The Second First Chance

The Second First Chance by Mona Shroff (2022) 347 pages

Riya and Dhillon lived next door to each other and were best friends while growing up. Their parents came from India, making close connections between the two families. When Riya and Dhillon were fifteen and starting to date, tragedy struck: A fire broke out in their townhomes, killing Riya's brother and Dhillon's father. The book begins 15 years in the future, as Riya, a paramedic, is undergoing training to become a firefighter, hiding this information from most of the people she knows, thinking that they won't understand her need to keep others from suffering the fate of her brother. Dhillon is a veterinarian, trying to get by in an old facility he bought, hoping to upgrade it someday. It's clear that he and Riya have been estranged for all of the years since their shared losses in the fire, but in spite of their estrangement, they both seem to be in love with each other, but afraid to approach each other.

One has to accept the idea that these longtime friends fell apart after the fire, while still pining for each other, which was a hard sell for me. Other than that, it was a nice story, with a fair share of Indian culture, as well as firehouse culture, permeating the story.