getting schooled in self-care

Sora Reid is tired of dealing with men. After a series of heartbreaks and bad relationships, she is done. She doesn’t care that February is known for the most romantic holiday of the year. She is over it. And she declares that she is going solo for the who month of February. No dating, no diets, no hookups, no men. Just like how some people give up alcohol for Dry January, she is giving up men for Solo February. And she’s taking it online, as a monthly diary for the women’s website she freelances for.

From her first post, she gets support from other women. Because other women have been cheated on, they’ve been lied to, and they are tired of it too. Sora’s posts strike a chord, and the hashtag GoSolo keeps getting more traction on the internet. She feels a little like an imposter though. Sora is decidedly single, but she works from home, usually from her warm, comfy bed, and she doesn’t feel like she makes a lot of effort in life. She lives in a condo that wasn’t really her first choice. She works at a job that wasn’t really her first choice. She had a big setback in the years after college, and then another, and she never truly recovered.

Now she finds herself at the grocery store, buying dog treats for Larry, her one-eyed rescue dog, and ice cream and bacon for herself. Like, a lot of bacon. The skinny woman in Lululemon with the cart full of kale gave her a look of such disdain. But the baker with the thick arms and beardstache? He handed her a mini raspberry torte to try. And then another. And another. She started flirting with him, despite it being hashtag GoSolo February. He’s so handsome.

And then her ex-husband Marley shows up. The one who married her because of a pregnancy scare, but never really stopped dating other people. She had moved on, but that didn’t mean she wanted to bump into him with a cart full of bacon while wearing her old yoga pants. He asks about her, and it’s the baker who pipes up, standing up for Sora, and intimidating the ex a little. But then Lululemon walks up with her cart of kale, because she is apparently there with Marley. That’s his new girlfriend. Sora is a little stunned, but the handsome baker helped her forget about all that.

And then he introduced himself. Jack Mann knew who Sora was. They had gone to elementary school together. He’d actually had a crush on her back then, and he was really enjoying bumping into her again and getting to talk to her, but then his ex showed up. And Sora remembered why she had given up on dating for the month, and she went back home.

Jack wasn’t willing to give up that quickly though. When they bumped into each other at a local coffeeshop, he talked to her again, even asked her out. He had felt a spark there, and he thought she had too. Instead, she turned him down with a lame excuse about giving up dating for the month. But she convinces him that she is interested, but she’s committed to the Solo February for her work, so she has to follow through.

But when they start spending time together as friends, Sora discovers that she may not believe in Solo February as much as she thought, and she ends up questioning everything she’s ever known about her life choices. Her mother used to tell her not to speak up, that it’s the nail that sticks up that gets hammered. But after a sprained ankle, an argument with her Bridezilla sister, a post that turns her followers against her, and yet another broken heart, Sora learns that without that nail, nothing gets built. Maybe self-care is more than facials and pedicures. Maybe it’s about making the hard choices, being the adult you need in your life, and moving forward with intention. Maybe when you’ve learned to love yourself like that, then you can find true love with someone else as well.

The Second You’re Single is a sweet, anti-romance rom com filled with snark, bacon, a near-sighted dog, Valentine’s Day chocolates, pink glitter, Chicago slush, tequila, good friends, bad choices, family, internet trolls, and a morning show with a male host dripping with the kind of toxic masculinity that made Solo February so popular. It’s smart and funny and reads as smoothly Jack’s pastry cream. Author Cara Tanamachi brings the romance as well as the singleton point of view, and she wraps it all up into an amazing gift of love for readers.

I loved The Second You’re Single. It has so much heart, and it’s so easy to devour. I appreciated how Sora stayed true to herself, and who doesn’t want to fall for a baker? Larry stole all the scenes he was in, as did Allie, Jack’s niece. This is a solid, entertaining rom com for Valentine’s Day, Galentine’s Day, Solo February, or just a wintry weekend.

Egalleys for The Second You’re Single were provided by St. Martin’s Griffin through NetGalley, with many thanks.