3.0
Second Tide's the Charm
ByPublisher Description
“In the Shark Week of second-chance romances, Chandra Blumberg will have readers hungrily scavenging for every morsel of bait as she tempts with sultry tension and magnetic longing.” —Taj McCoy, award-winning author of Zora Books Her Happy Ever After
When two marine biologists with a complicated history are thrown together on a shark study broadcast over social media, it's anything but smooth sailing. This charming and sexy second chance romance is the perfect beach read for fans of Helen Hoang and Ali Hazelwood.
At first glance, Hope Evans just landed the perfect job: spending the summer on a shark research boat. Except as every marine biologist knows, it’s what’s going on beneath the surface that counts, and Hope’s new position comes with a big catch—the boat belongs to her ex-boyfriend, Adrian Hollis-Parker. For three years Hope’s been treading water, staying away from anything that reminds her of their past. It’s time to dive back into a job that could springboard her career—and maybe offer much-needed closure.
Since their split, Adrian has risen to internet fame as a shark expert with the launch of his YouTube channel to dispel myths and educate viewers about sharks. But success rings hollow without Hope. Embracing this new career trajectory was a risk, but working in cramped quarters with the woman he never stopped loving? That has the potential to backfire in heartbreaking ways.
Side by side, weathering storms of every kind, they’ll have to navigate the murky waters of past hurts…and hope it’s not too late to chart a new course…
Perfect for fans of:
Don't miss Chandra Blumberg's next delightful romantic comedy, LOVE IS AN OPEN BOOK, where two best friends embark on a series of fake “dates” to spark their creativity and the line between fiction and reality begins to blur...
When two marine biologists with a complicated history are thrown together on a shark study broadcast over social media, it's anything but smooth sailing. This charming and sexy second chance romance is the perfect beach read for fans of Helen Hoang and Ali Hazelwood.
At first glance, Hope Evans just landed the perfect job: spending the summer on a shark research boat. Except as every marine biologist knows, it’s what’s going on beneath the surface that counts, and Hope’s new position comes with a big catch—the boat belongs to her ex-boyfriend, Adrian Hollis-Parker. For three years Hope’s been treading water, staying away from anything that reminds her of their past. It’s time to dive back into a job that could springboard her career—and maybe offer much-needed closure.
Since their split, Adrian has risen to internet fame as a shark expert with the launch of his YouTube channel to dispel myths and educate viewers about sharks. But success rings hollow without Hope. Embracing this new career trajectory was a risk, but working in cramped quarters with the woman he never stopped loving? That has the potential to backfire in heartbreaking ways.
Side by side, weathering storms of every kind, they’ll have to navigate the murky waters of past hurts…and hope it’s not too late to chart a new course…
Perfect for fans of:
- STEM Romance
- Forced proximity
- Cinnamon Roll Hero
- Slow Burn
- Closed Door Romance
Don't miss Chandra Blumberg's next delightful romantic comedy, LOVE IS AN OPEN BOOK, where two best friends embark on a series of fake “dates” to spark their creativity and the line between fiction and reality begins to blur...
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesSecond Tide's the Charm Reviews
3.0
“🦈 Sharks! 🦈
When I picked up this book, I was so excited because I love sharks and I love a good romance. While not a bad book, what kept me reading was the atmosphere of the sharks and the characters jobs being researchers out in the field and that is it. There was everything in this book that had the promise of it being great but it felt kind of flat on the page (outside the sharks). The writing was really simplistic and repeated itself over and over again. I liked the characters but the miscommunication was to the point of annoying and overdone. I wanted to like this book more and while fine it was not what I was hoping it would be. But if you are looking for something simple and love sharks, this will work great for you.”“this made me angry enough to start a notes app list with all my issues, so here’s that unedited:
- no personalities outside loving/missing the other person
- same note, alternate POVs but no real distinction in voice or even feelings about the other person? they read like the same character bc both of their personalities were “I miss them and love them still but idk what to do about it”
- surface level “trauma” with super surface level resolutions like hope’s fuckup at the town council meeting or whatever or not wanting to be her parents and abandon her career for love (because despite being smart enough to have a master’s degree she hasn’t realized you can have both a career and be in love with someone and work together/compromise to prioritize both of those things?)
- why does hope not care suddenly about people seeing her fuck up? nothing actually changed? what should’ve been probably the main climax of the book/conflict ended up happening and resolving in under 5 pages and she was just like totally chill with it but there was nowhere near enough character development to make her reaction realistic or acceptable
- same w the relationship, they didn’t have the conversation clearing things up til after they had already decided they wanted to be more than friends- what changed to make them suddenly decide to admit their feelings to each other? sure they were both into each other still but nothing happened to make them comfortable sharing their feelings and deciding to take a chance on the relationship again. it felt completely random and out of left field when it happened so I hated that
all that to say this book had just really shitty character and relationship development
- no focus on her next step- it’s been this huge thing and then there’s just no coverage of her actual interview? barely any about her time at the internship?
- hope is not like other girls 🤪
- 4 paragraphs to describe what should’ve been a scary situation and causes adrian to start questioning the relationship like girl please! commit to a conflict and build it out! explore it! flesh it out! one mini underdeveloped conflict happening per chapter is terrible there’s literally no tension
- as a result of my previous bullet point, this whole book was both too long and somehow not long enough, and it’s because it needed to be way longer to actually develop any of the conflict, but also way shorter because 75% of the “conflicts” could’ve been cut out
TLDR: No character or relationship development, terrible plot development, too many “conflicts” that don’t have any actual consequences and are resolved in a matter of paragraphs which equals zero tension, and overall not worth my time
one day I’ll find a shark related fiction book and/or romance that isn’t terrible 😔”
“Snore. I judged a book by its cover because it’s shark week and I love sharks. This sounded promising but maybe it was so predictable. Idk maybe romance isn’t for me. It was so annoying because they both weren’t sure if the other liked each other but like we had both POVs so we knew they’d end up together in the end and I’m like JUST GET TO IT ALREADY. Again romance isn’t a genre I generally read so it might be more of a me thing.”
“Cute but boring. Too simple to be as long as it is.”
About Chandra Blumberg
Chandra Blumberg writes funny, heartwarming love stories about characters that feel real and relatable. Born and raised in Michigan, Chandra moved to the Chicago area after majoring in English at Michigan State University. When she’s not writing, she enjoys lifting heavy barbells at the gym, making a mess of the kitchen while baking alongside her four kids, and traveling with her family.
Other books by Chandra Blumberg
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