, the kids ran away to a lakeside cottage where they have stayed before, and the neighbor who recognizes them calls Katie's landline to tell her what's going on. So this part of the story is what the blurb is about, but actually it is resolved pretty quickly.
So now that the kids are back home safe, Brogan wants his family back and wants to move back in. But Katie isn't so sure. She continues sniping at him because she's hurt and angry. Instead of apologizing or having a conversation, he just says, "This will only work if you're prepared to meet
me half way." I'm sorry, sir, what? You're getting ahead of yourself. She never said she wanted it to work.
There are several more scenes like this where it's obvious he just wants things to go back to normal without him having to make an effort. He thinks all the right things, like his family is the most important thing, he shouldn't belittle his wife, etc., but he can't humble himself to say any of that. He makes an apology after an argument, when Katie and the kids had spent the night at his parents house to let him cool off, and he didn't like being alone. They all just decide to forgive him and move on.
One thing I thought was cute was that they never did anything without having their breakfast and tea first. Kids are missing? I'll make breakfast, then we can find out if they were kidnapped. Marriage ending? I'll put on the kettle and make some toast. It was funny.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 17, 2025
2.5 Stars 🌟 For the angst ✨️
Loathe the hero for the majority of the book. This man truly thought that him leaving his wife and kids for 10 months wasn't a big deal; his cheating was just a little mistake, lol. He said this to the heroine just a few days of him coming back. 'As I said, Katie, we will take this reconciliation at your pace, but I will not spend the rest of my life apologizing for one idiotic mistake'. With everything he put his wife and children through, he honestly didn't deserve a second chance.
p.s If you're expecting groveling or a strong woman... sadly, you won't find it here. The heroine is spineless, a true doormat.
Loathe the hero for the majority of the book. This man truly thought that him leaving his wife and kids for 10 months wasn't a big deal; his cheating was just a little mistake, lol. He said this to the heroine just a few days of him coming back. 'As I said, Katie, we will take this reconciliation at your pace, but I will not spend the rest of my life apologizing for one idiotic mistake'. With everything he put his wife and children through, he honestly didn't deserve a second chance.
p.s If you're expecting groveling or a strong woman... sadly, you won't find it here. The heroine is spineless, a true doormat.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 9, 2023
Brogan Cameron felt his life with wife Kate and twins Mitchell and Libby needed an extra spark. Since his son thought he was boring he left his family in search of his old playboy lifestyle. After nineteen years of marriage to a doormat wife Brogan wants to keep company with a glamorous fashion plate.
Why Kate would entertain a reconciliation without his groveling is beyond me.
Why Kate would entertain a reconciliation without his groveling is beyond me.
January 4, 2023
Mom knows best!
I enjoyed this book. It gave a realistic version of a marriage where kind partner thinks the grass is greener on the other side. Loved the strength and independence of the wife. A really good story.
I enjoyed this book. It gave a realistic version of a marriage where kind partner thinks the grass is greener on the other side. Loved the strength and independence of the wife. A really good story.
April 11, 2025
A second chance
This was an incredibly and interesting novel. It focus on a husband that decided that he is missing something from his eighteen years old marriage. The family struggles with father's moving out the home.
This was an incredibly and interesting novel. It focus on a husband that decided that he is missing something from his eighteen years old marriage. The family struggles with father's moving out the home.
September 24, 2023
Oldies
February 21, 2025
This book is about cheating but couldn't handle how it was always so "proper". I think I'm just over people cheating and being taken back into the relationship with open arms.
December 6, 2025
I cannot express just how important punctuation is. The book was adequate, if a little dull. But NO DAMN PUNCTUATION!!
December 16, 2025
This is a strange second chances book - absurd too imo.
So much is glossed over - no accountability for the deserting, cheating and absurdly seething loser.
And he remains a blustering, bumbling ass till the end.
Very strangely, we are to believe there's been no physical cheating despite a 10-month separation, and he had a gf in that period- a glamorous arm candy/'hostess'.
Stretching it too far imo.
Some random details -
Why is he so angry?
He is such a pos, he never has a remote thought about anyone but himself - simply no empathy for his wife, son, daughter, PA, parents or even the ow. It is all about him. The cold viperous ow suited him best actually.
So, he leaves home abruptly one day, triggered only by his 15 yo son telling him how boring he was!
So to recapture pre-marital his lady's man ways, he dumps his family and moves into a company apartment and begins a 'dalliance' with the sophisticated ow. Again, we are to believe that even 8-10 months into the public 'affair', it is still platonic btw them?
The silly fmc believes it platonic too - thinking that if he has slept with the ow , then it is all over. Why, pray, is his celibacy even an open option after so many months, to her mind?
And how does she know that it is so?
Also, what made me most mad was how he treated his 15 yo kids more than the fmc/wife.
Like, how ignores them and even lets the ow bully them or lets her decide things for them, even how or which of the two kids would live with 'them' or who with their mom in the near future... why is the viper even at his apartment every time the kids visit - since they are not living together really.
'Live with them'--- was that even in play? So, he was moving on with the ow?
Then, he rides roughshod over his son's preference for arts over accounting - on which even his dad calls BS because he followed accounting rather than medicine like his dad.
I think the worst scenes happened around the company christmas party --he invites his wife and twin kids but decides to make a public statement about him being with the ow. He seats his family at another table and takes the ow to the main table with him. He sees ppl speculate but lets them infer for themselves.
Is it possible for a 'good man' to ever hurt and humiliate his family like this? Completely irredeemable imo!
He sees them arrive but doesn't acknowledge them - Libby (daughter) was ashamed and angry her father had not even bothered to come and welcome them even though he knew they were there.'...
"but it was the look of sadness on Libby’s face which affected him more."
So, supposedly he sees that his actions have hurt his kids but he still keeps his distance till later when he finally dances with the daughter.
Post party -
He learns after this party that it was his wife who always made the decorations for the event and throws a snit.
'He looked at the decorations sitting on the bookshelf as if mocking him and he lifted his hand and swept them all to the floor and left the office. ‘You will find some rubbish lying on the floor of my office please make sure it is cleared by the time I return.’
Redeemable?
I also don't understand how and why did she keep her 'job' and earnings a secret from him?
Like she was altering and making curtains and making money for past several years (through all 18 years of marriage?) Not believable that in a supposedly happy marriage a wife would keep such things secret - for years.
Also she was making those ornate decorations for the office christmas party for years, and again he had no clue?
HOW? WHY?
And the kids were selfish brats!
Okay, so the situation hurt them but what about their mom?
They started out with being suportive her and her endeavor to restart her career, but then began feeling neglected and resentful ... even though she was taking time out for them and their routine despite working so many hours.
Poor fmc - only her in laws or the mmc's PA, a good friend understood her.
Like I said earlier - how and why everyone, including the kids, assumed that at the mmc had not had s*x with the ow ?
Was he sending out memos?
>'Dad does not want Pippa Skelton otherwise he would already have her in his bed.'
🙄
Some rough s*x - and he is taken back - just like that!
All in all, a very vintage-y book - in tone and plot.
So much is glossed over - no accountability for the deserting, cheating and absurdly seething loser.
And he remains a blustering, bumbling ass till the end.
Very strangely, we are to believe there's been no physical cheating despite a 10-month separation, and he had a gf in that period- a glamorous arm candy/'hostess'.
Stretching it too far imo.
Some random details -
Why is he so angry?
He is such a pos, he never has a remote thought about anyone but himself - simply no empathy for his wife, son, daughter, PA, parents or even the ow. It is all about him. The cold viperous ow suited him best actually.
So, he leaves home abruptly one day, triggered only by his 15 yo son telling him how boring he was!
So to recapture pre-marital his lady's man ways, he dumps his family and moves into a company apartment and begins a 'dalliance' with the sophisticated ow. Again, we are to believe that even 8-10 months into the public 'affair', it is still platonic btw them?
The silly fmc believes it platonic too - thinking that if he has slept with the ow , then it is all over. Why, pray, is his celibacy even an open option after so many months, to her mind?
And how does she know that it is so?
Also, what made me most mad was how he treated his 15 yo kids more than the fmc/wife.
Like, how ignores them and even lets the ow bully them or lets her decide things for them, even how or which of the two kids would live with 'them' or who with their mom in the near future... why is the viper even at his apartment every time the kids visit - since they are not living together really.
'Live with them'--- was that even in play? So, he was moving on with the ow?
Then, he rides roughshod over his son's preference for arts over accounting - on which even his dad calls BS because he followed accounting rather than medicine like his dad.
I think the worst scenes happened around the company christmas party --he invites his wife and twin kids but decides to make a public statement about him being with the ow. He seats his family at another table and takes the ow to the main table with him. He sees ppl speculate but lets them infer for themselves.
Is it possible for a 'good man' to ever hurt and humiliate his family like this? Completely irredeemable imo!
He sees them arrive but doesn't acknowledge them - Libby (daughter) was ashamed and angry her father had not even bothered to come and welcome them even though he knew they were there.'...
"but it was the look of sadness on Libby’s face which affected him more."
So, supposedly he sees that his actions have hurt his kids but he still keeps his distance till later when he finally dances with the daughter.
Post party -
He learns after this party that it was his wife who always made the decorations for the event and throws a snit.
'He looked at the decorations sitting on the bookshelf as if mocking him and he lifted his hand and swept them all to the floor and left the office. ‘You will find some rubbish lying on the floor of my office please make sure it is cleared by the time I return.’
Redeemable?
I also don't understand how and why did she keep her 'job' and earnings a secret from him?
Like she was altering and making curtains and making money for past several years (through all 18 years of marriage?) Not believable that in a supposedly happy marriage a wife would keep such things secret - for years.
Also she was making those ornate decorations for the office christmas party for years, and again he had no clue?
HOW? WHY?
And the kids were selfish brats!
Okay, so the situation hurt them but what about their mom?
They started out with being suportive her and her endeavor to restart her career, but then began feeling neglected and resentful ... even though she was taking time out for them and their routine despite working so many hours.
Poor fmc - only her in laws or the mmc's PA, a good friend understood her.
Like I said earlier - how and why everyone, including the kids, assumed that at the mmc had not had s*x with the ow ?
Was he sending out memos?
>'Dad does not want Pippa Skelton otherwise he would already have her in his bed.'
🙄
Some rough s*x - and he is taken back - just like that!
All in all, a very vintage-y book - in tone and plot.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 9, 2025
This story kept me enthralled but was rather deficient in its descriptions of the hero's character. What a pompous, arrogant asshole. And even in their "reconciliation" he didn't change. Finally at the end you began to see a softening of his heart, but he still demanded his wife get with the program and forgive his little mistake (leaving her and his children for another woman) and come to bed. So I loved the story but the hero's attitude was wanting. Yet his authority in his marriage ruled the roost and he did eat humble pie.
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