Frankie Lowing had it all– handsome fiance,thriving business and great friends. Until an accident at work brought her world crashing down on her. Almost a year of her life is spent in recovery and when she is finally released form the rehab facility she has nothing left. Starting over from scratch, Frankie learns she has what it takes to survive and manages to find her way . Her hope is that one … is that one day someone will see past the scares that adorn her face and body. But for now, a new job and apartment are enough.
Gauge Mashon keeps to himself. His friends keep him sane, because God knows he can’t do it on his own. His path had been chosen for him when he was seventeen– jail or military. Gauge choose the service, and It became the one thing that made sense to him.
Sidelined by a botched mission, hes building a new future as well. His demons haunt him daily, sometimes hourly. One night at a friends house he notices a woman standing in the shadows. He recognizes the signs, shes as haunted as he is. Soon she will be one more thing that keeps him up at night.
A simple party invitation changes things for Frankie when she sees a man alone, truly alone. His posture tells her hes as lost as she is. Frankie sticks to the shadows, wondering what haunts him? What makes him escape his friends to sit alone? Is he as lost as she is?
When the two meet in person their fate is sealed. Will a pull of the heart be enough to get Gauge and Frankie to take a chance a second time around?
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I still have a lump in my throat, emotional, angsty story. This women is so strong, despite the hell she’s lived through, the pain she still lives with. I wanted to hug her, love her and do anything I could to help her, including giving a certain someone a swift kick where it hurts the most. Talk about mixed signals, he was lucky the whole group didn’t lose her, I for sure would have walked away, she already had pain from her injuries and had just started to build herself up and make a new life before he started tearing it down. One group of friends for two people doesn’t always work when they are not on the same page. This book gutted me for her, all she wanted was for someone to see past the scars and love her, I started to think he would never get there, even though I knew it wasn’t her scars that bothered him it was more about his own. This is well written raw and a roller coaster of emotions throughout, I read it in just a few hours because I didn’t put it down, I would have liked it to go just a bit further from the ending, maybe an epilogue a little in the future just to see how she heals and how they move on in their relationship but this was a gripping read.
Second Chances by Roux Cantrell
I am so torn on how to review this book. Do I review it based on the strength and tenacity of Frankie who has external scars from a tragic event? Do I review it based on the isolation and internal scars that Gauge got as a result of his duty to his country? Do I review it based on the fact that there is such a tight family of choice who sometimes have a hard time understanding which side they should pick in a fight? Do I base it on the fact that there were times I was absolutely so angry with a character that I wanted to push them into a lake? Do I review it based on the times that relationships moved so quickly that I didn’t know if I missed the first time they met and it caused me to get confused a few times? I don’t know, so I’m going to review it on the over-all emotion and feelings I got from reading this book.
Second Chances is a book that I enjoyed more than it I didn’t. It was a fast paced and I was able to read all in one sitting. Honestly, it had me feeling all sorts of feelings… joy, sadness, frustration, anger, happiness and relief – I would rather be frustrated with a book that made me feel feelings than be apathetic to it because it made me feel nothing. This was the first time I’ve read this author and I will absolutely read her again.
Lord this book as it all!!! Lovable characters, emotions, drama…. Didn’t want to put the book down or it to end. I want more of these two. My heart went out to Frankie. I just wanted to hug her. I HIGHLY recommend this book!!!!!
Frankie and Gauge are two broken people, fighting their mutual attraction. They both deserve a second chance, if they can give themselves that permission. There’s lots of intense scenes. I enjoyed this book very much.