The only way to ensure you’ll fail at something is by not taking a chance and giving yourself the opportunity to succeed. Luke Landon and Owen West learned that lesson the hard way, but they were young and the way they felt about each other was a little scary, for lack of a better word. Fortunately for them, though, life is filled with opportunities and though second chances can be a rare event, when they come around, you have to grab hold for all it’s worth so you can at least say you gave it your best shot this time around.
Luke’s vulnerability is couched in sex and sarcasm, (something Ethan Day writes so very brilliantly) his deepest seated fears hidden beneath a layer of self preservation that he began developing from the age of eleven, when a family event left Luke emotionally exposed and feeling utterly betrayed.
They say that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Well, in Luke’s case, that means running as fast and as far as he can in the opposite direction, cutting his losses before they have the opportunity to cut him first. He’s a serial squeeze, a bag ‘em and tag ‘em, then move on kind of guy, and has been so since he and Owen drifted apart fourteen years earlier. But call it what you will: fate, fortune, destiny, karma, serendipity; the end result is that the two men get a second chance at love, and while it’s not all smooth sailing, it is a beautiful and oh-so-sexy romance to watch unfold.
Owen is as steady as Luke is changeable, and watching them work and fight and grow and make mistakes with each other was both funny and hugely rewarding. The failure of Owen’s eleven year long relationship with his ex, Tommy, wasn’t due to his lack of commitment but from his being with the wrong man. And it could be argued that Luke’s failure to commit to one man wasn’t based in a lack of ability but was due to the lack of the right man in his life—the right man being Owen, and the right time being the moment they saw each other again after so many years spent drifting through life, waiting for the right one and the right time to come along.
I know I probably say this with every new Ethan Day publication, and I do sincerely mean it each and every time: Second Time Lucky is my favorite book yet. And Luke and Owen just kicked Boone and Wade out of the top spot of my all-time favorite Ethan characters.
Luke, for all his attempts at being a lot of surface, has the substance of a richly drawn character with faults and feelings and insecurities and scars that he doesn’t even realize need healing until Owen comes along with all his strength and support and shows Luke that it’s okay to hurt, and it’s okay to face the past, and it will be alright because where Luke never had a safety net before, he now has Owen to catch him when he falls, and to love him in spite of himself. They are realistically imperfect men who are realistically perfect for each other, and their story is one I can’t recommend highly enough for being touching and clever and so very romantic.
Buy Second Time Lucky HERE.