second chance romance | VALENCIYA LYONS

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Do my eyes deceive me?

They must be.

I can’t be seeing what’s right in front of me.

But I am.

My boyfriend is kissing my sister.

Here’s an excerpt:

It isn’t until we all get up to leave that I notice Caleb or someone that looks like him sitting at the back of the restaurant. I can only see the back of his head, so I’m not one hundred percent certain it’s him. But then I see the person sitting across from him say something that makes him laugh. He slightly tilts his head to the side and that’s when I see the woman’s face. It’s my sister, Brooke! My heart sinks farther than my stomach. The guy leans across the table to kiss her. I don’t remember her saying she’s dating anyone, but then again she rarely talks to me. I just hope the guy isn’t who I think he is.
Before I know it, I’m walking to the back of the restaurant where Brooke and this guy are seated. When Brooke looks up and sees me approaching, she looks frightened, as if she’s seen a ghost, and her smile fades. The guy turns around and looks directly at me. It’s Caleb.
I stop walking once I reach their table. I should be screaming and yelling at them, but I do none of those things. I’m feeling a combination of emotions at once, with a million thoughts running through my head. Caleb and Brooke? How long has this been going on? Was this occurring before I gave him my kidney? Why didn’t I notice something sooner? If I say what I’m thinking, I will do a lot more than just cause a scene. But I know I’m not leaving until someone gives me answers.
“Hazel,” Caleb begins, his voice shaky, “how much of that did you see?”
That’s not the right question to ask me at a time like this.
“Okay,” he says, his eyes darting from side to side. My guess is he’s trying to think of a lie to tell me. I don’t even bother to look at my sister, who I’m now putting at the bottom of the totem pole with Caleb.
“What the hell are you doing kissing my sister?” I snap at him.
“Can we go somewhere to talk, please?” he pleads.
“After everything I’ve done for you…” I shake my head in disbelief, feeling sick to the pit of my stomach at the betrayal.
I turn to Brooke. “I never did anything like this to you, so why would you do this to me?”
She doesn’t give me an answer and she avoids making eye contact with me. As she’s getting up to leave, I say, “Why are you leaving? Is it because you got caught?” She speed walks past me, not bothering to look back. I couldn’t care less about the curious stares we’re getting from onlookers.
My heart feels like it’s going to pop out of my chest. I take a deep breath, hoping I don’t have a heart attack because of his two-timing, trifling ass.
I walk back to the table where Violet, Damien, and Yuri are still sitting. Damien’s not looking at me; instead, his gaze is fixated in Caleb’s direction. I don’t bother to look over my shoulder to see if Caleb’s watching or not. At this point, I don’t care. I just want to get out of this place and put as much distance as I can between us.

Here’s the blurb:

Hazel, a recent college graduate, donates a kidney to save her ailing boyfriend only to discover he has been cheating with her younger sister. With two relationships in shambles, she moves out of her parents’ home and immerses herself in work. Then she meets the sexy next door neighbor who is willing to help her heal her heart. But will she let him?

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Redemption of the Heart by Moni Boyce

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My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This story introduces us to Gemma, a woman who has been in foster care, has no family, and is abused by her husband, Jason. He comes home from work while she’s vacuuming and wants to go to the bar. She changed clothing “four times” until she “met Jason’s approval.” He made her drink cocktails and once they’d gotten home, he raped her. Once he’d fallen asleep, she grabbed what she could and got out of the house. Her goal was to start over in a new town away from him. She had some alcohol in her system but “she didn’t think she was that impaired.” She and another vehicle crashed into each other.
The driver of the other vehicle died and Gemma was sent to prison. While in prison, Jason served her divorce papers. After she is released, she is sent to a halfway house and given a job as a waitress at Alex Chambers restaurant.

Even though his wife has been deceased for several years, he still wears his wedding band. Instead of dating, he immerses himself into his work at his restaurant. Alex’s sister, Rachel takes to Gemma and can tell that her brother and Gemma both like each other. Rachel has tried in the past to convince her brother to go out on a date but he doesn’t listen to her. Slowly but surely he and Gemma start falling for each other, but each is apprehensive because they don’t want to get hurt.

This story is very touching and heartfelt. At the start of this book, I was rooting for Gemma to leave her abusive husband. I did not like Jason one bit. No man or woman should have to suffer abuse from a spouse. Abuse does not equal love. While I do not condone drinking and driving, Gemma had extenuating circumstances. It is hard to imagine what someone would do in a situation like that. I felt as if she had reached her breaking point, and she just wanted to get away from him. When she starts working at Alex’s restaurant, they begin falling for each other. I don’t want to say more because I don’t want to give away too much of the story.

If you love a good romance story, I’d highly recommend this book to you.

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