THE SECOND CHANCE CAFÉ – Alison Kent
A Hope Springs Novel , Book 1
Montlake Romance
ISBN: 9781611097894
March 2013
Contemporary Romance

Hope Springs, Texas – Present Day

Can you return home again? That is the question Kaylie Flynn asks herself when she decides to buy her late foster parents' house and open a restaurant that includes her infamous brownies. Raised in foster homes since the age of five, the one place she felt safe was in this home, and she jumped at the chance to buy it. It will take lots of work and renovation, so the first order of business is finding a carpenter. Tennessee “Ten” Keller comes highly recommended, and despite Kaylie's feeling that he's too opinionated, she hires him. Ten immediately lets her know that the house needs many repairs, and he also offers up his suggestions for maintaining the originality of the house's design instead of tearing down walls. Kaylie has to admit Ten has some good ideas, even as he aggravates her with his innate ability to know just what is needed. He listens as she talks about being raised by the kindly foster parents in this very house and how Kaylie is now looking for her real parents.

As the weeks progress, Kaylie meets (and becomes reacquainted) with the folks of Hope Springs, including Luna Meadows, who designs scarves that are snapped up by the rich and famous. Luna is intrigued with Kaylie's plans for the house and introduces a friend of hers to apply for the cooking job, Mitch Pepper. But Luna is hiding a secret that is going to blow Kaylie's life right out of the water. Meanwhile, Ten and Kaylie grow closer, and she begins to have feelings for him. But she has too much baggage in her life to even think of getting involved with a man right now.

Kaylie has an emotional journey in THE SECOND CHANCE CAFÉ by Alison Kent, and one she never expected to find when she made the decision to return to Hope Springs. Her beloved foster parents are now deceased, and she's acting on her dream to one day to return and fill their house with food and laughter in the form of a lunch only café. Her life is much different from what it was when she first lived in the house, because back then she was the neglected child of a druggie mother and an absent father. Kaylie built a successful bakery in Austin and now has sold it to plunk her money down on her new venture. Can she capture a new slice of happiness once again in Hope Springs?

Told mainly from Kaylie's point of view, THE SECOND CHANCE CAFÉ is poignant and sweet as she slowly falls for Ten and begins to create new friendships and gain support from the folks of Hope Springs. Ten's family was splintered apart by a family tragedy years ago; he doesn't want to face that he couldn't have changed the outcome. Luna is supportive, but racked by guilt over something that happened in the past and also because of what she knows now and how it could hurt Kaylie. By the end of THE SECOND CHANCE CAFÉ, secrets are revealed and love is found in more ways than one.

Charming and quaint, THE SECOND CHANCE CAFÉ delivers on its promise of being a warmhearted tale.

Patti Fischer