Review: Season of Second Chances by Brighton Walsh

Title: Season of Second Chances
Author: Brighton Walsh
Series: N/A
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: 5 December 2013

When a storm strands Claire Hanlin in Chicago on Christmas Eve, the last person she expects to come to her rescue is Logan Dawes, the man she almost married two years ago. The chemistry between them is dangerously potent, but with nowhere else to go, Claire accepts Logan's offer to stay with him for the night.

Back in the home they shared, surrounded by reminders of Logan and his young daughter, Claire begins to realize how much she misses the family she almost had. After a few cups of Christmas cheer, she falls right back into her ex's arms-even though she knows it means setting herself up for heartbreak all over again.

The magic of the season has thrown him together with the woman he's never stopped loving, and Logan's not about to pass up this gift. He's not the workaholic he was two years ago-his family comes first. Now all he has to do is prove it to Claire, before the snow stops and she flies out of his life for good.

Second chance romances one of my top five story-lines in contemporary romances, I was looking forward to seeing how Claire and Logan dealt with the issues that separated them previously. How they would be able to forge a future from the remains of their past.

From their first meeting it's clear that the chemistry between the two of them is off the charts high. The sparks practically fly off of each other when Claire ends up at Logan's condo in the middle of a snowstorm that strands her in Chicago.

I really easily identified with both Claire and Logan - their feelings as they navigated through the feelings they're still dealing with. It felt so incredibly real, so understandable. Claire, hurt and determined not to let herself fall into it again; Logan regretting the decisions he'd made, wishing he could take them back and not lose the best thing that had ever happened to him. And then there were the little things: Claire thinking how much she missed the simple touches, when Logan finally apologizes it touched my heart with how sincere it was - how utterly unstoppable. This was doubly impressive considering this was a novella of only about 70 pages.

My only complaint is that the whole time they're falling in love, again, the issue that broke them up in the first place was never even a concern. The snowstorm discarded the possibility of it being a problem, and so they were stuck in a fairy-tale like situation where real life didn't intrude. Thus by the time they did have to deal with the reality of it, the only way to resolve it was through a grand gesture - which I'm just not a fan of. I'm never sure that the grand gesture translates into a life-long change, so I really, really appreciated the epilogue here. It cemented my surety in their happily-ever-after and simply made me happy for both Claire and Logan that they found a way to make it work - no matter how difficult it may have been.

Season of Second Chances is an incredibly sweet, sexy, real romance that touched my heart and made me sigh with happiness. This is the first thing I've read by Brighton Walsh, but I've already added some of her other books to my wishlist.

Grade: B+

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