Second Time Around by Beth Kendrick

Book Details
Second Time Around by Beth Kendrick
Paperback, 336 pages
2010, Bantam
ISBN: 0385342241

Synopsis
Every summer, four college friends hold a mini-reunion. They laugh, reminisce, and commiserate about their soul-sucking jobs. Maybe they should have listened to everyone who warned them to study something “practical.”

Then an unexpected windfall arrives—one million dollars, to be exact—with the stipulation that they use it to jump-start their new careers. Almost overnight, a professor, a bartender, a copywriter, and an administrative assistant reinvent themselves as a novelist, an event planner, a pastry chef, and a bed-and-breakfast owner. But the changes in their professional roles create unexpected turbulence in their personal lives, and soon the secrets and scandals from their past start to resurface.

For anyone who has ever wondered “What if?,” this engaging novel provides a sweet, funny look at friendship, romance, and second chances.

Review
Second Time Around is female bonding at its best. Five women, friends since college, get together for a mini-reunion once a year. One dies, leaving a million dollars to be split between the rest. The catch? They need to use the money to follow their dreams.

Each woman has a job she doesn't love. Each has a seemingly impossible dream. The money gives those dreams a chance. While changing their careers, the women are forces to deal with personal problems ranging from guilt over accepting their dead friend's money, infertility, poor choices in love and one is haunted by a secret she has kept for over a decade.

Second Time Around is full of fun and sorrow, potential and regret, hope and fear. It really makes the reader question what they would change in their lives if given $250,000. Imagine the possibilities. The enduring friendship of the four women left mourning their friend is inspirational, a wonderful example of what friendship between women should be.

Beth Kendrick has written a book that does what all books should do. She put ideas in my head. She made me consider my life. She gave me something to think about. The message that life is too short to waste time on things you don't love is an important one and it couldn't have been written more beautifully. Second Time Around is chick-lit that focuses on the whole of a woman, not just her romantic life. I would love to see more books of this nature and highly recommend Second Time Around to any woman willing to reexamine where her life is headed. Funny, entertaining and meaningful - Second Time Around hits the trifecta.

Rating

Links
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