There's a lot to like about The Bookshop of Second Chances. I like the heroine, Thea Mottram. She's just lost her job, and her husband has left her for one of her friends after twenty years of marriage, so she's quite understandably unhappy with her life circumstances. Given an opportunity to escape, she does. She fortuitously receives a surprise inheritance of a cottage full of books in rural Scotland, and having no other particular life plan, that's where she goes.

I like her spirit, the charming environment she finds herself in, the job she gets at the local bookstore, and the friends she makes in her new location. I like that she managed to find happiness again. I like that a love story features a middle-aged protagonist with her share of troubles. The only thing I don't particularly like here is the romance itself. Her love interest, although he assuredly has some good qualities, is extremely rude and immature. And he has a very problematic relationship with his family. I think he has a chance, perhaps of developing into a decent partner--but he really should get some therapy first. And honestly, so should she. (When you're recovering from a broken heart, it really does seem a bit unwise to rush into a relationship wtih someone with such egregious flaws.)

Then again, readers are often drawn to flawed characters, and don't we all want to believe, somehow, that love will conquer all? And maybe it's all part of beginning a new life in a new place with a fresh start. And sometimes we all need second (and third, and fourth) chances.

NOVEL: The Bookshop of Second Chances

AUTHOR: Jackie Fraser

YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2021

IMAGE: book cover, Ballantine Books