Review: Sweet
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 29, 2013
Yet another book by Emma Hart that will make you fall in love... or frustrated that you're not in love. As frustrated as I was. But that's not the point! My point is: this book is sweet. The right kind of sweet that will fill your reading experience with plenty of happy sighs.Second Chance Summer is the first book in Emma Hart's new Chance series. What a series opener! I've read the first two books in The Game series and they were both really good. This one isn't any different. So we start off with Kia coming home to Alabama for her summer break. I like that the story didn't waste any time and went right to business. Right away we meet Reese and we can see that he has history with Kia. More than that however we find out that there's something else, something bigger, that's keeping Kia away from her home town. Immediately, Reese turns on his charm and tries to win Kia back. That guy is just oozing with confidence that you'll quickly like/love him and will even hate Kia for being so reluctant. Throughout the book, Reese shows Kia just how much he loves her despite everything what she did one summer ago. Just when you think Kia's finally on board she pulls back - much to Reese's and my disappointment. I think I was just cheering for the first half of the book! Come on, Kia. How can you not give him a chance?! Thankfully though, Kia gave in. But then things still weren't perfect at home.That's when we get to see just what really went down in Kia's family. She had herself believe that she'll somehow end up like her drunk mom, left behind by her dad, if she allowed herself to be happily in love. But towards the end of the story, we find out the real reason behind her parents' marital problems. Kia finding out the truth really broke her and she found comfort in Reese and her friends. I loved that Kia had a support system other than Reese, that she was surrounded by a lot of people who genuinely cared for her. I think this is the what I liked about the book the most: that it wasn't just her and Reese. There was Luce and Patty and Adam and everyone else in the Grove who weren't so eaten up by gossip. It just showed that in spite of how Kia feels about their small town, it was still home. Not the conventional kind, but home nonetheless. I also liked how Kia sorted out her crap and was strong in handling all off it. It really showed her tougher side as opposed to the one that quickly melts in Reese Pembleton's arms.One other factor that made this book enjoyable were glimpses of Kia and Reese's previous summer - the one where they got together. They were really just brief flashbacks but I loved seeing how they fell in love with each other before the drama caught up with them. They were also somewhat similar to some of the things that were happening in the present. It was almost like Reese purposefully did a couple of things similar to last summer for the sake of reminding Kia how great they were with each other. And they are. All it took was for Kia to accept that Reese wasn't going anywhere and they were back to how they were before, better this time around. I think the only thing that I didn't quite like was the constant push and pull between Kia and Reese. While it was understandable, given Kia's history, I still wish it didn't take them so long. It got kind of dragging for me at some point. But that's just me.The story leaves readers with a couple of loose ends that'll surely be answered in the coming books. It's scary waiting for the next installments but I'm sure the wait will be worth it. Emma Hart brings another love story that teaches us that in love, taking chances is just as important as giving them.