This book was okay. I liked parts and didn't like some parts.
Sora hates Valentines Day. She is also a writer who pitches a series of articles on Going Solo for the month of February. Almost immediately she runs into Jack, a guy that used to have a crush on her in elementary school, but who has grown into a very hot looking man. But she can't right, she pledged to #GOSOLO.

I didn't care for the the body shamming that occurred in this book. Sora's mom has body image issues and projects them on to her daughter. It gets really bad as Sora's sister's wedding approaches. Even though it appears that Sora is okay with being a size 14, when the bridesmaid dress fitting incident occurs it feels to me like she really isn't quite as comfortable with it you are to believe.

I really liked how snarky Sora is though. Even though we don't get to know Jack very well, I like that he is portrayed as the hero. I also really liked how sappy this book is. I am a sucker for a sappy book, that is why I kept reading. I had to find out how it ended.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I throughly enjoyed this novel. In fact, it’s one of the few lately that has held my attention throughout the entire story. While I could see a few things coming, I never felt like rushing though it. I would definitely recommend it to friends.

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I had seen some bad reviews prior to starting this book so I went into this a little skeptical. While those other reviews were valid, this book is really just fine. This book really does talk about bacon WAY too much and is really not great when talking about plus sized people. There were sections of the book when the topic would come up and I would literally cringe.

This book was an insanely quick read (I literally read it in less than a day) so it was a good escape for a few hours. It definitely had its issues but I didn't hate it.

I really tried to love this book. I stopped and started reading multiple times, but unfortunately I could not get into it. I really liked the premise and had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately the characters really let me down. I struggled to relate to them and develop any kind of connection.

Thank you to the publisher for kindly providing me with an ARC via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I tried several times to try and make it through this book. I just wasn’t loving the story as much as I thought I would. I made it about 30% though before I decided to stop reading for good.

Thank you NetGalley for an early copy of this book to review.

After a series of bad exes and a hatred for Valentine’s Day, Sora Reid, a freelance writer has decided to pitch an idea to her job for the month of February.... she’ll go solo for the entire month. No more dates, no more guys, just time to focus on herself. Yet she then runs into an old elementary school friend Jack Mann, a gorgeous and sweet talented baker who is everything she could ever want. Jack is temptation personified for her, yet she has to resist because her article is making headway and #goingsolo is trending. Sora is gaining an audience from her entries and articles cataloging her month of going solo and she can’t betray her readers or risk her job.... Jack Mann has always had a crush on Sora ever since they were kids. So to his surprise when he runs into her again the butterflies are all there again. After a horrible Valentine’s day of his own he has broken up with his rich fiancee and is determined to work on starting up his own bakery.... but then he meets Sora and he can’t stay away. Both Sora and Jack are perfect for each other but with Sora having to be single and maintain her singledom for the entire month of February it’s getting difficult keeping him a secret and it also doesn’t help that Jack’s ex-fiancee is determined to get him back and meddle in the relationship. Is Sora willing risk everything for the perfect guy and can Jack convince her he is the one for her? This was a pretty cute story and I found Jack to be a sweet love interest, my one gripe with the book that dropped my rating was the fatphobia and the way Sora was so judgemental about people’s bodies and eating habits, like come on please. Like I understand what the author was trying to do with showing how Sora herself was dealing with issues and perception of bodyweight but gosh it just didn’t come off that great. Other than that, the actual story was pretty cute and the romance was sweet. Overall a cute read for Valentines day~!

*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

While Tanamachi's writing is funny and engaging I stopped reading this around five chapters in. The main character's fat phobia was off the charts. In the first few chapters she describes the (future) love interest as having a small beer belly "but not a gross one," and says she can "belly check" someone - while also stating she's a size 14.

If you love reading cute rom-com, this is the perfect book for you. I could not put it down, I had to see how it ended. Love it.

Debut book and I enjoyed it. Definitely recommend.

I received an ARC from NetGalley for an Honest Review.

Thank you.

Sorry Sora--looks like love found you anyway! What a cute read. I was excited just from reading the blurb, but it lacked a little of the character development I was hoping for. I was a little sad that they found size 14 to be a fat size since I am around that size and love my body. It was still a cute book for me to recommend to friends and family.

I wasn't particularly a fan of this book, not for it's plot, but for the writing itself. It felt a bit bland while also trying to use every descriptive detail ever. I didn't need to know that Sora's bed was her "office" so many times, it felt redundant at times.

I feel like if this book were better edited it would have scored much higher on my ratings, but because I felt like the writing was low-leveled it took away from reading this enjoyable plot.

I just loved this romantic comedy with all its funny/serious characters: the boss whose every statement is a question, the downstairs mean girl, the bridezilla sister, the downstairs frat boys, the too good to be true love interest, and the Go Solo February writer (Sora). The story is so engaging and sometimes just so funny. If Sora was a real person, I would love to meet her.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Sora has sworn off men for the month of February. So of course what would happen except for reconnecting with a man from her childhood??
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Enter Jack, the hot baker who’s had a crush on her since they were young. Now Sora has to decide if she is going to continue to #GoSolo or give this thing with Jack a chance.
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I read this whole book today so it’s safe to say that I would recommend picking it up when it’s released!
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🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

Very cute! This is a new author for me so I was a bit hesitant but it was so so good! The characters are well rounded and show good character development.

Absorbing romance with great characters....that feels stuck in about 2014.

Honestly, I loved most things about Tanamachi's novel. Sora is a well-written character whose voice I thought was very readable. Jack is a great romantic interest. He was easily the highlight of the book for me.

However, the book, as I said, felt...stuck in the past. Part of it was the heroine's obsession with bacon...which I thought we collectively got over as a culture a few years ago. Yes, it eventually ends up as a moment of character growth, but one that didn't really stick the landing for me. It wasn't a deal breaker, to be clear.

I thought we had also gotten over the "bashing other women" cliche....but nope. This is not a body positive book. Part of that is by design, since Sora's family is a toxic clusterf--. But Sora has so much internalized toxicity toward her body and other women that was never fully addressed that THAT was rather off-putting.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ebook ARC. All opinions are mine alone.

DNFing. Not invested in the story and the book’s rating is so abysmally low on Goodreads that I have no interest in continuing.

Sora is a freelance writer who hates Valentine's day due to the bad relationships she's had.
she decides to write an article about going solo for the month of February and practicing self care. The magazine that she freelances at is interested in daily articles on the subject and the response from the public is positive. When Sora reconnects classmate Jack, she is torn between solo February, pursuing a relationship with Jack and the reaction of her readers.
An enjoyable read.
#TheSecondYou'reSingle #NetGalley

I liked the idea of the book a lot, but not so much the execution. However I did enjoy and will speak positively of it!

The Second You’re Single by Cara Tanamachi could have been a really fun story. Instead, we learn early on that the author thinks bullying is okay, sometimes. See, the protagonist’s love interest had a nickname in grade school that he hadn’t earned because he was just a little chubby, not actually fat. The nickname, friends, rhymes with biggie, is a type of animal, and is often used to refer to size. I guess the author is telling us that, if the male love interest, Jack, had weighed more as a child, the nickname would have been appropriate. Apparently, some children deserve to be bullied.

It’s okay, though. The protagonist is fat too. She prefers men who are comfortably round, as long as they aren’t disgustingly overweight, which is not even the most repulsive statement in the book. Another thing that makes the body shaming okay is that the author has equally unkind things to say about the overly skinny, too. I learned while reading this book that the author thinks body shaming is fine as long as both ends of the weight spectrum are equally bullied.

This was enough to turn me off the book but I pushed through to the end to save you the time. It’s a public service activity. You don’t need to thank me.

In addition to the author’s biases (see above!), she relies on the lazy poor-communication-as-storytelling approach. Her hot mess of a protagonist swears off men for an entire month, basically a man-cleanse, and writes about her month-long journey. Early on that month, she reconnects with her grade school friend and sparks fly. She can’t keep her pants on for a single month. She can’t say to this potential partner, “Hey, I’m getting paid to do this thing and can’t really date this month. Let’s keep it casual and friendly for 28 days.” Instead of communicating with literally anyone, she lies to her editor, to her readers, to her love interest.

THEN, of course, the love interest communicates really badly with her too. He’s got this sexy ex who seems to have a lot of unaddressed mental health problems (yes, of course the author mocks these too) that, if she were a guy, would result in restraining orders and police visits. It’s funny if the woman is the toxic, potentially dangerous ex, right? But instead of talking to our protagonist, the love interest just continues to enable the ex, including inviting her to some stupid cooking award show that makes no sense but … hey, why not.

The storyline itself is a hot mess. I think the author couldn’t come up with enough legit story to make her word count. So she threw a whole bunch of poorly thought out stuff on the page and hoped we wouldn’t notice that there’s literally no story here. Jack’s super hot though, so there’s that.

I’m going to go off and mourn for what this story could have been. If you need me, I’ll be eating my feelings at the Costco sample tables. The elderly woman giving out the chocolate chip samples lets me have two cups.

I received a digital ARC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I read this book within a couple hours, if I didn't start at night I would have done so in one setting. The overall premise of the book is a great concept. Sora, a columnist, decides to give up men after a string of bad boyfriend, but just when she does so she reconnects with Jack, who has had a crush on her since kindergarten. She brings her readers along with her by challenging them to #GoSolo for the month of February.

However, she isn't able to follow through with her own challenge. Though it does lead her on a journey of self evaluation and discovery that gets her to a better emotional space in her life with herself, her neighbor, her friends, and her family.

I did have a few issue with the constant mention of bacon - just because it reminded me of the 2012 bacon as a personality craze that I thought we were over as a society. And I can see how food is mentioned problematically throughout. So I would caution against reading if you have a struggling relationship with food.

Otherwise, I would recommend this book to any single friend feeling a bit lost around valentines day.

A funny and peppy read! I laughed out loud several times. The character's voices were distinct, even if the story is a little predictable. A contemporary story with a good cast of characters, something happening on every page.

Fade to black scenes, but good chemistry between the main characters.

I was provided an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.