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Second Time Around by Melody Carlson Review

 Good Morning Bookish Lovelies :)

I pray today finds you all doing well, and I want to thank you all for joining me for another book review here on The Preppy Book Princess.

I'm currently on three days off from work, and I have to say it's been a wonderful break. We've been so crazy busy at work as of late, and I'm definitely appreciating a couple of days to take care of a bunch of things around the house.

I've been cleaning, baking, cooking and blogging like crazy, and tomorrow I'm looking forward to having a date day with my hubby. We're going to the city for a quick trip, and I'm looking forward to getting to enjoy some quality time together.

One other thing I've been thankful for is some downtime to curl up with the many great books that have been sitting in my April TBR pile.

One of those books I'm excited to share with you all today.

Melody Carlson is often one of my favorite contemporary authors, and I've especially enjoyed two of her more recent releases, which you can find those reviews below:

The Happy Camper

Looking for Leroy


I was hopeful this one would be just as great, and I hope you'll all keep reading down below to find out if it ended up living up to my expectations.


Second Time Around by Melody Carlson:



Source: Publisher as Part of the Revell Reads Blogger Program

Publisher: Revell

Publication Date: March 7th, 2023

Genre: Christian Fiction/Contemporary


Synopsis:


Who doesn't love a second chance?

When empty nester Mallory Farrell inherits her grandmother's run-down tourist shop in Seaport, Oregon, it seems the only sensible thing to do is to sell it. But when her former secret crush, Grayson Matthews, wants to buy the property in order to complete his plans to redevelop the funky town's business district into a soulless, cookie-cutter outdoor mall, Mallory digs in her heels and decides to renovate the property herself.

With a lot of hard work and a little bit of help, Mallory makes incredible progress turning the store into an eclectic home décor shop called Romancing the Home--all while trying to ignore the depressing and decrepit apartment she's living in on the second floor. When the shop catches the eye of a popular renovation TV show producer, Mallory is thrilled--until it becomes clear that her apartment is to be part of the segment as well.

She's tempted to abandon her dreams and the town under a cloud of shame. But perhaps there's more to Grayson than meets the eye. Can he swallow his pride, change his plans, and help Mallory romance her own home--and possibly her life?

(synopsis from goodreads)


My Review:

Melody Carlson has been one of my favorite contemporary authors for quite a few years, and the synopsis of this sounded like something I'd end up enjoying. Unfortunately, I ended up feeling like this one was lacking something compared to her usual heartwarming stories, and I'd definitely recommend either The Happy Camper or Looking for Leroy over this one.

It was still an enjoyable read, but it felt a little more superficial than I'm used to from this author. We follow a lady named Mallory who has recently found herself an empty nester. When she discovers that her beloved grandmother has bequeathed her the tourist shop and apartment she'd loved so much as a child, she suddenly finds her life changing in ways she never could have seen coming. As someone who has made her living off of decorating, Mallory is looking forward to the challenge of redoing both the shop and the living space into something of a show piece to demonstrate her abilities. Only she didn't exactly plan on just how complicated the process might be, or for the fact that the man she finds herself developing feelings for (Grayson), seems to be against the entire renovation. This time Mallory might have just spread herself a little too thing.

With a wonderful beachy town setting, a vibrant cast of characters, and a more mature second time around romance, there were plenty elements to love about Second Time Around. Unfortunately, for me personally, I felt like the author spent too much time on the renovation part of the story, and I started to lose interest towards the middle of the book. I wished the reader had gotten more of the interactions between Mallory and Grayson instead of so much on the home improvement side of things, as the romance ended up feeling like it could have been a little better developed, and certain aspects ended up feeling kind of shallow.

I'd still recommend this one to fans of clean contemporary romances, but it's not my personal favorite from this author, and I'm not sure if it would be a reread for me or not in the future.

Final Rating: 3/5.

Thanks so much to Revell for allowing me to read and review this one!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher (Revell) as part of the Revell Reads Blogger Program. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and this is my honest review. 


Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day :)


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