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A review by danwyn
Second Chances in New Port Stephen by TJ Alexander
4.0
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review: 3.5/5 stars
Content warning for some transphobia from one of the MC’s mother-in-law, also for Florida politics in general. This was my first book by TJ Alexander, and overall, I really liked it! Importantly for a romance, the relationship was very compelling. There’s a bit of spice that I thought was both sexy and well done in regard to depicting sex with a transmasculine person. I appreciated that the characters were slightly older than I usually see in romance novels (both around 40). Especially with the trans man MC, it’s always nice to have stories about people who transition as an adult. The other MC goes through his own queer discovery storyline in the novel that I also enjoyed, and his daughter is so cute! I honestly wish there had been more of her. There’s a lot towards the beginning and then a lot less in the second half.
On the other side of things, I did find the writing a little slow at times and a lot of tension relied on miscommunications and the characters just straight up walking away from each other, which is not the most compelling relationship storyline in my opinion, hence the slight bump down in rating to what I might have given it.
Content warning for some transphobia from one of the MC’s mother-in-law, also for Florida politics in general. This was my first book by TJ Alexander, and overall, I really liked it! Importantly for a romance, the relationship was very compelling. There’s a bit of spice that I thought was both sexy and well done in regard to depicting sex with a transmasculine person. I appreciated that the characters were slightly older than I usually see in romance novels (both around 40). Especially with the trans man MC, it’s always nice to have stories about people who transition as an adult. The other MC goes through his own queer discovery storyline in the novel that I also enjoyed, and his daughter is so cute! I honestly wish there had been more of her. There’s a lot towards the beginning and then a lot less in the second half.
On the other side of things, I did find the writing a little slow at times and a lot of tension relied on miscommunications and the characters just straight up walking away from each other, which is not the most compelling relationship storyline in my opinion, hence the slight bump down in rating to what I might have given it.