If you’re looking for a feel good romance for any time in the year, The Second Chance Year, would be a great place to start. My favorite things about it are the character development, the career orientation of the main character, and the writing of the romance. Sadie is an incredibly likable main character, but all the characters feel like real flawed people in their unique goals and aspirations. I loved how each characters career path was established and non-cliched while still supporting major plot points. Who wants to read about perfect characters? The book had good feminist energy without going over the top as well, which I appreciated (it’s a hard balance to strike sometimes).
The only criticisms I have are the overuse of “Very Bad Year” in the prose and the premise being a bit overused as well, but honestly the positives made up for both of these enough to still be a 5/5 star book.
So excited for it to be published in time for Christmas since those motifs definitely put me in the “Christmas in July” spirit. Looking forward to reading more from this author!

The book opens up with our FMC, Sadie, down and out and looking for a chance to right all the "mistakes" she made in the past year. She gets this opportunity through an encounter with a magical fortune teller who grants her wish to go back in time to one year ago. Thus, Sadie begins to alter the behavior that led to her "mistakes" (losing her job and breaking up with her boyfriend) only to discover that to achieve the things she thought she desired most, she has to lose herself in the process. During this experience, she also discovers she has feelings for her brother's best friend and has to navigate whether or not she has a future with him.

The story is cute and the main character is likable, but it is incredibly predictable and feels a bit like a romcom I've seen many different times before in a different font. while at the same time, some of the plot points didn't make sense to me. The writing style was pretty engaging and easy to follow, which makes it easy to keep reading. However, there were a few awkwardly phrased sentences, some cheesy elements, and a few typos. For example, in the beginning of the book, the descriptions are heavily referencing baking (Sadie is a baker), but this disappears after the first act. Additionally, there were some repetitions (Xavier being on Top Chef is mentioned four different times) and I believe the story could use a little more in the way of showing rather than telling.

The love story was cute and I thought the author did a great job of building sexual tension, but it wasn't entirely believable. I wanted to be more emotionally invested at the climax than I was. This disappointment may be because this was a secondary plot, yet I went into it feeling like it was going to be more of the focus of the story.

I didn't love the inclusion of SA in this story. I think the plot could have been achieved without it. The way it all played out was so cliché, yet ended in a very unrealistic resolution that didn't feel true to many experiences of survivors of SA.

Overall, I'm giving this story three stars because it was an easy, fun read; albeit predictable and with a few elements I wish would have been executed a little differently. I could see this being a book I might recommend for a person looking for something quick and entertaining to read while on vacation.

I would like to thank the publisher for providing me with an ARC through NetGalley. As always, my opinions are entirely my own.

I feel like it’s hard to do the Groundhog’s Day trope without it feeling overdone, so when I read the synopsis for The Second Chance Year, I was a little nervous, but this book was so refreshing and the way that Wiesner did it was so unique. Sadie getting to experience the whole year over again is something I've never read in a book before and it was so fun.

I really enjoyed this book and almost finished the whole thing in one sitting!

The Second Chance Year was semi-predictable in a way that still had me frustrated when what I predicted would happen, did happen (Sadie’s life is a mess and so relatable and I loved it), but was also funny and heartwarming.

I definitely expected the romance to be more prevalent, but it made sense for it to be more of a subplot because the book is more about Sadie finding herself and working on her relationships with her friends and family. The important people in Sadie's life (her coworkers at the coffee shop, her brother, Jacob) all felt genuine and real, which I really appreciated.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me the ARC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This book is very CLOSED DOORS romance which typically not something I enjoy but it was cute in a cheesy way. Please read the trigger warning before reading this. I could see how this book could bring up bad memories.

Sadie is a pastry chef who’s with her boyfriend Alex for a couple of years. She has a best friend and everything is going well, until it isn’t. She’s very blunt and it has cost her a job and her boyfriend Alex.

She goes to a party and gets a second chance to redo the past year over again..

Will she change or will she continue to stand up for herself at any cost?

This was a cute book. Hard to put down because I had to know what she was going to do about her job and her boyfriend.

I received this book from netgalley. Thank you to netgalley and publisher for a chance to read this ARC.

The Second Chance Year by Melissa Wiesner is a heartwarming contemporary fiction that I really enjoyed.

This wonderful book gives a look at what we might feel and go through if we had a second chance at our lives and what we might experience as we process through what really matters in the span of our years.

Through this narrative and the second, third, and so on reflections that Sadie experiences, she is able to see how one decision, how any fundamental decision, can alter anything and everything. She begins to see the imperfections for what they are, and that maybe just maybe, she has already arrived at her true destination.

4.5/5 stars

Thank you NG and Forever ( Grand Central Publishing)for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 12/5/23.

It's tough. I really had no reason not to give 5 stars here....this was enjoyable, fun, magical. Loved it and would highly recommend for a fun read. I would even read this again which virtually never happens for me

I loved this book, it’s brilliant it’s The question at two questions everybody thinks” what I world change If I could relive this (week, Monti, year), and “be care full what you want, you could get it. It’s full of twist and it makes us understand that even a minimal change can have Great consequences. I loved it and couldn’t put it down till I finished it.

Sweet, funny, and adorable. I received an advance copy from the author and will be blurbing so I will keep this short here for now! But I loved it.

Synopsis (from Netgalley, the provider of the book to review)
******************************************************
One disastrous year. One magical wish. One chance to change the past.

Sadie Thatcher’s life has fallen apart in spectacular fashion. In one fell swoop, she managed to lose her job, her apartment, and her boyfriend—all thanks to her big mouth. So, when a fortune teller offers her one wish, Sadie jumps at the chance to redo her awful year. Deep down, she doesn’t believe magic will fix her life, but taking a leap of faith, Sadie makes her wish, opens her eyes, and . . . nothing has changed. And then, in perhaps her dumbest move yet, she kisses her brother’s best friend, Jacob.

When Sadie wakes up the next morning, she’s in her former apartment with her former boyfriend, and her former boss is expecting her at work. Checking the date, she realizes it's January 1 . . . of last year. As Sadie navigates her second-chance year, she begins to see the red flags she missed in her relationship and in her career. Plus, she keeps running into Jacob, and she can’t stop thinking about their kiss . . . the one he has no idea ever happened. Suddenly, Sadie begins to wonder if her only mistake was wishing for a second chance.


But do second chances always end up with a better result?

This book will make you wonder about that as well. Sadie was fun to spend time with and this innocuous book will be recommended far and wide – in fact, if you are looking for a holiday gift to give someone, wrap this up in a festive tea towel (one can never have enough tea towels) and put this under the tree or menorah. It is a frothy romp and I found it utterly charming!
#shortbutsweetreviews

A charming read and cute romance that tackles tough topics (and features plenty of amazing descriptions of desserts as Sadie is a pastry chef). Sadie has the unbelievable opportunity to redo her “Very Bad Year” and she discovers so much about herself along the way regarding her professional dreams, values, and love.

I appreciated the themes of found family and Sadie’s job (though not her workplace) is fun. Some of Sadie’s thoughts and realizations were a bit repetitive but it was easy to cheer her on as she figures out what makes her happy. Overall a quick, engaging read.

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

This is such a charming read! I fell in love with Sadie, and couldn’t help but root for her as she tried to reverse the worst year ever. The characters were relatable and interesting, and I finished it in one sitting!

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC!

Such a cute rom com with some magical realism mixed in! Makes you think about what it would be like if you had a "re-do" on life, and would you take it?! Highly recommend!

I am in love with this book!

I fell asleep while trying to finish it in one night and then got up early so I could read the remaining 20% before work. Zero regrets.

The Second Chance Year is sweet, humorous, a tad bit cheesy (who doesn't love cheese?), predictable in all the best low angst ways, full of heart, and features fun quirky secondary characters. My only wish is that we could have had a few more Sadie and Jacob scenes to really up the pining and emotional oomph. But really, the romance takes a backseat to the story of Sadie learning that do overs don't necessarily make everything better and how getting what you think you want means nothing if you lose yourself in the process.

This book was the perfect mix of everything I was hoping for. It was funny, well written and left me with a big smile on my face. Melissa Weisner did an amazing job with these characters. We saw Sadie grow so much over the course of the book.

I'm really excited to read more by Melissa Weisner and can't wait to see what she's got in store for us next!

I would like to thank the publisher for providing me with an ARC through NetGalley. As always, my opinions are entirely my own.

Sadie makes a wish to redo her awful year and it actually comes true. Except now she isn't sure if she wants to change things exactly.

I love Sadie and the changes that she go through. She finally sees all the red flags in her relationship and job the second time around. Love the magical components in the book too. A fun book.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

This was an ok read for me. For a quick easy read I would recommend it, I was expecting more from this but overall it was fine.

Someone wise once said that relationships often fall apart in year 10 because of things we could have foreseen by day 10, and how true that is... if we're really honest with ourselves, we can look back on red flags or question marks we ignored very early on that eventually lead to a relationship's demise. So this was an interesting premise. Unfortunately the execution was just very light - no real depth or substance - and the plot and dialogue very formulaic, so overall a cute but forgettable read.

I really enjoyed this. It was a very quick read for me and it grasped my attention very well. I love the entire idea of trying to change that one thing in your life but it turns out that one thing, made everything. This was just a really nice read. 🖤

I cannot even begin to share how much I love this book! I have so much to share on it and I will be sharing an entire in depth review very shortly, but I can’t remember the last time I stayed up all night to read a book, but I did with this one! I loved the writing style, could relate so much to what the character was going through, and loved the idea of if she had a second chance would it really make everything the way she wanted it is life just meant to play out the way it does so we don’t miss anything magical waiting for us?
To be continued…