Reviews with content warning for Miscarriage - The Second You're Single

Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

The Second You're Single by Cara Tanamachi

16 reviews

hellowildflower's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book before release.

Instantly I got How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days vibes and loved that! I love classic rom coms and this has that same vibe from chapter one.

I really wanted them to spend more time together at the beginning of the book. The time they do spend together is great and they work together.

I would’ve loved a few more chapters from Jacks POV.

Really didn’t love all the body shaming and fat phobia because Sora seems healthy, so having her family say ‘they’re worried she’s going to die’ as an excuse for saying horrible things to her it isn’t the kind, caring response it’s played off to be.

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katiemack's review

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funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book because it’s set in Chicago and the premise seems cute, but all of the characters seem to have about two or theee traits that define them. Sora, our main character, wears size 14 clothing, has had terrible luck with men and treats herself poorly as a result, and LOVES bacon. (I almost DNF’d this because of the amount of times she brings up bacon.) Jack has some kind of insta-love for Sora and used to be chubby as a kid, which he thinks about often. There are some sweet moments—mostly around family—but the romance is not compelling.

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patelyne's review against another edition

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3.75

Jack had quite the unrequited (unnoticed really) crush on Sora way back when they were in elementary school, but after fifth grade his family moves away.

Fast forward So Many Years and Sora, single again after a disastrous relationship or three, is writing a month long column project about going solo for February, to spite the Valentine’s Day Machine. So of course this is when she runs into Jack again, passing out pastries he’s baked at the local grocery. There’s a little spark, a minutes long fake relationship, and a misunderstanding.

They connect again and again though, and it’s very much a ‘You find what you’re looking for as soon as you stop searching so hard’ situation. But should she risk her job to give this something they’re feeling a chance?

What I loved - The book starts off strong - there’s a lot humor, good banter, and a rescue dog that stole my heart. The scenes with Jack and his niece were sweet as all get out. And while a few weeks of patience would have avoided the drama of the story, Sora and Jack getting all caught up in each was great.

What I could have done with much less of - the food/body shaming that kept popping up. Sora’s mother wording it as ‘issues they both have’ didn’t make it better, and there’s a scene with the sister at a dress fitting that I felt crossed a line. And I felt bad about how much Jack was still feeling the effects of childhood bullying.

Outside of this, and overall, I did enjoy the story though and was happy with how it ended.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the ARC

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wanderonwards's review

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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.

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megloveswords12's review

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funny lighthearted slow-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

3.0

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ni_kola's review

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lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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