Rules for Second Chances (25 in 2025 #9)

Author: Maggie North 
Title: Rules for Second Chances Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin Date Published: 06/25/2024

Read Dates: 04/20/2025- 04/22/2025
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rules for Second Chances is a single POV second-chance romance. Liz is struggling with feeling invisible: at work, with her family, in her marriage. When she gets mistaken for a caterer at her own birthday party it’s the final straw. She asks her boisterous and overly positive husband Tobin for some space to figure things out, but he’s determined to save their marriage!

I really love second-chance romance, especially the marriage in trouble trope, and this one did not disappoint! I loved the scenes of Liz and Tobin working together, and Liz’s journey of self discovery. I’m excited to read more from this author!

Liz Lewis has tried everything to be what people want, but she’s always been labeled different in the boisterous world of wilderness expeditions. Her marriage to popular adventure guide Tobin Renner-Lewis is a sinkhole of toxic positivity where she’s the only one saying no.

When she gets mistaken for a server at her own thirtieth birthday party, Liz vows to stop playing a minor character in her own life. The (incredibly well-researched and scientific) plan? A crash course in confidence . . . via an improv comedy class. The catch? She’s terrible at it, and the only person willing to practice with her is a certain extroverted wilderness guide who seems dead set on saving their marriage.

But as Liz and Tobin get closer again, she’s forced to confront all the reasons they didn’t work the first time, along with her growing suspicion that her social awkwardness might mean something deeper. Liz must learn improv’s most important lesson—“Yes, and”—or she’ll have to choose between the love she always wanted and the dreams that got away.

Brimming with heart and heat, Rules for Second Chances explores the hardest relationship question of all: can true love happen twice . . . with the same person?