Synopsis:

Liz Lewis has tried everything to be what people want, but she’s always been labeled different. Her marriage to popular adventure guide Tobin Renner-Lewis is a sinkhole of toxic positivity where she’s the only one saying no. When she gets mistaken for a server at her own thirtieth birthday party, Liz vows to stop playing a minor character in her own life. The plan? A crash course in confidence... via an improv comedy class. The catch? She’s terrible at it, and the only person willing to help is Tobin. As they get closer again, she’s forced to confront all the reasons they didn’t work the first time, along with her growing suspicion that her social awkwardness might mean something deeper. Liz must learn improv’s most important lesson—“Yes, and”—or she’ll have to choose between the love she always wanted and the dreams that got away.

Review:

What a sweet and charming debut! This book really hit home for me, because a relationship definitely shifts and changes over time, with different life events and that initial excitement is no longer there. This book shows two people putting in the work it can take to maintain a relationship which I found very realistic but also romantic and heartwarming. I also liked the rep on "different" people - trying to avoid any spoilers :) Love this book and so excited to see what this author comes up with next!

thank you netgalley for this e-arc. i couldn't fully enjoy this book because it was confusing and seemed unedited for clarity and for bringing the story together. it felt very childish, tiktok and booktok was mentioned a few (i think) times. also seemed childish because of their conflict. communicate!!

Take a second chance romance but have them ALREADY be married, add in improv situations and you’ve got Rules for Second Chances. I adored this one and love when a debut author makes a smash. What makes this book so unique is that it involves a marriage in trouble; Liz has just turned thirty, but is struggling to feel seen in her marriage. She and her husband Tobin have never had any issues in the bedroom, but when it comes to their relationship, Tobin is a “yes” to everything that Liz is a “no” to, add in the stakes of working for the same wilderness company, and tensions are bound to run high for at least one party.

At first I was a little unsure about the improv portion. Liz’s boss recommends she takes an improv class to loosen her up before her company’s pitch wars. From the start I could feel how tightly wound Liz was and how awkward improv made her feel, but it turned out this was just the sort of thing to get her uncomfortably free of her own worst enemy, herself. It doesn’t hurt that she has her super sexy Viking giant of a husband as her partner using The Second Chances Handbook as a marriage support manual. The scenarios are typically hilarious, sometimes sweet, and sometimes very sexy and I ended up loving how the book forced Tobin and Liz to interact in atypical ways.

This is a single POV which works very well because Liz is learning a lot about herself and her neurotypical brain just as much as she is trying to figure out if her marriage is supposed to last. A good portion of the story is self-reconciliation just as much as it is about whether two people can fall in love with each other a second time around. Tobin and Liz have charged sexual chemistry and North is so good at writing the desire between them. I could feel how much Liz was still attracted to Tobin even though she knew they had marital problems. And ahhhhh, the intimate scenes between two people who have known one another’s bodies for years felt so right and so perfect. There’s a whole lot of heart in Rules for Second Chances and I absolutely loved the ending.

I received an ARC from St. Martin’s Griffin and an ALC from Macmillan Audio narrated by Gail Shalan. I went back and forth between both. Although I enjoyed Shalan’s voice for Liz, I couldn’t get on board with her male voices. They all sounded old to me and I wanted something different for Tobin. She nailed Sharon’s character with her delivery though and I would listen to her again if it was a third person or female cast. Thank you to these publishers for my early copies. All opinions are my own.
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Steam: 🪭🪭
Number of times David is referred to as D!ck Head: 2️⃣1️⃣
Favorite character: Sharon (not to be confused with a Karen)

DNF at 9%. The tone of this story is not sitting well with me and the main character, Liz, makes me feel icky. Not something I want to continue to explore with precious reading time.

3.75/5⭐️
#arcreview | *no spoilers*

Liz and Tobin are definitely not for everyone. The characters are not everybody's cup of tea and the way the story is constructed and the second chance is dealt with are different from what I usually read.

That being said, all in all, I actually enjoyed this book! There were some very cute, swoony, heartfelt, raw and honest scenes between Liz and Tobin throughout the more predominantly sad and heavy story.

Liz is a very real character and I liked that. She's different, and her journey to self discovery and acceptance is a nice and very difficult one. Tobin had his issues too, and I'd have loved to have his POV, so we could see more of his side of things too.

The premise was very cool and I think that it got kind of lost in the book. I don't know how I feel about the whole improv and the book things, which was very different approach to second chance, and was quite weird and cringey at times. Also the plot felt kind of dragged and the ending a bit more rushed.

I loved the side characters and what they contributed to Liz and Tobin's growth as people and as a couple! And I also loved the setting and Maggie's writing. But as an older sister, I kind of hated Liz's sister, because she was rude and snappy for no good reason (the reason she gives is really weird and not acceptable imo).

I really liked Tobin and Liz, because they felt like real, faulty people and I was really rooting for them since the beginning. They are stuck in a very unhappy place in their marriage and don't know how to deal with it, so they try working on themselves and on their relationship through a different approach, which brought some funny moments and also some deep, emotional ones.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I became invested in these characters but I really struggled with the conflict of this book. All these two really needed to do was have an honest conversation and instead they did… improv? It was certainly a choice.

I also felt like this book suffered from a bit of debut novel syndrome. There was no continuation between chapters and the background characters were interesting but didn’t really add to the narrative in my opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my gosh, this book is so cute and gives such good insight to the neurodivergent brain!! I love Liz and reading alone with her journey to a more her self. Tobin is such a hot name, so go Maggie North for that! Rules for Second Chances brought so much realness about marriage. There is going to be times when one wants to really focus on themselves, but doesn’t know how to in a long term relationship. This book is jut so good and I hope everyone reads it.

It was cute. A little slow in parts and I wanted to shake the characters a few times, but a cute easy summer read!

3 Stars

This is a story about a woman deciding enough is enough and is starting to look out for herself. She starts by leaving her husband. Then they embark on a journey to start over and give their relationship a second chance. I found it a little slow and was just ready for her to figure out her stuff. In the end she discovers a lot about herself along the way. I think it will be a great book for anyone going through something similar but for me just an ok book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins press for the opportunity to read this book.

I thought this was an intriguing and entertaining read. The concept behind it was smart and in broad strokes relatable. Liz kind of confused me and I never really made a strong connection to her. I will say that this was a much heavier, more thought provoking read than I had fully expected from the description and the cover. So, if you are looking for light and fluffy keep looking.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC! Although I did enjoy this book overall, I found parts of it a bit disjointed. I wish we'd learned more about Tobin or had his character explored a bit more. It was also heavier than expected - this isn't just a light-hearted cheesy summer read (which I was sort of expecting based on the cover). +1 for neurodiversity rep.

A debut novel that won't disappoint! Rules for Second Chances is the story of Liz Lewis, a 30-yr-old woman who's tired of feeling invisible -- socially, professionally, and even in her marriage. It's time to find the "magic" she sees in everyone else who seems successful. Will Liz find the magic she's searching for, or will she lose everything she has, including herself, in the process? Highly recommended read!

I was waiting for this book to hook me, but I just couldn't get into it. The premise was really good, and I think there will definitely be a market for this, but I just really found Liz to be unlikable and so self-focused.

It just wasn't my cup of tea.

I loved this book. The characters were loveable, the storyline was intriguing, and the general execution of the book kept me hooked. The only thing that kept this from a 5-star review was my own struggles with the writing style. That being said, I would definitely still support the author because I enjoyed the book enough to stick it out.

While I appreciate any author's note in the beginning of a book to give up a heads up about themes and triggering storylines, I'll admit I was turned off by the neurodiversity "warning." I was not a fan of Liz's meek, introverted personality. Probably because I'm more like her husband, Tobin. I didn't see them as a great fit in the beginning, so I didn't feel any of their chemistry building as they reconnected their romance after their marriage hit a rough patch. Other may like this storyline and the personalities, but I just could not connect with it.

Let me start out with saying I’m obsessed with this cover!! Love it!

However, I do not believe this book was meant for me. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy reading the marriage in crisis and 2nd chance tropes, and I LOVE the ND rep, but something held me back from enjoying this story. It is a single POV from the FMC, Liz, and while having the 2nd POV might have helped, I still struggled with Liz’s actions and internal monologues as a whole.

I wanted to support her in learning and finding what would make her happy bc she was clearly upset with how her husband/marriage had turned out, however I could not find the compassion for her situation. I needed more to go on in the beginning to understand where/how their marriage had gone wrong.

Im not sure if the contradictions/inconsistencies were done on purpose, but they barred me from making a connection with Liz.

It was said that “she was usually friends with words but now they escaped her”, however the point had been made that she had high social anxiety in nearly every situation and always had trouble speaking to others. She would say that Tobin (her husband) didn’t know her at all, yet she’d say how he would do little things that only he had ever noticed that she liked. She blamed him for not TRULY knowing her but by all accounts, she admitted she had kept her true self hidden in fear of judgement. She was upset he couldn’t see through her masking when she herself didn’t know who she was without her masking.

She was upset that Tobin refused to open up to her and would never be truly vulnerable. She didn’t know how he felt or what he worried about or wanted. This is an absolute valid complaint, yet after starting the handbook scenarios, he admits 2 separate deep vulnerabilities which he clearly had trouble verbalizing, and Liz didn’t even acknowledge them. She shuts down the conversations and runs away. I don’t blame her for needing to leave the situation bc she needed time to process. But you can’t continue to blame him for the same thing that he’s now willing to work on and change. And unfortunately, she does.

For 40% of the book, she complained that Tobin is the life of the party, super sociable, everyone loved him and no one paid attention to her. She’s an introvert and quiet and gets horrible social anxiety. Then she decided she loved that about him. When her social battery was depleted, she could lean on him who would still be up for anything and she’d be able to continue to enjoy the party while not having to always be on.

All of these complaints are 100% understandable and valid. But bc she separated from Tobin and threatened divorce and continued to blame him for all of this for a good portion of the book while also saying the opposite, by the time more things came to light about these two and progress was being made, my thoughts had been soured too much and my frustration toward Liz was too high.

I believe this is where additional editing might have helped? Seeing both sides of a situation is what’s needed to help a relationship/marriage work. This book’s progress would have been more fluid if these contradicting realizations happened towards the end. But bc she’d have a thought and then immediately say the opposite and then threaten divorce again, it made me feel like constant whiplash and prevented me from settling in and enjoying the progress of the story.

With that said!…. there were definitely parts that I enjoyed. The side characters were great, and I would have loved more of Sharon and Bea and Jason and Lyle.

I loved the line “I need us to figure out how to take care of ourselves first, so we understand how to take care of each other.” And the last couple chapters REALLY pulled this book together!! After fighting myself from DNFing every couple of chapters in the beginning, I’m glad I kept going bc the ending truly was the redemption I needed.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.


Additional thought:
She calls Lyle’s (Tobin’s best friend) book a sex book when it’s really a self help book about saving a relationship. The 2nd time she says sex book, Tobin visibly gets upset but doesn’t say anything. She then says to herself “I guess he’d prefer I self edited”. Actually no, that's not what that is. You offended his best friend and his book without even reading it. You made an assumption, and when you first saw that it offended your husband, you disregarded that realization and offended him again. YOU wanted HIM to self edit and not show how he felt about you being completely flippant toward his friend and his work.

The fact that we as ND believe we need to self edit is frustrating and exhausting, and it is hard to break out of that mindset. However, it does not mean we completely disregard other’s feelings and allow ourselves to offend others bc we want to say what we want without consequences. In this case, I don’t see how by not calling Lyle’s book a sex book is self editing since it was based on an assumption and not actually a fact. (side note: this only applies when the person is aware that what they are saying is offensive. That is not always the case so in those instances this would not apply)

But this author really did a great job bringing issues to light surrounding ND and late diagnosed autism, so I hope there will be additional books in the future containing similar elements.

In Rules For Second Chances, Liz needs to find herself and separates from her husband. And in trying to find confidence in who she is, she takes an improv class and she and her husband follow a guidebook for second chances, and all in, she really embraces her potential and learns to be happy with herself. And the backdrop is that she and her husband work for an outdoorsy wilderness kind of company.
This book was really sweet and frothy. One of these books that I really enjoyed reading but will sort of blur into other summer romcoms in my mind, if you know what I mean. I always love a good self-discovery book with feel good vibes and this served it up. The improv classmates added some levity and humor. Overall, just a heartwarming read.

*I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley and a free ALC of this book from Libro.FM in exchange for an honest review*

This was an extremely sweet (but with high heat) romance. Liz and Tobin grew so much as characters over the course of this book, both together and apart. They learned to communicate, and their mutual respect and hard work helped patch their relationship.

Read this if you're looking for:
- marriage in crisis/second chance romance
- self discovery/self growth
- neurodivergent (autism) rep

I did find this slow at times, which is why I alternated between e-book and audiobook for awhile before reading about 60% of it via the audiobook.

Loved how well the second chance romance was handled. This book was touching, fun, and inspiring! I really loved the cast of side characters that were a great touch in helping our main characters grow throughout the book

Rules for Second Chances is a captivating novel filled with emotion and passion. This book delves into the complex question of whether true love can occur more than once with the same person. A fun fast-paced read that I finished in one day