A Second Chance at Life and Love

By: Dee D. Matthews

Narrated by: Maria McCann

Missy’s life was at a crossroads. Divorced, alone, and needing a fresh start, she took a position at a small college in the California mountains as an associate theater professor. Yet, her future still felt very uncertain. The last thing on her mind was finding love again, and she never expected to find it with another woman.

©2022 Dee D. Matthews (P)2022 Dee D. Matthews

loved it

Not a typical les fic story, but a good coming out in earlier decades one.

Spaghetti is also straight until it gets wet!

As required by U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations and Audible.com requirements, I am disclosing that I was given a free review copy of this audiobook at my request. I have listened to the audiobook, and I have voluntarily left an honest review. Receiving a review copy did not influence my rating nor my review.

“A Second Chance at Life and Love” (SCaLaL) is my first audiobook narrated by Maria McCann; she did a terrific job, and I look forward to more opportunities to listen to her!

Two of my favorite lesfic tropes are the “fake relationship” that evolves into not being fake, and, yes, the “straight until not” story. I know, I know….one of the worst things for a lesbian to do is to crush on a straight woman. Been there, done that. Will probably do that again, but I digress.

SCaLaL’s lesbian MC Angela (the “token” lesbian at university!) doesn’t actively crush on or pursue our recent divorcee MC Missy, nor does Missy view Angela as an experiment or as a sudden realization that she’s not straight.

Interactions between the women are actually pretty typical of two people at a work environment with one of them being new to the town. Deal with bureaucracies, entrenched workers, new apartment, new furniture etc. The friendship that builds between them is nicely natural. Missy’s growing attraction toward Angela seems a bit fast until you realize that this is a novella; just short of four hours. I especially enjoyed the scene where, sharing a bed during a storm, Missy wakes to Angela pinching her nipple. Missy gets wet and gets ready to accept the overture….and then hears Angela snoring! Hahaha!

There’s plenty of drama in such a short novella! There’a a horny student (uh oh….I won’t divulge where that bullet hit!), and the lesbian ex who wants Angela back.

If you enjoy straight-until-you’re-not stories with likable characters and terrific narration, I recommend “A Second Chance at Life and Love” with 4.6*

Coming out

I was enjoying this until the acting scene with the student, which occurred right after a meeting with the department chair. Then I had to walk away for a bit. When I resumed listening to the book, I was relieved at the resolution. The author made it make sense as a part of the main character’s coming out process. Missy’s doubts and fears were believable, and her slow progress to romance was as well. It was a satisfying story. The narrator did well at infusing Missy’s experiences with emotion and making the characters sound different not just in voice, but also emotionally.

Enjoyable

I enjoyed listening to this book and enjoyed the story. I was happy with the book and would listen to more by this author or narrator..I provided this review in exchange for a complimentary copy of the audiobook from the author, narrator, or publisher.

A lovely true to life story.

When perusing titles to use our credit/s on there are many factors that come into play. My go to is to check out ratings, see what others have to say. I received a free code for an honest review so here goes.
This audio is just shy of four hours and I was curious how an entire satisfying story could be accomplished. It was indeed superbly accomplished and the best part is, it is so complete. As I listened to it unfold I was surprised by descriptions of sights and sounds, emotions and discovery. It's fast paced but utterly sound in the truthfulness behind the emotional side of women loving women. You may not want to use your credit on an audio less than five plus hours at least . This is so worth that credit.
Ms. Matthews could have lengthened the story with the usual fillers of angst, annoyingly nosey friends and...stuff, you know what I mean. She spares us and does not rush the end . I really am blown away and I will be taking a closer look at shorter length audios. I've been missing out.
My first listening experience with narrator Maria McCann and she did a splendid job.