It starts slow but it ends strong, it’s definitely a book that at first seems like it will be a cliche story but as it unfolds and the characters start to develop you cannot stop and you want to know how it ends. Like the characters and the setting

3.5 stars. For the first 10% of this story, I wasn’t sure if it was working. But then the characters became more endearing and real, and the plot began to unfold. Amelia gets fired from her job in San Francisco (after an unfortunate fiasco) and runs away from her best friend (before her friend’s wedding) to travel in Europe. Her escape eventually lands her in Greece, at a family-owned hotel on a small, obscure island where her parents fell in love.

Amelia realizes her adventure is going off the rails as soon as she arrives in Greece. What follows are quirky characters, a wild wedding where you can see it’s a train wreck but you can’t look away, and opportunities for the characters to evolve and find their way through challenges and big decisions. When Amelia and fellow traveller, James, unwittingly become co-owners of the hotel, which is a bit rundown, there is an enemies to lovers vibe with lots of tension.

The author writes some great laugh out loud moments, and sometimes truly incredulous moments, but this story will ultimately be the perfect Mediterranean getaway with some delicious food thrown in, and a satisfying conclusion.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

what’s a girl to do when she’s dumped and loses her job? run away to another country of course! Amelia ups and leaves everything she’s known after she feels like she has nothing left, ending up on the little greek island that her parents met. she meets a guy a a hotel - and ends up marrying him & inheriting a hotel! what’s a girl to do now- embrace a new start or continue to run away?

i loved the plot line of this book and amelia’s backstory, it was sweet and completely relatable in feeling lost in life when nothing seems to go right! for me, the back and forth and lack of communication between amelia and the people she left behind, then with james was a sore spot, i felt like she wasn’t acknowledging what she had and COULD have - she was just stuck in the past.

thank you to NetGalley for sending me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for a honest review!

Escapism at it's best. If you have ever wanted to just run away from all your problems than you need to read this book. It's hilarious and honest.

i had a hard time geting in to the book, but i did realy like it.
it was so cute how the had to fix up the old hotel and still finding out if this was the right place for them to be after they got married whitout knowing it .
but i would realy have liket them to talk a little more together.

*Two strangers are forced to spend time together on a small island in Greece
*What could possibly go wrong?
*Learned lots of Greek words
*Loved the full-of-personality characters
*Amelia focuses too much on finding a guy- relax!
*Would make a great Rom Com movie with a few tweaks
*Includes Birgette’s Potato Moussaka recipe
*Reading Group Guide also included

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

While I'm normally not a fan of second chance stories I did enjoy this one more than I thought I would.

Greek setting? Romance? Some adventure? I liked this. This was a fun book. I think I would have enjoyed this more if I read it while I was on like a vacation or something. I read this at home, and it did not give me the same impact or feeling.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

Give me all the books set on a Greek island! Who goes to Greece, accidentally gets married, and somehow inherits a hotel? Amelia Lang does! This book was absolutely unbelievable, but truly in the best way possible. She and James were so much fun to read about. I didn't honestly care for all of the secondary characters, but that didn't bother me too much while reading. This rom-com is funny and will keep you engaged until the very end. This is Sierra Godfrey's second novel, and I can't wait to see what she writes next!

Total Mamma Mia vibes! Don't we all wish we could inherit a hotel in Greece and fall in love? Luckily for Amelia, she got it all. This was the epitome of a rom-com and a slow burn! Amelia and James had great banter and chemistry. The perfect summer or winter escape read.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC

While I was very excited by the premise of this book, I was a bit let down by the execution. It may be a pure preference thing, but it didn’t draw me in enough to really hold my interest.

I wish there was more tension between the FMC/MMC. I think a dual POV may have really helped as it didn’t appear that there was any chemistry between the characters after the first 50 pages. I also had a really hard time with the main characters decision to leave her friend. This stuck in my mind through the whole book as a selfish way to start her journey and was hard to get past.

I have not featured on my blog but did post a feature on publication day.

Very interesting read! The book pulled me in from the start and I wanted to see how it ended. Try it and see if this book is for you!

I won't lie. I picked The Second Chance Hotel based on my love of Greece and the bright cover. I was hoping for atmospheric Mediterranean romantic vibes. Unfortunately, I was left a little wanting.

The Second Chance Hotel is cute, humorous, and a bit over-the-top. It is A contemporary, slow-burn romance where the main characters find themselves and each other through leaps of faith and new beginnings.

You will have to suspend belief to buy into the plot, but it wasn't an issue for me. The atmosphere was perfect. I felt like I was on a cozy island filled with quirky characters. The side characters made this book for me. My biggest issue is I never connected with the main characters. Amelia, the female main character, was a bit unlikeable. It made it hard for me to care about the romance or root for them as a couple.

Fans of accidental marriages, over-the-top humor, island vibes, and slow burns will enjoy this. The Second Chance Hotel is the perfect beach read or an easy read if the winter blues have you down.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and Blackstone Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for a digital advance reader's copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

No surprise here – the novel is called The Second Chance Hotel and it’s a story about two people getting a second chance at life and love. What was surprising was how much I liked the book – the characters, the small island town, the Greek traditions, the quirky citizens, and even the run-down hotel.

The premise sounds predictable, but the writing drew me in and kept me reading. Amelia and James meet while both are vacationing at the rundown Ria Hotel on the Greek island of Asteri. After a few days on the island, and the hotel’s only guests, they are invited by the hotel’s owner to a local wedding. They unintentionally get drunk, accidentally end up married, and become the unwilling co-owners of the hotel – all in one summer evening.

As this is a rom-com, things do not go smoothly. Before the marriage dilemma, Amelia had been spending three months in Europe to breathe and regroup after losing her job and apartment. Now, with time (and reserve funds) running out, she must return home to revive her career and find a new place to live. And also hopefully to make amends with her best friend. But what about the hotel? The marriage? The town that depends on the hotel to generate income?

This was a charming, easy comedy and a delightful trip to Greece. While there were some plot loopholes, it’s still a 4-star read for me.

I absolutely loved Godfrey’s debut novel and this was another 5 star winner for me. While THE SECOND CHANCE HOTEL is a romance novel, I’d argue it’s more about falling in love with yourself.

When Amelia’s relationship ends badly, she knows she needs to get some space and in a totally out of character move, decides to leave her life behind and travel the world. Two months into her travels, she arrives at her final stop; a hotel on the fictional Greek island of Asteri where her own parents fell in love years ago.

The island setting was so vivid and beautiful, it made imagining Amelia there easy. I became fully immersed in her story as a fish out of water from the moment she set foot on the island and fully invested as we met each new character who lived there. This book cemented Godfrey’s place on my must-read list and I can’t wait to see what she writes next.

My thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for the advance reading copy.

An up and down romantic Grecian adventure. It was absolutely charming and funny for a while after a semi-rocky start. I mean, when the leading lady abandons her best friend’s wedding and MOH duties for all the weeks leading up to said wedding, and it’s not for a life threatening reason, well, it’s not a good look.

Then we’re on a picturesque Greek island, with quirky characters and meet-cutes, and delightful misunderstandings fueled by boozy days. It’s fun, it’s rom-com, it’s a perfectly great time.

… and then it slows down. It’s a little less fun and little more frustrating. Not bad but it felt like we lost the great vibe. And besides attraction, that neither one really follows through on or communicates in the second half, the romance was erratic.

Additionally, and this is totally a me thing, the ending is too Hallmark for my tastes. I could expand but I’ll refrain for spoilers.

Mostly, it was the location and secondary cast that kept me invested in the book. I wanted to see the island and its people thrive. Even while they were frustrating me they were far more interesting and engaging than the main plot. So, in the end, there was good and bad points, but I didn’t regret reading it.

This was a very cute and fun romcom. The characters were bright and eccentric which made it feel all the more real and grounded. I enjoyed the relationship between Amelia and James and the slow burn of it. I also loved the character development we see with Amelia throughout the novel. Life is full of second chances and I liked that the main point of the book wasn’t about second chance romance, but delved into second chances in a person’s life and choosing the right path. Overall, an enjoyable read.

Ugh another book that had good concept but bad execution. I found the main character kinda insufferable lol I was just not rooting for her on this self discovery journey at all. I couldn’t deal with all the ridiculous miscommunication and I felt zero chemistry between these characters. The plot also felt super slow and repetitive. I honestly wish I had DNF.

Oh to have a runaway escape trip to Europe and ended up accidentally married a gorgeous stranger and inherited a remote island hotel together? Will she running again and get back home safely or keeping both the man and the hotel.

This book is such a cute, quirky, and funny slow-burn romcoms. It has all the elements you need to breakaway from you mundaneife for awhile, from. the humor, emotional, and heartwarming scenes. I like the narration styles, t's so easy to follow the story and relate or rooting for the main characters, from learning their flaws, dreams, train of thoughts and their growth, as well as all the quirky residents of Asteri island. The characters has great banter and chemistries that makes them feels like real people somewhere out there. I couldn't put this book down and will have a hard time to move on from Ria Hotel.
Surely this is one of my best read in 2023.