Everyone deserves a second chance. Nate and his teenage daughter need a fresh start, so they move back to the village where he grew up. Nate’s transgender, and not used to disclosing his history, so it’s hard living where people knew him before. When Nate reconnects with Jack—his best friend from school and unrequited crush—his feelings return as strong as ever. Jack’s returned home to get his … home to get his life in order after an addiction to alcohol caused him to lose everything: his job, his driver’s licence, and nearly his life. He’s living with his parents, which is less than ideal, but rekindling his friendship with Nate—or Nat as Jack once knew him—is an unexpected benefit of being back home. Jack is amazed by Nate’s transformation, and can’t deny his attraction. Trying for more than friendship might ruin what they already have, but the chemistry between them is undeniable.
Doubting his feelings are reciprocated, Nate fears he’s risking heartbreak. Jack’s reluctance to tell his parents about their relationship only reinforces Nate’s misgivings. With both their hearts on the line and their happiness at stake, Jack needs to make things right, and Nate has to be prepared to give him a second chance.
This story is a standalone
Length: 67,000 words approx
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Jay Northcote’s new release, Second Chance, gives us a story that we don’t see often in this genre. Romance featuring a trans character is already in the minority, and as far as I’ve found, a story featuring an older trans character (such as Jay’s mc, who is raising a teenage daughter) is even more rare.
Second-chance romance is a well-known trope, but Jay’s romance takes that second chance and gives it a new layer of meaning because our main character is getting a chance at love with someone who was unattainable
in the past. Before he transitioned, Nate was Nat, and Nat was in love with her best friend, a gay boy who’d never return her feelings. When Nate returns to his hometown a new man well past the transition phase to raise his daughter in a better environment, he reconnects with Jack. As a man, he draws Jack’s interest, but he’s also concerned that his feelings run much deeper than Jack can handle.
Along the way, you learn a little bit about what it’s like to be a trans man starting a relationship with someone. Nate patiently explains to Jack — and the reader — the changes in his body, his needs, etc., so this book is quite an education, as well as an entertainment. I recommend reading it, if for no other reason than to understand the perspective of a trans man better. And with an #ownvoices author like Jay, you can count on it being an accurate representation.
It’s great to read a book with an older trans man’s story that feels real and grounded in ordinary life. Nate’s midlife revelation of why he never felt comfortable in his skin, and his subsequent transition, is beautifully portrayed. His relationship with his daughter, Cass, is affectionate and warm, but not too perfect. And the awkwardness of reconnecting with Jack– the gay man he’d loved back when he thought he had to be a girl and had no hope– makes things interesting.
Jack has his own issues although they take a bit of a backseat in this story. He’s battling depression and alcoholism, and that could have made things bleaker and more angsty, but the author chose not to go there. He’s also living with his parents, and that’s a bigger issue. Avoiding them turns a second chance romance into something awkward, with renewed echoes of teen years. Even great sex isn’t always enough to get them past that.
There’s a fair bit of sex in this story – well written, and smoothly showing aspects of how gay sex with a trans guy can be, when it’s good. Jack was almost too adaptable, unsurprised and eager as Nate led the way. But that fit with a story where being trans was an answer, a success, not a source of problems and angst. I did wish the guys were shown doing more other things together out of the bedroom as the relationship developed, but the old friendship gave it some believable depth, and the epilogue is warm.
I liked the secondary characters, especially Nate’s mother and daughter. This story hit a nice balance, neither too light nor too angsty, and it informs the reader in a natural way within the story arc, so it doesn’t feel soapboxy. Just a solid, low-key, relationship-driven romance with older characters.
It would be easy to bypass this book with it’s unassuming cover and simple title – but don’t.
This book is profound and brilliant. Jack and Nate are wonderfully damaged characters who belong together. Their journey isn’t easy but it is beautiful. The wider cast of characters are also spectacular and make this story something extra special.
I feel equally humbled and empowered by Nate’s journey through transition and if this is your first book with a Trans character – it’s a great choice.
Beautiful book!
Second Chance was a book club pick for me and I’m so happy about that! I love discovering new authors, and Jay Northcote is definitely someone I will read more of! This book was an education for me about transformations, and I loved every word! I loved Jack and Nate so, so much! They were sexy, raw, and emotionally messy at times, and I loved them all the more for it. I could not put this book down, it was beautiful!
Nate and Jack
I love these two characters so freaking hard.
1 having the guts at any age to be who you truly are I love this. I love that his mom is so wonderful his daughter is amazing.
Running into Jack the way that he does is charming I enjoyed their meet then their understanding of who they are to one another. I like that Nate was ok with the questions and Jack felt comfortable enough to ask them.
Their connection and feelings cannot be denied and this people is why I love, LOVE!
I want more people to read and experience these types of books to see that love isn’t just one thing, it’s everything. I love Jay’s writing I want more, more, more!
Also Hamish kills it with the narration EVERY time I love it so much.
Jay Northcote does it again with yet another great book. A trans relationship that spans decades, the turbulent times with relationships.
Very well done, with enough angst, love and thankfully an HEA.
Listened as well in Audio, Hamish Long does an incredible job of the narration.
I loved Nate and Jack. It is beautifully written and so very real. This book has some of the tropes I adore:
Bestfriends to lovers
Friends with benefits
Unrequited love
Single dad
Dual POV
Nate and Jack have amazing chemistry together and the sex is really hot. I love the family dynamics and the development of their relationship. I adored Cass, Nate’s daughter. And the epilogue just made me swoon.
Highly recommended if you’re looking for a friends-to-lovers second chance romance.
5 stars
Heat Level: 4
Narration: 5
The world needs more stories like this!
We need more diverse stories and this one is truly beautiful. Transformative, sweet and steamy, this former best friends to lovers story with the sweetness and heart of teenage unrequited love being fulfilled in adulthood, will open your heart and mind to love in all forms and give you hope that Second Chances do exist.
This story has so much depth and healing. I loved that each character had their own story and came back together later in life and were finding love in their 40s. Love has no age limit and I love stories that are inclusive of all ages, types, sexes, and genders. Nate is such a wonderful character and I loved getting to know his story. His feelings, emotions, and thought are so authentic and it will make you think more carefully about the words you chose to use for transgender people in the real world. I loved this story and loved that I finally got around to reading it. I want more authentic trans/own voices stories. This one will be forever in my heart!
Fantastically written and wonderfully performed. I was completely enraptured by Nate and Jack !
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After moving back to his childhood hometown, Nate runs into his best friend, Jack, from his school days. Only Jack doesn’t recognize Nate at first. It isn’t until their second meeting that Jack puts it together. The man before him…was once known as Nat, when he was still presented with the sex he was told that he was. During their years apart, Nate had transitioned to male, as he always was supposed to be. It didn’t take long to rekindle their friendship, and, after a while, there was a possibility of more. Jack has some demons to slay first, and Nate has to decide what he can and cannot live with. Add in Nate’s teenage daughter, and Jack’s insensitive parents, and drama ensues.
This story was beautifully written, and the characters were engaging. There were some heavy topics, such as depression, alcoholism, and coming to terms with one’s own sexuality. They were discussed without weighing the book down, but they weren’t glossed over as if they weren’t important. I thought the author did a wonderful job with the way he had Nate explain his transition to male. It was informative, and done with the grace and dignity his character deserved. As a reader, I came away from that encounter having learned something.
The narrator, Hamish Long, did a wonderful job bringing this story to life. His voice is beautiful and very easy to listen to, and I’m not just saying that because he’s British! I want to listen to more of his work, and we are fortunate because Jay Northcote uses him in some of his other books.
This book was one of those unexpected gems. I didn’t have any expectations going into it. I hadn’t read anything by Jay Northcote, nor have I heard any books read by Hamish Long. I am now a fan of both, and I cannot wait to read/hear more from both. This is a feel-good, low angst story, and the blurb promised a happy ending. I highly recommend reading it, or listening to it, to find out exactly what that looks like. You will be glad you did.
***Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading/listening pleasure. A review wasn’t a requirement. ***
The narrator, Hamish Long, has fast become a favourite of mine. His crisp tones slip easily into a West Country burr as he brings each character to life. I listen as I work and become so comfortable with his narration that I forget that I am wearing headphones, not always possible with my hearing impairment.
I read Second Chance when it first came out and it was a joy to revisit. I love how this author writes about the little things that then come together to make up the bigger picture. The descriptions are so true to life. Examples include the rice boiling over and leaving a starchy stain on the hob, or Jack’s mother overeating and having a cup of peppermint tea to try to avoid indigestion. I have done both of these on numerous occasions, so the story immediately becomes more personal.
Neither Nate or Jack are perfect, nor do they pretend to be. Their journey from friends to lovers is told with refreshing honesty and educates without being preachy. 5 stars all round.
All I can say is it’s the best story I’ve read in a long time with a trans main character. If this is because Jay is trans and therefore can write from experience, or because Jay just tends to write great character driven romances, I can’t truly decide. Whichever it is, this was a wonderful, emotional, and heart warming story with some great secondary characters and very little angst.
So many things that I loved about this book!
First of all, Jay Northcote’s writing stile is unique and so pleasant to read, and it conveys a huge amount of feeling without becoming “too heavy”.
The spotlight on the trans man, Nate, and the difficulties he has faced growing up when he did not know and understand what his feelings of “detachment” and of “not belonging” were; and also the challenges both he and Jack have to face being back in their small hometown where everybody knows them and remenmbers them from when they were young.
Also, I loved how the book does not try to portray a picture-perfect image of their relationship or of their families. It was somehow refreshing that they had to face, not “major” incidents, but day-to-day annoying things like normal humans do.
Loved Hamish Long’s narration! His accent transported me in the English countryside.
Audiobook review:
Overall – 5
Performance – 5
Story – 5
I loved this so much!
I really enjoyed reading Second Chance two years ago and gave it 4-stars. As often happens for me, if the narrator is good, experiencing the book a second time as an audio will raise my rating and that’s exactly what happened with Second Chance.
Hamish Long has performed several audiobooks for Jay Northcote over the last 6 months or so and I’ve listened to all of them. I really love his voice; it’s soothing and the different characters voices he does really bring Jay’s books to life. He has quickly become one of my favorite British audiobook performers.
Below is a copy of my original review from when I read Second Chance back in May 2018.
Educational and romantic – great story.
This is the first book I’ve read with a female-to-male (FTM) transgender character. Anyone who follows Jay Northcote knows that he is transgender. While I understand this story isn’t autobiographical, I have to think that some of the more descriptive prose must come from first-hand knowledge; it just feels really authentic.
Putting aside the fact that this is a story about a transgender character, it’s simply a great second chance story. While the two lead characters weren’t really romantically involved when they were younger, they were best friends and Nate, before his transition, had a crush on Jack that Jack never knew about.
In addition to being a great story that uses one of my favorite romance tropes, I also found the details about being a transgender man very informative and educational. There are a lot of things that I just never gave a lot of thought to and I’m glad that Jay didn’t skimp on the details.
I also learn a lot of British terms by reading books from Jay Northcote; I enjoy that they aren’t set in the U.S. and that my vocabulary is always enriched reading his stories.
I almost forgot to say how much I enjoyed the fact that Second Chance is a story with MCs in their mid-forties. Don’t pass this one up folks.
A copy of this audiobook was provided to me but my review was voluntary and not influenced by the author or narrator.
***Reviewed for Xtreme-Delusions dot com*** (Posting on 17 May 2020.)
A common trope of second chances but with a twist, transgender character and best friends from school. It’s not a common story line but it was wonderfully written with heartfelt emotions and just the right amount of angst throughout the book. Another beautiful story from thid author.
Every time I need a comfort read, I return to this story. You can’t help but love the deeply flawed characters within the pages of this book, especially Jack, who seems to have a knack for messing things up. I think it’s because I see a little of myself in both main characters, and that’s always reassuring, to know that other people get you, that you’re not actually alone.
I enjoy second chance stories if there’s a good ‘redemption’ of the character so that they actually deserve one. Not if they get some bullshit excuse and all. But this book made it so much better because, as far as I understood it, it was both the second chance for Nate and for Jack, in their life in general and in their relationship.
Sometimes I find stories with FTM characters a bit hard to read because there are so many emotions that I identify with. I can’t say what the stories are like in general because this is only the second one I’ve read and is also by the same author than the first one. But I enjoyed it a lot and I couldn’t put it down.
Nate returns home to life with his mother because his daughter (from before he transitioned) needed a break from city life and her school and ‘friends’. Jack, on the other hand, returned home because he could not afford to live in the city anymore after his car accident, losing his job and self-medicating with alcohol.
When they meet at first, after a long time of no contact, Jack doesn’t even recognise Nate, whom he had known as Nat when they were younger. Once they put that aside, and start reconnecting as adults, Nate’s crush on his friend returns and they become friends-with-benefits. Supposedly.
As it is obvious from the beginning, this arrangement doesn’t work. They have feelings for each other, but Jack is afraid to tell his parents he is dating a trans man. I understood his reasoning in some way, but it did feel unfair to Nate. Jack’s parents kept referring to Nate as ‘she/her’ despite the corrections by Jack but … on one hand, this was understandable. They live in a small place, they are older, and are still seeing Nate as Nat.
I loved that Nate’s family was so accepting. His mother and his daughter have no problems with it and even when they figure out something is happening between him and Jack, they stay open-minded. What I loved most though, was how Cass was really accepting of her father and all that he’s gone through. He also seems like a really cool father, which I’m a bit jealous of
I really really loved this book and I want to recommend it to everyone because it is cute, it is, in a way, informative, and all-around awesome! As well as supporting the author because he really is a great one and one of my favourites.
Another amazing story by Jay Northcote.
This felt very personal and authentic, and it was quite an emotional read.
I’ve been looking forward a lot to this story, ever since the author first mentioned the idea for the storyline on social media. And it was all I could have hoped for.
I love all of Jay Northcote’s books, but this one definitely stands out.
It’s unique in that both MC’s are a bit older, in their mid-forties, and both have gone through hardships, struggling with depression (though each in a different way), and having to start over later in life.
To me this story, as well as Starting From Scratch, which also features a trans MC, has been eye-opening. It was very enlightening, at times heartbreaking, to read about the issues trans people face on a daily basis. Nate has overcome so much, shown so much courage. It was lovely to see him get his HEA.
Nate and Jack were childhood best friends, and though they lost touch with each other, they easily rekindle their friendship. I loved how these two were so drawn to each other, even after all that time. Jack handles Nate’s transition very well, to me proof of the deep, emotional connection these two share. This was a friends-to-lovers romance in the very best of ways!
The flash-backs were a marvelous touch, giving great insight into Nate especially.
AS always, the secondary characters were very well-written, I especially loved Nate’s daughter, Cass. Their dynamic was great to read, and Nate’s worry for his daughter was so recognizable!
I loved how important she was to this story.
After reading this book, Jack, Nate and Cass feel like real people to me, which is a testament to Jay Northcote’s amazing skill as a writer.
The epilogue was the cutest and most romantic one I’ve ever read!
This isn’t exactly a light read, but it is so worth it! This story really draws you in. I needed these two to find their HEA.
Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Erica –
Second Chance was a mix of second-chance romance, friends-to-lovers, and transgender romance, with the dark struggle of alcohol addiction.
I appreciated the fact that both men were in their mid-forties, something you don’t see very often, as if only the youngest of us deserve and/or are looking for love and commitment. Northcote’s backlist has a wide array of body types and ages, and I appreciate how they are perfectly imperfect to resonate with most readers.
In the past, I’ve attempted to read transgender romances and felt they always fell short. To be honest, those books made me leery to read any more books in this subgenre.
The author injects parts of himself into the story to create something realistic, with real emotions and experience. While informative, Nate being transgender isn’t the plot of the story, it’s a facet that enriches the experience while opening the mind of the reader to a perspective they themselves have the inability to understand unless they’re transgender. The novel manages to teach, to entertain, and evoke real emotion from the reader.
To be honest, after being burnt so many times, I’ll only read this subgenre by this author. However, I am open to realistic representations, not romanticized versions, should someone have a recommendation.
Second-chance: Nate and Jack were best friends growing up, with a lot of history shared between them, especially the angst of unrequited love.
Transgender romance: After two decades, and a lifetime of changes, Jack sees Nate again and doesn’t recognize him after his transition. While the initial meeting was gut-punch emotional and connective, the second meeting at the grocery store gave me a case of second-hand embarrassment, which I found humorous and awkward in the extreme.
Friends-to-lovers: I’m not going to spoil this for the reader, but you can see where this is leading. As the pair bond over the past, share parts of themselves in the present, it’s easy to see how they are unwittingly forging a future. Their interactions were raw and gritty, realistic, which is exactly why I read the book from cover-to-cover in one sitting.
—-
My only complaint dealt with a situation involving Nate’s daughter. She was the victim of a crime that goes unpunished. I’ll believe what the author wrote, how the perpetrator was sorry. However, I felt this set a precedence, where the only one who experienced the consequences was the victim.
While I can understand not contacting the authorities, the parents should have been notified, and a therapist should have been mandatory. To do something so dangerous, where the victim suffers and the perpetrator receives no consequences, this sets it up to be done again and again and again, in varying forms, as no lesson was learned.
To have done it in the first place means they weren’t in a good headspace – something more should have been shown, the parents and a therapist, as real help was needed, not just a brushing it under the rug.
Nate’s daughter wasn’t protected or vindicated, and her perpetrator was let off the hook too easily, which means they will undoubtedly do it again, while the girl’s trust in her father and those who ‘should’ protect her is broken.
Sarah –
This is a beautiful second chance romance. It is the story of Nat, the schoolgirl with an unrequited crush on her gay best friend Jack. Nearly thirty years later, Nat has become Nate and both Nate and Jack find themselves back in their village and living once again at home with their parents. And while the friendship returns easily, both men find themselves wrestling with the possibility of a relationship beyond friendship.
This is one of the most life affirming, positive trans romances I’ve read. It’s also a story about midlife restarts, and family relationships between generations. It’s a more serious book than most I’ve read by this author and it is definitely aimed at an older audience than the Housemates books. While the sex in this story is crazy hot and just as explicit as scenes in the Housemates books, the connection between Jack and Nate feels more intimate and the older characters move towards a definite happily ever after, not a happy for now (HFN).
The three generations of characters are written honestly and convincingly. I loved Nate’s daughter as much as I loved Nate and Jack. At 45, Nate and Jack have memories and some regrets, but both are focused on becoming the best versions of themselves. I loved this book so much!
Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Second Chance by Jay Northcote to read and review for Wicked Reads.