Rules for Second Chances, Maggie North
Rules for Second Chances, Maggie North
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Rules for Second Chances

Author: Maggie North

Narrator: Gail Shalan

Unabridged: 10 hr

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/25/2024


Synopsis

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?

Liz Lewis has tried everything to be what people want. But she’s always been labeled different from everyone else in the boisterous world of wilderness expeditions—that is, if anyone notices her at all. Her marriage to popular adventure guide Tobin Renner-Lewis is a sinkhole of toxic positivity where she’s the only one saying no. In a mountain resort town built around excitement, introverted Liz gets…spreadsheets.

When she gets mistaken for a server at her own thirtieth birthday party and her last line of communication with Tobin finally snaps, 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 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 one bonkers improv scenario at a time. 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 there might be more to her social awkwardness than anyone realized. Liz has just eight weeks to 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.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

About Maggie North

MAGGIE NORTH lives in Ottawa, Canada with the man she met in ninth grade, their kid, and a rotating cast of hypoallergenic aquarium friends. Her hobbies include long-distance open water swimming, saving the world, and being relentlessly Canadian. She enjoys being autistic a lot more since she received her diagnosis as an adult. Rules for Second Chances is her first novel.

About Gail Shalan

Gail Shalan (she/her) is a NYC-based storyteller on screen, stage, behind the mic, and with puppets.A 2024 two-time Audie Award winner ( Best Young Adult and Best Middle Grade), as well as a multiple Earphones Award winner, praised by The New York Times, Library Journal, Vulture Magazine, Booklist, and Audiofile, she’s narrated 200+ titles.Gail has performed on stage at The Bristol Old Vic, Cherry Lane Theatre, St. Ann’s Warehouse, and other various theater spaces across the US and UK.Her work as both an actor and a puppeteer was featured in the award-winning short film Coyote Girl (BostonIFF Best Short).Known for her dexterity with character and dialects, her tangibly emotional reads, and her deep respect for the text, Gail is passionate about stories that center generational healing and mental health, that navigate the sticky spaces between childhood and adulthood, and stories that ask who am “I”? Who are “we”? And what swells in the space between us, what dwells in the space within us? For that’s where the greatest discoveries and curiosities lie.For more follow her on socials @grshalan and check out www.gailshalan.com


Reviews

3.5 stars This book ended up being a little heavier than I expected, but maybe that's because the FMC was a socially awkward introvert, something which I can completely relate to. I enjoy second chance romances, but the structure of this one was a little weird. Not sure how I felt about the whole imp......more

DNF! I tried but between the slowness and the narrator’s annoying voice I just couldn’t get into it. On to better choices.......more

Goodreads review by Tarah on November 02, 2023

I am genuinely not sure how to put my love for this one into words. Utterly unique. A singular story filled with hope, swoon, and healing told by way of gorgeous prose. This is going to be a forever favorite and god I want everyone to experience this book and for them to be changed by it, too. F*ck......more

Goodreads review by Chris on October 13, 2024

4.5 stars! I have to admit that it took me a bit to get into this book. But once I did, it took off for me. I can relate to many parts of Liz. Unseen, unheard, dismissed in many ways. You end up feeling that way in many areas of your life. One thing she is passionate about is work. So diving into som......more

Goodreads review by Jena on July 30, 2024

Rules for Second Chances is a blend of a second chance romance and mixed with a coming-of-age novel. It has some nuanced and relatable themes, as well as important representation. And while I liked all the character growth, but the romance itself was underwhelming. It ended well, but for the majorit......more


Quotes

"Every time I think about this story I fall in love all over again. I adore everything about Liz and I was rooting for both her and Tobin the entire time. I laughed, I cried (several times), I swooned and fell in love as they worked their way back to each other. These beautifully unique characters jump off the page and into your heart. The story is real, raw, fresh and original. It brims with hope, and fills my romance loving soul." - Helena Hunting, New York Times bestselling author

"If I loved this book less, I might be able to talk about it more. Maggie North's Rules for Second Chances is a beautiful marriage-in-trouble romance about seeing yourself reflected in someone's starry eyes but needing to find yourself first. yes, and . . . It's also a novel about the power of improv to learn how to live in the moment and reconcile your past with your future. yes, and . . . North's poignant sentences live in my body as a physical ache. When it comes to anything North writes, I will always be saying yes, yes, yes." - Alicia Thompson, bestselling author of Love in the Time of Serial Killers

"Rules for Second Chances is a brilliant and unexpected debut. I was taken in by the writing, then the humor, and soon I was fully engrossed in this exploration of the subtle ways we hurt the people we love. I adored this book, and I know that I’ll read it again." - Annabel Monaghan, author of Nora Goes Off Script

"Rules for Second Chances is a breathtaking, deeply romantic story about the second chances we give to love, each other, and most importantly, ourselves. Maggie North has the singular ability to hit you with truths that are at once hilarious and aching, stark and soft, painful and necessary, and she writes Liz and Tobin’s journey with an obliterating tenderness I felt in every corner of my heart. This book and its author land effortlessly among my all-time favorites." - Jessica Joyce, USA Today bestselling author of You, with a View

"Rules for Second Chances is a wildly original take on the marriage in trouble trope full of beautiful prose and visceral vulnerability. Maggie North is a capital "T" talent." - Rosie Danan, author of The Roommate

"Achingly tender, beautifully written, Rules for Second Chances is an unflinching marriage in crisis romance that hinges brilliantly on both humor and heart. An ode to neurodivergence, self-discovery, the work and wonder of vulnerable, intimate long term partnership, and the magic of making an authentic life with those we love." - Chloe Liese, author of Two Wrongs Make a Right

"Delightful and sensual, Maggie North’s Rules for Second Chances is a witty, one-of-a-kind romance, lush with tenderness and tension to make this a compulsive read. Maggie is one to watch!" - Ruby Barrett, author of The Romance Recipe

"A witty, sparkling delight. Essential reading for fans of second chance romance. Maggie North puts words together in the best way possible. Rules for Second Chances is slow-burn perfection!" - Stephanie Archer, bestselling author of Behind the Net