Book Summary: 

Dazzle (n): Brightness that blinds someone temporarily. 

Position Vacant: Two ancient old women residing at Providence Retirement Villa seek male assistant for casual exploitation and good-natured humiliation. Duties include boutique shopping, fast-food fetching, and sincerely rendered flattery. Good looks a bonus—but we aren’t picky. 

An advertisement has been placed (again!) by the wealthy and eccentric Parloni Sisters. The salary is generous and the employers are 90 years old, so how hard could the job be? Well, none have lasted longer than a week. Most boys leave in tears. 

Ruthie Midona will work in Providence’s front office, and be at the Parloni’s beck and call, forever. That’s sort of her life plan. If Ruthie can run the place in her almost-retired bosses’ absence, with no hijinks/hiccups, she has a shot at becoming the new manager. She might also be able to defend her safe little world from Prescott Development, the new buyer of the prime site. Maybe after all that, she can find a cute guy to date. All she needs to do is stay serious—and that’s what she does best. 

Until, one day, someone dazzling blows into town. 

Teddy Prescott devotes his life to sleeping, tattooing, and avoiding seriousness. When Teddy needs a place to crash, he makes a deal with his developer dad. Teddy can stay in one of Providence’s on-site maintenance cottages—right next door to an unimpressed Ruthie—but only if he works there and starts to grow up.

Ruthie knows how this sweetly selfish rich boy can earn his keep—and be out of her hair in under a week. After all, there is a position vacant…

My Review:

What would you do if you were given a second chance to make a good first impression? A book sprinkled with re-dos, Second First Impressions follows the story of Ruthie and Teddy, two people whose initial encounter should have all but been forgotten (especially by Ruthie!)

Ruthie and Teddy couldn’t be any more different if they were born on separate planets. Ruthie is 24 going on 94, to a point that Teddy mistook her as a person going to a costume party because she was a dead ringer for an old lady! See what happens when you try to be a good Samaritan and help someone in need! Having made one heck of a first impression, Ruthie didn’t expect to cross paths with the stranger she, now regretfully, bailed out to at the gas station until he walked into her office at Providence Retirement Villa, with the owner! Quick to learn Teddy is Jerry’s son and taking precaution because the new owner has a tendency to tear down and redo his investments, Ruthie jumps after ever opportunity to make Jerry happy – even providing the empty apartment next to her to his son and giving him a job. Jokes on Teddy though, while Ruthie seems to be accommodating, she knows the truth about the Parloni sisters. They have run off every male assistant they ever had! With the comfort of payback, Ruthie is sure Teddy won’t last long and she will finally have him out of her hair and out of her life. Her plan backfires as Teddy turns on the charm and charisma, burrowing deeper into her life than she ever intended. 

While the story encompassed the personal journal of each character as the interacted with Teddy and Ruthie – the takeaway from Second First Impressions is the importance of giving second chances. Through each story, we find that the characters get a redo. Renata and Aggie get to redo their prom night, Teddy gets to redo his introduction with his sister Rose, Jerry gets to redo his approach to his son, and Ruthie gets a chance to redo the life she has chosen to live, perusing a dream that was initially taken away from her. 

I also felt like the story built a strong foundation on concept of perception. We take our initial encounter with a person or a situation and create our viewpoint without another glance. Without a second thought, everyone took a look at Teddy and knew he wasn’t good enough for Ruthie. Everyone took one look at Ruthie and not only didn’t think she was Teddy’s type, they also thought they had to protect her from the big bad wolf (as if she was incapable of making her own decisions). To watch each character flourish under scrutiny was something I really did enjoy. 

Another thing I appreciated was the depth of Teddy’s character and how much he hid to be what everyone expected him to be. The fact that Ruth was able to see through that façade and the slow reveal of the scared little boy just looking for a home did help make their match more believable.

The one thing I didn’t like about this book was that it was incredibly slow. I do enjoy the build up of a slow burn romance but this one was just too slow for me. There were many times I was bored and just genuinely wanted to know where the story was going. Once I understood that is was a multi-plot effect, following the second chances of each character – whether career, family, love – it made more sense but I did feel like there were moments where the story was forced forward unnaturally. I also thought the suspenseful build up to why Ruthie was the way she was about locks was underwhelming and the lead on for that was unnecessary. I get that it tied into a later reveal but the fact that the author kept calling back to it is what created the disappointment when you finally found out the reason why. While this book does try to be a little bit steamy, those parts are a little convoluted and disorganized, taking the reader out of the moment because you can’t figure out if she is sharing the experience as a recapped afterthought or during the moment. I will say there are several laugh out loud moments, for that reason – you are compelled to stick with the story to see where it goes.

Last but not least, I did enjoy the process of redemption that each character was able to experience through their second chance. The fact that Ruthie was finally able to pursue the career she always wanted, Teddy got to make his dream come true, Melanie found her dream job, Renata got her happily ever after – it made for a wonderful ending to the story.

While this isn’t a read I would recommend, I would say that those who decided to give it a try – stick with the overall message of never judging a book by its cover and don’t discount someone solely on a first impression – second chances are gift we can all give.