Book Description:
In this heartfelt and honest second-chance love story, Seraphina Jones thought she was moving on. The algorithm had other plans.
Newly divorced Seraphina Jones has returned to the corporate world after four years as a stay-at-home mom. She loves her job at prestigious Hamilton Hotels & Resorts, but the transition from playdates to boardrooms has been tricky, leaving her little space for anything else as a single mom.
Encouraged by her friends to start dating again, Sera tries a wildly popular new app built for people exhausted by swipe culture. Blinde is photo-free, designed to spark meaningful conversations. With renewed confidence—and a groove in co-parenting with her ex, Connor—Sera decides she’s ready to explore romance. Suddenly, there are several contenders: Graham Hamilton, the gorgeous young heir to his family’s hotel empire; Jack, the irresistible match on Blinde whose messages feel like fate; and Connor himself, who still stirs up feelings she wishes her heart would forget.
But while Sera thinks she’s juggling three different men, there are really only two. Jack is actually Connor, who was shocked to be matched with Sera on Blinde and is secretly hoping to connect with her all over again. When the truth comes to light, Sera is forced to ask herself: Is love at second sight truly possible, or is it finally time to move on from her failed marriage?
Set against the backdrops of sunny Southern California and the whimsical mountains of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, When We Blinked provides a modern portrait of love in all its messy, hopeful forms and the power of redemption to turn any ending into a new beginning.
Narelle’s Thoughts:
I enjoyed reading When We Blinked, a contemporary romance with women’s fiction themes set in Orange County, California. Seraphina is a writer who’s juggling her marketing career at a luxury hotel chain with co-parenting her adorable four-year-old daughter. Her ex-husband, Connor, is a lawyer who loves his daughter and has started working through his emotional baggage from their messy marriage split.
When Seraphina and Connor join an online dating app that’s based on communicating via words, with no pictures, and the algorithm matches them, Seraphina is unaware that Connor is using an alias and knows her identity. Their fun and cute dating app connection further complicates their strained real life relationship.
I loved journeying with Seraphina and Connor as they navigated tricky situations and several tough issues, from the past and present, including alcoholism, trust issues, and grief and loss. Connor has an unwholesome secret habit that’s sensitively handled. Repentance, redemption and forgiveness themes are explored.
The side characters are delightful and quirky, and I especially appreciated how they supported Connor and Seraphina. I recommend When We Blinked to contemporary romance readers who like second chances and marriage restoration romances with online dating, co-parenting challenges, grief, loss, redemption and strong faith elements in the story.
Many thanks to Tyndale and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.
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