“No little girl played ‘Second Wife’ when she was young,” says Sara Weber, the heroine of Second Chance, a new novel by Joy Collins. Sara has always felt she was married to two people – her husband and his ex-wife. Suddenly her world - and her marriage – is turned upside down when his ex demands money for their college-age daughter. Her husband Paul’s response? He decides his daughter should move from New Hampshire where she lives with her mother to Arizona, where he and Sara live, and attend the local university.

As if this weren’t enough stress, Sara’s mother is becoming more senile and Sara has to help her sister place her only living parent in a nursing home. When Sara’s stepdaughter is in a car accident, Paul’s ex-wife swoops in and attempts to re-kindle a relationship with him. Devastated, Sara turns to the last person she ever thought could help her – her own stepmother.

In Second Chance, Ms. Collins explores such topics as parental alienation, child support, and aging parents. “While my personal experience certainly was nothing like Sara’s, I drew from my own emotions as a stepmother and second wife while writing this book,” says Joy. “Today’s women readers want more from fiction than just a good story. Boomers, especially, want characters they can relate to, characters that deal with real life issues. Women today are juggling marriage, career, and family. I want my characters to reflect that. Sara is a nurse with her own business but her life is still beset by what affects her home and heart.”