A Friendship Turns To Love In Arianna Paige's "Second Chances"

“Once old things were broken off, amazingly beautiful things could grow in their place.” ― Denise Hildreth Jones

Title: Second Chances

Author: Arianna Page

Publisher: Self-Published

Pages/Word Count: 48

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Blurb: Richard Forrest is your average working stiff just going through the motions. Childhood baggage keeps him “in line” but away from some of the things he truly wants. Adrian, or Rain as Richard calls him, was one of those things. After nearly two years of separation, Richard bumps into Rain and their incidental meeting results in old emotions flaring to life for both of them despite everything in the way.

Rain’s free-spirited nature led him down a road of bad decisions that included drug use. This was ultimately the thing that separated the two of them in the past. Now a recovering addict Rain is trying his best to put his life back together. When Richard finds out that Rain is drug free he welcomes him back into his life and embraces who he truly is in the process. Everything moves forward in a fairy-tale manner until all too familiar behaviors start to resurface.

Can Richard and Rain work their way through this latest set of trials and tribulations? Will suspicion and fear tear apart what their love has finally stitched together?

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Review: While picking up some groceries on the way home from work, Richard Forrest runs into an old friend. Richard hasn’t seen Rain in two years. The last time they saw each other, Rain was suffering from a bad cocaine addiction and Richard was done. Though we never got a full accounting of what happened, it was enough to keep these two friends apart for years.

It seems Rain has done rehab and has been clean for close to a year. Richard got a promotion recently, and he has plenty of room, so he offers the spare room to Rain when he has to transition from his halfway house. This leads to some feelings that are more than friendly, and Richard has to finally admit that he is well and truly gay. With a homophobic father, Richard was always hesitant to admit being gay and with this admission, he also realizes that he and Rain have both had feelings for one another for a very long time. If they can move on from their past and regain trust between them, they have a real shot at happiness.

The two men are going along wonderfully until Rain starts back with some questionable behavior. Richard doesn’t want to believe it is indicative of a relapse, but when his cash comes up missing, he doesn’t know what else to think. Instead of speaking to Rain like an adult, he starts out accusatory and moves right into screaming. Rain barely reacts to the confrontation and walks out.

Is it a misunderstanding, or is Richard going to lose Rain yet again?

I fully enjoyed this first story written by Arianna Paige. It was a very short story, so I don’t feel the characters were fully developed, but for a 50 or so page story, it was done well. I had a clear picture of what was going on in the present, but the past was left very vague. I think the book would have been just that much better if we had some of the backstory between Richard and Rain. Having said that, I want to stress that I loved this story. It was simple and sweet, and I love second chances, forgiveness and friends to lovers, and that was all in here.

I feel the author did a great job for a debut story. Are there places that it weren’t perfect? Of course, but she did such a wonderful job of grabbing my attention and making me fall in love with the MCs. I found myself invested in the outcome, and I even had a few “oh no he didn’t” moments. The only drawback I found in the story was there was a little too much telling and not showing. But I am sure that with time this won’t be an issue any longer. I am looking forward to reading any future books from Arianna Paige.

You can buy Second Chances here: