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Second First Impressions: A Novel Audio CD – Unabridged, 13 April 2021
Sally Thorne (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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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.
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 in to 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…
- Print length1 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarperCollins B and Blackstone Publishing
- Publication date13 April 2021
- Dimensions14.73 x 2.79 x 14.22 cm
- ISBN-10179994770X
- ISBN-13978-1799947707
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Review
"Second First Impressions is the warmest, coziest, sweetest book of the year, an absolutely perfect blend of humor and heart."
-- "Emily Henry, author of When the Sky Fell on Splendor""Extreme opposites are drawn together in the most unlikely of circumstances in this sweet, cheeky rom-com...[with a] quirky supporting cast of crazy rich old people and Thorne's precise and original prose."
-- "Publishers Weekly""There's so much to love in this book. Many readers will see a little of themselves in Ruthie's relatable perspective, and all of them will lose their hearts to Teddy."
-- "BookPage (starred review)""Writing from Ruthie's first-person perspective, Thorne manages to bring all the characters to vivid life, endearing them to the reader through the enumeration of their quirks and fleeting revelations about their pasts...Charming, funny, and heartwarming
-- "Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"About the Author
Sally Thorne lives in Canberra, Australia, and spends her days writing funding submissions and drafting contracts (yawn!) so its not surprising that after hours she climbs into colorful fictional worlds of her own creation. Sally believes that romance readers are always searching for intensity in their next favorite bookand it isnt always so easy to find. The Hating Game is her first novel.
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Product details
- Publisher : HarperCollins B and Blackstone Publishing; Unabridged edition (13 April 2021)
- Language : English
- Audio CD : 1 pages
- ISBN-10 : 179994770X
- ISBN-13 : 978-1799947707
- Dimensions : 14.73 x 2.79 x 14.22 cm
- Customer Reviews:
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About the author

Sally Thorne lives in Canberra, Australia and spends her days writing funding submissions and drafting contracts (yawn!) so it's not surprising that after hours she climbs into colorful fictional worlds of her own creation. Sally believes that romance readers are always searching for intensity in their next favorite book - and it isn't always so easy to find. The Hating Game is her first novel.
Customer reviews

Reviewed in Australia on 18 April 2021
Top reviews from Australia
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Sally Thorne has once again delivered a beautifully written love story, where personal growth, compassion, courage and kindness are the focal point of the novel. Thorne has a knack of writing truly loveable MC’s who have walls up from past events, but have kind and caring souls within who show strength through their compassion.
I thoroughly enjoy how friendships are developed in Thorne’s books, both between the MC & LI, but also with the MC and the rest of the characters. Thorne has a real strength in the way that she writes relationships and the way that she gets you invested in all of the characters.
If you enjoy reading about kind, loving heroines who are just waiting to come out of their shell; empathetic, honest and charming ‘reformed bad boy’ love interests; along with a cast of outgoing, protective and humorous friends then I highly recommend this novel to you.
✔️ friends to lovers
✔️ delightfully hilarious
✔️ quirky side characters
Ruthie lives a life of safety and security, working as a stand in manager of a retirement village (and looking after endangered tortoises). Enter Teddy, the bad boy-esque/gentle sweetheart: son of the retirement village’s new owners.
Teddy’s presence forces Ruthie to reevaluate her life of safety, and encourages her to take risks, live her life and take a chance on love ❤️
Top reviews from other countries

I procrastinated starting this book on release day because I wanted to savour the feeling of still having it to read. I knew once I started it, I'd inhale every word, but I'm also not someone who can wait once something is released.
The plot is simple. Ruthie is 25 going on 125 and works at a retirement village. For the first time ever, she has people her own age on-site - Mel the temp, and Teddy, the new owner's son who can't quite get past his reputation as a charming rascal. While they work on making Ruthie feel 25 for once, Renata and Aggie, 91 and 89 respectively, steal every scene they're in as chief trouble makers at Providence retirement village. Cue: a warm hug of a book that is full of cute. I can't recommend it enough if you like even a sniff of a romance book. It's a 10/10.

Ruthie meets Theo, a chance meeting at a petrol station and they both make a terrible first impression on each other. They don't realise that they will have a chance to make perhaps a better second impression.
So I am normally a psychological thriller reader however I needed a break with something light and funny and this ticked both boxes completely. By just 4% in I was out loud laughing, this has never happened to me before when reading a book! I loved Ruthie and Theodore and I loved what they each brought out in each other, add in the bubbly Melanie and the crazy but brilliant Parlonis and a few turtles and boy the story is just excellent!
This book was wonderfully delightful and a brilliant escape from reality, I loved every page and I guess you could say I experienced dazzlification ;-)
Highly recommended, read it and you won't be disappointed.

Ruthie and Teddy are too cute. There is one thread of this story that I do with had had a slightly longer and more satisfying conclusion, but it didn’t stop me loving this book! Also loved the Parlonis!


I’m a bit of a sucker for a romantic reality show - (think Love is Blind, Married at First Sight Australia 💖) and I’d say a warm, cosy rom com novel with a gentle, lighthearted storyline is definitely one of my guilty pleasures. Does this make me a hopeless romantic? Possibly…
This book follows a similar concept as The Hating Game - two seemingly mismatched singles thrown together in unusually high stakes circumstances. I devoured this novel on one cosy Sunday. Is it the best book I’ll read this year? No. Will I remember this book in a few weeks time? No… but that’s okay! It was comforting, happy little read and I’m more than happy to continue on this rom com journey.