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wanderonwards's review
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Thank you to Macmillan/St. Martin’s Publishing Group for sending me an ARC of this title. I received this copy for free and this review contains my honest opinions.
Have you ever read a book and thought the characters were right but the story they were in was not? That was The Second You’re Single for me. This could have been an incredibly fun meet-cute romance, but it unfortunately it didn’t meet my expectations. Ultimately, I felt Sora and Jack would have stood out more, and been better served, in a different story. I thought they were both likable, but they never quite meshed with the premise/conflict in a way that worked for me.
I also had a major issue with how ‘Solo February’ was represented throughout the story. The ‘rules’ of the challenge were never actually described, but the feeling was this was a challenge for Sora to completely stop interacting with men for 28 days since she has a lot of unresolved issues and seeks validation by throwing herself into relationships without having the emotional maturity to actually make them work. So, for instance, if Sora was to get a coffee and catch up with a man she hadn’t seen since elementary school she considered herself a ‘failure’. To me there’s a big difference between meeting for coffee (or being someone’s plus one for a major life achievement as a random, nonspecific example) and being in a committed, steady relationship, so I found it frustrating that Sora immediately tried to commit to isolating herself.
As other reviewers have already stated, Sora and Jack’s relationship was very insta-love (they had less than 5 interactions that lasted - at most - a total of 3 hours before jumping right into a physical relationship and the next day Jack immediately starts using that 4-letter L word), there is a third act break up, an uncomfortable amount of body shaming by most of the characters, and almost all of the female characters shared traits with cartoon villains and left A LOT to be desired.
While this wasn’t the story for me, I did enjoy the author’s writing style and hope to see books with a different focus in the future. Thank you again to the publisher for sending me a free ARC.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Miscarriage, and Body shaming
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