Second Chance Option

by Elizabeth Spaur

Tess graduated from college when she was thirteen and has always found herself helping others more than she cares for herself. When her little brothers sign her up for America Ninja Warrior, she realizes it is time to put herself first for once. Enter Cade. A third generation navy man, Cade never thought he would ever settle somewhere permanent. But, when his college football coach asks him to help rebuild the team, he finds he cannot say no. When he learns about Tess's competition, he can't help himself from volunteering to train her. He never expected to fall for her.

I enjoyed this story, but parts were very confusing. Although this is the first book in a series, there were many times where I felt I was dropped into the middle of the story without knowing what happened in the beginning. Both of the main characters, as well as many of the minor ones and an entire football program, suffered some very traumatic backgrounds. The story was constantly hinting at them and made them feel important. However, by the end of the book I didn't feel like I understood all that trauma. While I cannot be certain, I believe it was the author's intention to expand on many of these trauma's in future books, but because they were mentioned so much in this book, I was very disappointed not to see the stories resolved now.

Another problem I had with this story was the chapter organization. Each chapter begins in Cade's point of view and ends in Tess's. I am a fan of dual narration and thought the first half of the book flowed very well. however, somewhere in the second half of the book, there were time skips between the two halves of the chapter. In my opinion, the story would have flowed a little smoother if each point of view was its own chapter instead.

The story also felt a little off balance. While the first part felt slow, the second felt rushed. I liked watching the tension between Tess and Cade, but after they slept together for the first time (sorry for the spoiler, but it is a romance novel), things seemed to move fast. There are allusions to their relationship, but we do not really see much of it. The story seems to shift focus to other factors and, as I mentioned the book begins to feel rushed.

This brings up another issue. There was a lot of exposition in this story. I loved knowing what the characters thought and felt, but I didn't really feel a lot of action. I would have liked to have been told less and seen more. Again, this was really noticeable in the second half of the book.

One of the important dynamics in this story is Cade's attitude towards relationships. I felt that once Cade and Tess slept together, there are a handful of sentences that let the reader know Cade has been spending a lot of time with Tess, but he is suddenly distancing himself. I would have liked to see that shown some more. While I understood why he was doing it, I didn't really feel like it was explored enough. Or rather, it was explored more when they weren't together than when they were. (This is again part of the repetitive allusions to Cade's traumatic background without fully explaining what happened with his ex.) I would have liked to have seen specific instances of Cade distancing himself from Tess. How did he feel while he was doing it? Was he conflicted, or was he confident he was doing the right thing?

Ultimately, while I found the story engaging, I was unable to connect to the characters.
I would rate this story three and a half quills and place it on my bottom shelf.