I loved the last book in this series, Simply the Best, so I couldn’t wait to read this new one, about Clint, the quarterback of the Chicago Stars. Clint has escaped to his beautiful lake home in Wisconsin where he finds comfort as he is struggling with his career as he gets older (and possibly depression).

Dancy is an actress that is known for being a Bond girl a few years back. She is at a charity event, trying to make a comeback after being dumped by her actor husband for a younger woman. Disaster strikes when he shows up at the charity event with his new younger woman and she’s pregnant. Dancy is thirty-five and has been longing for a baby – she is devastated. She tries to make a grand exit but she ends up making a fool of herself. She needs somewhere to go and decides to find Clint, her high school crush, and the one person she can trust to help her.

Dancy shows up at Clint’s home in rough shape, still wearing her ballgown. Things didn’t end well between them in high school and he isn’t thrilled to see her, but he is a really good guy and he lets her stay in his guest house, which happens to be a caboose! (The author pays homage to The Boxcar Children’s books.) Dancy has been through a lot in her life, with parents who were jetsetters and never around, a self-centered ex-husband, sexual assault when she was younger, a stalker and a recent miscarriage. She adopts a rescue pup and then with Clint’s care, she begins to get her groove back. There is plenty of humor and spice and I never knew what Dancy would do next, but Clint was steadfast and loved her. It felt sad in parts and there’s a third act break up that I didn’t love but the way everything turned out in the end made it worth it.