I do like a well-done second-chance romance, so I’m pleased to be able to say that H.L. Day’s latest comtemporary, Never Too Late, is exactly that – a charming and satisfying second-time-around slow-burn love story involving a real commitment to fixing what went wrong, honest communication and personal growth.

Finn Prescott and Cillian King have been together for six months. The chemistry and attraction between them when they met was instantaneous, and they hooked up that night. The sex was explosive and is still amazing, but lately, Finn has realised that great sex isn’t enough for him. Cillian is the CEO of an international company, an advertising agency he started, and he’s worked incredibly hard to make a success, but too many broken promises and missed dates have added up to someone who isn’t fully present in their relationship, and Finn has finally had enough of coming second (third or fourth) to Cillian’s job. When the story opens, the sweat and come is barely cooling on their skin when Cillian abandons their wrecked bed to take a phone call and Finn finally reaches a decision. As Cillian is talking, clearly engrossed in whatever the call is about and affording Finn little notice, Finn dresses quietly and leaves the room with Cillian’s “I’ll call you tonight” following in the air behind him. He doesn’t call – which doesn’t surprise Finn – but if he had it would have been too little, too late. Finn has decided to make a clean break for the sake of his sanity and his self-esteem, and decides to accept the job he’s been offered in Paris. He blocks Cillian’s number, packs up his stuff and goes to stay with a friend until he leaves.

Finn doesn’t have much time to think about Cillian as he settles into his new job and new life in Paris. He’s found a nice little flat in the fifteenth arrondissement and found a good friend in Laurent, who appoints himself Finn’s guide to Paris. As the weeks pass and Laurent makes good on his promise to show Finn around the city, Finn realises his friend has been providing exactly the distraction he needs to help him get over Cillian once and for all. They’re hanging out at Finn’s place one evening when there’s a knock on the door – Finn suspects his downstairs neighbour has found something new to complain about – but when he opens it, the person on the other side is most definitely not a diminutive angry Frenchwoman.

Cillian was quite bewildered when Finn seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth, and even considered reporting him to the police as a missing person. He’s come to Paris to find out why Finn left and to see if there’s any hope of their getting back together, and Finn, stunned to find Cillian on his doorstep, suddenly finds it easy to say all the things he’d wanted to say before but hadn’t been able to. How he’d had enough of a one-sided relationship, how he wanted to be with someone who actually wanted to spend time with him out of bed. Cillian had no idea Finn was so unhappy or even that Finn had applied for a job in Paris – things he now realises he’d have known if he’d spent any time actually talking with his boyfriend. Finn admits that he didn’t handle things well when he left and owns up to leaving the way he did because he feared that Cillian would have persuaded him to fall back into old patterns. Finn thinks they’ve cleared the air sufficiently, but then Cillian tells him that even though he messed up, he loved – still loves – Finn and wants to try again. If Finn will let him.

I really liked the way H.L. Day has structured this story; opening the book with the break-up and following that with the romance isn’t something I’ve come across very often so it’s refreshingly different. We don’t know either character at the beginning, and as we’re in Finn’s PoV, all we learn in the first chapter is that Cillian is a workaholic who takes his boyfriend for granted and only seems to want him for sex. At this point, it’s easy to cheer when Finn walks away from Cillian and to root for him to find happiness with a handsome frenchman – but when Cillian appears in Paris, it becomes clear that even though he screwed up badly, he’s not a bad person and that maybe he does deserve another chance with Finn.

The rekindling romance between the pair unfurls slowly but steadily, with Cillian determined to do better this time and show Finn that he is absolutely prepared to make changes in his life, and Finn admitting that he could have done better, too, realising that Cillian isn’t the only one of them needing to earn forgiveness. I liked that they talk openly and honestly with each other about what went wrong; Cillian is genuinely shocked and hurt when he realises what an awful boyfriend he’d been, and I was pleased that Finn acknowledges the part he played in the failure of their relationship, too. I appreciated that Cillian is finding his way, just as Finn is; that he doesn’t have all the answers, but that he’s prepared to work on finding them.

Finn and Cillian have terrific chemistry and their romance is nicely done. Cillian is determined to do things properly this time and treat Finn right, like a person he wants to know and spend time with rather than a fuck buddy, which makes for plenty of simmering sexual tension. The dialogue is a great mixture of funny and insightful, there are some lovely Parisian sight-seeing trips – and rather a lot of cat accessories when a one-eared ginger stray adopts Finn and Cillian and becomes thoroughly spoiled. I really liked Laurent, whose easy nonchalance conceals a big heart, and hope he’s going to get a book of his own at some point.

There are a couple of minor points that didn’t impact my enjoyment but which I can’t not mention. Firstly, the story must take place in a universe where Brexit didn’t happen, because upping sticks and moving to France isn’t as easy as it once was, even if you have a job to go to; and I had to side-eye Finn moving there when he doesn’t speak the language at all well. And I had to knock off half-a grade point because the last third of the book loses momentum somewhat.

But those are, as I said, minor issues. Never Too Late is an engaging second-chance romance, a warm, funny, and emotionally satisfying story about two people falling for each other on a deeper level, learning to communicate better and believing that what they have is worth a taking another chance on. Recommended.