Rating: 
Summary: A Good Read...
Review: But it just lacked something. It had great storyline with "second chance at love" being the main premise. The problem was I had no connection with a few of the characters namely Kelley and her sister Madison. By page 100 I was fed up with that whole storyline and felt that it was taking away too much from the main plot which was Jack and Kelley finding love again.
This is not to say that the story was not good, and Ms. Heath's debut contemporary was mildly entertaining once you got past the whole teenage angst issue. Jack was a great hero with plenty of patience for both ladies in his life.
Ms. Heath is a very talented author and one that I would highly recommend to the romance reader. This is just not one of her best efforts and if this is the first time you've ever read her I would suggest the follow up to this story "Smooth Talking Stranger".
Official Reviewer for www.romancedesigns.com
Rating: 
Summary: A great book from the romance genre
Review: I am new fan of romance books and Lorraine Heath. I am so glad I decided to try these types of books. If people take them for what they are, they will enjoy these books. Lorraine Heath knows how to write. She comes up with interesting characters that are believable. You care about the people in her stories. You want them to be happy. This book is no different. I thought Lorraine Heath's portrayl of Madison was spot on. She acted like a trouble teen girl. It seemed real. Kelly's emotions toward Madison was great too. I loved Jack. He was a real guy. He wasn't phony like the male characters seem to be in some romance books. I recommend this book to all fans of this genre.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent...for a contemporary
Review: I have read every historical romance by Lorraine Heath and loved each one. So, when she wrote a contemporary novel, I felt I should buy it, even though of all the thousands of romances I've read over the years, I've only read a couple of contemporary ones. And I have to say, I really, really liked it. The characters are poignant and endearing. I especially liked Jack's relationship with his son. All in all, I highly recommend this book to everyone, as the author has succeeded in writing an excellent romance.
Rating: 
Summary: Great!
Review: I thought this book was great and worth reading. There were a few plot elements I didn't care for, but they weren't significant enough to hender my enjoyment of the story. Jack was a wonderful hero and I liked the unique plot twist concerning Kelley and her sister.
Rating:
Summary: second chance at love
Review: 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
Rating:
Summary: second chance at love
Review: 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
Rating:
Summary: Really a four and a half.
Review: Jack was truly a stand up guy. He took responsible when he didn't have to. He also had a deep love for Kelley that never wavered even though he sacrificed nine years of his life for it. This is where I had a problem with Kelley. What she made Jack do all those years ago was wrong, for everyone involved. She never gave him the benefit of the doubt or allowed him to check any further to verify what the truth really was. Sadly for everyone involved he was the one who was right all along. Kelley allowed her own past to force something that screwed up many lives. She knew Jack would do anything for her simply because he loved her so much and wanted her to be proud of him. But I liked Kelley in spite of herself and Jack is the kind of man we all hope we're lucky enough to find! I've already ordered the sequel for this one!
Rating:
Summary: Really a four and a half.
Review: Jack was truly a stand up guy. He took responsible when he didn't have to. He also had a deep love for Kelley that never wavered even though he sacrificed nine years of his life for it. This is where I had a problem with Kelley. What she made Jack do all those years ago was wrong, for everyone involved. She never gave him the benefit of the doubt or allowed him to check any further to verify what the truth really was. Sadly for everyone involved he was the one who was right all along. Kelley allowed her own past to force something that screwed up many lives. She knew Jack would do anything for her simply because he loved her so much and wanted her to be proud of him. But I liked Kelley in spite of herself and Jack is the kind of man we all hope we're lucky enough to find! I've already ordered the sequel for this one!
Rating:
Summary: Powerful tale of lost and found dreams
Review: Kelley Spencer has never gotten over her brief affair with Jack Morgan. Then he was the just-graduated bad-boy of the local high school and she his teacher, fresh out of college. Now she has a sister to raise--a sister who has cultivated hell-raising as an art form. Kelley is surprised to find that Jack has turned his life around. He's chief of police, a responsible single dad, and still a major heart-throb. Kelley is tempted, although it took her years to recover from Jack's betrayal. But raising her sister is more important than anything--even rekindling the one great love she ever experienced. Besides, Kelley holds a secret deep inside of herself--a secret with the potential to explode everything she lives for. Jack Morgan knows what it's like to lose a parent--and Kelley's sister has recently lost both parents. She's acting out and Jack knows that the answer is clear boundaries. But Kelley doesn't seem very good at boundaries. Which is great where he is concerned. Although Kelley forced him to marry another woman, Jack has never been able to forget her. But he still has an idealized vision of her--a vision that imperfect Kelley knows she can never live up to. And losing him again would be too destructive. Author Lorraine Heath marks her first contemporary romance after a strong career in historicals. It's an emotionally powerful tale of lost and found dreams. Younger sister Madison is a memorable character--damaged, sympathetic, and angry with the world. Both Jack and Kelley are strong and admirable as they strive to come to terms with their responsibilites and mistakes, and the two definitely steam up the pages when they're together. Heath's strong writing really sucks in the reader, making them care for these characters, feel for their sorrow, and hope that they can somehow overcome the weight of past secrets and pains and build themselves a future of love.
Rating:
Summary: Irresistible !!
Review: Lorraine Heath has crossed over to the modern era, and as a diehard historical reader, it was Heath's talent that lured me to buy this contemporary novel. A mistake? No way this lady is dexterous. A few years back the Coke guy from the soft drink commercial was all the rage, smoldering and heating his way into a woman's fantasy. Well hello Jack Morgan. If guys in Texas are this "hunky", I'm packing my bags. This is the story of two reunited people and their chance to love again. Jack Morgan was the town's bad boy. In his senior year, ready to give up and drop out, Jack met and fell in love with Kelley Spencer -- young, beautiful, fresh out of teachers' college, and his teacher. Kelley Spencer gave him a reason to try. She promised him a life after graduation. Fate intervened, Jack married another, and Kelley left town. Nine years have past, Kelley is back in town, Jack is now the police chief and divorced. Nine years have past, but their problems continue to fester. "He splayed his large hand and strong fingers over her stomach. ". . . the scar Kelley . . . Was it my baby? . . ." Within these pages, Heath has developed the ultimate male -- smooth, gorgeous, kind, considerate -- do these men exist? Yet, at the same time, the author has developed our heroine, Kelley Spencer, as a "heel dragger". The girl is terrified to commit. This man wants her and she hides under a blanket of secrecy. Still, the storyline is skilled and entertaining. A rating of 4.5 because Kelley Spencer's shackles are too heavy, her complexity was like a sore thumb -- front and center. Nevertheless, I liked the book -- definitely a page turner, and you can wager I will be searching for Heath's newest book come April 2004.
Grace Atkinson, Ontario - Canada.
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