Member Reviews

Hank and Ella are ex-lovers, but their relationship is far from over for either of them. Both have lingering regrets about the way their relationship ended, and when the chance comes up to reconnect, they take it, although both have serious doubts. With the encouragement of their friends and family, though, they take up together for a week in Ella’s new home of Charleston, where she has joined up with "Two Love Lane” series veterans to run a matchmaking business.

Filled with Kieran Kramer’s trademark Charleston atmosphere, and a fast paced love story. This is an entertaining read for lovers of contemporary romance.

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3.5 Stars
This is my first time reading a book by this author. Thankfully I was able to keep up with no problem. I want to go back and read the rest of this series.

Ella works at Two Love Lane as a matchmaker and is also involved in the community theater. After a break up with her boyfriend she relocated to Charleston to start over.

Now years later they reconnect and the chemistry is still there. This was a sweet romance that I enjoyed. I plan to go back and read the first two books in this series. These books can be read as a standalone.

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Ella and Hank come face to face 10 years after their devastating breakup. Ella has moved to Charleston and is a partner in a dating service. She is content with her life but does think about Hank often. Hank has become a big Hollywood star and has never forgotten Ella either. When a move role comes his way again, he decides to take it and face Ella. Hank realizes that he wants a second chance but knows Ella will not be so easy to win over. Ella carries a lot of resentment towards Hank and makes no apologies for letting everyone know it. When Hank shows up, Ella is surprised to discover the depth of feelings she still has for him. When Hank proposes that they see what happens, Ella will have to make a decision on what to do. You will have to read the book to find out what choices each of them make. I will say the book was pretty sweet and had a great feel to it.
I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.

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Ella Mancini not only broke up with the love of her life, she also did the one thing that she promised her late father that she would never do; She gave up her dreams and lost her chance at stardom. She may have found another path in life as the co-owner of a matchmaking business in Charleston, but she still feels the loss of the career that she had promised her late father that she would pursue. A career that she wouldn’t let any man take from her or stand in her way. Many years later the man who is responsible for it all, the man that not only broke her heart and shattered her dreams comes to town and offers her a part in his new movie. But will Ella be able to keep her mind and heart only on business or will she again let Hank have her heart and let him take away her dreams?

Hank Rogers is a Hollywood heartthrob and any movie he stars in is guaranteed to generate big bucks. He may be a big star now but there is one person who knows him from way back when when he was a bus boy at Serendipity 3. And even though he has travelled the world and many years have passed, he still hasn’t been able to forget Ella and the time they spent together. When a movie brings him to Charleston and gives him the opportunity to star in a movie together, the flame is rekindled and Ella finds herself matched ;)

It seems that all of the three matchmakers of Two Love Lane are matched. Such a heartwarming series. Not only the main characters, but also the secondary characters are colourful and delightful. I love Miss Thing and can easily say that she is my favourite character in the series. A touching series that will leave you warm and fuzzy inside.

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Ella and Hank and everyone else at Two Love Lane are very charming. This is a fun, light romance full of interesting characters. I've ordered all 3 books for the shop and look forwward to handselling these titles. Hooray for happy endings!

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Second Chance At Two Love Lane by Kieran Kramer is the third installment of the contemporary romance Two Love Lane series but can be read as a stand-alone novel. Ella and Hank fall in love while supporting one another through struggle careers in the entertainment business. When great opportunities arise for both, Ella declines the job and Hank accepts one, which launches him into stardom. After 10 years, the two reconnect and their spark gets re-ignited.

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A sweet story of Ella and Hank getting their second chance in love. Secondary characters were interesting.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

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This was definitely the best in the series. The writing was polished, and although the plot line was familiar I was very much looking forward to reading it.

The book began well with strong introductions of both main characters, a recap of their past and the setup for their present interaction. However I found I had the same problem with Ella as I had with Macy and Greer (although not to the same extent). Ultimately she wanted everything all her own way. She was content to be miserable without Hank rather than be the one to suggest some sort of compromise and that really really annoyed me! I understood that she had been badly hurt before by putting him before her own self interest, but this time it was as though she was incapable of even trying to meet in the middle! It was dressed up as Ella knowing herself and being proud of the life and career she had built, but I felt I made her appear selfish. It meant that I wasn't really invested in their HEA which was a shame as the story had a lot of promise.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher*

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I always enjoy second chance romances and Ella Mancini and Hank Rogers are reuniting after a ten year separation. There's the magic of Two Love Lane and its matchmakers as well as family history and drama to help these two appreciate their love. I wanted Ella and Hank to overcome their career obstacles and find their happily ever after and the ending was extremely satisfying. I wish that there were more stories in the series!

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an ARC; all opinions are my own.

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The third book in the Two Love Lane series introduces the reader to Hank and Ella, a couple who were apart for ten years, appear, after a while, to pick up as though no time passed between them. The setting is Charleston, South Carolina, and the Two Love Lane matchmaking agency where two of the owners, all now good friends, try to push Ella, another owner, into a relationship.

Ella always wanted a career as an actress but missed out on a big part while hoping her boyfriend, Hank would ask for her hand in marriage. Instead, he had left town before looking for fame, leaving Ella high and dry and with a broken heart.

Now, after all this time, she is offered a tiny part in a movie. This excites her, but she is also anxious when she learns Hank is to be the lead. She still feels an attraction to him, but what will happen now that they're thrust together again? After all, he took off, and if they reconnect, what's to say, he won't leave and break her heart again?

Surrounded by her large and loving family and friends, Ella is happy with her life. She works at the dating agency, picks up small commercials, and acting in plays, though her heartstrings still tug after Hank. Can he give up his own selfish needs and desires and realize he and Ella belong together?

Subplots which include the characters, Miss Thing (that's right!), Pammy and Samantha, add excitement and humor, and Ella's mom's part supplied heartache. Hank's character grates on one's nerves and he deserves a good kick in the backside, but it's the emotions and angst divided among all the payers that carry this novel to its satisfying conclusion.

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This is the first book I have read by this author. It is well written with interesting and complex characters, set in Charlestown with its old-world charm and good manners. There is humour and a sense that life is one long adventure. However, despite the blurb on this book, I found it to be very slow moving and the connection between Hank and Ella wasn't nearly as strong as Ella's friendship and loyalty towards her friends and family. This is not a book to be read in one sitting, as it is more like a painting that slowly comes to life. The story is a standalone and comes to a happy conclusion. I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and this is my honest and voluntary review.

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This is a wonderful romance. I loved reading about Ella and her matchmaking business. Pammy was a great character and I really liked Hank and Samantha. I enjoyed seeing a little bit of how a movie is created. I loved the nonnas and how they were. This book had a lot of parts to it and they worked well together. I received a copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.

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Hank and Ella had an affair 10 years ago. It didn't end well as Hank took off to pursue a career in the movies, leaving Ella behind, dumping her instead of proposing, after she'd given up her big chance for him. She found her way to Charleston and started a matchmaking service with her 3 best friends and acting in community theater. Suddenly Hank is back in her life, filming part of a movie in Charleston, offering her a very small part in the movie as well. They both fought a second chance at romance, until people told them to let go (of the past) and love.

I wasn't too enamored of Hank at the beginning but came around, understanding why he did what he did, and enjoying his doubts about his choice of career. Ella is correct in saying that they'd both changed over the ten years, and that she wasn't the same person now -- but they still love one another. The book just ended, I thought there'd be another page but it just stopped!

I received a copy on NetGalley.

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Ella and Hank are two actors who were trying to make it big. While Ella passed on the chance for maybe her big break for love, Hank decided to go his own way to further his career. This caused the rift between the two and they haven't contacted each other since. Now he's back in town for a movie and she is no longer an actor but a Matchmaker and he's offering her a chance to work I was an actress alongside a famous actress and she takes up the offer.

I love a good second chance at love book. And this book was no different. I love the characters. I love seeing the connection between the two and at times things got a bit steamy. I love seeing the family interactions. I love that there was a bit the drama. I love how supportive many people were in helping one another. Overall I thought this was a pretty good book I really enjoyed it.

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Two Love Lane #3, I enjoy books romances about actors, it's my high school theatre geek coming out. All Ella wanted to be growing up was a famous actress but when she got the chance to finally make her break she chose love over acting and then got her heart broken. Hank Rogers wanted nothing more than to prove his parents wrong and that he could become a famous actor and he did but at the cost of losing the love of his life. Hank never forgot Ella and he deeply regretting the way things ended but when the chance to make amends crosses his path he almost turned down the part. Now Hank and Ella are finally in the same city at the same time and as luck would have it staying in the same house.

Hank's cousin, Pammy, just moved to Charleston and introduced herself to Ella they struck up a fast friendship so when Ella's relatives from Italy kick her out of her own apartment she offers up her place. Unfortunately when Hank accepts the role in the new movie they are filming in Charleston Pammy offers him a room too. Ella is on the verge of walking out to find a new place to stay when Hank bribes her into stay buy saying there's a part for her in the movie. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth Ella accepts now all she has to do it keep her distance and not fall back in love with Hank.

With the help of a wannabe matchmaker actress, whose basically the equivalent of Helen Mirren and Dame Judi Dench, Hank and Ella find themselves falling back in love but with their two seperate lives now can they fit each other into their lives or is Hank going to chose his career over her again. Overall, this was such a fun and enjoyable read that pulled at all the right heartstrings. Aside from her romance with Hank Ella has some family issues that come up that are really emotional and so she ends up not only struggling with her feeling for Hank but with her mother. I love the Nonnas! they were a great comic relief and Pammy was adorable. This series so far has been such great reading I really do hope this wasn't the last one and I want to find out what happened in Italy.

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Ella Mancini had always wanted to be an actress, and is now a matchmaker in Charleston as well as acting in plays. Once upon a time, she had the opportunity for stardom but had passed on an audition waiting for a proposal from her boyfriend Hank, which never came. Instead, he had taken his opportunity to enter Hollywood and is a leading star. His next movie is filming in Charleston, and the leading lady is trying to fix up the two of them. Now he has to prove that Ella really is the important one in his life.

There is a whole series of "Two Love Lane" books, which I hadn't read before. As the name of a matchmaking business, it's the perfect setup for a series of romance novels. Ella is firmly ensconced in her business and with her extended family, which is really endearing to read about. She makes friends easily, and there are certainly quite a few characters in town that are wonderful as well. Hank is not demonized for his ambition to be a movie star, and the only thing he's really taken to task for is forgetting her birthday and leaving her in the lurch. He gets off pretty easily for the breakup, though Ella is aware of that. The two still love each other, and ten years' distance hasn't changed that.

I like that this story takes into account the difficulties in making a romantic relationship work, especially when demanding careers are involved. Their physical and emotional compatibility isn't the source of conflict here, and they do have honest conversations about their goals and what they want. I don't see that often enough in romance novels, and it's done in such a way that it's true to their characters as well as their hopes for the future.

If all of the books are done in this way, I need to pick them up for a read the next time I'm in the mood for a comfortable romance novel.

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Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. Ella is a matchmaker at a house at Two Love Lane and is also an actress, involved with community theater in Charleston, SC. I liked this but book but did not love it.

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Ella Mancini’s move to Charleston ten years earlier had been a good decision. Her large Italian family followed her there from New York, her matchmaking agency was doing well, and she was even able to pursue her dream of acting through the community theater. Still, the thought of the role she turned down and Hank, the reason she turned it down, were never far from her mind. When Hank’s cousin Pammy moves to town, followed closely by Hank’s appearance in town for a movie role, Ella must examine her heart and decide exactly what is most important to her.

Let me preface this by saying this is the third in a series, and I have not read the first two books, though it reads well as a stand-alone. This is a nice book. The people are pleasant and polite, the setting is beautiful, and there are no real earth shattering issues that change the trajectory of the story (outside of the paternity thing, but even that is a side note). I just didn’t feel a connection to the characters or the storyline. I did feel that some of the scenarios were a stretch, like Ella going to stay with Pammy after just meeting her (isn’t there a Holiday Inn or Best Western in town?) and all the relatives converging from Sicily at the exact moment Hank is filming in town, forcing him to also stay with Pammy (Or a Hilton? A Marriott?) Anyway, I liked the book, but I wasn’t bowled over by it.

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This was a cute read. I loved the romance between Hank and Ella, it was a cute plot. Unique characters in this story help to bring it to life. I haven't read the other books in the series, but I didn't feel lost. This book can be read as a stand alone.

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Having rated book 2 of this series 4 stars, despite some aspects I try to avoid in my romantic reads, the twists and turns intrigued me enough to incline me to give book 3 a second shot at this series.

Maybe it was just me, folks, but I found the narrative way this one started out to be rather sing sony, fairy tale-ish. I couldn’t help but picture baby blue birds twittering about while Mr. Narrator spoke of Ella and her papa’s ritual trips to a particular restaurant. Sure it was sweet, but I found myself wondering why it was briefly scripted that way in the beginning. It didn’t match the feel of the rest of the writing.

Having left Ella for his own selfish reasons ten years ago had me already hankering to give Hank, the hero, a hard time. He left the supposed love of his life high and dry because, even though they shared the same dream of becoming famous actors, his desire for fame and fortune burned brighter and hotter than his love for her. We are told he loved her, and it was hard to cut her out of his life completely, but he had to. Poor thing, he couldn’t be distracted for a single second from being a Hollywood hero. We were simply supposed to accept his pea brain notion that because he told her to go off and do the same made his actions at the time OK. Yeah, he regretted doing so but letting ten years go by and do nothing to correct what easily could have been remedied. Sorry, I can’t help but shake my head in dismay over that set-up.

Finding out about Ella’s big sacrifice to stay with him and the fact he dumped her on a day she should have been celebrating, which he didn’t even remember, well, that is so not cool I don’t even know where to begin, especially since they had lived together and had a particularly scary yet bonding moment. As it was build up to even more relationship angst, I just had to roll with it.

Hank’s been living the life of Riley for years while Ella also has made a mark in the world in her own way. She may not be a household name or have a Hollywood star to glorify it but she’s got family, friends, occasional acts in community plays/commercials, and works with a posse of great, supportive friends in their match making business. So except for the dark shadow that still haunts her heart, at least she’s found a way to be happy.

Honestly though, it didn’t seem realistic to me she kept claiming even if she became famous she would still cling to her love connection job, meaning juggle the two vastly different occupations. There are only 24 hours in a day, afterall.

About midway through, I found Hank’s determination to win her back still hadn’t completely soothed my resentment towards his past knucklehead decision to love himself more than Ella. He can call it whatever he wants, but that is what it felt like to me. To top it all off, it actually took someone to nudge him in the right direction to finally seek her out again. You see, he was still in avoidance mode, not that they travelled in the same set of circles.

The sideline, drawn out, lengthy discussions of a client who had a weird hurdle to overcome had me wanting to throw in the towel. She was a somewhat interesting character, but it was a distraction from the main couple plot proceeding that felt unnecessary. Perhaps it was a set-up for the next book.

If you are a lover of relationship angst and don’t mind the hero being 100% at fault, well, here you go. At least Ella kept telling her heart not to trust him again. By 80%, I felt her faltering and bracing herself to get hurt again. When she initiated their hanky-panky late in the book, I wanted to tell her to put her clothes back on. Hank claimed to be committed to winning her back, but due to his movie making schedule, he was only allowing a week to do so. How big of him, my fellow romance book loving friends. Wipe out ten years of love lost with less than ten days, because he had other places to be. Isn't that line of thinking what got him in this mess to begin with? That hardly felt like determination to get the girl to me.

Here’s to hoping others really like this book. I did enjoy parts of it, though it was more slow paced than I expected. I just struggled with letting go and forgiving such a knucklehead decision ten years ago.

Title: Second Chance at Two Love Lane, Series: Two Love Lane (Book 3), Author: Kieran Kramer, Pages: 336, second chance, never should have left her, slow paced, steamy scenes late in the book.

Book 1 - Christmas at Two Love Lane
Book 2 - A Wedding at Two Love Lane
Book 3 - Second Chance at Two Love Lane

(I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not given any payment or compensation for this review, nor is there any affiliation or relationship between this reviewer and the author/publisher/NetGalley.)

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