The Second Chance Boutique is a fun piece of British chick lit.
Fran owns a second-hand wedding dress boutique in London where she has a knack for matching brides to the perfect dress for their personalities, even while she herself wants nothing to do with marriage. Rafael is a wealthy philanthropist with a well-funded family foundation, an alcoholic sister, a chip on his shoulder, and no time for the frivolity of love and marriage. Since this is British chick lit, we all know what happens.
My favorite parts of the book surrounded the dresses themselves and the history Fran was able to find out about each one to do a better job matching them to her brides. I really enjoyed the wall of dead grooms, and I wish more had been said about them and their connections to the dresses and the brides who wore them. The elements of magical realism were fun, but, again, I wanted more of it, and not just with one dress that was connected to Rafael’s family.
I liked the idea of the story, but often, the stakes didn’t seem high enough to match the characters’ reactions to events. Without giving anything away, based on Fran’s reaction to something that happened ten years prior to this story, I thought it was going to be a much bigger thing than it was. Same with Rafael. He obviously hated his father and was afraid of turning into him, but, okay, what else? Even his big reveal has been overdone and was not unexpected from very early on.
This is a cute book and a light read, and if you don’t overthink it and just take it for what it is, it’s a fun read.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark in exchange for my honest review. It has not influenced my opinion.