Second Chance Romance by Olivia Dade
Contemporary Romance
November 25, 2025 by Avon

Review by Melanie

In the interest of full disclosure, let me state that Olivia Dade and I are friends. However, I want to be very clear, our friendship did not influence this review. 

Perhaps I was always predisposed to love a book titled Second Chance Romance. It is, after all, one of my top romance tropes. However, this is not technically a second chance romance by the strictest of definitions. And Molly, the delightful and pedantic heroine of this book, would absolutely insist on a strict, technical definition. 

Karl and Molly begin their unlikely friendship when they are in high school. I say unlikely for two reasons: first, Karl is a grumpy dude who has very little patience for people and their nonsense and second, Molly has moved around a lot due to her parents’ jobs and putting down roots and establishing long lasting friendships isn’t something she does. Regardless of their personal issues, these two do strike up a friendship of sorts that’s partly hampered by Karl’s on again off again relationship with his high school girlfriend. They definitely have feelings for each other but this girlfriend keeps popping up at the most inopportune times like an unfortunate mole so their feelings go unrealized and then right before they are set to graduate from high school, Molly leaves town with her mother. The two exchange emails for a short period of time and Karl decides to finally shoot his shot but in classic Karl fashion, in a very circuitous way, and in response, Molly unceremoniously cuts off all contact. 

Cut to twenty years later and Molly, upon learning of Karl’s untimely demise, returns to Harlot’s Bay to pay her respects…only to learn that Karl is actually very much alive and that reports of his death were greatly exaggerated by the local town reporter, an octagenarian with hearing issues. (This part of the book with Karl’s obituary made me laugh so hard, I cried). 

Karl, now a baker who runs his own bakery, seizes this opportunity to make amends with Molly and get their friendship back on track…and maybe even possibly move it from the friend zone to something a bit more serious. Molly, who is an audio book narrator lives in Los Angeles and has no plans to relocate to the only town she ever considered a home. She’s divorced and understandably wary of trusting men given her history. I’m not going to go into too much detail on this but both her ex-husband and her dad have given Molly enough trust issues that Karl finds himself facing an uphill climb when it comes to earning Molly’s trust. 

But he doesn’t let that deter him and convinces Molly to let him earn her trust, relying on corporate trust building exercises he found in a business magazine at his dentist’s office. Karl is nothing if not efficient with his resources. He may be a man of few words but when he does speak, his language is often just made up of four letter words and involves colorful, though physiologically impossible, threats to the people currently bothering him. But with Molly, he is all heart even if he can’t – or won’t – express his true feelings. He is a man who has pined for his lady for over two decades and now that she’s finally back in his orbit, he is desperate and will do anything to keep her there. 

In contrast, Molly, with her significant trust issues, isn’t sure if Karl is worthy of uprooting her admittedly lonely life in Los Angeles and moving to the sweet little town of Harlot’s Bay where she has already reconnected with old friends and made new ones in a very short time. 

It’s lovely to see grumpy Karl, described as a Cadbury Creme egg (“Hard shell. Gooey innards. Very sweet.”) do his utmost best to convince Molly that in him, she’s finally found a man worth taking a chance on. Words may not be his forte but actions, as they say, speak much louder and in all the ways that Karl takes care of Molly, validates her feelings, supports her dreams, and nurtures her heart, it’s not hard to read what’s in his heart. (This also includes some pretty steamy sexy times in which Karl proves that he’s a foul mouthed baker in the streets and a…uh, filthy stud in the sheets. To put it bluntly, a good time is had by all and multiple times by Molly).

Olivia writes some of the softest male characters in romance, genuinely tenderhearted even if their exterior is a bit gruff. Molly is a bit aloof and and rightfully wary, but much like the reader, it’s impossible for her to not warm up to Karl and then fall in love with him. 

If this review hasn’t made it clear, I adored this book. It was fairly low angst compared to the first one in the series, At First Spite, which dealt with much heavier subject matters. It was soft and sweet, a warm, cozy hug of a book and also delightfully funny and charming.

Grade: A

Content notes: parental abandonment, toxic marriage, mention of high blood pressure and insomnia