Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Want You Back
SERIES: Second Chance Ranch
AUTHOR: Annabeth Albert
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 316 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 15, 2025
BLURB:
When Maverick Lovelorn left town, it almost broke me. I’m determined to not let his return do the same.
Then
In high school, Maverick and I were best friends. Inseparable. We shared everything from video games to camping adventures to a first kiss that shattered everything I knew about myself. Our first love was sweet and true and not nearly enough to keep Maverick on the ranch he hated.
Now
Twenty years later, Maverick’s back in town to sell the ranch he’s inherited. As the sheriff, I know losing the ranch will devastate the county. The area needs Maverick to stay. As a single dad with far more than my own heart on the line, I need him gone. Rekindling our friendship would be a Grand Canyon-sized mistake. But then we kiss, and every old feeling comes rushing back.
Now What?
My heart wants Maverick, but my brain knows he’ll leave again. How can I ask him to stay somewhere with so many painful memories? He might be healing day by day, but I struggle to trust in second chances. Is there a way for us to ride off into the sunset together?
Want You Back is book one in a new small-town Colorado cowboy romance series from beloved author Annabeth Albert with Yellowstone meets Schitt’s Creek vibes. It features the return of a ranch owner’s son and the sheriff who never forgot him. Mature main characters, high school friends with feelings to adult lovers, steamy reunion romance, hurt/comfort, found family, and big feels with a standalone HEA guaranteed!
REVIEW:
Maverick Lovelorn has returned to his family ranch in Colorado for the reading of his father’s will. He hasn’t been back in almost 20 years – leaving just after he graduated high school and turned 18. He got a scholarship to a school in CA and never looked back. He couldn’t wait to leave his life behind. Well all except for Colt, his best friend, his crush, his first love. But he could not stay.
Colt Jennings suffered losses too but he was too busy trying to help his mother raise his many younger siblings after his father died. He was just trying to get through school. He followed in his father’s footsteps in the Sheriff’s department because there was no way he could leave his family. Despite the love between them (on the DL of course), he couldn’t go with Maverick. Their parting was not great and they haven’t seen each other in years.
Melvin Lovelorn’s will requires his remaining children to stay on the ranch for at least a year before they can sell. It’s pretty iron clad. This mean that his sister Faith, her young daughter Hanna and Maverick are there for the duration. Colt does NOT want to start something with Maverick only to have him leave again. He’s not sure he can survive a second time. But he’s the Sheriff now and he’s also got a young daughter Willow. He’s lost his wife, Betsey, in a car accident a few years earlier, and he’s still the go-to guy for all of the Jennings clan. There is no end to his responsibilities and he’s put himself last for years.
Maverick has been through a pretty public divorce after the implosion of his reality TV show renovation hotels and guest properties. He’s a bit bruised as well and he’s got lots of terrible memories on the ranch thanks to his father and the losses they suffered. His niece needs stability and his sister is drinking heavily. He’s determined to do the right thing. If only he knew what that was. And his feelings for Colt have never changed.
Hannah and Willow bond immediately. Colt is less than enthusiastic at first to start anything up with Maverick again. For lots of reasons. Of course that doesn’t last too terribly long 😉 He’s never stopped loving Maverick either. There are a lot of potential obstacles in there way and Colt isn’t sure he wants to risk his heart again.
This book has ALL the feels! I really adored these characters and this setting. There are flashbacks here that set the stage for Maverick and Colt’s past as best friends from the time they were 14 . There is also much needed dual POV here because both of these men are dealing with A LOT from their pasts. Losing parents, dealing with difficult family situations in very different ways have made these men who they are.
Colt has taken on the weight of the world of his family since his dad was killed in the line of duty when he was young and became parentified. Maverick was also either neglected or harangued by his father after losing his mother and older brother. His dad was very harsh with both him and his sister and did them no favors. They both ended up leaving and not looking back and neither are happy to be forced to return. Eventually though Maverick comes to see this as a possible new beginning for him and an opportunity to leave a different legacy for a ranch that has had so much loss, bitterness and disappointment. With Colt and a bunch of other supportive friends, he’s pretty sure he can do it 🙂 I loved how everyone wanted Maverick to succeed in the end. It also sets up the series for other couples to get their HEAs. I’m really looking forward to the next book and I hope that Mr. Snider is going to get his HEA too 😉 Excellent start to this series. Highly recommended.
RATING: 
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