The Second First Chance

Written by Mona Shroff

Narrated by Chriselle Almeida and Shawn K. Jain

Strength comes in many different forms.

Riya Desai and Dhillon Vora grew up together. Sharing secrets, hiding in their tree house, they were playmates, best friends and later—as teenagers—almost something more. Until the devastating house fire that ripped them apart, claiming
the life of Dhillon’s father and Riya’s big brother, Samir. Riya and Dhillon have barely spoken since that terrible night, but they both made big decisions based on that fire.

Riya has chosen to fight fire with everything she’s got, but it’s not easy. As the only female firefighter and one of the only people of color at her fire hall, she has to prove herself over and over. Plus, she’s hidden her career from her family.

Dhillon wanted to heal things, so he became a veterinarian. When a chance encounter with a rescue dog throws Riya and Dhillon together again, he’s furious at her career choice. After what happened to them, how can she run into fires on
purpose? For Riya, Dhillon’s anger is unacceptable: How can he not see that she’s protecting others from the very losses they both experienced?

The Second First Chance is a big, wonderful, messy love story about family, heartbreak, strength and courage. It shows us that sometimes what we want is what we least expect, and that everything we need is often right in front of us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781705053287

Mona Shroff

Mona is obsessed with everything romantic, including chocolate, coffee and wine. PW calls her ""a writer to watch"" and Sonali Dev called her first novel, Then, Now, Always a ""sweet, angsty romance."" She's blessed with an amazing daughter and loving son who have both gone to college. Mona lives in Maryland with her romance-loving husband.

Reviews for The Second First Chance

[whiskeyinthejar-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3.3 starsI received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.They had both made decisions based on that fire.Riya and Dhillon were townhome neighbors since the age of five and became best friends, until a sophomore dance ends in a kiss. But before they can explore the new turn in their relationship, a fire breaks out in their homes and Riya loses her hero big brother Samir and Dhillon loses his father. Not being able to process those feelings of grief in the same way, they drift apart. Dhillon still lives at home deciding that his mother and younger sister Hetal still need him, while Riya has moved out and is now hiding that she is the new rookie and only woman, at the firehouse. When a puppy gets rescued at a fire and brought to veterinarian Dhillon, he learns about Riya's new occupation.She was going to be the death of him.And he was completely in love with her.The Second First Chance, was a family fiction story that had all those family dynamic emotions with the thread of Riya and Dhillon knowing they loved one another but never being able to admit it to the other. They see each other occasionally because of Dhillon still living next door to her parents and family and cultural celebrations but when Riya's mother has a heartattack and she decides to stay at home for a while to help take care of her mother, their feelings for each other start to come to a head. I went into this thinking there would be more romance than there was. The story is told from alternating pov chapters from Riya and Dhillon, Riya is dealing with trying to fit in at her fire station, dealing with sexual harassment from one of her colleagues, struggling with reconnecting with her parents, and then still loving Dhillon but thinking he wants nothing to do with her, especially since she's a firefighter now. Dhillon is dealing with outgrowing living with his mother and sister, trying to be a father and brother to Hetal, grow his veterinarian business, and loving Riya but thinking they can't be together. These two live busy lives and why, while the romance thread is steady throughout, it spends more time as background music. And Dhillon-V never could refuse Riya-D anything.Something I really enjoyed in this was how all the characters added to the world, they were all believable and added richness. Riya's jerk co-worker is one with a capital J but who hasn't meet that guy? I would have liked more flushing out of her relationship with her mother, we get some faint explanation that Riya got lost in the grief after her brother died and they do talk and seem to grow a little closer at the end but I would have liked more of a solid, focused emotional scene of them coming together, especially with her mother. Dhillon's sister had a very small secondary romance that my romance loving heart would have liked for them to have their own romance book but I did enjoy how Dhillon and Hetal's relationship was flushed out. This was her best friend, her confidant, the man she had loved since she was a little girl. This was her Dhillon-V.Readers do come in when Riya and Dhillon already love each other, so I missed some of the development of feelings. I also was disappointed that we didn't get an open door bedroom scene, just as the pants were coming off the door slams shut, I felt the emotional part of the story needed to show their intimacy in this way, would have really brought those feelings in as these two had loved and wanted each other for so long. This happens in the first half of the story and they end up parting thinking the other just saw it as a one night stand, which felt a little meh in keeping these two apart for the rest of the story. The pace didn't feel like it had enough steam to make it to the end and then the ending had a rush of a fire, danger, and a black scene that felt forced with Dhillon blaming Riya, Riya blaming herself, and then a quick “eh, misunderstanding”. This does end with a happily ever after but I wouldn't necessarily say read this for the romance. It's obvious from the beginning but be aware there is a death of a pet. If you're looking for a family fiction or book club read, this would give some rich material to discuss.

[susan0316 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This beautiful written novel by a new to me author is a fascinating look at a romance that started when the couple were children and were best friends to a life where they basically ignored each other but were thrown together because their family are friends with each other. Finally at 30, they begin to notice each other again and a rocky and often contentious relationship begins to become a possible romance.Riya Desai and Dhillon Vora grew up together. Their families shared a duplex and they became best friends as children. They played together and shared their secrets with each other. When an electrical fire started in their homes, Riya's beloved brother and Dhillon's father died in the fire. It changed their lives completely and their friendship drifted apart. They saw each other occasionally because their parents were friends but they basically had no relationship beyond the fact that they knew each other's profession - Dhillion became a veterinarian and Riya became an EMT. At least she WAS an EMT. When she brings a stray dog into his office, she slips up and he finds out that she has been trained to fight fires and has a probationary job at a local fire department. He is extremely upset that she is putting herself in harm's way when they both lost family members in a fire. He felt that he had picked a profession where he could help other people but she had picked a dangerous profession that could put her life at risk. She became angry that he didn't understand that being a fireman was her way to helping other people. As they began to spend more time together, they gradually learned to respect each other again but is their past enough to help them fall in love with the people that they've become as adults. Will they have a second chance at love?Another intriguing side story is the way Riya is treated at the male dominated fire station. The men feel that she will be less effective because she's a female. Most of them constantly remind her that she didn't have what it took to be successful in this male dominated field. Because she had to prove her worth and had a great big chip on her shoulder, she took chances to prove herself that the chief felt indicated she wasn't a team player. She finally realizes that she won't reach her potential until she learns to work effectively with the rest of the department and become a team player.This is a novel about grief and healing, siblings, family love and romance. I enjoyed the way that both characters grew as they accepted their shared past and their current lives. I also enjoyed learning more about another culture and their celebrations and lives. After reading about the ups and downs of this couple over the years, I was thrilled when they got their happily ever after ending.