May 12, 2021 | No Comments
Second First Impressions
by Sally Thorne
Date Published: April 13, 2021
Published By: William Morrow
Page Count: 352
Publisher’s Description:
Distraction (n): an extreme agitation of the mind or emotions.
Ruthie Midona has worked the front desk at the Providence Luxury Retirement Villa for six years, dedicating her entire adult life to caring for the Villa’s residents, maintaining the property (with an assist from DIY YouTube tutorials), and guarding the endangered tortoises that live in the Villa’s gardens. Somewhere along the way, she’s forgotten that she’s young and beautiful, and that there’s a world outside of work—until she meets the son of the property developer who just acquired the retirement center.
Teddy Prescott has spent the last few years partying, sleeping in late, tattooing himself when bored, and generally not taking life too seriously—something his father, who dreams of grooming Teddy into his successor, can’t understand. When Teddy needs a place to crash, his father seizes the chance to get him to grow up. He’ll let Teddy stay in one of the on-site cottages at the retirement home, but only if he works to earn his keep. Teddy agrees—he can change a few lightbulbs and clip some hedges, no sweat. But Ruthie has plans for Teddy too.
Her two wealthiest and most eccentric residents have just placed an ad (yet another!) seeking a new personal assistant to torment. The women are ninety-year-old, four-foot-tall menaces, and not one of their assistants has lasted a full week. Offering up Teddy seems like a surefire way to get rid of the tall, handsome, unnerving man who won’t stop getting under her skin.
Ruthie doesn’t count on the fact that in Teddy Prescott, the Biddies may have finally met their match. He’ll pick up Chanel gowns from the dry cleaner and cut Big Macs into bite-sized bits. He’ll do repairs around the property, make the residents laugh, and charm the entire villa. He might even remind Ruthie what it’s like to be young and fun again. But when she finds out Teddy’s father’s only fixing up the retirement home to sell it, putting everything she cares about in jeopardy, she’s left wondering if Teddy’s magic was all just a façade.
From the USA Today bestselling author of The Hating Game and 99 Percent Mine comes the clever, funny, and unforgettable story of a muscular, tattooed man hired as an assistant to two old women—under the watchful eye of a beautiful retirement home manager.
My Star Rating:
My Review:
Second First Impressions by Sally Thorne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Rom-com heaven! This book just filled my heart right up to the brim. Super sweet opposites attract romance, and quite frankly, I liked this one better than The Hating Game, which everyone adored. Second First Impressions was simply adorable. (Heat scale = 2 out of 5)
Ruthie is 25 going on 80, mistaken for a Golden Girl, and her coworker is determined to break Ruthie out of her shell, using the trademark-pending “Sosaki Method” to prepare her for the great wide world of online dating. Teddy comes along in all his long-haired, inked-up, biker-dude glory and throws a giant kink in everything.
The characters in this book were awesome. The residents of the retirement community where Ruthie works and lives and spends all her time at, were downright hilarious. The protective friend who kept insisting Teddy was all wrong for Ruthie, and that Ruthie needed to date safe guys who were not going to break her heart – I mean, how could you be mad at that? And yet, how could anyone not see that these two belonged together?
It was pretty adorable that Teddy liked Ruthie right from the start, and he didn’t even really try to hide it. Heart on his tatted sleeve, that one! And Ruthie, she liked him, too, but she didn’t like the idea of liking him, so she tried really hard to resist his irresistibility.
The book itself was really written well. Not only were the characters amazing, but the built-in conflicts were pretty believable, and the recurring themes that kept making their appearances, like the whole “give” and “take” thing… well, let’s just say this one has made it to my top faves so far of 2021.