Review: Last Second Chance by Caisey Quinn

Title: Last Second Chance
By: Caisey Quinn
Series: Second Chance #1
My Copy: ebook from Publisher
Book Whisperer's Rating: 

When Stella Jo Chandler gets an offer to work at the Second Chance Ranch celebrity rehab facility right after graduating from Texas A&M, she’s tempted to turn it down. She wants to help real people with real problems, not spoiled celebrities going on vacation for publicity. But growing up on her family’s ranch left her with a love of horses that draws her to the opportunity. How bad can babysitting a bunch of strung out celebrities be?

What she didn’t count on was being roped into a tangled mess with infamous rocker and three-time rehab drop out Van Ransom on her first day. And she sure didn’t expect to feel the overwhelming attraction that pulls her to the man who has more issues than she can count on both hands. Like the hotel rooms and tour buses he’s famous for trashing, the havoc he could wreak on Stella’s heart would be irreparable.

Van isn’t at Second Chance for publicity or because he’s suffering from “exhaustion”. He’s on the brink of destruction, and he needs the kind of help Stella isn’t sure she can give. But without her, he'll lose everything. Because he’s on his last second chance.

I was pleasantly surprised with this book; it was far better than I thought it would be.  I guess that is why it is best to go into reading a book or watching a movie having no set expectations.  That being said, it is not that I thought this book would be horrible when I first picked it up; I just didn’t know anything about it so it started with a blank slate.

Stella’s character was surprisingly a strong woman with her head screwed on straight (maybe a little too straight) and a goal.  That goal is to not have to move back with her parents after she finishes school and to take a job at a rehab facility. When the she runs into Van, everything changes.

I related to Stella because how she lived her life in the beginning of the book is how I live mine sometimes.  She switches onto automatic pilot and just goes.  But when Van makes an appearance, she realizes that she has never really felt anything before.  She has never felt loved, wanted, needed, etc. and this encounter opens a whole new world for her.  Van, who never does anything right, does something right for Stella and of course, she does something right for him.

The only problem I had with the book was the revelation with Stella’s parents.  It was confusing to me in the sense that it came from nowhere and it didn’t really explain a lot about why Stella had such a tense relationship with her father, or at least I couldn’t see why. If anything, I could see why her mother would hate her more than her father. 

All in all, it was a good read that left me with a warm, fuzzy feeling in the end.