The Price of a Second Chance

*I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley*

I have to admit I came into this story lacking a lot of back knowledge.  When I saw it on NetGalley I saw the #1 and thought it was the first book in the series but for whatever reason (I’ll blame it on selective vision)failed to notice the .5 after it.  Luckily when Thomason says this book can be read before or after the first book she means it, and once I discovered I was reading a filler book (and I mean that not as in it’s filler content but that it fills in the time between book one and book two) I was still able to enjoy this novella for what it was.  But, as your reading this review, please see it as a review of this as a stand alone novella, rather than a comment on the series as a whole (not having read the full length novel I don’t feel qualified to comment).

The Clean Slate Complex is a compound founded, run, and funded by the “second chance institute” a not-for-profit group that literally goes around and picks people up off the street and offers them a second chance at life.  All they have to be willing to do is help the group that gaveit to them.  Not too much to ask, right?  Well, when this bus of do-gooders picks up Alexa Knight and saves her from being raped by a drug addict she doesn’t think so.  Then Alexa and her family find themselves firmly implanted in the heart of of SCI and Alexa realizes she might have been better off in that alley when it’s too late to go back.

Thomason shows a lot of promise in this novella and the world she creates in the SCI is both disturbingly alien and hauntingly familiar.  Not only does Thomason manage to make a subtle comment about nps that claim to do good while looking out for their own interest she’s able to weave in enough suspense that makes the SCI seem like a group that’s going beyond just regular human greed and corruption and into the world of fantasy evil.  Alexa is a charming heroine you can’t help but root for and the villains are, very clearly, villains.  If her novel is set up in the same way I believe Thomason has created a unique and intriguing series.  She’s certainly set up a good premise.

While I enjoyed the novella I found that the only character I

really cared about was Alexa.  The author tries to make us care about her family, (mother and older brothers) but the author doesn’t bring them into the forefront and any threat on their lives left me emotionless.  Even characters that were killed off during the novella didn’t make much of an impact.  This is very clearly Alexa’s story, but without even trying to form emotional ties between the reader and the characters Alexa cares about  left me feeling a little empty as the novel came to a close.

That being said, Thomason’s done a good job and I think the Daynight series is worth giving a try.