By Cassandra O'Leary
What would you say to the one who got away? Or the one who was never a 'thing' but you secretly hoped they would be… We're talking second chance romance.
I've been on a binge reading and watching spree lately, with the common theme of second chances. I love the tension and the emotional complexity of these stories, the push and pull between characters living simultaneously in the present and the past. Every look, every whispered remembering of what once was, or what might have been, adds layers to the superficial plot and dialogue. Now we're talking oodles of delicious subtext, people!
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Persuasion by Jane Austen
The king (or really, matriarch) of the second chance or reunion romance is
Persuasion. Often overlooked by casual Austen readers in favour of
Pride and Prejudice or
Sense and Sensibility,
Persuasion is a book that unfolds slowly, pulls at the heartstrings and hits you hard in the feels. It's a more mature take on love than some of Austen's other works.
In
Persuasion, the heroine Anne Eliot is twenty-seven years old, which is on-the-shelf in terms of marriageability in the Regency era. Anne was once engaged at age nineteen, but was persuaded to break-off the relationship by her manipulating family. Eight years later, she still hasn't married and the love of her life, Captain Wentworth, returns to the village where Anne's family lives. Captain Wentworth was once a poor sailor, considered beneath Anne in terms of social status. In fact, the Eliots have fallen on hard times and are forced to sell their fine belongings and move out of their grand home—a job left entirely to Anne as the practical, capable type. Captain Wentworth has since made his fortune as a sea captain, so their roles are reversed from what they once were.
As a reader, I adore Anne as a no nonsense woman, a non-typical heroine who people see as unimportant and uninteresting. In fact, she's highly intelligent, caring and probably would have been a great business woman in another time. She's put her family above her own desires for so long, it's become second nature. Anne has to overcome social and trust issues, and her own narrow view of what her life should be, to finally find her way back to love.
Captain Wentworth represents freedom as much as love, since a second chance with him would also allow her to live her own life. And of course he's a noble hero, wounded by Anne's rejection but still so in love under a gruff exterior. When the story hits its climactic moment, near the end of the story, Wentworth declares himself in a letter that's heart wrenching:
"You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago.”
Read it now, or try watching the excellent British movie version!
Persuasion, 2007 movie
Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren
This romantic women’s fiction book by the fabulous writing duo, Christina Lauren, is an utterly gorgeous tale of teenage sweethearts/best friends reunited.
There's a lovely setup in this book, when Macy meets Elliot (yes, there are some
Persuasion and many other book references in here!), her new, nerdy but beautiful next door neighbour at her holiday home. He's literally sitting in her walk-in wardrobe reading a book, and later, the same space becomes her library, and their private refuge from the world. Macy's father paints the ceiling of the library with stars, and I was reminded of the line from Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet:
"When he shall die take him and cut him out into stars and he shall make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with night and pay no worship to the garish sun."
I'm not spoiling the ending or spilling the reasons why these two young people were separated, so you'll just have to read it for yourself!
Roman Crazy by Alice Clayton and Nina Bocci
Who loves all things Italian? Me! So it should be no surprise I fell in love with this book, set in Rome. We meet Avery at the start of this novel in a most surprising context (with an amazing and funny first line that I can't share here due to this being a PG rated site!) and her life goes up in flames.
Her husband was cheating, and she decides to leave him and her comfortable life to visit her old friend in Rome. There she meets Marcello, gorgeous and charismatic Italian architect, who just happens to be the man she could never forget. They had been lovers in college, until Avery had to go home to America and she never saw him again.
What I loved most about this book were the authentic Italian touches, from descriptions of places in Rome, to the food and the depiction of Marcello's extended family who come together for a local festival. Also, it's both funny and heartfelt. Avery has to make some big decisions about whether to follow the safe route and return to her old life, or to find a new direction and herself in the process. Recommended reading!
The Boy Is Back by Meg Cabot
I haven't quite finished reading this novel, but it's great fun. Told in an unusual style mixing text messages, emails, newspaper articles, diary entries and even online reviews, this book is a modern version of an epistolary novel (a novel written as a series of documents, with other famous examples including
The Color Purple by Alice Walker and
The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky).
There's various point of view texts from many members of the heroine's and hero's families, so it's a fun look at the shorthand way we communicate these days and sometimes mis-communicate. Becky Flowers (love the name) is a woman who organises other people's lives for a living, but of course she kind of fell into it herself without a plan. Her high school boyfriend, Reed Stewart, is a multi-millionaire pro golfer who's back in town when his family asks for help with his aging parents. Old scores need to be settled, and the kooky old couple with a house full of cats and raccoons bring the couple together again. Anyway, I'm still reading but I'm definitely hooked.
Don't You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane
This story was gorgeous and also very British (which I love). The heroine, Georgina, meets up with her high school crush again when she applies for a job as a bartender at a renovated pub, owned by two Irish brothers. Of course one of them turns out to be her secret boyfriend, Lucas, from years ago. Only he doesn't seem to remember her at all. Can it be possible that one person can fall completely, madly in love, and the other person doesn't even remember it? Lucas is all dreamy but stern and standoffish (in a Heathcliff way, as noted in the book) whereas Georgina wears fluffy pink overcoats and is slightly off with the fairies. It's opposites attract and the kind of slow burn unfolding drama I love to read. With lots of laughs. And a dog.
Tree Love by Cassandra O'Leary (that's me!)
My own short story is a sweet bite-sized read about a couple who fall in love after first meeting at university. The hero (Dan The Man Mancini) ‘drops in’ on the heroine, Natalia Bianchi, years later, when he falls out of a tree in front of her! I hope the story conveys some of the longing and the temptation to try out another life that's typical of second chance stories, as well as being a fun, romantic read.
I'm working on another second chance story too, which will be either a long-ish novella or a full length book. We'll see when I finally finish writing…
About Cassandra O'Leary
Cassandra O'Leary is a romance and women's fiction author, communications specialist, avid reader, film and TV fangirl and admirer of pretty, shiny things.
In 2015, Cassandra won the We Heart New Talent contest run by Avon Books/HarperCollins UK. Her debut novel, Girl on a Plane, was published in July 2016. Cassandra was also a 2015 finalist in the Lone Star writing contest, Northwest Houston Romance Writers of America, and a 2014 finalist in the First Kiss contest, Romance Writers of Australia. Her indie published romcom novella, Heart Note, is out now!
Cassandra is a mother of two gorgeous, high-energy mini ninjas and wife to a spunky superhero. Living in Melbourne, Australia, she's also travelled the world. If you want to send her to Italy or Spain on any food or wine tasting 'research' trips, that would be splendiferous.
**Winner of the global We Heart New Talent contest. Nominated for BEST NEW AUTHOR in AusRomToday 2016 Reader's Choice Awards for excellence in Australian romance fiction**
Read more at: cassandraolearyauthor.com
