Reviewed by Rosetta Diane Hoessli, Author
*****

 I’m going to tell you, right out of the chute (as we Texans like to say), that I’m not ordinarily a fan of romance novels and very seldom even pick one up. But I would’ve been missing out on a beautifully written, truly inspirational love story if I hadn’t surrendered to my urge to read CHANCE’S RETURN, by Lucy Naylor Kubash.

 Set on the North Star Ranch near the Teton Mountains in Wyoming, CHANCE’S RETURN is a story about second chances for people who don’t even know they’re looking for them. The characters are vividly drawn, especially the young widow Casey Girard and her sad little boy, Jamie, both trying to learn how to live without their much-loved husband and father, and Chance McCord, the washed-up rodeo star and eldest son of the North Star Ranch who, like the Prodigal Son, has returned to his boyhood home only because he has nowhere else to go. The supporting characters – Jamie, Aunt Billie, Justin and Kyle McCord, even the various ranch hands and the trail horse Buckwheat – add important layers to Casey and Chance’s story.

 That’s not to say the plotline is unique; it isn’t. But the tender and sensitive way Ms. Kubash handles it, with lots of soul-searching and maternal guilt on Casey’s part because of her intense physical attraction to a handsome, rugged man not her departed husband, and Chance’s stubborn refusal to allow her into his heart and life because he’s no longer the man he once was, is unique and intensely believable. There are secrets in the McCord family, of course, and Casey is the kind of eternal optimist who feels that if everyone would just come out and talk about those secrets, everything would be fine. But, as is always true, life is never that simple.

I love books that are set in the west, and Ms. Kubash’s vivid descriptions of the magnificent Teton Mountain storms, the surrounding mirror-like lakes and forests, the explosive sunrises and sunsets, and the fields of wildflowers filled with riotous color in spring are breathtaking. She integrates those descriptions into the story seamlessly, almost as if they’re characters themselves, and not once did I speed-read through a description but instead savored it, sometimes more than once.

This isn’t a long novel, and that’s one reason I think CHANCE’S RETURN makes a great first book for Ms. Kubash’s new series, THE NORTH STAR LEGACY. It was originally published in 2009, but she chose to update and re-release it on April 16, 2025 for your reading pleasure. I’m happy to suggest that you take advantage of it!

I’m very glad to give CHANCE’S RETURN five stars. (*****)