What Happened to the McCrays? by Tracey Lange
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (4.5/5 stars)
Format: audiobook and ebook
Genre: contemporary fiction, family drama

After loving The Connellys of County Down last year, I was overjoyed to receive advanced copies of this book! Tracey Lange really knows how to craft characters and show how layered relationships can be, whether it’s family dynamics or romantic relationships. What Happened to the McCrays is no exception!

I did a mix of ebook and audio for this one. It’s written in 3rd person, but the book is dual POV and jumps from past to present. The audiobook has dual narration, which was perfect for telling the reader both sides of this marriage and how it fell apart. These characters were broken and messy at times but so real. They also had redeeming qualities and character development, which is important to me as a reader. I enjoyed the small town setting and the aspect of the middle school hockey team as well. These kids provided a lightheartedness to the book and were a big part of the narrative since hockey is huge in this town.

If you’re looking for a family drama on audio, this one is a must! Take care and look up content warnings if needed however.

Thank you to Celadon for my eARC and Macmillan Audio for my ALC! What Happened to the McCrays? is out today.

Thank you netgalley for the arc of What Happened to the McCrays. Tracy Lange has quickly become one of my favorite authors. She writes a great story about complex family issues that many people can relate to. Kyle McCray is a good guy we learn this immediately. He is living in Spokane when he gets a call from the hospital saying his dad Danny has had a stroke and he needs to come home to care for him. Kyle left Potsdam a few years ago and not in the best circumstances. As Kyle falls back into his old life a lot of family drama unfolds. Pick this one up if you like a good relatable family drama. Five stars

I went into this book completely blind, and I highly recommend everyone do the same.
This was my first read by Tracey Lange, and it definitely won’t be my last. I’ll absolutely be reading her backlist.
This book is deeply emotional and focuses on family and community. It's set in a small New York town that feels like its own character.
As someone who loves well developed side characters, I was excited by how well they were written in this book. The story beautifully tackles themes of love, loss, healing, forgiveness, redemption, and second chances. Tracey's writing style is both moving and impactful.
I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for an emotional and memorable read. I absolutely loved it!

| RATING | 5

| FOR READERS WHO LIKE |

• Contemporary/ Literary Fiction
• Redemption ARC
• Second Chance Romance
• Small Town
• Healing and Forgiveness
• Dual Timeline

| FAVORITE SCENE |

After finally uncovering the truth about Casey, Kyle returns home to find his father sitting alone at the kitchen table. The weight of betrayal is all consuming for Kyle as he struggles with his conflicting thoughts and emotions. Attempting to make sense of everything, he questions his father, asking if he truly believed that Kyle left Potsdam because he thought it was best for Casey.
His father’s response completely shattered me. It was raw, honest, and moving, beautifully capturing the complexity of love, sacrifice, and the deep pain of choices made for the sake of others.

Will and Loagn's dedication at the awards ceremony.

| FAVORITE QUOTE |

** The quotes referenced are from an advanced reader's copy and may not reflect the final version. Please refer to the finished copy for accuracy. **

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky

"I've watched you punish yourself for four years, Casey. And that's not living. It's just waiting to die."


Thank you so much, NetGalley and Celadon Books, for the advanced copy of this beautiful book in exchange for an honest review.

Yes it's a familiar plot but Lange has created characters you will come to care about. Casey and Kyle were together forever until a tragedy drove them to part. Now, Kyle has come back to Potsdam because his dad is ill and they've got to face one another. Hockey of all things is the catalyst for them to communicate as Kyle takes on the middle school team Casey, a teacher, has been managing. You won't know what really happened until very late but by then it won't matter as much as what these two decide to do with one another. And, what Wyatt, Casey's younger brother, decides about his own future. Lange is a good storyteller and she kept me reading not only because I wanted to know more about Charlie but also because while I could see it coming I wanted to know how this would end. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

It is almost impossible to fully convey just what an incredible author Tracey Lange is. First it was We are the Brennans, then The Connellys of County Down, and now What Happened to the McCrays? Lange writes stories that go straight to your heart, embed themselves into your very soul.

Kyle McCray left his business, his home, his family – his entire life - in Potsdam, New York two and a half years ago, never intending to return. The McCray family has suffered a lot of tragedy over the years, and they endured. But what drove Kyle away may be the thing that breaks them beyond repair. Not everything is fixable; time alone does not heal all wounds.

It’s obvious from the start of the story that although broken, Kyle is still a good man. He regrets abandoning those who depended on him, but the regret and guilt he feels over what caused him to leave is larger. It’s not a regret he can carry alongside him; it’s right in his face every day, every minute, every second, and he can’t get around or through it. Going home is unthinkable – until he learns his father has suffered a debilitating stroke. He has to go home, but he is expecting anger and the cold shoulder from everyone, especially Casey, the wife he walked out on.

Casey is as broken as Kyle; but she didn’t run away from her responsibilities. She stayed, she’s coping, but she’s a shell of the woman she used to be. She’s hanging by a thread and it doesn’t look like she can hold on much longer. Her guilt and pain and regrets are threatening to overtake her will to carry on.

It’s a while into the story before we find out just what happened to tear apart this family. Your heart will already be breaking for Kyle and Casey, his father Danny, her brother Wyatt and everyone in town they used to be close to, but when you learn the reason for all this guilt and grief and regret your heart will shatter.

The home Casey and Kyle shared is right next to his father’s home, and Potsdam is a small, close-knit community so of course Kyle and Casey will cross paths. Frequently. Painfully. Even though she wants him gone and he did not want to return, they’ve known each other since childhood, been together since high school. Old memories of sweet and tender times are strong, but is this new devastating memory horrible enough to smother the good memories forever?

Lange has written a remarkable story of love, loss, regret and forgiveness. While forgiving others and wanting the best for them may be possible, forgiving yourself and believing you are worthy of happiness again may not be. What Happened to the McCrays? is riveting, compelling, heart-wrenching, with such a strong pull you won’t be able to put it down. The characters are so well-written, so full of depth and emotion that you are carried along with every scene, first wondering what it was that went wrong, then hoping there can at least be the beginning of fragile communication, and then fervently wishing the misunderstandings could be cleared up, the hearts could be healed, the love could shine through. I was so pleased to receive an advance copy of What Happened to the McCrays? from Celadon Books via NetGalley because of how much I enjoyed her two previous books. Author Lange writes such powerful stories of families and circumstances and strength; I recommend everything she writes. And publisher Celadon Books never fails to provide impactful, meaningful fiction and non-fiction; I know when I receive a book from Celadon as a Celadon Reader that I am in for an engrossing, totally satisfying read. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.

Such a fabulous novel. While it was filled with heartbreak and grief it was also so inspiring and hopeful. This will be another favourite for me this year.

Kyle McCray gets word his father has suffered a stroke and he returns to his hometown of Potsdam, New York. There is no warm welcome, as he left over 2 years ago and some will definitely still harbour a grudge. One of those was his wife of 16 years, Casey.

As we see the story unfold, the author expertly weaves the current time along with the backstory, while revealing devastating secrets hidden.
Through being roped into coaching the middle school hockey team, Kyle begins to connect with the community again, only to realise the damage he has left in his wake. This was a devastatingly beautiful novel and I cried more times than I can count. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it is one I highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for this gifted review copy. I am so thankful I was able to read this one early. It was sensational, 5🌟

5.0 stars
HIGHLY recommend

This is the third book that I have read by Tracey Lange. It is her best book so far, but all her books are good. Her novels are about families - real families, not the perfect ones. Tracey writes about how families are messy, conflicted, and complicated.

I read this book in about twelve hours today including interruptions and distractions, but I couldn't put it down. It was so, so good!

Another one that shoots the puck in the goal?!? Is that correct, hockey-speak? But, it is appropriate for this book!

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5911022781 - posted 1/14/2025

Books by Dorothea blog: https://booksbydorothea.blogspot.com/2025/01/my-next-ebook-and-review-what-happened.html- posted 10/11/2024

I must admit that I thought I was getting myself into a thriller. I was even more convinced after the first chapter, even the title of the book didn’t make me think twice but it makes me laugh now how off I was. Tracey is a first time author for me and I had not read the synopsis prior to starting the book.

‘What Happened To The McCrays’ is a heart breaking, community driven and frustrating novel (but in a good way). It is beautifully written and captures all the heart wrenching parts in such a detailed and emotional way that you cannot help but shed a tear or two.

The book caught me by surprise once I was a few chapters in. A part of me was just waiting for a dead body to show up at some point but it took a few chapters to understand that this was the story about grief and how it holds you down and how it affects all those around you. I found myself rooting for the main couple the entire time. It’s just one of those books where you wish for a clean conclusion even if it takes them forever to get there.

I wouldn’t say that I haven’t read similar story lines before but I can say that it hasn’t been written the way Lange wrote it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Caledonia for the e-book!

When we meet Kyle, he is preparing to return to his hometown to care for his father. Something is making him anxious about this return. We then find out that he has a special relationship with Casey, his neighbor. From there, we get hints about things that people keep a secret. Casey seems to hold back so much more than everyone around her thinks. While all the characters are trying their best to live a good life, there are things in their past that they can't seem to let go of. Communication is a massive issue for all, and they all seem unable to open up and voice their feelings.


Thanks to Celadon Books and Net Galley for the arc!

Two and a half years after he left his friends and family in Potsdam, New York, forty-two-year-old Kyle McCray is called back home after his father suffers a stroke.

Returning home means facing everything and everyone he left behind - his father Danny, his ex-wife Casey with whom he had been together for twenty years, his former brother-in-law Wyatt whose concern for his sister has prevented him from moving away on his own and his friends and colleagues. Casey tries to hold him at arm’s length, but her concern for Danny with whom she shares a close bond makes it difficult to keep a distance. Kyle initially intends to leave once his father recovers, leaving everyone to get on with their lives, but he is unable to stay aloof and begins to realize how his departure impacted those close to him. As Kyle is roped in to coach the middle school hockey team, he will have to adjust to working with Casey, a teacher who is also involved in managing the team, but it won’t be easy for either of them.

As the narrative progresses, we get to know more about Kyle and Casey, their backstory and the events that resulted in the collapse of their marriage and follow them as they navigate their feelings for one another, their grief over all they have lost and much more.

Heartbreaking yet hopeful, What Happened to the McCrays? by Tracey Lange is a beautifully written novel that touches upon themes of love, family, grief and second chances. The narrative is presented in dual timelines - “Then” and “Now,” with the past timeline covering the history of Casey and Kyle’s relationship from when they were teenagers up to the events that prompted Kyle to leave and the significant events that occurred between then and “Now,” and the present timeline following Casey and Kyle after Kyle’s return.

Presented from the perspectives of Kyle and Casey, the narrative allows us to understand our main characters and their innermost thoughts and emotions in great depth and you cannot help but feel invested in their journeys – both as individuals and as a couple. The secondary characters are also well-developed and each of them has a significant role to play, including Star, the family dog whose reactions to Kyle and the shifting dynamics within the family are sensitively depicted.

Author Tracey Lange writes with deep insight and compassion as she tackles issues such as grief, mental health and much more. The author’s strength lies in her characterizations and the deep insight, maturity and compassion with which she writes about complex human emotions. Each of these characters is flawed and relatable and their struggles, regrets, guilt, pain and hope inspire pause and reflection.

Overall, I found this novel to be an incredibly moving story that left me with a smile on my face and a lump in my throat. Definitely recommended for those who enjoy character-driven fiction. Please note that there are certain sensitive issues tackled in this novel that might prove disturbing for some readers.

I paired my reading with the audiobook expertly narrated by Stephanie Németh-Parker and William DeMeritt, who have done a brilliant job of breathing life into these characters making for a satisfying immersion reading experience.

This is my third Tracey Lange novel and definitely my favorite of the three. I look forward to reading more from the author in the future.

Many thanks to Celadon Books for the digital ARC and Macmillan Audio for the ALC via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I’m absolutely blown away by Tracey Lange’s third novel, What Happened to the McCrays. Like her other books — which I also enjoyed greatly, it’s filled with love and happiness, grief and regret. This one felt less like an ensemble though and more a deep dive into the failed marriage of two people who, by all rights, should still be together. The way Tracey gradually revealed their story, the “what happened to the McCrays”, built intrigue and kept me absolutely hooked. She has a way of creating a world and characters that feel so real I can’t disconnect from them, even when I’m not still reading. In fact, when I finished this book, I almost just picked it up and read it again — I craved more time with the characters. I do hope Tracey will take us back to Potsdam in the future.

Make sure to check out content warnings before reading this one. If you haven’t read Tracey’s books before, they’re great for fans of Mary Beth Keane and J. Ryan Strandal. I hope you read it and connect with it as deeply as I did!

--

Update to say that 2 months later, I can't stop thinking about it. It's a must read!

a book hasn't made me feel so many emotions in a long long time. everything about this was beautiful and perfect and I couldn't put it down. a new favourite book by far 🥹

if you enjoyed beartown, this one's for you!

This novel tells the story of Kyle and Casey McCray and their intertwined families. Once high school sweethearts and now a divorced couple that hardly communicate and live on opposite sides of the country, until Kyle’s dad suffers a stroke that brings him back to his hometown (and Casey). The writing is full of emotion and I loved the way the “then” chapters slowly revealed how Kyle and Casey came together and then fell apart. The novel deals with heavy themes of loss, grief, and mental health struggles. For me personally, I don’t think it was the right time in my life to read a book like this, and the momentum was a bit slow in the middle, but by the final chapters I loved it. I loved Wyatt, Casey’s brother, but I also wanted a little bit more development for some of the other side characters. I have read all three books by Tracey Lange, and she’s an auto-buy author for me because of how expertly she writes family dramas. For fans of the small-town-underdog-hockey team vibe of Beartown, here’s another book that is so much more than it seems!

Thank you to Celadon Books for a review copy of this beautiful book.

I’ve adored Tracey Lange’s two previous books and have come to know her as an author of the BEST family dramas. So I was expecting more of the same, but Lange blew my mind with this emotional romance instead!

Short Synopsis:
Kyle McCray returns home to his small town when his father suffers a stroke, after being away for two years. But all Kyle wants to do is reconnect with his ex-wife, who does everything to keep her distance from him.

My Thoughts:
Oh my heart. I was NOT expecting this book to be so heavy, but sad romances are my favorite so naturally I’m obsessed with it.
Kyle and Casey. I just loved them both. The town was precious. And all the side characters were fantastic. I loved the focus of the middle school hockey team and just how kind hearted this group of boys were. I don’t want to say too much so you can experience this one, but grab some tissues.

What You’ll Find:
💕Second chance romance
😭Tears
🏘️Small town
🏒Middle school hockey team
😢Grief
💁‍♀️Character driven
2️⃣Dual timelines

Trigger warnings are heavy in this one. So please check them out and take care of yourself first.

Tracey always does an amazing job of crafting stories about complex families. It makes her characters real, relatable, yet flawed, and elicits empathy and compassion.

Told in dual timelines, this tells the story of Kyle and Casey, their lives together, their estrangement, and ultimately their healing. This touched on many heavy themes, but was heartwarming and had many wonderful lessons.

I loved the small town vibes and sense of community. I also appreciated the many different representations throughout (which I won’t detail so as not to spoil some things). The hockey team and that amazing group of kids were fun to read about as well.

Shoutout to Wyatt and Star, my two favorite characters.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pub Date: 1/14/25

*There are two huge TWs not mentioned in the synopsis, and that would technically be “spoilers”; DM me if you want more info.*

Thank you Celadon for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First thank you to the publisher for the e-arc. I purchased the physical copy because Tracey Lange has become a fav!
I’m not sure I have the right words to express what this book made me feel.
I shed a quite a few tears. I really connected with all the characters. The unimaginable grief and guilt was heart wrenching. But wow what a roller coaster of emotions this book brought me.
Grab the tissues for this one

This review has been posted to Goodreads and Storygraph on January 14th, 2025. Links provided.

Set against the backdrop of a small-town community, What Happened to the McCrays? explores the power of resilience, family bonds, and second chances. When Kyle McCray returns to his hometown after his father’s stroke, he’s met with resentment and lingering hurt from those he abandoned several years ago, including his estranged wife, Casey. Determined to stay only long enough to help his father recover, Kyle instead finds himself drawn back into the town’s life when he is asked to coach the struggling middle school hockey team. As he reconnects with the community and confronts the pain of his past, Kyle is forced to reckon with the choices that tore his marriage apart and determine if healing and redemption are still within reach. Full of heart and raw emotion, this story captures the complexity of broken relationships and the enduring hope for forgiveness and redemption.

I absolutely devoured this story. Told from alternating perspectives of Kyle and Casey in both the present day as well as the past, What Happened to the McCrays was an incredible book for so many different reasons. It pulled me into its raw, emotional depths from the very first page. The struggles Kyle and Casey faced in forgiving themselves for the choices they each made were so heart-wrenching and felt so real. Their pain could be felt through the pages and reminded me how difficult it can be to confront the worst parts of our past. The way the story captured the fragile, yet powerful, bonds of family and the strength that comes from a supportive community left a lasting impression on me. I was especially moved by the depiction of loss - the debilitating pain of watching a loved one suffer, and the quiet resilience needed to move forward. It’s a story about second chances and the heavy cost of redemption and how healing requires both courage and vulnerability. While there were instances that I found myself frustrated by choices that Casey made, I cannot fault her for her decisions knowing what she was going through by the end of the book. This is my first book by Tracey Lange but it will most definitely not be my last. I highly recommend this book if you are looking for a moving story about love, loss, and forgiveness.

Content warnings: Loss of a child, suicide attempt, loss of a parent, depression, infertility, self harm

Thank you to Celadon Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read to an ARC of What Happened to the McCrays in return for my honest review.

Tracey Lange is a masterful writer of family dramas, a genre I absolutely adore. In this story, high school sweethearts Casey and Kyle McCray find themselves divorced after 16 years of marriage, with Kyle relocating across the country. The reasons for their separation remain a mystery, even to them. When Kyle's father suffers a stroke, he returns to his hometown, where Casey still resides—right across the street. Inevitably, their paths cross, setting the stage for a heartfelt tale of love, hope, and forgiveness.

Tracey Lange wrote another enjoyable book. This is my favorite of hers. Kyle McCray returns home to Potsdam after his dad has a stroke to help him out. He has been gone for two and a half years. So much is packed into this story about Kyle and Casey who were childhood sweethearts that married and divorced.so what happened to the McCrays? They seem like the perfect couple.
A wonderful emotional read about family drama, tragedy, grief and love all mixed together. Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon books for the copy.

Get your tissues ready because this book is going to have you in tears for days while reading and even after!

I fell in love with the McCrays and could feel the love they had for each other and the heartbreak and ache that was between them. It was so beautiful to read a story that had such a supportive community that surrounded this couple but even more beautiful were the children who could see an undeniable love that was between two people.

This is a story that had love, friendship, tragedy, mental health and parenting all wrapped into one beautiful book.

Lange had me googling Potsdam, NY after reading this book and wanting to see for myself what such a tight knit community looked like.