Second Chance Christmas

Second Chance Christmas is a heartwarming and emotional second chance romance that will tug at your heartstrings. It's a wild emotional rollercoaster ride, and I loved every minute of it!

Fifteen years ago, Faith Stone and her high-school sweetheart, Rome Atkins, both experienced something devastating that tore them apart. Rome's brother died in a car crash, with Faith's mother being the drunk driver behind the wheel. Having lost the love of her life and feeling there was nothing left for her in Sageport, Faith moved to Atlanta and never looked back.

One day, Faith receives a call from her father's fiancé, asking her to come back to Sageport to help her father after he suffered a mild stroke. Faith has not been back to Sageport since the accident 15 years ago. As difficult as it is for her, Sage agrees. She leaves her twin daughters with their father, whom she divorced almost a year ago, and heads down to Sageport.

Being back in her childhood home triggers a lot of hurtful memories for Faith, and being around her father who changed drastically after his wife's death doesn't make it any better. And then Faith sees Rome and all the old feelings come rushing back. Faith finally accepts that there are certain things she needs to face while she is down in Sageport in order to heal from her past.

I absolutely loved this book! It is a very realistic second chance romance, with the characters facing very real problems and overcoming them. Faith and Rome are strong characters from the very beginning, with dreams and aspirations that they had to put on hold to take care of their families. I loved how the spark was always there between the two, even while dealing with hurt and grief. Faith and Rome are not the only two dealing with grief in this book either. It was beautiful watching the characters come together and heal from the pain through communication and with the help of the loved ones. I was so happy when Faith rekindled things with Rome, especially after feeling like she wasn't good enough after her divorce. I was rooting hard for these two and I was so happy when they got their happy ending. They both deserved it!

Thank you NetGalley, Black Odyssey, and Jahquel J. for such a beautiful ARC!

This is my first time reading anything by Jahquel J. or Black Odyssey Media whose goal is to help shine a light on minority storytellers. I knew it was going to be a good book when the prologue alone left me absolutely seething. It’s (if you couldn’t tell) a second chance romance set around Christmas time. I will say it’s not too heavily Christmas themed, you could definitely read this any time of the year and it not be weird.

Faith and Rome were the perfect couple, destined to be together, until one night a tragic accident caused Faith’s mother and Romeo’s brother to lose their lives, ultimately leading to their breakup. Heartbroken, Faith fled from the small town of Sageport, never wanting to return. That is until over a decade later when the newly divorced, single mum to twins, returns after her father suffers a stroke.

I loved the multiple POV’s in this, other than Faith and Rome we also get to see Ashton, Faith’s ex husband. It’s really nice to see two ex spouses who don’t hate each other and genuinely want the other person to move on and be happy.

At first I thought the second chance between Faith and Rome moved a bit fast, but you quickly realise that they never stopped loving each other and just picked up where they left off. The spicy scenes are quite short, I’d have liked them to be a little bit more detailed but that’s personal preference.

The writing style was so different to what I’m used to. Obviously the author, Jahquel J. and I come from two completely different cultures and ethnic backgrounds so this is expected, but I really enjoyed it. Even things like the character’s dialect is different to what it’s like where I live in England. It’s really nice to have some diversity in the romance genre. I definitely will be looking into reading more from Jahquel J.

I received an advance review copy for free, and am leaving this review voluntarily.

I received a complimentary copy of this book and the opinions expressed are my own. I really enjoyed reading Second Chance Christmas by Jahquel J. This is a story of heartbreak, reliving painful memories, rekindled love and new and happy memories being made. This story will make you laugh, cry and then be happy again. I highly recommend this book!