I received an e-arc of this book as well as won an arc on Goodreads. Despite that, I could not get into this book and felt that the premise fell entirely flat. The synopsis was far more attractive than the actual book was - and the actual book read like a fatphobic dissertation. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free advanced copy.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley and Publisher.

I had to DNF at 50%. I normally do not review books I have not finished but since this is an ARC it’s requested to have a review.

The execution of a mid size body in this book was horrible. Saying the guy who has a dad- bod is not the “gross fat” or when they are in the middle of a sex scene having the FMC day he is “not too skinny, not too fat” was the last straw for me. As someone with a fat body it is really harmful to read continued fatphobic comments in books that are striving for representation. I just wish people would be more cautious with how they represent fat bodies.

There is so much focus on bodies, weight and food that this book might make people who have fat bodies not feel safe.

I also never thought I would hate bacon ever but I’m contemplating never eating it again after how much it was talked about in this book.

The premise of the book was solid and there was some funny moments I wish she had made the couple wait to add more tension and then it could have been a slow burn.

I was graciously given the opportunity to read “The Second Your Single” as an advance reader copy. However, I just gotta say it: Insta-love trope is insta-bad. There are a lot of cringey things about this book. A grown man holding basing most of his life lessons on a kindergarten crush, A woman who says the word “like” too many times and instantly breaks the one rule she had for herself, the minute a nice guy offers her pastries. Not to mention the predictability of the ex girlfriend who can’t take no for an answer then, “Snap!” has an instant “I’m a good person” and help bring the couple back together moment. Or the dead beat fiancé turning out to be exactly how we excepted, yet still attempt to make it shocking (it wasn’t). This book was predictable. You can’t even call it a second chance romance because the couple met in kindergarten and never talked to each other again. Felt too forced and didn’t have much depth to it.

This book was super cute and enjoyable, and it got me out of my reading slump. I loved every chapter!

This book made me smile, but more chic-lit than contemporary li. The fade-to-black sexy times, not that I mind that, but that all there was. There's no spice level whatsoever in this book.

Big lack of communication between her and Jack really annoyed me. I needed a bit more depth in their relationship.

This one was MEH for me, I almost DNF'ed it but i pushed thorugh hoping for a better ending. Well there are some ways I relate to Sora about having bad relation ships and wanting to find love. However i feeel like the dynamic between her and jack is what we read alot in romance books but it just wasnt there for me.

I truly enjoyed this book! Sora represents so many woman who have been in bad relationships, wondering if it is worth trying to find love. Her promotion of Solo February obviously resonated with thousands of women. Meeting Jack after so many years, and instantly connecting with him gives her hope that not all men are worthless. I appreciated that she needed to take time for some self care, and not worry about what others expect of her. Jack also has some relationship baggage and between the two of them, Jack and Sora still manage to find hemselves drawn together, I would recommend this book to anyone who likes romance.

Honestly, this was a DNF for me. The characters were shallow and I just couldn't get into the story at all. When I initially read the synopsis, it seemed like a cute premise, but the story unfortunately fell flat.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of The Second You’re Single.

I found the writing style kind of stressful and I don’t enjoy when a main character is quirky for quirky sake. It was hard for me to connect to this story, it felt a bit played out.

The dialogue and banter was fun.

If you like friends to lovers, sarcastic main characters, good banter, and the guy falls first trope, then this book will give you some happy feelings.

Sora is a freelance writer, who despises how commercialized valentine’s day is, and pledges to take a break from dating for the month of February; She encourages her readers to celebrate being single through her entertaining and thoughtful daily posts. My opinion is this book could have been better and here’s why.

Parts of this book are really funny, and the chemistry between Sora and Jack is clear. We do see our main characters get to know each other, but I wish their relationship was developed a bit more. He had a crush on her when they were children, they have a chance encounter as adults, and then they go from being in lust to in love pretty quickly.

I didn’t care for how judgmental Sora was about her own body and other people’s bodies. I think the representation and the intention to show body image struggles for people of all sizes was there, especially when you have a parent who is constantly criticizing their own weight and yo-yo dieting, but the execution didn’t sit well with me.

I think parts of this book were smart and sweet, but I cannot overlook certain unnecessary stereotypes.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from St. Martin’s Press and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Enjoyable, entertaining and fun to read.

Thank you Cara Tanamachi, St.Martin's Press and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. The Second You're Single comes out January 13,2023.

When freelance writer, Sora, decides to #GoSolo during the month of September, I don't think she was thinking she was going to run into her childhood friend Jack. She for sure wasn't expecting him to be super hot, sweet and everything she has been looking for in a partner. What is a girl to do when the perfect for her man arrives during a month of no relationships.

I thought this story was cute and had moments where it was funny. I did like the main characters, I just kept thinking that I wanted more interaction between the two. I also felt like Sora's family was kind of horrible at the start, especially when it came to the characters weight. I loved Jack's family but they were mentioned in the beginning and then I felt like their characters were dropped. I think that it was more a story of Sora's journey of self appreciation, with a romance in the background. I mentioned this briefly but I felt like there was some toxic ideas about food and weight, if you do struggle with those things I would into recommend.

DNF'd this book at 34% (chapter 10)

Honestly, I found this book offensive and uncomfortable from the beginning, but it was short so I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt and stick it out, see if it got better. It didn't seem to.

Sora and Jack are both very shallow characters. They're extremely negative and judgemental to basically everyone around them. I get that because a lot of the people around them seem like cartoon villains in a very strange way.

Sora especially complains a lot about being judged, yet she's walking around peering into people's grocery carts and deciding what kind of people they are based on what they eat.

Jack complains that all women (except Sora, the woman he's been in love with since kindergarten despite losing contact after fifth grade) are shallow and vapid, while claiming that anyone who makes 'kissy lips' in a photo couldn't possibly hold a conversation.

Both characters have a lot of internalized fatphobia and their opinions about their and other people's bodies are uncomfortable to say the least. When Sora described certain kinds of belly's as 'gross' I was about ready to stop reading, but like I said, I stuck it out.

It's possible this book does get better in the other 2/3 but I honestly did not enjoy the writing style either. If you don't mind judgy characters and you like childhood friends to lovers trope then you may enjoy this book. It wasn't for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and to St Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I totally enjoyed this story. It's steamy. It's hot. It's a great romance. But, I didn't like the constant body talk about how fat Jack was as a kid, about how Sora wasn't a perfect body herself and how she always dressed so slovenly. Aside from that, it was a great story and I loved it and will definitely seek out this author again.

The main character, Sora, is a freelance author, who for the month of February decides to #GoSolo and abstain from dating for the whole month (and focus on self-care). She of course, documents her daily journey with articles. Then she bumps into Jack and reconnects with her childhood friend (who's had a crush on her since they were kids). She breaks her pledge to hang out with him and worries about what her readers will think.

The secondary characters kind of suck, and I think that was author intentional because they're intentionally unlikeable and you slowly start to see why they suck, but eh, idk, it was useful for the plot I guess. I liked the story, it was cute and easy but it won't be for everyone.

Also - if you have a hard relationship with food, I'd probably skip out on this book. There were a lot of offhand comments made by all the characters about food, eating habits, weight, bodies, and a lot of weird comments. Main character (mid-sized) was also obsessed with bacon. Overall, a lot of mention of food, bacon, fitting into dresses, and Jack who was a chubby kid who lost a lot of weight, also dealt with similar things with weird comments from the characters, idk I'm taking a star away for that but otherwise 3-3.5 stars.

This was my first read from this author. The blurb is what had captured me when I requested this book on Net Galley.

The premise sounded intriguing and the first few chapters in the book were quite funny so I had hopes, but after Sora meeting up with Jack (the hero), well it was pretty downhill for me.

Look the storyline had a lot of potential, when I was single, I did the solo thing for a bit and I am sure Sora could have done it, but she seemed like a fly by the seat of her pants and very impulsive. Jack, I really liked him, although he seemed like such a pushover especially when dealing with his ex Mal.

Although I keep seeing many readers putting this in the contemporary romance category, I felt it was more chic-lit. There was that fade-to-black sexy times, not that I mind that, but that all there was. There's no spice level whatsoever in this book.

Sora, again seemed so flighty and the lack of communication between her and Jack really annoyed me.

I wish I could have liked this book, but unfortunately it was not for me.

This one was not for me. The cover is adorable and the synopsis will grab some people. I personally am not interested in books focusing on weight.

This was an almost "did not finish" for me. I really wanted to like this book. When I read the description the concept made me laugh and I also felt like it sounded relatable, why not #gosolo for February? Unfortunately, as I begin to read the book I wasn't hooked, even as I continued to read it.

I did enjoy the dual pov. It had some laugh-out-loud moments.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really wanted to like this book, but I couldn't feel any connection with the characters and honestly they felt so unlikeable to me
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

First, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of The Second You're Single by Cara Tanamachi. It was a fast paced, easy read and I really enjoyed it!

The main character, Sora, is a freelance author who decides to #gosolo for February and abstain from dating for the whole month and focus on self care to avoid jumping into any other bad relationships. She documents her journey daily by posting her #gosolo articles. The irony is, she bumps into/reconnects and enjoys the time she spends with Jack, a childhood friend she’s known since kindergarten. (Jack has had a crush on her since then which I found to be very adorable!) Is she breaking her #gosolo pledge by hanging out with Jack? What will her readers think? Should she continue to explore her relationship with Jack and keep a lie from her fans? Or does she take some space from someone who she finally thinks could be “the one” to ensure she keeps her job?

A lot of people commented on their dislike for the author’s secondary characters because they had unlikeable personalities. I believe that was the author’s choice/intention and I thought it worked well. Yes, at first I definitely didn’t like Sora’s sister or even her mother at some points… but I felt throughout the story you learn why the characters act the way they did and it makes sense. It also helped the book be able to end the way it did.

I would definitely recommend this book to others… especially if you’re looking for a cute rom-com that focuses on making sure you love yourself first before others! Thank you again to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to review this book.