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NetGalley Review of Janae Sanders’ Second Time Around

Posted on December 30, 2025January 6, 2026 by caritagardiner
Screenshot 2025-07-15 at 8.59.43 PM

title: Janae Sanders' Second Time Around

author: LaQuette

publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

publication date: January 6, 2026

pages: 336

peppers: 2 (on this scale, in the first 100 pages)

warnings: none in the first 100 pages.

summary: Janae and Adam had a crushes on each other when they were in high school, but neither ever said anything. Now, he's back in town, and they're both recently divorced and single. She's afraid of getting hurt if she lets herself fall in love again.

tropes:

  • high school reunion
  • he's back in town
  • pushy parents
  • she was his tutor
  • former NBA player
  • speaking about someone who's standing right behind you

what I liked:

  • good friendships
  • plus-sized representation

what I didn’t like:

  • too much repetition, both in their thinking and in telling their friends about scenes we've already read
  • too much talking about the male main character's hair. The female main character mentions it almost every time she sees him.
  • male main character is not believable in his claims.

overall rating: 1 (of 5 stars) In fact, I could not finish this book. Sorry.

As always, you can click on the photo above if you want to buy the book.

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WHAT I DO

I serve as a class dean and teach English to high schoolers at a boarding school in Connecticut. I’ve earned a Bachelor of Arts (Amherst College), an Education Master in Learning and Teaching (Harvard University Graduate School of Education), a Master of Arts in English (Bread Loaf School of English), and most recently a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing with a certificate in the online teaching of writing (Southern New Hampshire University).

As a writer, I hope to capture the complexity and joy of life in the New England boarding school world. On this site, I share what I know about trying to write fiction while deaning, teaching English, coaching, and doing the other tasks associated with helping to raise over six hundred other people’s children.

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