This is so good!!! I love the way this autistic own-voices romance tackles common missteps and coping mechanisms with honesty and heart. Liz and Tobin are an inspiration for personal growth. And every couple really needs a McHuge in their corner! I’ve never wanted to try improv until reading this book. Those scenarios for building/rebuilding honesty, trust, and joy in relationships made for comedy and romantic gold that I 100% would love to try at home! I can’t emphasize enough how much I enjoyed this book and the beautiful, positive outcomes possible when we speak our truth and learn to ask for what we need. So good. Big thanks to the author and St. Martin’s Griffin for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This book was decent. I had a hard time getting vested in it until it was Half over.
I know Liz struggled with things but I think she was unfair to Tobin.
I thought Tobin was a rock throughout the entire book. He was patient, tender, and there! He didn’t give up and he had many chances to walk away.
The ending was good.

More than romance - self discovery - finding who you are and what you really want in life, resolving past conflicts and conflicts you didn't realize were there. And in the end finding family and opening up to friends and accepting yourself.

Extremely unique story. This is full of hope and healing. Amazing writing and loved every part of it. Loved the second chance romance and how the characters develop. Definitely one to look out for

This book took a little bit for me to get into it, but once I did, it was challenging to put down. If you took this at face value, it feels like one of characters trying to implode their relationship. However, if you take the time to be invested, that's really not what this is about. It's about a character trying to come into their own, and their path isn't necessarily as linear as most stories make them out to be. I found it authentic to have struggles of the characters be present and relevant. It made me more invested in the characters and their outcomes, and I found myself rooting for them. I thought this was well crafted, and I appreciated the effort to work on healing broken relationships.

A wonderful story of self discovery and healing. Liz figures out what a strong woman she is and stands tall in her knowledge.

I really enjoyed this book! The characters and the plot are very well written and the story was interesting and thought out well. I would definitely recommend this book to my audience and friends.

Something about this book just wan't working for me. I'm not sure if I wasn't in the mood for this type of story, but I wasn't able to get into the writing and into the characters.

3.5 rounded to 4

This tender second-chance romance has interesting premise and is set in a rural mountain resort town where Liz Lewis and her husband, Tobin Renner-Lewis, work for a local expedition company; Tobin as a guide and Liz in an office role in operations. Liz would rather have a more hands-on role – acting as a guide or designing new types of expedition offerings – but is finding it difficult to be seen, heard and appreciated in the male-dominated company and industry.

Unfortunately, work is not the only part of her life where Liz is dealing with this frustration. More introverted than Tobin, she has fallen into the habit of relying on him to take the lead in the social situations where she feels uncomfortable. Tobin has gotten used to “rescuing” Liz in these situations, and while she allows it to happen, she is starting to resent his assumption that she needs rescuing.

These unhealthy dynamics are taking a toll on their marriage where Liz also feels like Tobin no longer truly sees her. Instead of talking honestly about their problems, they avoid them, with Tobin often using distraction to put off having needed tough conversations.

Tobin’s aversion to conflict is deep-rooted. He grew up in a family where his father (Tor), who was a serial cheater, was gone more frequently than he was around. When Tor does show up, it’s usually because he wants something from Tobin or his mother, Marijke. Rather than confronting Tor, Marijke caters to Tor’s every whim in an effort to keep him, and Tobin has learned to avoid hard conversations as well.

Eventually, Liz is no longer able to overlook the problems in her marriage and how unhappy she is. She knows something has to change and moves out of the home she shares with Tobin to move back to her childhood home, where her divorced, older sister Amber lives with her autistic daughter, Eleanor.

To have any chance of being considered for a promotion at work, her boss tells Liz she must take a local improv class as part of leadership training (on her own time and at her own expense). The “yes and” rule of improv helps Liz to begin to think differently about her personal and professional situation. Tobin is invested in saving their marriage, and offers to be Liz’s improv partner to help her practice outside of class. As part of the deal, he insists that they use a self-help book based on the improv framework to try to address the communication issues in their relationship. The book was written by a friend of Tobin’s who is also Liz’s improv teacher. Liz and Tobin use this to face their problems and find their way back to a relationship in which they can be partners.

#RulesForSecondChances is admirable debut highlighting an interesting world and featuring two endearing main characters. Both Liz and Tobin are very human with believable strengths and weaknesses. The seriousness of their challenges is lightened by humor in the improv classes Liz takes and the scenarios that she and Tobin practice.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #StMartinsPress for the ARC.

I was invited by the publisher to review this book. Liz, an introvert, and Tobin, an extrovert, are both a part of the wilderness world and also married, but Liz never feels heard or seen. Liz decides to take control of her own life and gain the confidence she needs - by taking an improv class. Then, Tobin decides he is the best person for her to work on her skillset for improv. As the two work on helping her gain confidence and work on improv, the opportunity arises for Liz to understand and learn what wasn't working in their marriage before, but also explore what that means for her as an individual. This was a good book to encourage the use of communication, which is an issue with a lot of relationships. I enjoyed that the author made good use of this subject and appreciated how well this was articulated between Liz and Tobin.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Griffin for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book gave me a lot of feels and not all of them were good ones (meaning, in so many places I was sad or angry), but a story that gets this much emotion out of me is still a good read.

This is a story about second chances - Liz (a shy, awkward, spreadsheet loving human) and Tobin (the outgoing charmer) have been married for a few years but Liz isn't happy. She feels stuck, professionally and personally. So she takes up improv in hopes of landing a dream promotion and maybe fixing her marriage.

This book made me feel so many things. I loved the natural progression of Tobin and Liz's marriage and why both were, inevitably, unhappy. Something needed to change and the author did a great job navigating that. What I didn't like, necessarily, was the whole autism subplot. Number 1 - I don't think it was well done and 2) it didn't add to the plot at all. I'm not even sure why it was in there.

Overall, it was a solid 3.5 stars for me. Now I just need a story between Stellar and McHuge (I mean... Lyle).

This just wasn’t for me. The writing was all over the place from the beginning. Because of that it didn’t feel comfortable to read or keep my interest. I found it really hard to concentrate on the writing.

This was a sleeper hit for me. I almost didn’t finish it after a very slow start and a bit of frustration with the ‘I’m not going to tell you you’re autistic’ storyline. I’m glad I kept going because the scenes where Tobin and Liz actually talk to one another had me enthralled. It’s so true that each side brings their own experience and baggage into something and only when you are open to growth can you see the other side too.

Rules For Second Chances should check every box for me as a reader. Quirky characters and second chance at love are two of my favorite story lines.

There were moments that I really enjoyed Liz' story. Some of her feelings I could totally relate to myself. But overall, I was just so confused. I think it was the style of writing. I was often frustrated with how confused I was. Maybe this could have been helped with a stronger editor. There was potential but sadly it was a big miss for me.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Adorable rom-com with the second-chance romance trope. The main character, Liz Lewis, is completely relatable. Liz is in a stalled marriage that she doesn't know how to restart or get out of. She's an introvert and her husband, Tobin, is an extreme extrovert. (Opposites attract, right?) Anyway, she needs more communication with her husband, but they're in a rut of not talking. Liz is also trying to move up at work but she's been dubbed the "spreadsheet girl". So, her boss advises her to take an improv class to work on being more outgoing.
One of her husband's friends is the improv instructor and gives her husband his published and popular marriage therapy book that includes improv scenes. They decide to give his book a try to save their marriage.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for this e-arc.*

- I honestly don’t even know how to write about this book—it was, quite possibly, the most relatable and heart-wrenching thing I’ve ever read. I, too, realized I was autistic after trying to blow up my marriage. This felt extremely real, but I think even if you don’t have this extremely niche shared experience, you’ll become fully immersed in the depth of emotion and character development Liz and Tobin go through. From overbearing in-laws to the battle of keeping yourself alive in corporate workplaces, this book has something for everyone. Also, if you are somehow not absolutely terrified of improv, you’ll thoroughly enjoy that storyline; if you are terrified of improv, this book will have you thinking about signing up. 10/10 experience now I’m going to go cry about this book!!!

Rules for Second Chances tells the story of Liz Lewis, who feels trapped in a life where she's always played the supporting role. After an embarrassing incident at her thirtieth birthday party, she decides it's time to reclaim her narrative, starting with an improv comedy class. This decision leads her back to her estranged husband, Tobin, an extroverted wilderness guide determined to mend their broken marriage.

The premise is intriguing, and I appreciated the exploration of self-discovery and personal growth. Liz's journey toward confidence is relatable, and the incorporation of improv as a tool for her transformation is both clever and entertaining. However, the pacing felt uneven at times, and I struggled to connect with some of the characters. While the chemistry between Liz and Tobin was evident, the issues that initially drove them apart seemed to take a backseat to their comedic misadventures. Ultimately, Rules for Second Chances is a sweet read that offers a thoughtful take on love and second chances, but it didn't fully engage me as I had hoped.

Maggie North set out to write an absolutely heartbreaking and emotional book and she DELIVERED.

I felt like it started a little slow but once it picked up, I could not put it down. I love second chance romances and this is the first time that I’ve read a second chance between two characters who are already married. I loved that Toby wanted to fight for the marriage while Liz needed to find herself to remind her WHY she wanted to fight for the marriage also.

I loved the development of not only the characters but their relationship as well. I loved the chemistry and the romance between the two. But I also loved how Liz’s story reminds us that when in a relationship, it’s so important that each person knows how to communicate but also that each person has their own identity so they don’t get lost.

Beautiful story and I can’t wait for more books from Maggie North.

Thank you so much to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

“Rules for Second Chances” by Maggie North is billed as a second-chance romance, and it is that -but interwoven into this are many chapters with improv (okay) and Liz trying to be more assertive in both her marriage and workplace. While I understand working on assertiveness, I found Liz’s attempts to be more scattershot than actually, well, planned or well thought out. While the improv angle was interesting, I just had difficulties with the concept regarding strengthening her marriage issues. And speaking of her marriage, she decides she’s upset with her husband and two moments later calls him her ex - what? This wasn’t the book for me on many levels - and sadly I found myself rolling my eyes more than I did enjoying the book (the mermaid part nearly made me DNF, but - go me - I said “Yes, and?”).

A lovely cover and an enjoyable story! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I liked the spice and steam and the couple learning to communicate better. It left me thinking about my own life.