Katherine Allred - Second Time Around

Five years ago Quinn McAllister's life was almost destroyed. While he lay in a coma from injuries sustained during an auto accident, the woman he loved divorced him. Or so his father told him. Now he's discovered that his divorce was bogus, and his whole world is spinning out of control. He's tempted to give his wife the quick divorce she wants until he finds out about the son he didn't know existed. Now he's going back to Wyoming to claim what's his, and nothing can stop him...not his father, and certainly not his wife's fiance. 
It's taken Lanie McAllister five years to get over losing the man she loved with every fiber of her being. Now she's ready to move on with her life, and has even agreed to marry the local veterinarian until Quinn gives her an ultimatum. Give them three months to try to mend the marriage his father tore apart, or he'll fight her tooth and nail for custody of their son. Torn between the man her heart has never quite forgotten and the man she's engaged to, Lanie can only pray that love will truly be better the second time around.

Comment: This is the last of the books by Katherine Allred I had to read. I know she has two sci-fic romance books but I haven't got those...maybe one day.

I left this book for last because of the title, to be honest. I just knew it would be about a couple reuniting and I do not enjoy the lovers reunited trope much. But, it's one book, not very long, so I kind of wanted to get it over with, one less installment in my TBR.

This is the story of Quinn McCallister, he's had a car accident, a long recovery time and his wife divorced him.

But now not only does he find out his divorce didn't happen, he is even a father! Discovering it was his father's doing, Quinn only wants to get his wife back, get to know his son and live the life he and Lanie wanted when they fell in love.

But after so much time, Lanie, also deceived by Quinn's father, is engaged and thought Quinn abandoned her. Could they work things out despite everything?

Like I predicted, this romance didn't wow me. I was surprised, however, by how little remembrance scenes there were. In these types of books, usually there are scenes showing of or telling us about how things used to be between the main couple, not only as a basis of comparison to what they are on the present, but also to create atmosphere. I really hate those parts because my biggest fascination with any romance is to see the path the couple takes to happiness. I don't want to know about it, I want to see it and it's just not the same thing reading about what used to be or seeing a memory lane flashback to reading it as it goes right now.

Therefore, this book was a nice surprise because those "before" scenes were really small and quick, more like a photograph than a long video, so I could enjoy the book. I tried to think of it as a new chance of seeing them fall in love, which I'm sure it's the aim of these romances, but I just couldn't pretend I didn't know they used to be a couple before.

It was hard to achieve a balance between what I wished and what I get and I can say it wasn't that bad, but it's hard not to fall back on established opinions.

I also think the author tried really hard to add up some drama by making Quinn a man recovering from almost never walking again to someone needing help and physical therapy. I understand this is difficult, time consuming, emotional and it takes a lot of time and effort. We only see the end of it, and it was the excuse for the main couple not being in contact for so long (thus being in a position to solve every misunderstanding and the story not existing) but I think the focus on this wasn't used in the best way, Quinn didn't want pity which is understandable, but the way the story is written it feels like that's the element for the reader to focus on. Not as smoothly done as one would hope for in my opinion.

Things happen, I know, but the way things were written, it felt like this was a task needed to happen and the story didn't flow that easily. I couldn't put aside the details to just enjoy the story.

I liked the horses, the fact Laine had a steady life but she has a fiancé and they've been together for years. They never slept together because deep down Laine is still in love with Quinn. This is very romantic but not very realistic. I think the author should have done this more accurately to what expected behavior would be in a contemporary setting.

The solution to this "dilemma" is handy but I think the author didn't use this approach to its best potential. I don't mean to sat she should be overly dramatic, exploring a love triangle (shudders!) or anything, but a different way to solve things would make the story more polished, mature...I don't know, I just think it was a badly utilized feature.

In the end, the story had too many flaws for my taste, but I have to admit it was easily read despite not being a fluid narrative for me.

I think the ideas are worthy, interesting, but the execution isn't always the best with such good elements to work for.

Grade: 5/10