Published 18th June 2026 by Aria.
From the cover of the book:
What happens when the man who broke your heart reappears just before your wedding?
To Do List
1. Replace decapitated groom cake topper.
2. Complete twenty-page questionnaire for second-choice celebrant.
3. Break family curse.
4. Ignore ex-boyfriend / current client.
Rebecca, a super-smart consultant, is determined to defy the family marriage curse, which claims no woman marries their first fiancé, and prove that Matt is The One.
Although the wedding planning lurches from one disaster to the next and she has to steer a major work project before the big day, Rebecca is sure she can stay on top of things. That is until Alex – the ex who dramatically broke her heart at Oxford University – reappears in the boardroom as her new client. How dare he still be as infuriatingly clever and hot as before? And since when did he start wearing shirts with collars?
As Rebecca's past and present collide, she realises her choices can't be resolved with a trusty pros and cons list, and she'll have to finally come to terms with the age-old question: head or heart?
***********
Super-smart business consultant Rebecca is about to get married. She is sure her fiancé Matt is The One, but nothing seems to be going right when it comes to the wedding preparations - a burned out wedding venue, a photographer struck blind, no wedding celebrant, an over-sized wedding gown, and broken cake toppers... everything seems to be going wrong.
If the stress of rescuing the wedding was not enough, Rebecca also has a big project coming up at work - one which might bring the promotion she has been hoping for. Preparing to get stuck in, she heads to the boardroom to meet her new client, only to discover that it is Alex, the man who broke her heart at Oxford years ago.
Rebecca begins to wonder whether the universe is trying to tell her that Matt is not the perfect choice she thought he was. Could the wedding curse her mother keeps mentioning, that means women in her family never marry their first fiancé, actually be true?
This highly enjoyable rom-com offers a great twist on the second-chance-at-love trope, when Rebecca finds herself caught between deciding if her head or heart should win out when it comes to her future. The story unfurls from Rebecca's perspective, moving back and forth between her time at Oxford, when she fell head over heels for post-grad hottie Alex; and the present, as she looks forward to marrying Matt, back home in Melbourne.
Rebecca was sure her life was on track when she met Matt. Their easy relationship had her certain he was the perfect choice for her, even if their wedding plans keep throwing up problems. The reappearance of Alex, who is much more her intellectual equal, sets her head spinning, and she wonders if Matt is actually the safe choice, rather then the right one.
Vizard does a fantastic job weaving oodles of lovely threads about family, friendship, and paths not taken, as Rebecca works through the heartache of the past - all while fielding significant hurdles in the present. The mystery around what really happened between Rebecca and Alex, during their heady university days, keeps you guessing right until the climax of the tale, and feeds perfectly into the 'wedding curse' element of the story. Vizard then pulls off the very best of in-the-feels endings, tying up all the loose ends in the most satisfying way possible.
Absolutely top-notch rom-com fare. I swallowed it whole!
The Smart Girl's Guide to Second Chances is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Aira for sending me a copy of this book.
About the author:
Steph Vizard is an Australian writer and lawyer. After studying literature at Oxford University, she worked in publishing in London. Her debut romantic comedy, The Love Contract, won the 2022 HarperCollins Banjo Prize and has been optioned for a TV series by a major UK production company. She is a connoisseur of salt and vinegar chips and lives with her family in Melbourne.
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