Thanks to Carrie for kicking off a new year of our online book club (all are always welcome!) with this The Second Chance Year book club discussion!
Welcome to 2024!! Hoping you all had an amazing holiday season and are starting the new year on a positive note!
Our pick for Dec/Jan was The Second Chance Year by Melissa Wiesner and it could not have been a more perfect fit. I finished it on New Year’s Eve and, considering this story begins and ends with New Year’s Eve, I loved how it lined up!
As I said, we start on New Year’s Eve and the past year has been an absolute bust for Sadie Thatcher. Her and her boyfriend broke up, she was fired from her job and she lost the apartment she loves. She is currently crashing at her brother’s best friend’s apartment, watching The Golden Girls and eating junk! Jacob doesn’t seem to mind that she’s there, but she could not be more depressed.
Sadie’s best friend, Kasumi, somehow convinces her to get off her butt and go to an influencer’s wild carnival-themed New Year’s Eve party. From the beginning, Sadie is pretty miserable (it doesn’t help that she is terrified of clowns). Trying to flee one particularly frightening clown, Sadie runs into a tent inside the party. There a woman sits with a crystal ball. Sadie decides, hey, what does she have to lose? She wishes to be able to do this last year over again. She knows that if she had kept her big mouth shut during some critical moments, she would still have her boyfriend and job. Following the women’s directions, Sadie takes a shot of vodka, throws some glitter in the air, and turns around 3 times.
Sadie heads back to Jacob’s apartment, not seeing any magical changes. When she gets there, she hears Jacob playing a beautiful song on the piano. They sit down and talk and at the stroke of midnight, she and Jacob kiss. Sadie’s brother, Owen, takes that moment to arrive at the apartment and she and Jacob don’t get to talk about the kiss.
The next morning, Sadie wakes up in her old apartment. Confused, she looks over and sees a bare man’s back. Trying not to freak out, she finally sees that it’s her old boyfriend. Turns out the woman in the tent DID grant her wish! And so begins Sadie’s Second Chance Year.
This is such a great story about being yourself and trusting and how sometimes things don’t work out for a reason. Sadie spends a lot of time thinking about that kiss with Jacob, all the while, trying to be happy that she is back with her boyfriend. But to be back with her boyfriend, she has to suck up to his horrible coworkers and become someone she’s not. And to stay hired as a Pastry Chef (her dream job) she’ll have to keep quiet when her boss is outrageously inappropriate and toxic. Is she willing to not be herself to save her relationship and her job?
I loved how this all played out. I liked that it happened over the course of a year and Sadie saw things coming that she obviously knew she had “screwed up” the last time. But had she? Obviously, with different reactions and decisions, different results happen and Sadie begins to wonder if this was the right thing to do after all.
A fantastic group of characters, from her best friend, Kasumi, to Zoe, the coffee shop owner and the cranky old lady who is there every day, I was impressed with the character development. This wasn’t just a love story. That part was sweet for sure, but it was really about being yourself and trusting yourself, a message we can all use reminding of! Thanks for joining our The Second Chance Year book club, friends!
Meredith and I are super excited about our next pick! Kristin Hannah’s new book. The Women is sure to be a fantastic read!! Can you go wrong with Kristin Hannah?? Read on for a description of this emotional and inspiring book about women during the Vietnam War. As always, we are giving away a copy for free! Leave a comment on this blog post by 1/12/24 by 5:30 am ET, and as long as you are 18 or older and live in the continental United States, you are eligible to win!
The Women by Kristin Hannah
From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.
Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.
As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.
But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.
The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.
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Thanks so much for joining our The Second Chance Year book club discussion! As always, we love hearing your thoughts and opinions! Keep them coming!!
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Meredith says
I missed this post last month, but I just entered a Goodreads giveaway for this book. Really looking forward to it!!
Meredith says
Let me know what you think of it! We need to chat books 🙂