February 16, 2015

NEW ADULT MONDAYS: Second Chance Boyfriend (One Week Girlfriend #2)

The New Adult genre - their bad boys and big problems and epic loves make them engrossing tales that are so easy to lose yourself in. What's not to love about that? And, now, thanks to the cool chicks at Bewitched Bookworms, we can show these books the love they deserve in a weekly feature - New Adult Mondays.

Second Chance Boyfriend (One Week Girlfriend #2), by Monica Murphy
Published April 6, 2013
Publisher: self-published
Format: audiobook, purchased
Genre: new adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon * Barnes & Noble
 

Rating: 4 STARS

(From Goodreads) Lost. That one single word best describes my life at this very moment. I lost the last games of the season and both my team and my coach blame me. I lost the last two months because I drowned in my own despair like a complete loser. And I lost the only girl who ever mattered because I was afraid being with me would destroy her.

But now I realize how truly lost I am without her. She has become my story…and even though she acts like she’s moved on, I know she still thinks about me just as much as I think about her. She’s beautiful, sweet—and so damn vulnerable, all I want to do is help her. Be there for her.

Love her…

If only I could convince Fable to give me a second chance. Then I wouldn’t feel so lost anymore, and neither would she. We could be found together.

Forever.

Drew Callahan, as much as I love him, seriously screwed up. He left Fable a Dear John letter after Adele dropped the final bomb on him at the conclusion of his and Fable's week at home. And, by the time he pulls himself together and realizes what he really wants, he's afraid that maybe too much time has passed for him to have it. 

I can't blame Drew for being messed up. Adele seriously screwed with his mind. And, Drew's been dealing with a huge case of self-loathing for quite awhile now. He doesn't see himself as worthy of Fable's love, and he doesn't know how to ask for it. It's not until they see each other, completely by accident, that he realizes exactly how much he needs her in his life. She's the best thing that's ever happened to him, and that chance meeting gave him the motivation to fight for her. 

Fable certainly doesn't make it easy for him, though. After the way he left her without even a goodbye, and then no contact at all for two months, she has a right to be pissed. She's considered trying to move on - maybe with her hot new boss, Colin. But, Drew is relentless in his pursuit of her, and being that Fable still loves him, it doesn't take long before she caves. 

But, the old problems are still there. Fable's mother is still a deadbeat. And, in fact, she reaches new lows in Second Chance Boyfriend. The things that woman does to her son and daughter made me rage inside. And the effects of her actions in this book are far reaching. It changes both Fable and Owen forever. And their mother is something that Drew can't save Fable from, and that kills him. 

Ironically, Fable struggles with the same problem. She wants so desperately to do something about Adele and her influence in Drew's life, but what can she do, but stand beside him and silently support him? Well, maybe not so silently. When it comes to Adele, Fable doesn't have any problem voicing her thoughts, and in Second Chance Boyfriend, she gets the opportunity to do just that. I LOVED Fable in that moment. 

I grew frustrated with most of the side characters in this book. Owen was pretty cool in One Week Girlfriend. But in Second Chance Boyfriend, he acted like a whiny, bratty... teenager. I get that his mother is a lost cause and that he doesn't want her to be. But, for all Fable has done for him, Owen treated her like crap. She's all he has. You'd think he'd be more grateful for her. 

Colin is the rich owner of the new restaurant at which Fable works. And, he was just plain weird. He claimed to want to save all these girls on the path to self-destruction, and yet their uniforms for work just invite trouble. He seems to flirt with Fable, and yet have a thing for Jen. He lies to Drew to keep him and Fable apart. I didn't get him at all.

And, then there was Drew's dad. I had a hate/love/hate/love relationship with him. I hated how blind he was to Adele's wicked ways. I loved that he finally seemed to grow some stones to stand up to her. I hated how he forgot that Drew was his son and didn't need all his drama. And I loved how he acted in the end.

Second Chance Boyfriend had a lot of those ups and downs. One second you think Drew and Fable are going to get it together, and then something happens to destroy the illusion. But, they kept on fighting for each other and standing in each others' corner. It softened the blow of the shocking ending somewhat. 

This book about second chances and whether we're worthy of them or not was fantastic. I'm looking forward to continuing the series.   

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