Second Chance<title>Second Chance At Forever

Angie Detmer’s life is falling apart. She has just moved to Washington, D.C. after the death of her philandering husband, Todd. Though she was in the process of divorcing him, the divorce was not final when he died, so she also lost her home and her business to the debts that Todd had run up. Her parents blamed her for the failure of her marriage. To top it all off, she had discovered that she was pregnant with Todd’s child. Angie had no one to depend on except her friends, Jazz, Khal, and Narisha. Angie discovers that the super of her new building is a gorgeous male stripper, but does she want to get involved with another man who might break her heart?

Michael Ripley is still mourning the loss of his wife Holly and their unborn child to cancer over a year before. The grief isn’t all of it – he also has many expensive medical bills to pay, resulting from trying all possible ways to cure Holly. Michael works as many as five jobs to earn enough money to attempt to pay these debts. When Angie comes to live in the apartment building he manages, he immediately feels an attraction to her – but is it fair to get involved with Angie when all he can offer her is his debt- and grief-ridden life?

Damschroder tells the heart-rending tale of Angie and Michael very movingly. I was engrossed in this story from the very beginning and, amazingly, the author was able to continue this plot through until the very end with the same energy and appeal. I was most impressed with the author’s characterizations of Angie and Michael as people who are trying to overcome the hard blows that life dealt them. In fact, they come across as real people instead of artificial constructs. They are vulnerable and imperfect people, but keep trying to improve themselves throughout the story. The secondary characters were also well developed, and I am hoping that the author will offer us more stories featuring Jazz and the others. The love scenes are more sensual than explicit, and yet they are very touching. Second Chance At Forever is a wonderful contemporary romance that will grab your heart!

Reviewed by: Jean