Review: Second Chance Alaska (Wild Coast #3)

Second Chance Alaska (Wild Coast #3)

Jennifer Snow

Blurb:

Will they risk taking the plunge from friendship to forever?

Oliver Klein’s wife and oldest daughter were lost at sea—a tragic mystery that left the small coastal town of Port Serenity reeling. Three years later, surrounded by the wild Alaskan waters that claimed them, the grieving lighthouse keeper is still haunted by their disappearance. Oliver knows he should move on for the sake of his younger daughter, Tess, but he isn’t so sure he’s ready to love again.

Carly Walters knew losing her best friend, Alison, would break her heart—yet she never expected Alison’s husband might be the one to mend it. The more her life intertwines with Oliver’s, the harder she falls for him…and the guiltier she feels. Amid the rush of the summer tourist season, can Carly and Oliver finally accept the past while looking forward to a bright future…together?

Themes:  Contemporary

Rating: 4.25 stars

Heat Rating: 

Review:

The story readers of this series have been waiting for from the beginning has finally come and it is a bit of a heartbreaker but in the end the HEA is much deserved and well-written. Jennifer Snow’s writing is always fille with so much heart and love that you always go away knowing that you have read a story of two people that were meant to be together even as they had to overcome a few obstacles. Many of us that have enjoyed this series and its predecessor have been wondering if Oliver would get a second chance at love after losing his first wife at sea tragically, and I for one was thrilled to see it finally coming to fruition. Oliver Klein lost his wife and eldest daughter at sea three years earlier, leaving him a widower with a young daughter and a lighthouse to run.  Now, with the summer tourist season ramping up, changes are coming to their lives in a big way and he isn’t sure he is ready for so much to change.  Carly Walters, his late wife’s best friend, has been there for Oliver and his daughter from the beginning, but the more she is there for them the more he begins to look at her as more than just a friend.  Carly has wanted Oliver for a long time now, and she knows that being around him without having him is going to make her bitter.  Deciding it’s time to make really changes in her life, Carly begins to take steps to move on, but then the world changes around her once again with a proposal from the man she’s come the want and love above all others. Can the two of them have a future together, despite always having that in their pasts, or will their past continue to haunt them and keep them apart, even as their hearts reach for one another?  Honestly, I loved Carly and Oliver’s story, the love between them one that was both tragic and uplifting.  Carly has been hiding her light in the shadows, unwilling to allow others to see her for who she is and what she has done in her life, but it is time she comes out of the shadows, and when she finally finds the courage to do so, she shines so brightly. I loved seeing her wit, sass, and sweetness as she finds a way to show her friends and family the woman she truly is, the kindness and strength that they have overlooked for so long.  She truly has been overlooked by the entire town as she hid not only her true feeling for the love of her life, but her true calling professionally and her skills. Oliver’s story is certainly a sad one, one that reminds readers that life is short and should be lived to the fullest, but it was wonderful to see him finally open his eyes and see Carly for who she is and who she could be to him. He was rough around the edges, grumpy, and befuddled far too often when faced with changes.  I loved watching him interacting with his daughter and seeing him as he dealt with how his life was changing, but I wish he hadn’t been such an ass to Carly when he got scared and put a barrier into their relationship with thing got too complicated.  I enjoyed the sensuality of this story, though a few said it was too steamy in comparison to previous novels, but I figure after a three year dry spell it would be that way for any guy.  I hope the series continues or spins off into another one, because the characters in this small town never cease to amaze and entertain when Jennifer Snow brings them onto the page to tell their stories and I’m looking forward to much more to come.

*eARC provided by publisher (via NetGalley) for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review.  No compensation was provided.