Review of ‘Following Chance’ by Baxter Brown
This was a very dramatic, wlw second chance romance novel. While I read Brown’s debut and thought it was well written, I wasn’t a fan of her story choices. I’m happy to say that this second book was so much better for me. This time Brown’s good writing was combined with a good storyline, equaling a well-rounded dramatic romance.
After 15 years away, Kate has returned home to take a break from the stress of lawyering to work at the University library. It will also give her ten-year-old daughter the opportunity to have more freedom outside of city life. When her daughter’s new best friend just happens to be the daughter of the woman that broke her heart, Kate will do everything possible to not let herself get hurt again.
It’s funny but this book has two things I am not a fan of, second chance romances and flashbacks. I like to see the meet-cute and all the build-up of the characters falling in love that are not in most second chance romances. What Brown did to fix this was the flashbacks. And here is the big shocker… they actually worked! Both the flashbacks and the second chance romantic storyline were well done. The flashbacks were actually important and included the romance that I needed to see to believe in a love that could crush someone so badly when it failed. This was a real second chance romance and Brown did it by using flashbacks the correct way.
One thing I didn’t expect was all the drama this book had. I think I would put the drama tag even before the romance. There was a lot of drama, angst, conflict, anger; it was a lot of it all but because it was all so intense, I believed it. Too many times when someone stomps on someone’s heart they are forgiven easily, not this book. This novel was all about that anger and hurt of a broken heart and we don’t see that too often in WLW romances.
I also really liked that this book was in first person. You are in the head of the person who was heartbroken and it makes the story much more powerful because of that. And not being in the other main’s headspace, not always knowing what the other character’s motives were, was again unique and put an interesting spin on this book. You are together with the main character wanting to guard your heart not knowing if it will be smashed again.
As much as I loved all the drama and angst, I did think there was a tad bit more than needed. I would have ended things earlier and switched things up. The anger started to drag at the end and because of that the ending was too rushed for a proper happily ever after or happy for now, in my opinion. It’s a shame too since I think I would have given this an extra half star, maybe more, for my rating had it not started to drag at the end.
I would recommend this romance to people who like a lot of drama and angst. If you are not a big angst fan, this book probably will not be for you. I thought it was one of the better second chance romances I have read in a while and I thought it was well written. It didn’t feel like the same ole romance we normally read and I’m always a fan of different. I’m excited to see what Brown comes out with next. 3.75 Stars.
An ARC was given to me for an honest review.
