Rules for Second Chances is a really hard book to review because I loved it so much, I felt it so hard, and it's difficult to put into words the why. From the very first chapter my heart felt like it was in a vice grip because I could relate to the FMC so deeply and in so many ways. The pacing was great, the side characters added to the story, the romance felt authentic and it just felt so real. 5 star, one of the best books of summer.

Thank you SMP Romance for the gifted ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Unfortunately I attempted this book via an eARC and ALC but it wasn't right for me and I DNFd at about 20%.

Rules for Second Chances was a unique read! Out of all the romances I've read, I've never read one with an improv storyline. Although it was interesting, I found the improv scenes hard to follow. I felt like there could have been more scene setting when it came to the improv scenes. I had no clue what was happening during the hiking/pirate improv scene. I also struggled understanding Liz's character. I had a hard time comprehending Liz's relationship with Tobin. I wanted to see more of Liz and Tobin's relationship! I wanted more angst and scenes between the two. I'm glad that Liz came into herself at the end of the book. Once I got used to her narration, I enjoyed her tidbits. I was surprised by how many plot points there were in this book. I sort of wish the author removed a few of the plot elements to focus more on the important points such as Tobin/Liz and Amber/Liz's relationships. Even though I didn't love this book, I would give Maggie North another shot. Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin for the ARC.

Maggie North's "Rules for Second Chances" takes us on an unconventional journey of self-discovery with our heroine, Liz Lewis. Set against the backdrop of a mountain resort town, this story tackles some heavy themes: toxic positivity, introversion in an extroverted world, and the daunting task of finding oneself within a crumbling marriage.

Liz's struggle is real and relatable. As an introvert myself, I felt her pain when she was mistaken for a server at her own birthday party. North does a great job highlighting the challenges introverts face, especially in a world that values outgoing personalities. The idea of Liz turning to improv comedy to build confidence is both bold and slightly cringeworthy—in the best way possible.

However, the story hit some rough patches for me. The toxic positivity in Liz's marriage to Tobin felt a bit heavy-handed at times. And while I appreciated the attempt to show growth, Tobin's transformation from part of the problem to Liz's improv buddy felt a bit too convenient.

On the bright side, the improv scenes were delightful. Watching Liz fumble and gradually find her footing was endearing. North also hints at a deeper issue with Liz's social awkwardness, which added an interesting layer.

Overall, "Rules for Second Chances" is a mixed bag. It has heart and tackles important issues but sometimes trips over its own ambition. It's worth a read, especially for introverts who've felt invisible, but it doesn't quite stick the landing.

This was an interesting and uncomfortable read for me. As someone who identifies as neurodivergent, the main character’s struggles really resonated with me. It sometimes felt like I was looking into an inner mirror of my 18 year old self as I read.
And that’s where some of my issues started. Several of Liz’s insecurities felt too juvenile for a 30 year old. I know I didn’t have my act together by 30, but I was well on my way to understanding and loving my quirky, atypical self. Liz’s immaturity in the story would have worked better if she was a decade younger. But then, I guess, the whole “marriage on the rocks” trope wouldn’t have worked as well.
Another thing I struggled with was the improv. It was much too quirky and embarrassing for me. I’m a fan of direct communication, so the improv felt juvenile, superficial and manipulative to me.
Having said all that, I do think neurodivergent individuals will connect well with the main character, Liz. They will appreciate the representation.
Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley

I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy courtesy of St. Martin’s Press, Netgalley and the author. I really enjoyed this novel and its creative and unique delivery.

Liz is married to Tobin however is tired of feeling like an outsider or bystander in her own marriage. She sets out to seek to feel differently and to see her marriage and self differently. This becomes a second chance feeling novel and it is so engaging. The emotions of Liz are portrayed very realistically as it is written in first person. I loved the romance and the love of Liz and Tobin and found myself hopeful for Liz throughout this novel.

This was a fun rom-com that I would recommend to those who love rom-coms as their daily reads. Maggie North did a fantastic job creating an emotional, raw and hopeful story of second chances!

It's been a little more than a week since I finished reading Rules for Second Chances and the further from it I get, the more I feel fondly toward it, but in the moment of reading the book, there were times where I just wanted to scream at the characters. Essentially, this book is a marriage in trouble story where Liz feels like she has truly become a background character in not only her life, but in her marriage. The sex is great, but she doesn't feel like her husband, Tobin, or the other people in her life really see her. So on the night of her birthday party, where she's mistaken for staff, she decides it's time to go. Only Tobin is not ready to give up on their marriage. Liz also has a lot going on in her work life and that's a large part of what this book focuses on, in that, based on some comments her boss makes, she winds up joining an improv comedy class and that sets the stage for a lot of fun shenanigans with Tobin as well.

What I really enjoyed about this book was how Liz got to learn about herself and watching her and Tobin take steps back toward one another. I also loved how she slowly starts to realize that maybe she is autistic. My frustration with this book is that both Tobin and Liz have kept so much bottled up for so long and they forgot how to communicate, but honestly, it's almost like they never knew how to do so because we don't see them falling in love really. I think a failure to communicate is 100% realistic for the breakdown of a marriage, but it can get really aggravating to read. That said, I listened to this book (thanks again, Netgalley for the audio review copy) and I never got so aggravated, I had to turn it off, so that's something! I really enjoyed listening to it and I will definitely read more from Maggie North in the future.

The thing I cannot forgive is improv class karaoke that was sung as a cat. I cannot do secondhand embarrassment.

I liked Gail Shalan as the narrator in this.. The nuances of her performance added to the book really well.

Story: 2-2.5 stars
Narration: 3 stars

I usually love second chance/marriage in trouble romances, but this one was a struggle for me. The book read primarily as women’s fiction, and I thought the HEA with the main character’s husband took a back seat to her personal development. Liz is gunning for a promotion at work so she takes an improv class to build her confidence and leadership skills. She decides to use the same strategies with her estranged husband. Honestly half the time I struggled to really know what was going on - some of the improv scenes were too long and dragged on so that it was hard to follow what was happening.

There is great bisexuality and autistic/neurodivergent representation in this book.

The audiobook is narrated by Gail Shalan who did a really great job with the voices. I definitely enjoyed the parts I listened to more than the parts I read with my eyeballs.

I voluntarily read and listened to gifted copies of this book. All opinions are my own.

*Thank you to St Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review and to Macmillan Audio for the gifted ALC*

Marriage in trouble is one of those underappreciated tropes that can be so hard to do well, and dang did Maggie North nail it. Despite only offering Liz's PoV, we can quickly see why her relationship with Tobin is so strained. I'm so glad that this book is about finding your true self, rather than becoming someone else. Also IMPROV!! Here it's used both as a technique to get out of your shell and to find trust and connection with your partner. I truly thought it was genius. And the narration was just chef's kiss - between the hilarious scene about zombie wasps and the myriad of accents, Gail Shalan cemented herself as one of my new favorite narrators.

I also enjoyed Liz discovering her potential neurodivergence, as understanding that really helped her understand herself more. Her relationship with her sister Amber was a subplot that I really enjoyed (despite it starting out strained). There's still some work for them to put in to truly heal, but their progress gave me a lot of hope.

I really hope that we get books for Stellar and Amber because they deserve their happy endings!

- Marriage in crisis
- Second chance
- Single POV

What to expect in Rules for Second Chances:
- A beautifully written and complex story following a struggling married couple. The author expertly blends funny moments with tender ones.
- Using improv to save a marriage.
- A journey of self-discovery for the FMC with lots of self-reflection and introspection.
- Both MMCs growing and working hard to save their relationship.
- Lots of things happening to keep the plot moving.

This book gave me major mixed feelings. I liked the FMC, didn’t like her sister most of the book, and I didn’t really like her husband most of the time. There is neurodiversity rep, but I’m not sure I liked the way it was handled…I don’t really know.

At many times, this book had a similar feel to You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle, & I also had mixed feelings on that book.

Liz’s introduction at the beginning was like looking in a mirror for myself. I really related to her a lot, and that might be partially why I struggled with liking everything here.

I liked the story line that was centered on her finding herself, being her own person, and being someone that people wanted to be around bc of her— not bc of anyone she was associated with. But other parts of this book didn’t hit for me.

Holy crap this book absolutely blew me away! Marriage in trouble/second chance romance is my all-time favorite trope but it's so often not given the treatment it needs to be truly successful. But oh my gosh Maggie North knows exactly what she's doing. There's not a moment in this book that I would change. Maggie North is a master at writing about interpersonal conflict and I couldn't put the book down cause I was feeling so much. She gave both characters so much grace to have their own individual needs and slowly pushed both of them to discover what those unspoken needs and desires were. She was so tender with both of the characters and left room for both of them to be completely vulnerable in their longing for each other. I absolutely adored watching Liz go on this personal journey and felt so seen by her struggles. The autism rep was such a fantastic inclusion. I'm thrilled that we're getting more of that now. This book was the perfect combination of a what I love in a romance - hopeful and swoony in equal measure. I 100% recommend this book! Please pick it up and then come into my DMs to tell me about your feelings cause I have many I need to process now 🥹

Rules for Second Chances is a second chance romance with neurodiversity rep and improv. Yes, you read that correctly, improv plays a big part in this book. Rules for Second Chances follows Liz, who just turned 30 years old, and realizes she has been a side character in her own life. Vowing to make a change, she tells her husband, Tobin, that she needs space to figure out herself and their marriage. She and Tobin have been brushing aside their issues for years and pretending their marriage is okay, but it’s not. Not only that, Liz has been waiting to get promoted at her job for ages, but her manager doesn’t believe she is leadership material. To prove him wrong, she signs up for an improv class to help her learn how to break out of her shell.

Rules for Second Chances was a slow burn for me. The more I read it, the more I enjoyed it. Liz is a character you can’t help but root for. All she wants is to be seen for who she is and appreciated. Throughout the story, we watch Liz push herself outside her comfort zone and learn who she is, who she wants to be, and what she wants in life. Tobin, her husband, is super sweet. He is the embodiment of a golden retriever. I wish we got his point of view in this book!

I’m going to be honest, I wasn’t sure about the improv at first. I didn’t see how it was going to help Liz look good in her boss’s eyes or how it was going to help her marriage. Well, Maggie North proved me wrong. Not only did the improv help Liz achieve her goals, but it was entertaining to read about! I loved watching Liz make friends who accepted her for who she was and encouraged her to speak up for herself.

All in all, this was a very heartwarming romance! I cannot wait to read Maggie North’s next book.

I really wanted to like this book, but after 4 hours into it, I had to give up. I didn't like the characters and felt no connection between them. The storyline was different, which I liked, but in the end, it was flat. I picked this one up because I thought it was going to be more of an outdoor adventures book, but it really wasn't.

This one was cute and full of heart. The author’s writing style hooked me from the beginning. The Autism representation in this one was well written. Liz was a compelling character. Her journey to figuring out who she was, what she wanted, and why she felt the way she felt was heartbreakingly beautiful. Tobin was messy and complicated. I loved the way he loved Liz. He did sometimes feel a little one dimensional. Liz’s relationship with her sister was caustic. It felt like Amber was unnecessarily cruel to her at times, and I hated the way she tried to tell her grown sister what to do. Their interactions took me out of the story at times because of that. Their chemistry was off the charts, and their banter was perfectly timed. The way they used improv to work through their relationship goals was unique and made for some interesting scenes. The plot was well paced and kept me turning pages. The ending fit the story and the characters well. I loved getting a few pages at the end that showed how things worked out after the climax of the story.

Such a fun, cute little summer read for those who love romance and second chance love tropes. I've never read anything by Maggie North before but I will be finding more books of hers.

I ended up really liking this. Liz took a while to warm up to, as her initial treatment of Tobin felt unfair and her complaints about their relationship seemed hypocritical. As the story progressed, it became clear that's part of the point. She develops better self-awareness and takes accountability for helping to perpetuate the situation she felt stuck in. Ultimately I was rooting for the main characters to work things out. (You might think that's a given in romance novels, but it really isn't.)

The improv elements, including the relationship self-help book Tobin and Liz use together, worked surprisingly well. I was hesitant since those scenes could have been cringy, but Maggie North presented them in a way where any awkwardness felt purposeful to Liz's journey toward "learning to fail joyfully."

I didn't enjoy the parts about the pitch competition quite as much, especially it's aftermath.

Overall I really enjoyed Maggie North's writing style and characters. If there's a second book focused on Lyle and Stellar, I'll definitely pick it up.

Thanks to NetGalley for a digital review copy.

Rules For Second Chances is a marriage in trouble, second chance romance with a unique twist. It weaves in heavier themes with laugh out loud moments. The novel takes on a lot in terms of relationships and dynamics- it excels in some areas but isn't as well executed in others. Overall the heart and heat were engaging and the main characters had good chemistry.

3★

I have mixed feelings about this book. I found it to be heavier than I was expecting and the writing style was a bit confusing for me, but I enjoyed Liz and Tobin as a couple.

As expected, this is a marriage-on-the-rocks plot, and while I did like them as a couple, I felt like their resolve in working through their problems was weak or at least overshadowed by the improv prompts, lacking a bit of maturity and even self-awareness in the conversations they did have.

Aside from that, there was a lot going on. From Liz and Tobin's struggling marriage, to Liz "reinventing herself", the pitch for a promotion, her relationship with her sister, Tobin's relationship with his parents, and I'm probably forgetting something even though I've *just* finished reading it.

I would recommend it if you're a fan of second chance romances, especifically marriage on the rocks since it isn't a super popular trope.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.