Second Chances (Sequel to Over You) – Christine Kersey

I really wanted to like this book as much as I loved the first story, “Over You”. This story picked right up where the first book left off, literally a couple of days later. That made for a nice transition, but then the story became irritating. Or at least Jessica became irritating.

I have never heard one character in a story whine and complain as much as she was doing right from the beginning of “Second Chances”. And I have 4 daughters, so that is really saying something! Maybe it wouldn’t have been so off-putting if that was how she behaved in the first story, but it was not. Not even close.

She loves Kyle; she doesn’t trust Kyle. Maybe she should keep Alex waiting in the wings in case if things with Kyle don’t work out? She loves Kyle so much; she cannot trust Kyle. I know I am repeating myself here, but this is literally how every single chapter seemed to go. In one paragraph, she was so in love with Kyle and would do anything to keep him. The very next paragraph had her whining because she was so jealous of his former girlfriend. And it seemed like every paragraph of every chapter went back and forth like this.

It is like watching a tennis match when you don’t like tennis, don’t understand it, and could not care less who may win. I was beginning to not care who would end up with Kyle. Or how this story was going to end, for that matter.

Other than that, the saving grace of the story was the mystery that was sprinkled in concerning Jessica being threatened. Was it Kyle’s former girlfriend? Maybe it was her former boyfriend Alex? Or it could be the son of the man who was sent to prison for trying to kill her at the end of “Over You”. Some disturbing events quickly changed into odd and scary things happening to and around Jessica.

Unfortunately this part of the story also takes a perilous turn towards the ridiculous. I know I do not normally drop so many spoilers into a book review, but honestly, I am just trying to make sure you do not make the same mistake I made and buy this book.

Someone breaks into Jessica’s home in the middle of the night, holds a knife to her throat and threatens to kill her family if she does not go to the detective and tell them she lied about Mr. Harrington trying to kill her and Kyle. Oh, and tell the detective that it was actually Kyle who attacked Mr. Harrington, because he thought Jessica and he were having an affair.

And then he gets her to promise she will do this, and he leaves her home. And she goes to the police station the next day and tells them she may have been mistaken in what happened, etc. etc. etc and I cannot even go on with this.

Trust me; it is much worse if you read it for yourself. So just please don’t.

But in the end, they all live happily ever after.

Now, with all of that being said, I am not giving up on this author yet. There is also a new book coming out about Kyle’s ex-girlfriend and her young daughter. I may give this story a try, if it only costs me a couple of dollars. I really do have a vested interest in these characters, because the first story was written that well. The fact that Jessica was like a completely different person in character, thoughts, and actions in the second book made it very hard for me to read it. I kept asking myself what in the world happened to the Jessica from the first book.

Ah, well. It was only a few hours of my life that I will never get back.