Review: Exceeded my expectations
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 30, 2013
When a person suffers loss, they may be more likely to do something totally out of character. When two people who have suffered loss meet again, and do something out of character together, it may provide them with A SECOND CHANCE AT FOREVER.Technical nerd Angela Lewis was devastated when her husband left her for another woman and, to complicate matters, she couldn't stand idly by and watch the bank foreclose on her cancer-stricken mother's home, so she turned to stripping in a Las Vegas club as a second job so she could save the house. Good girl Angela's mom and older brother think she earns the extra money waiting tables at a casino on the weekends, but stripping is actually a coping mechanism for a woman who's trying to start over.Plain vanilla Angela never dates or goes home with the customers, but it's a balm to her self-esteem to have anonymous men desire her as her alternate ego Candy Cane, plus the extra money she earns as Candy has stopped the foreclosure from proceeding on her mom's home. Dancing at the club on a Friday night, Angela recognizes Alex, who was her big teenage crush and is still her brother's best friend. She gives in to a compulsion to dance just for Alex so she can attract his notice but, all the while, she's just as fearful that he'll recognize her and tell her brother she's become a stripper.Manhattan attorney Alex McKinley left Vegas years ago, but has returned for a bachelor party weekend and to try and forget the loss of his wife and young daughter in a car accident. He knows he needs to move on with his life, but it's hard trying to adjust to his new normal. He's not a one night stand kind of guy, nor is he sure if he's really ready for a meaningless dalliance with a stranger, but something about the dark-haired stripper named Candy Cane connects with him when they make eye contact at the club. Alex has his business card delivered backstage to the sexy stripper two nights in a row, and is surprised when she actually agrees to a date on Saturday after her shift ends. The attraction seems mutual, so why not indulge in a one-off weekend fling if Candy's willing?Angela and Alex are both mature, strong characters that are still reeling from the losses they have suffered in their personal lives. Neither is ready for a new relationship, but they feel a mutual attraction and a connection in their troubled hearts that leads to a single night of passion. Despite the connection they feel, they are both still convinced their single night of indulgence scratched an uncomplicated physical and emotional itch that won't be returning when Alex heads back to his life in New York.  Darn itches...they can lead to unforeseen complications.Wow! A SECOND CHANCE AT FOREVER exceeded any preconceived notions I'd made based on the cover blurb that identified the heroine as a stripper. I guess I thought this book would likely be as gritty and clichéd as some other works out there that indulge the stripper girl fantasy and feature a potentially mismatched couple, but I was so totally wrong. Instead, J.M. Stewart created a compelling read that encompasses a well-conceived plot featuring a hero and heroine you can relate to and could easily fall in love with yourself.The emotional complications this couple experiences are realistically believable, while their lives are grounded by a cast of secondary characters who are warm, supportive, and never judgmental.  Ms. Stewart excels at describing the inner-strength and sadness in Angela's and Alex's lives; the underlying feelings of remorse and unworthiness; the unvoiced fears of taking second chances and creating false hopes, and she does it with such a subtle flair that a couple of really moving scenes actually left me teary-eyed and in angst.I truly loved the openness and honesty between this couple, especially as it would have been so easy to either of them to lie at various times to smooth things over between them.  There is so much more to this story than my more detailed summarization of the first few chapters and, once you start this wonderful book, you won't want to stop until you've devoured it in its entirety.Reviewed by Angie Just Read...for TheRomanceReviews.com