Check out our selection of the 10 best second chance romances! – Sheena (she is very excited about it)

It’s no secret that I love a good lesbian romance novel. They’re my go-to when I’m feeling good, bad, and anywhere in between. And when I want just a little more angst, second chance romances are among my favourite reads. There’s something wonderful about a woman coming across the person who ripped out her heart years prior and seeing love and trust rebuild. And I’m not the only person who loves them, because some of Sheena’s and Lise’s picks are below too.

This list is by no means exhaustive because there are so many wonderful second chance romances out there. These books stand at the top of the pack for us and are ones we wholeheartedly recommend to all of you wonderful readers.

Strawberry Summer by Melissa Brayden1 Strawberry Summer by Melissa Brayden

Published by: Bold Strokes Books

This book is a: story about giving a second chance to your first love.

What it’s about

Just because you’re through with your past, doesn’t mean it’s through with you.

Margaret Beringer didn’t have an easy adolescence. She hated her name, was less than popular in school, and was always cast aside as a “farm kid.” However, with the arrival of Courtney Carrington, Margaret’s youth sparked into color. Courtney was smart, beautiful, and put together—everything Margaret wasn’t. Who would have imagined that they’d fit together so perfectly?

But first loves can scar.

Margaret hasn’t seen Courtney in years and that’s for the best. But when Courtney loses her father and returns to Tanner Peak to take control of the family store, Margaret comes face-to-face with her past and the woman she’s tried desperately to forget. The fact that Courtney has grown up more beautiful than ever certainly doesn’t help matters.

Why I love it

This book has everything. It’s sexy, sweet, angsty, has wonderful characters, and it gripped me from beginning to end. Melissa Brayden’s going from strength to strength with her writing and this is her best book yet.

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Check out my full review here 

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poppy jenkins by clare ashton2 Poppy Jenkins by Clare Ashton

This book is: going to make you want to immediately book a ticket to Wales.

What it’s about

Two old friends, one hot summer, a whole load of confusion.

Poppy Jenkins makes everyone smile. She’s the heart of Wells, a beautiful village in mid-Wales, leaving light and laughter in her wake. She has a doting family, an errant dog and a little sister with a nose for mischief. But she’s the only gay in the village and it’s a long time since she kissed a girl: the chance of romance in sleepy Wells is rarer than a barking sheep.

If she doesn’t think too hard, life is cosy, until a smart sports car barrels into town with the last woman Poppy wants to see behind the wheel. Beautiful Rosalyn Thorn was once Poppy’s high school BFF even though she was trouble. Then one day she abandoned Wells and Poppy without explanation. Now the highflier is back and bound to cause fresh havoc in the village and with Poppy’s heart; folk are not happy.

Wells needs to wake up to the 21st century and Rosalyn can help, but old prejudices die hard. If they can be friends it could be the chance to make everyone’s happy ever after. Couldn’t it?

Why I love it

Poppy Jenkins is a gorgeous book. It evokes that time as spring shifts into summer, with writing that is lush and wonderful. Poppy stole my heart, but then… so did Rosalyn. This is one of those books that Sheena and I couldn’t agree more about.

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Check out Sheena’s full review here

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dark garden by jennifer fulton3 Dark Garden by Jennifer Fulton

Published by Bold Strokes Books

This book is a: classic Romeo and Juliet romance. Except that they are both women and they don’t die in the end.

What it’s about

Two sworn enemies who can’t resist each other. Something has to give. The Blakes and the Cavenders have been going at it since 1870 and Vienna Blake keeps up the family tradition, gunning for the Cavenders at every opportunity. All the same, she’s shocked when Mason Cavender confronts her in her office and accuses her of murder. Vienna has the stunningly sexual Mason thrown out by security, but she can’t rid herself so easily of her powerful, instant attraction to the woman she’s been groomed since childhood to destroy. Last in a long line of “Cursed Cavenders,” as the media describes them, Mason has just walked away from the small plane crash that killed her brother. Now in charge of her family’s crumbling business empire, she suspects sabotage and believes beautiful, ruthless Vienna Blake is responsible. Fearing for her life and grieving for her brother, Mason hires a private investigator to get evidence she can take to the police. She is frustrated when the man finds nothing but makes the bizarre suggestion that she hire a psychic to undo the “curse” on her family. He gives her a name. Phoebe Temple. Phoebe’s dreams have always centered on the victims of crimes, and she isn’t surprised when the woman steps from her dreams into her life, asking for help. Exposing family secrets always comes at a price. With passion and family honor in the balance, Mason is willing to pay her dues. But can she persuade Vienna to accept a truce before it’s too late? Dark Garden brings together two powerful women who must confront the past if they want to seize the future.

Why Sheena loves it

The writing is beautiful, well paced and so gorgeous I want to read it over and over again. Fulton is a master storyteller and I have yet to read a book of hers that I haven’t loved.

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Delay of Game by Tracey Richardson4 Delay of Game by Tracey Richardson

Published by Bella Books

This book is a: sports romance for hockey lovers.

What it’s about

Passion and patriotism sizzle on the ice at the Winter Olympics.

It’s been a dozen years since two of the world’s best women hockey players, Niki Hartling and Eva Caruso, first competed against each other in the Olympic Games.

The pressure of the intense USA–Canada rivalry forced an end to their love affair, and both women moved on—Niki to coach and to marry, Eva to stretch out a playing career that her ravaged body can barely sustain anymore.

The Games are upon them once again. Eva wants one last chance to beat the Canadians and win hockey’s biggest prize. Niki, now a widow and single mother, strives to coach her country to gold, even as the obstacles against her mount. The locker room seems to have ears and there are few people Niki and Eva can trust.

Rivals and former lovers on hockey’s biggest stage, will Niki and Eva feel the same spark that first brought them together? And can they win on—and off—the ice with the whole world watching?

Why Lise loves it

As great as the scenes on the ice were, it’s the scenes off the ice that really push the story forward. The pacing of the book was so relentless that I just had to keep reading. The characters are engaging and I simply had to know what else was in store for them.

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Once In A Liftime by Harper Bliss5 Once in a Lifetime by Harper Bliss

Published by Ladylit Publishing

This book is: not your typical erotic romance, or even a typical second chance story.

What it’s about

Leigh Sterling and Jodie Whitehouse share a deep love and extreme passion in the bedroom. But when Jodie’s desire for a child becomes inevitable, it clashes with Leigh’s career ambitions as well as with her lack of maternal instinct, and forces them apart.

They go through life separately and, as years go by, their attempts at other relationships fail to measure up to the power of the union they once shared. When they see each other again eleven years after their painful breakup, an opportunity arises to explore if they really were each other’s one true love.

Why I love it

If you like super hot stories with explicit kink that are deeply emotional, this is the one for you. Also, I love that the kink doesn’t take place in an impossibly ridiculous, perfect club, and is part of everyday life.

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Goldenseal by Gill McKnight6 Goldenseal by Gill McKnight

Published by Bold Strokes Books

This book is a: fun supernatural romance with a mystery twist.

What it’s about

When Amy Fortune returns to her childhood home, she discovers something sinister in the air—but is former lover Leone Garoul stalking her or protecting her? Amy Fortune and Leone Garoul were teenage lovers. Now, years later, Amy returns to Little Dip, the Garoul home valley to help her aunt finish a botanical project. Except Little Dip is no longer the happy place of Amy’s childhood memories. There’s something sinister in the woods. And why hasn’t Leone moved on? Why does she still dog Amy’s every move? As more and more of the Garoul family arrive for a special hunting weekend, parts of the puzzle come together and Amy’s fears escalate as she moves closer to the truth—and the secret that has eluded her since childhood.

Why I love it

This was the first lesbian paranormal romance I ever read and it had me hooked. I loved this book so much that I powered through the rest of the series within a week or two, and I loved the second book even more.

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Baring Complications by Blythe Rippon7 Barring Complications by Blythe Rippon

Published by Ylva Publishing

This book is a: story that covers the gay marriage debate in the Supreme Court of the United States from within and with one of the justices being a closeted lesbian.

What it’s about

It’s an open secret that the newest justice on the Supreme Court is a lesbian. So when the Court decides to hear a case about gay marriage, Justice Victoria Willoughby must navigate the press, sway at least one of her conservative colleagues, and confront her own fraught feelings about coming out. ­­Just when she decides she’s up to the challenge,­­ she learns that the very brilliant, very out Genevieve Fornier will be lead counsel on the case.

Genevieve isn’t sure which is causing her more sleepless nights: the prospect of losing the case, or the thought of who will be sitting on the bench when she argues it.

Why I love it

It has the slowest of burns to them getting back together, because each has so much to lose. It’s delicately handled and works really well.

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8 The Magistrate by Keira Michelle Telford

This book is a: steampunk lesbian romance.

What it’s about

Poverty is rife in twenty-fourth century London, England. Crime rates are at an all-time high, and living conditions for many are bleak. Capital punishment and public hangings have been reinstated, and Magistrates, in their new role, are tasked with patrolling the streets to enforce arrest warrants and ‘terminate’ any civilians who attempt to evade justice — which isn’t always a noble pursuit.

The laws are strict, illiberal, and unsympathetic. If you can’t afford to feed and clothe yourself, you’ll be sent to the workhouse. If you fall behind on your rent, you’ll be sent to debtors’ prison. If you’re gay, you’ll be hanged.

For Carmen Wild, the latter becomes a potentially deadly problem when the discovery of a murdered prostitute brings her back into the life of her first love — the Madam of an East End cathouse — and the illicit passions between them are swiftly reignited

Why Sheena loves it

Telford has a wonderful ability to tell vivid stories that make you want to keep reading. Each scene is a gem and no words are excess or lacking.

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bureau of holiday affairs by andi marquette9 The Bureau of Holiday Affairs by Andi Marquette

Published by Ylva Publishing

This book is a: retelling of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.

What it’s about

Executive Robin Preston has dedicated her life to climbing the corporate ladder, using whatever means necessary. In the shark-infested culture at Frost Enterprises, anything goes, and Robin is a master at the game.

On the verge of a major promotion, Robin receives a strange visit from Agent Elizabeth Tolson of the Bureau of Holiday Affairs, who informs Robin that, though Robin may be a lost cause, the Bureau has scheduled her for intervention. Robin will receive three visitors in the two weeks before Christmas, who will escort her on visits to her past, present, and future.

Robin will be forced to face not only who she’s become, but the parts of herself she left behind, when she was an art major in college and in love with fellow art student Jill Chen, in whom Robin found a kindred spirit—until Jill broke if off with her. In order for Robin to change her ways, she’ll need to reclaim who she was and open her heart again, to a past she thought she left behind.

 

The Bureau clearly has its work cut out for it, but Agent Tolson relishes a challenge, and she’s put together just the team for Robin’s case. They may have to cut a few corners and go outside a few lines, but Agent Tolson has a perfect salvage record and she’s not about to let that change. The question is, will Robin?

Why I love it

This is a very fun book that moves at a good clip. Almost all of it is from Robin’s perspective, and that works well, with her personality infused throughout.

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The Butterfly Whisperer by Lisa Moreau10 The Butterfly Whisperer by Lisa Moreau

Published by Bold Strokes Books

This book is a: story that might make you believe in soul mates.

What it’s about

Jordan was in love with her best friend, Sophie, in high school and no one knew…least of all Sophie. After fleeing without a trace before graduation, Jordan vowed never to return to Monarch, the butterfly obsessed town along the Central California coast.

Ten years later, Jordan owns a successful soul mate matchmaking company where she finds love for others, but has little use for it herself. Sophie runs the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary and has yet to forgive Jordan for disappearing from her life. When Jordan is forced to return to Monarch, will their soul mate connection deepen or will differing goals tear them apart?

Why I love it

The characters are great, the story is well written, it has a matchmaker and the only lepidopterist I’ve ever seen in lesfic.

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BUT WAIT! Of course there’s more! It’s one of my top 10 lists, which means there’s always a bonus book.

finding the grain wynn maloneFinding the Grain by Wynn Malone

This book is a: coming of age story that takes place over 20 years.

What it’s about

When Augusta “Blue” Riley’s parents are killed by a tornado in her last month of high school, Blue is thrown into a world where nothing is what she expected. She moves from her farm in Alabama to North Carolina to be near her aunt and attend college. Interesting classes and the love of sorority girl Grace Lancaster help Blue let go of her grief. But her world is shattered again when Grace abruptly leaves her.

Blue quits college and hits the road. For nearly twenty years she moves from town to town, job to job, woman to woman—always the first to move on—until Blue comes back to the farming life that shaped her childhood. Mississippi Delta farmer Preacher Rowe and his invalid wife Mary put Blue to work plowing the fields and helping in the house. Eventually, Preacher teaches Blue the art and craft of fine woodworking and for the first time since her parents death Blue takes control of her life.

The pull of the mountains brings Blue back to North Carolina where she opens a woodworking gallery. When her lost love walks in the door the strength and serenity Blue thought she found is put to the ultimate test.

Why I love it

I’ve seen many call Finding the Grain a romance novel, but it’s more than that. Yes, there is a romance between Blue and Grace, but the truest relationship in the story is between Blue and herself as she finally learns what she needs and how to take care of herself, and that alone is worth the price of the book.

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