Buckle up, this is not an ordinary second chances romance. It is so, so, so much more! The dialogue really brings the characters to life and connects the reader to the story making it even more engaging. The characters are so real, so flawed and so special that you can't help but become entranced with their story and want to keep reading to see if they will work things out or end up going their separate ways. I love the ultimate theme of the story of being seen by the ones you love vs seen by others. I also love the neurodivergent aspect of the story. It is incredible to see a main character with a neurodivergent personality in such a positive light. As an aunt to someone on the autism spectrum, it is wonderful to see it being spotlighted in a positive aspect rather than the quirky side character. Kudos to this author for weaving a compelling story with such a special twist! I can't wait to read more from this author and being a series addict, I do hope we see more from the characters in the story as there is definitely the possibility of other characters shining in their own stories!

2.25/5⭐️ OK, at the risk of not sounding sympathetic/supportive of neurodivergent characters, I waffled on finishing this book. Ultimately I’m glad I stuck with it, but I still was not satisfied. As a debut, I will say that it was very well written and included lots of great humor. My issues were both with the female protagonist and some of the storyline. Liz, as a socially awkward woman working for an outdoor wilderness guide business wants to become her own person, get some of the magic that her outgoing, friendly husband has, win a business pitch contest for a promotion, gain respect from her colleagues and family and oh yeah, move out and divorce her perfect husband. Lots going on here. At the beginning of the book I felt like I was stepping into a story with previous history that I had no idea about. With that said, I had zero connection to or understanding of Liz as she came off as uncompromising and a bit arrogant in her relationship with her husband (wilderness guide) Tobin. As the story developed and Liz began making inroads into “blossoming” through the use of improv and becoming more self-aware, we begin to see that both Liz and Tobin have issues, both personal and as spouses. However, I STILL felt that Liz was too judgmental toward Tobin while being wishy-washy herself. She broke her own boundary rules with him and was constantly pulled toward his “hotness”…while he tried to respect said boundaries and put in the work to save their marriage. And a personal pet peeve? Confusing the important issues of marital disharmony with the easy weapon/distraction of sex. The storyline felt all over the place (too many distractions) with odd twists and strange outcomes in some cases. So while I did appreciate the authentic representation and feel of the treatment/understanding/bias against autism, I felt Liz was a high functioning, low-on-the-spectrum adult who did not treat her husband with basic courtesy during a lot of their screen time…until basically the denouement of the book. Again, impressively written, great laughs, and yes, this will probably be an unpopular opinion, and that’s OK…it’s just my take. My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for providing the free early arc of Rules for Second Chances for review. The opinions are strictly my own.