It took me a little while to get into this book because I was expecting more of a romance novel. Although this was a novel about trying to save a marriage it was more about the main character, Liz trying to find herself and figuring out if her marriage is even worth saving.

I did think the journey that Liz went on was a great one and it was full of self discovery. While I struggled through most of this book the ending did make up for it.

This was such a sweet and emotional book! I loved that the second chance was the marriage in trouble (and not a past relationship like most) and the improv was such a unique idea!! I loved Liz and Tobin, and I also really loved Liz's personal journey and growth. Such a great read!

I picked up the book and listened to the audiobook. I had a hard time following this second-chance romance between Liz and Tobin. I enjoyed the first half but got lost in the second half. I'm sure others will enjoy this "marriage-in-crisis" book, but it was not for me. I LOVED the cover and the premise, but I'm sad this book was a miss for me overall. I wanted to enjoy it.

I really nejoyed this one! It felt sweet and soft, and I loved the setting nad writing. I did listen to the audiobook, but I think I would have preferred reading it instead.

Lots to unpack in this book. Liz and Tobin are at a crossroads. They are so very different in many ways. Liz has always been shy, uncomfortable in most social situations and to most of those who know her, a bit different. Tobin is the one everyone gravitates towards. He is the center of whatever space he is in and liked by everyone he meets. She relies on him in so many ways until she realizes she has become invisible to most, treated poorly, underestimated, taken advantage of by many and has become a background player in her own life. She goes along until one day she realizes she has had enough. Its a long and emotional road to her finding herself, making herself seen and heard and them finding their way back to each other with a lot of hard work, emotional conversations and honestly.

I really enjoyed this book. There are so many books about the start of relationships but not as many after the initial excitement has worn off. I loved going through all the ups and down of dealing with learning about yourself in a new chapter and how to come out the other side.

Super introverted and socially awkward Liz is tired of being overlooked by everyone in her life and she’s fed up with her husband both being a total pushover to everyone else in their lives and also not being a great communicator. It’s basically a co-dependent mess of terrible family members as Liz walks out of her birthday party held at her mother-in-law’s house (where someone has mistaken her for a server), next door to her own house, packs her stuff, and then goes three houses down to her childhood home where her single mother sister lives with a six-year old niece. Liz’s husband Tobin is the ultimate nice guy and life of the party and has his own issues of trying to be perfect so that people don’t leave him. Add on the fact that Liz is tired of being overlooked at work and somehow gets voluntold to take an improv class to help her social awkwardness. And then having no friends to practice her improv with, she ends up working with Tobin on various scenarios from a relationship self-help book that uses improv as a communication technique. This book is told from Liz’s point of view and you can definitely feel all the levels of anxiety she’s experiencing as she’s going through all of these uncomfortable situations. While this book was definitely emotional, I had a hard time relating to the lack of communication between Liz and Tobin, and both of their respective families are pretty much terrible and contributed to the downfall of their relationship. I was glad to see them work out their issues and communicate better, but they’d probably be better served moving away from their over-involved family members.

This book was great! I read it on a long road trip and found I couldn’t put it down. I loved how real the characters felt. Seeing Liz find herself over the course of the book tugged at your heart at times and made you proud of her bravery at others. This book would be a perfect read for anyone feeling unsure of themselves or their relationship.

The initial start of this grabbed my attention immediately. But then, I am not sure where the disconnect began. I wouldn't say this is a rom-com in any capacity. It is more of a woman's fiction with romantic undertones. This really brings to light how we can outgrow things, especially relationships. Which is where the majority of this story goes and brushes on. Liz is confronted with a lot of personal issues that she is forced to face (her job, her marriage, her family). I related to her a lot in this aspect and I think if it was categorized as a more woman's fiction genre, it would grab a better audience. It wasn't a horrible book, but the romance part of it lacked a lot. It is more of the growth and development of ones life as they outgrow relationships.

This cover is GORGEOUS, one of the most beautiful I've seen recently. Unfortunately, I can tell three chapters in that this one won't be for me and reading a handful of early reviews confirms it. I don't want to give a one-star rating since it certainly has its target audience; that audience just isn't me.

Rules for Second Chances manages to teeter between a really deep and moving story of self-discovery and entering 30’s, and sillier lightheartedness and the unique premise and approach to a second-hand romance immediately caught my attention.

Liz and Tobin are in a marriage rut and really faced some large curveballs basically on their wedding day they never recovered from which I found so relatable and I think many others will. The idea of using a improv based completely different approach to working through their issues and starting to communicate as a couple was brilliant. I highlighted a ton of passages and thought the advice and strategies sounded so logical and fun even if they were entirely made up by the author?!?!

I’m probably always going to love an autistic representation and this one was done really well. I also really enjoyed the bisexual representation and how organically it was written. Liz was just generally a very cool character.

I tend to prefer one POV, but surprisingly found myself kind of wishing it was two POVs as I wanted to hear Tobins unfiltered thoughts, not the filtered ones through Liz. But part of the magic and discovery is sorting through her perception which is greatly impacted by her not yet diagnosed autism.

I rate it 4.5 stars rounded up! The only thing that knocked the book down a half star for me is that at times the pacing was a little slower than I like and I found my mind wandering, but it’s a super fantastic debut book and I really enjoyed it!

Thank you to Maggie North, NetGalley, St Martins Press for the arc.

Overall, I did enjoy this book, but as I was writing my review I found I had more criticisms than I thought. But I want to reiterate, regardless of the criticisms, I did enjoy the book.

I really liked the premise, story line and nature of each of the characters. And marriage in crisis has become one of my all time favourite tropes, so I was incredibly excited for Rules for Second Chances. Unfortunately, it fell a little flat for me and the main reason is because I wasn't convinced of Liz and Tobin's love for one another.

Typically I have found that in marriage in crisis books, one of my favourite parts is that its very obvious that the main characters love each other - they got married in the first place, so hopefully there is some lingering love there - but they're simply going through a difficult time, feeling stuck/lack of self identity or struggling to communicate effectively after their relationship has grown and changed. However, Rules for Second Chances didn't convince me that the love between Liz and Tobin was worth saving, nor was I convinced they should have been married in the first place?

Tobin's character felt under developed, and I think that could have been resolved if the book was dual POV.

I did like Liz's character and her determination to be seen, heard as a woman and finally accepting that she is likely on the spectrum. However, I definitely found myself getting frustrated with her at times for how strongly she pushed Tobin away. Then once she finally realized that she didn't want to push him away, Tobin finally stood up for himself and chose to walk away from her.

This book had a lot of self discovery which I greatly appreciated, however I wanted more from Tobin and Liz's relationship development. It felt like everything came together. The characters were deciding if they could handle giving their relationship another try and suddenly it was the last chapter of the book and they both grand gestured and lived happily ever after.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

I. NEED. HER. NEXT. BOOK. IMMEDIATELY.

i read this at the recommendation of jessica joyce, one of my favorite contemporary romance authors and boy was i not let down!!!! this had it all- the deep, realistic characters, swoon worthy romance, and an unforgettable story 🥹 i dont want to give too much away, but if you’ve found yourself considering this one, i highly recommend it as well and would absolutely implore you check it out.

This book was a heart-breakingly honest look at a marriage in trouble. And not the obvious kind of trouble. The kind that lurks in quiet corners until it's almost too late.

Liz & Tobin are wonderful representatives of fighting for your marriage. The good, the bad, the ugly, and the rest ... I really felt their plight throughout the book.

I'm glad the author kept it real instead of maybe trying to mask some of the hard stuff. Put it all out there, and let people see the ugly. I think that's the only way to survive.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I requested this book expecting a second chance romance but really it’s a book about the main character’s journey with self discovery, self development, with a little bit of second chance romance on the side.

Unfortunately because I was expecting something else I was a bit disappointed and didn’t enjoy the book as much as I’d hoped. It was great to follow Liz along her journey and I saw a lot of myself in her but not 100% sure how I feel about her trying to change herself to fit it, especially when the people she’s trying to fit in with aren’t the best and definitely don’t deserve her.

Alas, not the book for me but if you’re into personal growth/development journeys, this one’s worth checking out.

3/5 stars

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for sending me an arc in exchange for an hosnest review.

I really enjoyed this one! It was refreshing to read about older MC's (aka not twentysomethings) working through life's hardships. It took until about 30% of the book to really get into the story and invest in the characters, but once I got to that point, I flew through the rest! I loved the 'scenarios' that Tobin and Liz participated in and I felt like the author did a really great job showing growth of their characters individually and as a whole in their relationship.

Definitely would recommend this book if you're a lover of second chance romances, older MCs, neurodiverse representation and fun side characters.

Thank you so much again to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this book!

I thought this was a good story of growth and learning. I hate to rate it less than 4 stars but it's meant to be a romance and I didn't (personally) connect with the romance. We are told how much the main characters love each other but I didn't feel it.

I did adore Liz's journey of growth and finding herself. The improv was fun, although as someone with social anxiety I can't imagine it was easy for Liz to do (although that's part of her character growth).

The reasoning for going with 3 stars is the writing style. I feel like this is trying to be deep but it didn't resonate with me. Like, some of the conversations between the main characters (whether they were playing a 'scene' or just talking) felt really awkward as the reader. I don't even know how to explain it (shrugs).

Overall, it was a cute, clean, second chance romance that I think a lot of readers may love.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this arc in exchange for my honest review!

3.5 Stars!

This is a second chance romance that was full of emotion, humor, and cozy vibes. Liz is an introvert who is trying to fix her marriage with her husband. I found her to be relatable as I am also an introvert myself. I struggled with the plot lines in this book. There was multiple, and each one didn't have a lot of buildup. There would be two chapters for a plot and then it would switch to another. Because of that, I didn't get too emotionally attached to the characters or to intrigued by what was happening. If a single plot was built up further throughout the story, the impact would've been much better for me. I did enjoy the humor that was written in this one. I was giggling with more than one scene. I love when a romance has humor because it can make any moment feel more lighthearted.

Overall, I enjoyed this read. If you're looking for a quick read and a second chance romance, then this one would be a good fit for you!

This was one of those books where the premise seemed like amazing, but the execution didn’t have the follow through. The female main character was hard to believe with her actions, and the plot wasn’t as great as the description made. It seem to be. The writing seemed a bit clunky and I just didn’t like it as much as I wish I would have.

Aspiring Autistic Author Accomplishes Astounding Act of Adoration. Ok, so that was a very painful and forced alliteration by an Autistic reviewer that actually gives an idea of what this book may be like for at least some non-Autistic readers.

Personally, I found that most of this book worked quite well - it does in fact have the far-too-common tacked on baby-in-epilogue that always leaves a sour "aftertaste" for me when the book never really mentioned even wanting kids in its overall story, but other than this quibble the book actually does work well as a story of both finding oneself and rediscovering the love one had for one's partner along the way. But part of what made it work so well - if perhaps a *touch* stereotypically - is that North worked in so many real-world examples of what life as an Autistic in the corporate world can truly be like at times, particularly as it relates to understanding others and working to be understood by them.

The emphasis on improv comedy and its "Yes, and" philosophy is a driving force in the overall narrative here and yes, perhaps is very nearly a crutch/ preachy at times about the philosophy and its purported benefits, but again, within the overall structure of the story as told... eh, *every* such story has some overarching narrative device, this one simply happens to be improv.

Overall this was a solid debut effort in the romance space, and absolutely leaves me wanting to see more from this author - which is the number one (or maybe two, after sales of this book itself) goal of any debut book. So in that regard, it did its job quite well indeed. And for those looking for "diverse reads", again, here's a neurodiverse author for you to give a shot!

Very much recommended.