Surely everyone deserves a second chance?
Ex-fireman and edible flower farmer Shay McGillen has plenty of reasons not to give Sarah Pickering even one chance when she turns up in his small Yorkshire village. After all, she is only there to try and convince him and his fellow villagers to sell up so her company can build a bypass. If Sarah thinks she can make Shay give up his farmhouse and his business, she has another thing coming!
But when an unexpected blizzard leaves Sarah stranded in Shay’s home, he soon realizes that they are far more alike than he could have ever imagined – and perhaps both of them deserve a second chance.
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Title: Little Village of Second Chances
Series:
Author: Gina Hollands
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: June 23, 2020
Publisher: Choc Lit/Ruby Fiction
My Rating: 4.5 stars
‘Little Village of Second Chances‘ is a delightful romance that proves the point that what we first see isn’t always the entire story and that perhaps people deserve that second chance to show us what they are truly all about before we rush to judgment. This would be very true indeed for Shay and Sarah. I was drawn into their lives from the opening of this story and remained captured as they each had to face a painful past in differing circumstances, learning to trust each other… and enduring what appears to be a betrayal of that trust. There are several gems of insight into both Shay and Sarah that will help the reader to understand the why of their actions and reactions… but I’m not about to spoil this story for you and you’ll have to discover those tidbits firsthand.
Shay is a wounded soul, and when we discover his past everything about him makes sense. Sarah, on the other hand, is mostly upfront about herself except for one huge glaring detail – one bit of information that will bite her on the butt when she least expects it. I liked them both even though theirs is definitely an enemy to lovers trope. Each has their reasons, even if the other really cannot understand them at first.
I fell in love with the people of this little village, a more diverse, quirky lot would be hard to find and I enjoyed every insight into their lives and their reasons for staying (beyond stubbornness). It was the little touches that mattered to me in ‘Little Village of Second Chances‘ from Sarah’s need to hide why she’s really there, to Shay’s dealing (or not dealing) with his tragic past, to the individual villagers who really made this dilemma more human vs corporation. While the weather may have played a part in Shay and Sarah getting closer it really is up to them to decide what is more important – living in the past or forging forward to a promising, happy ever after future together. I had an absolute blast with this story and would not hesitate to recommend it to any Romance reader.
*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher, Choc Lit/Ruby Fiction. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*
Available for your favorite e-reader, mine is the Kindle
