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A review by kspoonerfish
Rules for Second Chances by Maggie North
4.0
This is a marriage in trouble, second chance romance and I especially love how improv plays a big part in the story.
Liz feels like she has become invisible at home and at work. Her husband, Tobin throws her a party for her 30th birthday and she is dismayed when one of his friends mistake her for hired help at the party. She is an introvert and feels herself shrinking and getting quieter. She feels like Tobin has gotten so busy, he doesn’t see her for who she is. Both Tobin and Liz work for West by North a mountain and river guide service. Liz is ready to make changes in her life, both at work and at home. She tells Tobin she wants to separate and she goes to stay with her sister and her autistic niece.
At work, she asks her boss to consider her for a promotion. She wants to be a leader and develop some unique tour ideas. He tells her she’s a numbers person and good with spreadsheets and to stick with that. But he suggests if she wants to improve her people skills, she should try an improv class being offerred locally.
Tobin is a popular and outgoing wilderness guide and he isn’t ready to give up on their marriage. He tried to make an appointment for them to see a therapist but they couldn’t get in for months so he asks Liz to try a relationship repair manual called Rules for Rebooting Your Relationship with Improv. When Liz goes to improv class, she finds out she needs a partner and Tobin offers to do it. And so their journey begins – they are on their way to find happiness as well as their way back to each other with improv and it’s an emotional ride. I found myself rooting for Tobin and Liz.
The secondary characters weren’t as lovable. There were a few that were supportive of Liz but there were some members from both of their families that were unkind to Liz and that was hard to watch - there’s a lot of drama with their dysfunctional families. This made the story hard to read in places. I wondered how they would overcome it all. I don’t want to give anything away but it’s wonderful when we see how they come back together. I loved the epilogue. There’s also a special cat named Himbo. I gave this 3 and 1/2 stars and rounded up to 4.
I recommend this book to readers who enjoy second chance romance stories with drama and a couple that finds themselves again with the help of improv.
Liz feels like she has become invisible at home and at work. Her husband, Tobin throws her a party for her 30th birthday and she is dismayed when one of his friends mistake her for hired help at the party. She is an introvert and feels herself shrinking and getting quieter. She feels like Tobin has gotten so busy, he doesn’t see her for who she is. Both Tobin and Liz work for West by North a mountain and river guide service. Liz is ready to make changes in her life, both at work and at home. She tells Tobin she wants to separate and she goes to stay with her sister and her autistic niece.
At work, she asks her boss to consider her for a promotion. She wants to be a leader and develop some unique tour ideas. He tells her she’s a numbers person and good with spreadsheets and to stick with that. But he suggests if she wants to improve her people skills, she should try an improv class being offerred locally.
Tobin is a popular and outgoing wilderness guide and he isn’t ready to give up on their marriage. He tried to make an appointment for them to see a therapist but they couldn’t get in for months so he asks Liz to try a relationship repair manual called Rules for Rebooting Your Relationship with Improv. When Liz goes to improv class, she finds out she needs a partner and Tobin offers to do it. And so their journey begins – they are on their way to find happiness as well as their way back to each other with improv and it’s an emotional ride. I found myself rooting for Tobin and Liz.
The secondary characters weren’t as lovable. There were a few that were supportive of Liz but there were some members from both of their families that were unkind to Liz and that was hard to watch - there’s a lot of drama with their dysfunctional families. This made the story hard to read in places. I wondered how they would overcome it all. I don’t want to give anything away but it’s wonderful when we see how they come back together. I loved the epilogue. There’s also a special cat named Himbo. I gave this 3 and 1/2 stars and rounded up to 4.
I recommend this book to readers who enjoy second chance romance stories with drama and a couple that finds themselves again with the help of improv.