Reviewed by Cheryl
TITLE: Second Go-Round
AUTHOR: Andrew Grey
LENGTH: 229 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 15 2022
BLURB:
Former world champion bronco rider Dustin and rancher Marshall have been life partners for more than twenty years, and time has taken its toll. Their sex life is as dusty as the rodeo ring. Somehow their marriage hasn’t turned out how they planned.
But when a new family moves in up the road with two young boys, one very sick, Dustin and Marshall realize how deep their ruts are and that there might be hope to break them. After all, where they’re from, the most important part of being a man is helping those who need it.
A new common purpose helps break down the deep routines they’ve fallen into and makes them realize the life they’ve been living has left them both cold and hollow. Spending time with the kids—teaching them how to be cowboys—reignites something they thought lost long ago. But twenty years is a lot of time to make up for. Can they find their way back to each other, or are the ruts they’ve created worn too deep?
REVIEW:
I love the way this author draws us into a world we can only dream about. Children play at being cowboys while having little idea of what it really means to be one. There is no glorifying of the occupation. It’s always gritty realism but without the over dramatisation that is often seen in books about this subject. Dustin and Marshall are former rodeo stars. There are belts and buckles, but no thrilling stories of past glories. When they do talk about the past it is with relevance and they even go so far as to gently mock their new ranch hand, Jackson for still riding the high of being famous which means nothing in real life.
The author has a knack for writing children and this book is no exception. Oliver and Noah are true to their ages without being caricatures, which often happens. I felt for them, and I was rooting for Noah and his parents while finding joy in Oliver. I absolutely turned to jelly when Oliver put his hand over his heart and said, ‘You’re a cowboy in here.’
The trope of two partners who have grown apart, whether geographically or emotionally, and get a second chance at making the relationship whole again is not new, and in many ways the book stays within the terms of the trope. It’s the background that really makes the difference. The side characters, the activities and landscape that surrounds them, and most of all their growing relationship with the new family in the area and their children.
Richard, Anne, Noah and especially Oliver are fully fleshed and endearing characters. Noah’s illness provides the dramatic tension and in many ways it was both gentle and harrowing.
I would absolutely recommend this book, especially for Andrew Grey fans. It stays true to his easygoing style of writing and will make you feel things. Thankfully, the ending as always is a feel-good one and if not a happy ever after it is certainly a happy-for-now with a good dollop of hope for a happy ever after.
RATING: 
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