Second Chances

by Leigh-Ann Singh

Emily Watson returns to Bay Brook, having lost out on all her dreams of making it in New York. Haunted by her mistakes, she returns to rebuild her life as the editor of the local newspaper. Her heart is guarded when she meets Richard. Richard has lived all his life in the town, being responsible for the family business interest. He is guilt ridden from a tragic car accident that has left him bitter and alone. Second Chances delves into the possibility of finding forgiveness and love in the most unsuspected ways. They are the most unlikely couple journeying on the road of forgiveness and renewed hope.

64 pages, Paperback

First published May 31, 2011

Reviews

[Sasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads competion. It was a lovely surprise and a fantastic start to my day.

This was a beautifully written book and I adore the way this author writes. She has an appealing way with words and a talent for story telling. I will be looking forward to reading any further upcoming books from this extremely talented author.

[Hazel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

Second Chances is a short story by Leigh-Ann Singh about two people who have had rather difficult pasts. Firstly there is Emily Watson who moves to Bay Brook to become the new editor of the Bay Brook Times. She has moved there from New York thus escaping from a bad relationship. The second person is Richard Cambridge whose family owns the newspaper. He initially appears to be a cold-hearted person until it is revealed he has recently lost his wife in a tragic accident.

The tale focuses on Emily and Richard’s relationship, which starts off on shaky ground but improves over time. During the story both characters turn to God to help them with their troubles and begin to find peace with the help of the Saviour. It is not a particularly religious book as the main emphasis is on pointing out that both characters receive the opportunity to have a second chance at life: Richard moving on from the past and returning to the present; and Emily being given the chance at new relationships and becoming “the woman God intended her to be”.

Admittedly Second Chances is very poorly written and ideally ought to have had a lot of editing before publication however the overall storyline is good. It is a shame that more was not done with it.

[Crystal · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway. It is a very short book (54 pages). This may sound harsh, but this book was a mess. To start with, there isn't much of a plot at all. The characters are not developed and thus their interactions and "romance" (I use the term loosely here) are not believable. Normally, you would expect an author to use chapters or chapter breaks to indicate a new scene or the passing of time. Here, the author often has many paragraphs per page in which scenes jump or time jumps by days, months, or years usually consisting of only a sentence or two. This makes the story very fragmented and difficult to follow.

The author has the characters speaking in an awkward manner at times (e.g. "Thomas is the name, so you the new bloke.") The author rarely uses contractions and sometimes blunders common English phrases. Perhaps English is not her first language??

I feel like this author has a long way to go in writing a good story.

[Desere · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet and short story about a second chance at happiness for two great characters. But unfortunately the plot did not complete gel out to an amazing read. There was not enough consistency and the read seemed to all over the place.

*** Firstreads winner

[Becky Darnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love this short story i thought it was very good i wish it had lasted longer

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received the book through Goodreads First Reads and enjoyed the short story about the 2 people struggling through their social awkwardness towards a relationship.

[Jessica Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

As other reviews have pointed out, the book needs closer editing to weed out errors, insert breaks, etc. However the story itself is sweet and uplifting - it left me with a smile on my face!

[Tanya Thumbran christ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely read. Short and sweet. so proud of my school friend for writing this book.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short but sweet story, about the tragedy and happiness of life.


Firstreads review