I’ve followed this author’s writing for several years now, so I was familiar with many of her previous material and anticipated this release. The story explored what happens when a marriage falls on hard times, and the losing party gets another chance to love.  Brian Jackson was taken aback when his wife divorced him and left him and their five-year-old son to pursue her dream of becoming a fashion designer. His wife no longer wanted to stay in small town USA. Brian even gave up his career to save his dying marriage to no avail. Elmore, SC sounded like snoozeville, but the place held lots of memories worth savoring, so he stayed.

Brian was doing well as the school’s resource officer, until he met Paige “the speed demon” Grayson. Paige lost her job as a counselor when she had a verbal altercation with one of the parents after she gave the student factual information concerning safe sex.

Paige had a problem with authority figures; she also had a short fuse.  Additionally, she loved to drive like a bat out of hell. Much of the time I cringed at her antics. The day she met the police officer who lived next door, she was speeding in the neighborhood where small children lived, including Brian’s son Mickey.  The first meeting did not go well for either of them, as Brian, tasked with doing his job, and Paige was determined to be a rebel without a cause. After their initial mean conversations, they finally admitted to their attraction to one another. By the time they made it to being mostly cordial, his ex could smell romance in the water, so she made it her business to try and reclaim her time with Brian. (Spoken in my best Maxine Waters voice). I was so hoping it was too little too late for her to reclaim what she’d lost. He’d moved on, despite his ex’s shenanigans and tomfoolery. Notice, I have yet to call old girls name.

The parts of the story I was a bit annoyed involved Paige’s somewhat childish behavior and her extremely short temperament. A few times I felt like little Mickey was more even-keeled than Paige. I loved Mickey and Brian together. His ex-wife was a total b-word.  The connection between Brian and Paige was tenuous for my liking. The sexual scenes were rather lovely even with the thinly veiled love connection between them. The direction and flow of the author’s voice felt modulated most of the story. Overall, I liked the premise and the stories outcome. If you haven’t tried this author’s works, this story would be an excellent place to start. My rating was 4.0 Stars.

Review – Another Chance to Love, Cheris Hodges

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