Seth has been as unlucky in love as he has been lucky in lust, and after a string of one night stands and failed relationships, he’s glad to find a true friend in Paige – a beautiful redhead whose acquaintance he made by pure chance. However, Paige is weighed down by a lot of emotional baggage and an unfaithful boyfriend to boot, and when the kind-hearted Seth helps her through tough times, the … the pair grows closer. As their relationship teeters between friendship and romance, will Paige finally stand up for herself and make her choice? And will Seth wait around around until she does?
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Slow burn romance with angst and drama
The Second Choice is a young adult, angst filled story with Seth, Paige and their group of friends. It sort of reminded me a bit of the TV show Friends but also different. The characters are figuring out who they are in all manner of fashion. The relationship between Seth and Paige is a slow burn romance with some drama, humor, angst and passion along the way to their HEA. This was an engaging story which I did like, even if at times I wanted to smack a few of them.
I received a copy of this book for my honest review. My opinions are all my own.
Seth and Paige met at a thrift shop. And later at a coffee shop. Paige has a boyfriend but he’s never there for her even though she thinks she’s in love with him. Paige and Seth are hanging around each other a lot that now Seth has feelings for her.
Well Paige stay with her boyfriend or will she let Seth be her true treasure?
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Who Wants to Be a Second Choice?
Jennifer Hartley leads her reader through the world of a group of 20-something-aged friends who flow in and out of each other’s lives. With a continuing dialogue about the concerns of life—boyfriends/girlfriends, job shift hours and the like, often set in a coffeeshop where several of the group work, Hartley asks the reader to literally go with the flow. The story focuses on Seth and Paige, whom fate seems to bring together only to part, then amazingly reunites at the local coffee shop. Paige is weighed down by the possibility of her cheating boyfriend, Wig, who resides in a different city. Seth is weighed down by his growing affinity/deep like for the beautiful red-haired Paige and the fact that she has a never seen but always in the room boyfriend. Seth and Paige each brings a group of friends to the mix who all merge over the course of the novel, trying to support the star-crossed not quite lovers, until Paige’s worst unsubstantiated fears are confirmed when calling Wig to arrange a meeting, a mystery woman answers the phone at Wig’s place. Paige turns to comfort and sex, at last, with Seth who becomes her “second choice” and her part-time apartment mate as they both struggle to define who they are to each other while friends and family seem to all becoming couples.
I don’t really care for this type of novel or series—which I am sure is where this angsty story is headed. I want closure not question marks when the work ends. In truth, the writer has characters who share this vision of on-going angst when a customer at the coffee shop remarks while attempting to place an order during one of the many friend therapy sessions:“Yes, would you continue discussing the soap opera that is your life? I find it fascinating. Who’s this Seth who will be prepared to pick up the pieces when your current relationship inevitably ends?” (Kindle Locations 874-875) Even the friends cry out for the ongoing drama to stop saying, “It was all we talked about yesterday morning. Literally, almost all we talked about, it’s kind of disconcerting to me how invested your friends seem to be in this whole drama. Honestly, you could talk about television or your careers or classic literature or something every once in a while… You act like such intellectuals, so be intellectuals for once, for Christ’s sake.” (Kindle Locations 944-946)
This novel is not my cup of coffee (appropriate metaphor for the coffee shop friends), but it is a well-conceived and executed acquaintance to friends to sometimes apartment mates who are also sometimes-lovers novel for those like Paige and Seth’s friends who like to live in a world of unresolved drama. But, the real question is, will they find love while their friends provide an on-going commentary and analysis of the evolving relationship.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review ARCS, but I also bought a copy.