Review: "An Unexpected Chance" by Melanie Moreland

An Unexpected Chance by Melanie Moreland
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Single dad Simon Fletcher recently moved to the small town of Cliff's Edge with his daughter, 8-year-old Mia, to be closer to family. Following a nasty divorce when Mia was only a baby, Simon's ex-wife Kelsey has chosen not to be involved in their daughter's life. Her brother Evan has become a good friend to Simon and a loving uncle to Mia, however, and it's a blessing for them to have Evan and his wife Holly nearby. As the summer draws to a close and Simon prepares for Mia to start a new school year, he happens to run into Holly's friend, kindergarten teacher Amy McNeil, at the local grocery store. They've met in passing a few times before, but their conversation that day quickly turns into a lunch date and more. Could free-spirited Amy be the second chance at love that Simon - and his daughter - have been waiting for?

This story was originally published last year as a novella, but has since been revised and expanded with 12 new chapters. The additional chapters really improved the story IMO, adding depth to both Amy and Simon's characters and tying up a couple of loose ends related to Mia's birth mom and one of Amy's fellow teachers. The romance was sweet with the perfect amount of heat, and I also enjoyed Amy's growing relationship with funny, precocious Mia. I had to laugh at the scene in which she "interviewed" Amy as a candidate to be her new mom. After the way Simon's ex-wife treated them, he and Mia deserved to have someone wonderful in their lives, and Amy was exactly the right fit.

That said, there were a couple of things about the story that bothered me (though I'm sure these are just me problems and nothing to do with the book). First, Simon's nickname for Amy was "Chippy" (short for "Chipmunk") and it made me cringe every time he said it. It's partially because "chippy" has an informal meaning that implies someone is touchy or defensive, but I think my main issue was that it felt like an insult. Was he telling her that she had a chubby/fat face like a chipmunk with food in its cheeks? Was he implying she ate too much? I know it was meant to be loving, but it just didn't feel that way to me. My other issue was that there was something about Simon and Amy's dialogue, particularly in the first half of the book, that just didn't feel natural to me. I can't put my finger on exactly what it was. Maybe Simon was too earnest? He also had a strangely old-fashioned way of phrasing things sometimes, like when he wrote in a note to Amy, "A conversation is what I beg for." It reminded me of something I'd read in a historical romance. At any rate, I recognize that these are my own issues and unlikely to have an impact on most readers' experience with the story.

Bottom line, I'd recommend "An Unexpected Chance" for all contemporary/small town romance fans and look forward to Moreland's next release.

*Review copy provided by the author. All opinions expressed are my own.

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