“Shawna Partridge’s Rule of Seconds is a powerful and fast-paced work that beautifully renders the tensions and tenderness or a storytelling family. Personal narratives, diary entries, letters, and historical facts are skillfully intertwined in this compelling examination of generational understanding and misunderstanding. Secrets provide the catalyst for the narrator’s probing desire to uncover truths, reconcile differences, and ultimately determine who, in light of her family, she is.” -Madeline Sonik, author, Afflictions & Departures: Essays “Shawna Diane Partridge delivers a solid first book – part love story, part mystery, part self-help.Rule of Seconds exemplifies what can happen when the tradition of matriarchal leaders living in patriarchal times get a voice to speak out. Where ‘secrets’ aren’t so much secrets as they are purposefully-kept-quiet life choices. Where pride and face-saving reigned over compassion and hope. Where the women let their space and time define them on the outside leaving heaving holes within that could never been filled.” -Vanessa Shields, author, I Am That Woman and Look At Home