Seconds by Cam Johns
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Cam Johns is a chef, he also owns his own restaurants, but his life is torn apart when the woman he loves, Phoenix Brighton is ripped away from him by death and he can’t understand why, but he knows he doesn’t want to live without her and that his heart is broken. He thinks about his past experiences, especially with women and the one who got away, he remembers the last time he saw her and thinks about how much his life has changed and that her parting words have come true, just as she predicted, so when he goes to seek help, although he doesn’t want to speak or think about any of it.

Eventually, his therapist helps him to finally open up, but she starts slow and asks about the first time he met Phoenix. This just happened to also be the day when he made a mark in the foodie world with his restaurant which he had just opened. He talks about how a very influential foodie blogger had come to review his restaurant and his food, but when he takes the dish, his pride and joy to her in the restaurant, he cannot take his eyes off of the mystery woman eating alone and reading at another table and unwittingly walks straight into his guest and ends up spilling the entire dish all over her while she is livestreaming to her multitude of followers. Without a second thought, she ends the livestream while giving him a second chance to cook for her when the woman he couldn’t take his eyes off offers to help her out with her dilapidated and food covered state with some clothes she has in the boot of her car. As they disappear he goes to prepare for his second chance and ends up having a rave review, but the mystery woman never comes back, however, she does give her details over the phone when she arranges to pay her bill which she walked out on. After he has spoken about this with his therapist, she gives him some homework and then drops a truth bomb on him at the end of the session, she tells him something about phoenix which he knew nothing about and which shocks him to the core, he feels betrayed, lied to, more heartbroken and angry about this information and it takes time for him to process it.

A couple of days later, he goes back to his restaurant and realises what a selfish person he has been for the last year since Phoenix died when his staff finally break through his angry exterior and open up to him about their feelings and this paired with the homework he has been given, he finally sees a light at the end of the tunnel. This is the start of a long process of grief, recovery and a rollercoaster of emotions as he comes to term with the revelations of more secrets and information while completing his homework until he comes face to face with a blast from his past and doesn’t quite know what to do about it. Will he be able to come to terms with what he knows and what he is finding out and be able to recover from his biggest heartbreak, or will his emotions get the best of him before he can jump on a second chance he never thought he would get and which he is struggling to believe he deserves? This is an emotional rollercoaster filled with secrets, revelations, betrayal, heartbreak and love as you are whirled around in a torrent of emotions along with Cam as he undertakes his journey.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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