"second chance at love"

In Hopeful, Texas Chief of Police Jack Morgan stops an underage patron with a fake ID at the Sit 'N' Bull bar. He calls up Madison's stepsister, who is her guardian, high school teacher Kelley Spencer to take her sibling home. When she arrives at the station, Jack and Kelley recognize each other as she was his teacher in his senior year when they were very attracted to one another.

Jack thinks back to that senior year when he was accused of impregnating an underage Stephanie. Kelly gave him no chance to prove his innocence and no choice but to marry the teen. He did, but his new wife ultimately fled leaving him with a son whom he raises by himself. Now Jack is hopeful that he has a second chance to complete what he wanted to do back in high school. He wants to court his former teacher, the woman he loves, who turned him around from a bad boy going nowhere to a law abiding citizen.

Fans of second chance at love will enjoy this contemporary romance starring two solid lead characters and a strong support cast especially his son and her stepsister. However, readers will also need to accept the history of a budding relationship between a teacher and a student though the former was 22 and the latter 19 at the time. Still, Lorraine Heath furbishes her fans with a warm tale of love.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted October 25, 2003