Second Chance Romance

 As Valentine's Day is right around the corner, it's a perfect month to review second chance romances. This is a trope where characters, who shared a romantic connection in the past, get another opportunity to rekindle their relationship and find a hopeful future together. We've Hit Turbulence by Jessica L. Cozzi finds Olive Austin, who is on a plane to Hawaii to visit her current boyfriend, seated next to her former boyfriend and best friend.  In All We Once Had by Katie Upperman, Piper, who lives with her older sister and guardian since their parents' death, reconnects with Henry, a boy she had a romantic night with three years in the past.  Love Me Tomorrow by Emiko Jean is the first book in a duology about a girl who is getting emails from someone in the future saying he's always loved her.  She has three possible candidates for a second chance romance, but the correspondent won't be revealed until the sequel.

In We've Hit Turbulence Olive Austin finds herself seated next to her ex-boyfriend/best friend Tyler, when she is flying to Hawaii to surprise her current boyfriend Jack, who is in college there.  She is worried that her relationship with Jack is in trouble and finds out she's right when she walks in on him and his new love interest.  She calls Tyler, who is visiting his brother and sister-in-law, and they invite her to stay with them. She agrees to spending the day with Tyler before she heads home. Although she is still in love with Tyler, she thinks their relationship is doomed to failure because she is a planner and he is a free spirit.  He is determined to convince her that they are fated to be together. 

All We Once Had focuses on Piper and her sister Tati, who is her guardian since their parents died.  They couldn't be more different.  Tati, who had to turn her life upside down to move to Florida from Boston, finds Piper to be a troublemaker and a drain on her energy.  When they are conflicting, which is frequently, Piper escapes to the pool at their apartment complex.  There she runs into Henry, a boy she met at the same pool three years previously.  They shared a kiss and a walk along the beach, and then he disappeared.  Henry has returned to spend the summer with his dad, whom he barely knows. As they get to know each other, Henry wonders if Piper just might be his destiny.

Love Me Tomorrow is the first book in a speculative romance duology. It introduces Emma Nakamura-Thatcher who, after her parents' divorce, wishes to know that true love exists.  She receives an email from the future saying, "I have loved you from the beginning." She decides that it is from either her best friend and neighbor Theo, her music mentor Ezra, or a rich cleaning client's son Colin.  Although Emma is a violin prodigy, she is planning to forsake a music education to take over her arthritic mother's cleaning business and help with her grandfather.  Her best friend Delia counsels her to not only ignore the prophecy, but to also pursue a music career.  In the sequel we will presumably find out with which love interest she will get a second chance.