My Thoughts: Second First Impressions by Sally Thorne

Second First Impressions
by Sally Thorne

Publication Date: April 13th 2021
Publisher: William Morrow
Pages: 352
ISBN: 9780063007130
Genre: Adult Fiction / Romance / Contemporary
Source: Netgalley / Own

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Ruthie Midona has worked the front desk at the Providence Luxury Retirement Villa for six years, dedicating her entire adult life to caring for the Villa’s residents, maintaining the property (with an assist from DIY YouTube tutorials), and guarding the endangered tortoises that live in the Villa’s gardens. Somewhere along the way, she’s forgotten that she’s young and beautiful, and that there’s a world outside of work—until she meets the son of the property developer who just acquired the retirement center.

Teddy Prescott has spent the last few years partying, sleeping in late, tattooing himself when bored, and generally not taking life too seriously—something his father, who dreams of grooming Teddy into his successor, can’t understand. When Teddy needs a place to crash, his father seizes the chance to get him to grow up. He’ll let Teddy stay in one of the on-site cottages at the retirement home, but only if he works to earn his keep. Teddy agrees—he can change a few lightbulbs and clip some hedges, no sweat. But Ruthie has plans for Teddy too.

Her two wealthiest and most eccentric residents have just placed an ad (yet another!) seeking a new personal assistant to torment. The women are ninety-year-old, four-foot-tall menaces, and not one of their assistants has lasted a full week. Offering up Teddy seems like a surefire way to get rid of the tall, handsome, unnerving man who won’t stop getting under her skin.

Ruthie doesn’t count on the fact that in Teddy Prescott, the Biddies may have finally met their match. He’ll pick up Chanel gowns from the dry cleaner and cut Big Macs into bite-sized bits. He’ll do repairs around the property, make the residents laugh, and charm the entire villa. He might even remind Ruthie what it’s like to be young and fun again. But when she finds out Teddy’s father’s only fixing up the retirement home to sell it, putting everything she cares about in jeopardy, she’s left wondering if Teddy’s magic was all just a façade.

From the USA Today  bestselling author of The Hating Game and 99 Percent Mine comes the clever, funny, and unforgettable story of a muscular, tattooed man hired as an assistant to two old women—under the watchful eye of a beautiful retirement home manager. (Goodreads)

Second First Impressions is the highly anticipated third book by bestselling author Sally Thorne, and it was also high on the list of my most anticipated reads for 2021. I read The Hating Game by Sally a few years back and absolutely loved the story, so I was super curious to see how this new book would compare.

Let’s get this started by saying what I liked about the book. I definitely liked the characters in the book, especially some of the secondary characters, (Aggie and Renata!). I found myself relating to Ruthie, the main character, quite a bit in the story, especially about the quiet life that she leads. Though I did enjoy watching her grow as the story went along, especially with the help of her coworker, Melanie, (I loved her!), and her boss’s son, Teddy.  

Teddy was an absolutely adorable bit of a mess. Seriously, he was all over the place, which made me a bit anxious, but he also made me laugh quite a few times as the story went along as well. It was interesting to watch his character growth as well, and I really enjoyed watching the slow burn relation grow between him and Ruthie as the story went along. It was sweet!

The storyline for the book was really cute. I can’t say that I have read many books like it before, set at a retirement village, but it was definitely fun. I really enjoyed the turtles in the storyline as well! I didn’t really care for all the religious parts of the story, but that’s just a *me* thing.

Overall; I found Second First Impressions to be a quick and sweet read. I didn’t like it quite as much as I did The Hating Game, but the book did make me laugh and smile, and swoon a bit as well. And I now definitely want to read The Hating Game again, which I will probably do so soon to see if I still feel the same about the book.