Second Time Around [Mass Market Paperback]

Tina Wainscott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1997

"I never got a chance to tell Sam I love him!"

These are young Jennie Carmichael's dying thoughts. A tragic accident is ending her life--and she's never told her boss, private eye Sam Magee, how much she loves him. She was too timied--why would attractive Sam care for his shy, wheelchair-bound assistant? As Jennie's lifelight fades, an incredible sadness fills her.

Then a miracle happens, Jennie awakens to find she has been given a second chance. She's elated--until she discovers she has returned to life in the body of Maxine Lizbon--Sam's detested ex-wife.

As Jennie struggles to adjust to a body that can walk, dance and make love--things she only dreamed of from the confines of her wheelchair--she realizes she is in deadly danger. For Maxine Lizbon was murdered, and now her killer is stalking Jennie. And worse, the man who can help the most--private eye Sam Magee--is the one who least wants to...

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Engaging, charming, heart-warming and intriguing. Tina Wainscott has the right formula for success" -- Romance Communications

"Second Time Around is a well-written, romantic, feel-good story that everyone should read. Readers will definitely want to stay up past their bedtimes for this one!" -- Gothic Journal , 10/97

"Terrific Tina Wainscott provides her readers with a fabulous romantic suspense drama built upon an interesting mix of elements from the supernatural. Sam is a delightful detective, and Jennie (regardless of what skin she wears) is a fabulous lady. Second Time Around is worth reading the first time around, the second time around, and the nth time around. -- Harriet Klausner, Affaire de Coeur, 10/97

"This is absolutely wonderful! "Special" doesn't begin to describe it, it touched me so much. This has to be one of the year's most heartwarming, tender stories. -- Bell, Book and Candle

"This is one great book and I loved it!! Make plans to add it to your library. I know you will be pulled into Sam and Jennie/Maxine's lives just as I was and you won't want to let them go." -- Old Book Barn Gazette, 10/97

Jennie Carmichael loves working for Sam Magee, loves his dog, and loves the way Sam forgets to make coffee in the morning. In all honesty, it's just Sam she loves. With a big sigh, though, she is resigned to the fact that men like Sam just are not attracted to plain women like her, especially when they are confined to a wheelchair. So Jennie is happy to love him from her happy position as his secretary, helping him keep his detective work straight and accurate. When Fate takes Jennie for a tumble down a staircase, it whispers a sweet promise of a second chance at life. Unfortunately, this second chance comes in the form of Sam's ex-wife, Maxine. Okay, so Jennie gets a grip on her situation. The pluses are pretty nice - she can walk now, even dance. The minuses really stink! First, she finds out Maxine-the-first was murdered when a huge planter fell on her. But that's okay, because Jennie, as Maxine-the-second, can hire Sam as her private investigator and bodyguard. Second, Jennie meets Maxine's fiancé, Armand, and his delightful children. Boy, is she going to need this new body guarded! The third problem is even worse than finding out that someone in your fiancé's family is trying to kill you. Sam was, and still is, in love with Jennie...with the old Jennie, not the new Maxine. Well, love will just have to find a way. Second Time Around is a rollercoaster with it's combination of excitement and tragedy. The thoughtful way that Tina Wainscott approaches the subject of physically and emotionally disabled people getting a second chance is inspiring. More than that, though, is her talent in handling such interesting topics as just how IS Jennie going to impersonate this woman who was previously married to this man. And that Sam....boy, he sure does come across as one fine fellow. Umm...Umm!Second Time Around will bring out the imagination in your soul! Lovely characters! So beautiful is the love they both fight for you'll find yourself craving more. Tina Wainscott reaches new heights with this wonderful one-of-a-kind thrill. She combines love and suspense as no one else can! (Interesting note: I took this one on vacation with me and read it in less than two days. My son's baby-sitter read it in a night, and then my best friend picked it up and read it in an afternoon on the beach!)Karen Ellington -- Copyright © 1994-97 Literary Times, Inc. All rights reserved -- From Literary Times

From the Author

I have had a good time with my second chance books (On the Way to Heaven and Shades of Heaven), and this story let me put a whole new twist on the theme. I spent a day in a wheelchair so I could get a better feel for what that kind of life was like. What I came away with was not pity but admiration and appreciation for the particular hardships these people encounter on a daily basis. In interviewing a man who has been wheelchair-bound most of his life for my research, (Rick Feathers also plays a small part in the book) I discovered that being in a wheelchair doesn't mean not being able to enjoy life. It only means you find another way to get around.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 310 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (October 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312963548
• ISBN-13: 978-0312963545
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,807,736 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A n imaginative, insightful romance that makes a difference., July 19, 1999

By 

Pat Barton([e-mail]) (Glen Mills, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Second Time Around (Mass Market Paperback)

SECOND TIME AROUND is a unique contemporary romance. The heroine, Jennie Carmichael, is wheelchair-bound. She works for a private detective, Sam Magee, and is secretly in love with him. One day she leaves the office to get copies made and falls down the steps in her wheelchair.

When she awakens from her fall, she realizes that she is now able to walk. She is taken to Sam's office only to learn that she is no longer Jennie, but has been given a second chance at love, and has come back to life in another person's body. Not only has a month elapsed since Jennie's death from the fall on the stairs, but the body she now possesses is that of Sam's ex-wife, Maxine.

From this point the novel takes off in imaginative ways. Jennie/Maxine has to balance between her love for Sam, her knowledge of him as Jennie, and her lapse of memory as Maxine. Someone is trying to kill Maxine and both she and Sam work to untangle the mystery. In so doing, Jennie/Maxine discovers that Sam was in love with the real Jennie and she now must make him fall in love with the "new" Maxine.

Tina Wainscott writes with humor, imagination and compassion. She writes from the perspective of a handicapped person, and adds intensity to the novel by recounting the difficulties a wheelchair bound person encounters in everyday life.

This is a wonderful read. It makes you laugh, cry, think, and yet soothes you with a magical love story. It's a great book to relax with at any time of the year.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Second time around, July 30, 2004

By 

C. L Poole - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Second Time Around (Mass Market Paperback)

I enjoyed the book very much. The only reason I gave it four stars instead of five, is because I didn't like the way the character started disliking her former self that had died. I thought that could have been dealt with a little better. But other than that, it was very enjoyable.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh, delightful and romantic!, October 25, 1997

By 

Pattywagon (High Point, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Second Time Around (Mass Market Paperback)

Great and different story line. Can't wait to read the rest of Tina Wainscott's books. Delightfully entertaining, great romance, compelling characters and plenty of dialogue that keeps this story moving. Pat Gasko