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Evie Grant has been widowed for a decade, her two kids are now both in college, and she’s still working a dead-end job with an intolerable boss. She is going through the motions, staying afloat. She and her best friend, Rachel, have the memory of what was both an amazing and tragic visit to New York City as young adults to reflect on, and the idea of being able to go back to that magic city is tantalizing but generally not something they consider. But when a development occurs related to that tragic part of their visit, they decide rather impulsively to return to the Big Apple. It’s a way to give some closure to that tough time and to enjoy the famous sights once again, this time during the Christmas season: Rockefeller Center with its ice rink, Christmas lights and displays everywhere. And since Evie’s sister, Kate, lives there now, they have a place to stay and an extra incentive for a visit.
Evie hasn’t been interested in any men she’s met since her husband, Tom, died. He was a good husband and father, and they were in love and very happy. She does have one “what if” former boyfriend, however, from her college days, and that’s Daniel Roberts, whom she met in theater classes and who is now, just as he’d hoped, a big Hollywood star. And, amazingly and completely improbably, she bumps into him in a bookstore (one of her favorite places, of course) in New York. And he expresses interest in her. She does feel some interest, but it also feels very much like she’s betraying her husband, even after all the years it’s been. Can she allow herself to love again? That’s the big question of the book.
City of Second Chances is a love letter from a Brit to New York City and one of those very unlikely stories you have to suspend belief to appreciate. I don’t have a problem with suspending belief when I want to just dive in and enjoy a good romance. But this story didn’t click for me at all. The author doesn’t make me feel Evie’s feelings that she had for her husband; the story is written in first person, and Evie just keeps saying how much she loved her husband. But the book doesn’t show sufficiently anything about their past and their connection that makes the reader feel how much they shared as a couple. Same goes for Evie’s story with Daniel, the new/old love. Too much is told rather than shown. I didn’t get swept away, I didn’t get to fall in love again along with Evie; I just read what she had to say. It didn’t move me at all. Too bad.
Rated: High. There are several dozen instances of strong language (that just feel so unnecessary, which is particularly galling when I come across them; f-words are bad enough, but when they’re just peppered throughout without any real “reason” it annoys me even more). Sexual content includes references to and jokes about self-pleasuring and one sex scene that’s moderately detailed. There are references to affairs in the lives of several characters.
*I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
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