Thanks to William Morrow for a #gifted copy in addition to a NetGalley widget in exchange for my honest opinion! The book follows Robin, a thirty-three year old widow, whose husband signed her up for a year of online dating to go into effect one year after his death. While in denial that she can possibly join the dating world, Robin decides to honor his wishes and try it out. Her first few dates are not ideal (as you can imagine!), but it's a really nice way for the read to get to know her character, and for Robin to reacquaint herself as an individual now that she is a widow. I found it much less sad than I thought it would be - the blurb compares it to P.S. I Love You which I sobed through. The author does a good job keeping it upbeat, even with the heavy topics of death and learning to move on.
Also, this book's cover is beautiful - I love it! 🌼🌸 It's the author's adult debut, and I haven't read her YA, but I'm intrigued and adding it to my never-ending TBR.

The Year of Second Chances takes such a unique perspective and I thoroughly enjoyed the journey that this book took me on.

I had to DNF this one. I have found my ick and it's widows falling in love with their dead husband's best friends.

Wow - this book broke me, put me back together, and even made me chuckle at times. As someone who has found their person in life and did it at a young age, I related to Robin on so many levels and found myself crying throughout the entire read of this book.

If you are looking for a story about a woman learning who she is, and discovering how to start living her life for herself instead of others, I think this will blow you away. Emotionally moving, easily relatable, and beautifully written.

This book was so sweet, lovely and heartwarming. It’s hard to describe in words other than those. A widow signed up for a dating site by her husband before he passed. Talk about a tear jerker! At times this booked dragged for me but I recommend it

Such a sweet story. A young widow finds out her late husband signed her up for a dating service. Loved the people she meets, the lessons she learned and the decisions she had to make in order to grow as a person and understand who she was. Enjoyable read.

This was a sweet story of living life for ourselves, and breaking free of family restraints. I loved the conflict our MC had to work through, even though sometimes I found myself sighing at the choices she made.

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

I received a complimentary copy of this book "The Year of Second Chances" and all opinions expressed are my own. I did find this one interesting, being a recent widow. My husband would never have done the dating service thing though. I found it interesting to see what Robin did over the year with the service and meeting people. I kinda guessed what would really happen. She did meet some great people who turned into friends and made her life better. The glue guy - yup I totally understand. Loved Robin's Journey.

3.5 stars rounded up. This is a sweet and sometimes sad realistic fiction novel from Lara Avery. As you know, the premise is that on the anniversary of his death, Robin finds out that her husband signed her up for a dating app. He wants her to live her life and find love again, not spend her years in grief. Robin reluctantly agrees to partake in the app. She embarks on a series of dates and adventures, but she winds up finding more out about herself through these dates than actually finding love. There is more to the story of course, so I don't want to give the end away. But what makes this novel stand out from the crowd is Robin's journey of finding her way back to herself. I liked it!

The Year of Second Chances is the story of how we grieve and how some people can move on through their grief to a new life. Gabe is dying and he signs his wife up for an online dating app membership so that she can find a new life after his death. Watching Robin traverse the changes in her world made for a good read.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a touching, sweet, and humorous story about grief, second chances, and falling back in love….with yourself and with life. The year of second chances follows Robin, a young widow one year after losing the love of her life. She receives the shock of a lifetime when she receives an email informing her that her late husband Gabe has signed her up for 12 months on a dating app called “Fluttr”. Robins first instinct is to say no, but since it’s what Gabe wanted, she tentatively dips her toes back into the waters of life (after a year holed up in the farmhouse she shared with Gabe). Her journey is filled with meeting new people, trying new things and finding yourself along the way. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for an uplifting book that will make you feel all the feels.

Many thanks to the publishers and netgalley for access to this e-arc

I thought this was such a heartwarming read, and dealt really well with tough topics like grief and alcoholism.
I liked how the author incorporated the Bubbl prompts that Levi filled out for Robin at the beginning of each chapter - it gave it some fun personality.

Aww. What a tearjerker! This reminded me a lot of P.S. I Love You but with some more modern twists. Prepare to smile and swoon all at the same time. This is a great one to pick up if you’re looking for some thing a little different from all the romcoms, this provides more introspection and food for thought!

This book gave me PS I Love You vibes and I was sucked in. Emotional story about the grief a woman experiences following the death of her spouse, while trying to "get back out there" and figure out what her life looks like now.

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

⌛️🕰⏳
4🌟🌟🌟🌟
📖Book 79/100
📚The Year of Second Chances
💫Genre: Women’s Fiction
✍️Author: Lara Avery

📝Synopsis 📝
Robin, a grieving widow has been lost the love of her life. She’s left to grief meanwhile trying to keep her family together. Moms an alcoholic and her free loading brother is momma’s enabler. She’s the one that has to fix their finances, yet her life is a mess. Before her husband passed he scheduled an email to be sent to her…and only because he knows her all too well. With the help of his friend, he’s able to get her on a dating app and the story takes off from there. Minnesota is the setting, and I’m all for it 🫶🏻
💭My Thoughts 💭
I really enjoyed this book so much, and my favorite part was her learning how to live for herself all over again. There was hardly any romance, yet she realized in order to love and move on she needed to prioritize herself 🫶🏻🙌🏻🫶🏻 The writing style was amazing, character development was on point, and I loved the story development. I only wish it had a bit more romance🤭 I could visualize Minnesota’s scenery and cold winters (lived there many moons ago), and it brought back so much nostalgia. I also loved the horror movie & makeup artist twist to it. This was such a great book on grief and domestic issues.
🧡Special thanks to @netgalley and @williammorrowbooks for an advanced readers copy of a book I truly enjoyed🫶🏻
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Robin, a young widow and the glue in her family, and puts everyone else before herself. A year after losing her husband, she receives an email from him telling her he wants her to live her life, and has created a dating profile for her. She reluctantly starts to meet people on the dating app, while her husband’s best friend Levi also is doing the same. What follows is a sweet, albeit predictable story about second chances.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for my advance reader copy in exchange for my honest feedback.

This books so cute! Robbie gets an email from her late husband a year after his death stating he set up an online dating profile for her cus he doesn’t want her to wait around forever. I was first a tad disappointed in the ending but the longer I sat and thought about it, I loved it. It’s exactly the ending that Robbie needed

The Year of Second Chances is a novel about love, meeting new people, dating new people and all the awkwardness that goes along with that. Robin thought she married the love of her life and expected to have a life together, forever. Sometimes life doesn't follow the path that you want. Robin's husband dies and leaves her a membership to an online dating site and really wants her to continue on with her life. He set this up to start a year after he died. You will see how this happens with Robin.
I enjoyed this book and would recommend it. This is my honest opinion, with thanks to NetGalley, and William Morrow Publishing for this ARC.

The Year of Second Chances by Lara Avery let's readers see the many ways that grief can be dealt with. This is done without being judgemental about the choices.

I received an advance Digital Reader Copy of this novel from William Morrow via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are completely my own.

This is the first novel I read by Lara Avery, and I plan to read more. I appreciated the humor throughout the novel. I think readers who enjoy novels by Cathy Lamb will enjoy this one as well.