Uggggghhhh. This was a sad read. Sad sad read. I’m a sad woman. But I liked it? But I’m sad. Where is my son? I need to hug him.

This is the story of a husband and wife who faced enormous trials and split apart and how they come back together. It’s very raw and real. I don’t typically read books with this kind of content, but I’m glad I did. It’s not especially a joyous ride, but it is a healing one. And I’m happy to say there’s an HEA here even if it’s not the one I would have wanted originally for this couple. I’d want them to have never experienced the pain and trials they went through, but alas, this is a more realistic fairy tale romance.

One of my most anticipated books of the year! I loved the author’s previous two books and couldn’t wait to get this one in my hands. While this is also a family drama, it’s a little different from We Are the Brennans and The Connellys of County Down. This time we are focusing on a married couple instead of siblings. It’s essentially a love story that incorporates themes of grief and loss as well as the importance of community and one’s tribe. I struggled a little bit with Casey’s journey, watching her try to escape by building walls and running away was frustrating, but understandable. You could feel the love between Casey and Kyle throughout the book, and I wanted to scream “just figure it out!” It took me a minute to get into this book (I think that was a me problem), but after about 75 pages I couldn’t put it down. I enjoyed the youth hockey storyline, it gave me some Beartown vibes, which I am always here for! Another success for @tracey_lange. Can’t wait for the next one!

What Happened to the McCrays? is the big question in the third novel by Tracey Lange that was released January 14. Set in Potsdam, New York, the story begins with Kyle McCray’s homecoming as he returns from Spokane, Washington, to help his father while he recovers from a stroke.

Kyle left Potsdam two and a half years ago leaving behind his wife, his father, his employees, and his friends. He headed West, using his skills as a mechanic along the way, before settling in Spokane. He worries about the reception he will receive in his hometown upon his return but the small-town community embraces him: only his wife Casey keeps him at an arm’s length, having divorced him a few months after he left home.

Having once played hockey himself, Kyle is offered a job coaching the middle school hockey team that has been through a number of coaches with none of them sticking to the job. Kyle struggles with his decision at first because Casey is a teacher at the school and a sponsor of the hockey team, and he is concerned about making her uncomfortable if he takes the job.

With a positive reception by the hockey players, their parents, the community, and Casey herself, Kyle starts to think about staying in Potsdam even longer than his father’s recuperation requires. The question is, can he do so without making Casey feel uncomfortable, something he does not want to do since he is still very much in love with her.

The novel is buoyed with love and courage as Kyle and Casey strive to come to terms with redefining their relationship. Told in alternating segments of “Now” and “Then,” the story reveals both sides of their failed marriage as they finally deal with the devastating event that drove them apart.

New York native Tracey Lange completed a Stanford University online novel writing class while writing her debut novel, We Are the Brennans. She lives with her family in Bend, Oregon. She modeled Star, the German shepherd, in the McCray’s story after her own dog.
My review will be posted on Goodreads starting January 31, 2025.

I would like to thank Celadon Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

Thank you so much @celadonbooks & @netgalley for approving this request! ✨

💙Let me start by saying that I love Tracy Lange’s writing. I read We Are The Brennans in 2021 and I have never forgotten it.💙

💛In this one Kyle McCray comes back to his hometown to take care of his father and help with his recovery after he has a stroke. Kyle has been gone for 2 ½ years and left abruptly, now he has to face his ex-wife and family and friends when all he wants to do is stay under the radar and help his dad get better.💛

💖Backing up a bit we learn that Kyle and his ex-wife Casey were high school sweethearts. Casey was set to follow her dreams and go to college when her Mother unexpectantly dies. Casey gives up her dream to stay and take care of her younger brother Wyatt. Kyle moves in with her and Casey goes to a local college and becomes a teacher. 16 years go by and they separate, Kyle leaves their home town and Casey sends him divorce papers.💔

📖There is so much storytelling that is beautiful and heartbreaking. Themes of love, family, grief and second chances fill up the pages. Kyle and Casey’s characters are so full of emotion and depth, they were so real and I was so invested in their journey.🫶🏻

If you were thinking about reading this one please pick it up, I guarantee you will not regret it!💫

Thank you to @celadonbooks for the #gifted copy.

Tracey Lange has a way with words. Each time I pick up one of her books, I know that I am going to be immersed into someone else's life story that might look or feel a little familiar. I look forward to each and every one of them. This book was no different.

This book was one about the McCrary family. Kyle and Casey who split suddenly after 16 years of marriage. Kyle leaves his family behind. Casey struggles to cope. Kyle comes back to help his dad recover. Heartbreak. Hope. Resilience. Does their failed marriage have a chance?

If you haven't read one of her books, you should!!

I want to thank everyone for this gifted copy of What Happened to the McCrays?

I have enjoyed Tracey’s other books and was excited to see her coming out with a new story. My interests were sparked at the beginning and I came to the terms with the fact that there would be no happily ever after.

But after getting 50% through this book, I found I was bored. I had no emotional connection to any of the characters, and I felt like I literally knew nothing about them. I needed more…less secretive about why they weren’t together and their story. I did end up DNF’ing at 50%.

I may give this book another try in the future.

Review will be posted on 1/31/25

Kyle and Casey knew each other as kids, living across the street from each other in Potsdam, New York. Their childhood friendship blossomed into a teenage romance and an eventual young marriage. It should have been the stuff of fairy tales. But when readers encounter Kyle, he isn't living in Potsdam, but rather in Spokane as a mechanic. He is divorced and bitter. Casey still lives in New York, is a teacher, and helps run the middle school hockey team. Kyle gets notified that his father, Danny, had a stroke and he needs to come home to help him out. So reluctantly Kyle heads home and has to face everything he left behind, including Casey and their crumbling marriage. Kyle, a former hockey star, gets roped into helping the local middle school hockey team and now he and Casey are spending more time together than before. Readers slowly learn the reasons why their marriage crumbles through flashbacks - even to their teenage years so readers can get the full backstory and arc of their relationship. Tracey Lange writes such emotionally charged family dramas and What Happened to the McCrays? is no different. It is filled to the brim with a lot of heart, emotion, small-town dynamics, some heavy topics, and a strong side of youth hockey.

Tracey Lange truly got my attention when I read We Are the Brennans. I felt like she could capture family dynamics and the layers of a person very well. The same is true in What Happened to the McCrays? I think her fans will appreciate this family drama which covers a wide variety of topics, such as divorce, the death of a parent, the death of a child, infertility, family estrangement, and more. However, for me, it got a little too dark (trigger warning: suicide attempt) and I felt like that weighed down the plot.

My favorite part of What Happened to the McCrays? were the flashbacks to Kyle and Casey's teenage years and early years of their relationship as I felt that really helped readers understand their courtship and how they got to where they are today. It also illustrated how Kyle's departure from Potsdam had a ripple effect. Kyle and Casey dealt with so many heartbreaking issues that readers will keep wondering if they could ever recover from it and give their relationship another chance.

It should be noted that What Happened to the McCrays? also includes a lot of hockey details, so if you enjoy a sports romance or love the sport of hockey, you could appreciate that aspect of the story as well. I know I did, as I think Lange portrayed the life of a middle school teacher very well as well as the ups and downs of coaching youth sports.

Are you a fan of Tracey Lange? Do you plan on reading What Happened to the McCrays? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Tracey Lange writes family drama like she has a PhD in emotional damage. This book???? Kyle McCray ditches his life, ghosts his hometown, then gets dragged back when his dad has a stroke.

Unsurprisingly, no one’s thrilled to see him. But then he starts coaching a middle school hockey team (random, but it works), and suddenly, redemption is on the table.

Lange nails messy relationships, small-town vibes, and second chances without making it cringe. The emotions? Gut punch. The pacing? Chef’s kiss. Maybe the ending ties up a little too cleanly, but honestly? Didn’t mind. Read this if you love family drama, slow-burn romance, and feelings you weren’t ready for.

I was so happy to have enjoyed this book as her last one I liked ok but this one was really tugging at my heart.

Kyle comes back after a few years to where he left his wife Casey when his dad had a stroke to help take care of him. When you find out why these two spouses drifted apart, it's a very sad tale. Casey has so much grieving that she has yet to do and she's not really doing it in a healthy way.. She needed to let others in better.

It probably wasn't for the best that Kyle ever left, but time away gives a bit of perspective I guess. There are a lot of emotions I felt while reading. I still love how Lange writes a family drama!

This book, wow. It was a deep read, but man, it was great!!!

Sometimes the books with deeper themes are hard for me to read. This book though, that wasn't the case. I wanted to keep reading and had the hardest time putting it down.

There were so many themes; love, loss, family, community, and strength. They all came together in the most beautiful way.

I'd definitely recommend this book!!!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Tracey Lange is quickly becoming a favorite author of mine. I’ve now read three of her books and they’ve all been five star reads. ⁣
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I am a sucker for second chance romance stories and I felt like this one broke my heart and then put it back together again. The small town setting, the hockey team and the message of family really won me over. ⁣
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Kyle and Casey’s love story started off so innocently when they were kids and we know as readers that somewhere along the way their love story ended, but we don’t know the catalyst for this breakup. Discovering what ended their marriage is heartbreaking-all I can say is have tissues handy as you read this book. ⁣
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This book deserves all the stars and I highly recommend picking up anything from this author. Huge thank you to Netgalley for sharing an ARC with me.

I absolutely love this book and all the characters! Nobody writes family drama this exceptionally!

Heartbreaking, heartwarming, funny, all the feels and emotions for sure.

I was not ready for our small town story about Kyle, Charlie, the hockey team, and the girl next-door to end! Definitely does the family drama twist and turns, I didn’t see all of them coming and most of them are definitely emotion invoking. No spoilers here!

Absolutely cannot recommend the story enough. I even slowed down my reading some because I just wasn’t ready for it to be over.

Thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books for my advanced electronic reader copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own and this one is now available!

I've been waiting to read this story for months. I was pleased to finally have the opportunity to read the arc just before the book was published! And I was not disappointed! Lange did yet another fantastic job of weaving a family drama full of emotion (tears, laughter, anger, the list goes on), found family and second chances!!! There were times when my emotions were riding a rollercoaster. I lost it all in the last quarter of the book and the last chapter took me forever to get through because I could not see the words through my tears. So well done!
I'm looking forward to reading what Lange puts out next! She is definitely the master of family tales!

Thanks so much for the opportunity to read this ARC!

I've read a couple books by Tracey Lange, and this was by far my favorite. Lange weaves family dynamics, suspense, and genuine human emotions together skillfully. The McCray family feels real, their struggles raw and relatable. Each character is richly developed, and the twists and turns in the plot are masterfully executed. I couldn’t put it down — it’s a page-turner that kept me thinking about the complexities of loss, secrets, and human relationships. I was drawn into the world of the McCrays every step of the way. This book will stick with me for a long time.

Tracey Lange continues to be an auto-read author. The way that beautifully broken characters leap from the page and into the reader’s heart should be studied. This particular novel had a heartbreaking twist that each main character faced differently, grappling with their own guilt, shame, and sadness. While difficult at times, the overarching narrative of familial love remains as expected from this talented writer.

This was raw. Visceral. Real. The exploration of family trauma, the writing and the way it draws you in. The multi faceted characters are well written and complex. Truly a masterpiece.

This is a wonderful story of family trauma and the time and work it takes to try to work through it. Tracey Lange did a wonderful job of ale demonstrating the importance of not only family, but also the importance of one's friends and community. This was a really good book. Thanks #NetGalley #CeladonBooks

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MCCRAYS? feels like the big-armed, fully enveloping hug you need when you are feeling your lowest, a somber yet enriching novel about the second chances that only exist for a moment in time, and how we act when faced with them.

For years, Kyle and Casey McCray were an It couple in their hometown, a hockey legend and a girl with a bright academic future pairing up in the strangest of circumstances, bound by their shared love of family, community, and hockey. Tracey Lange's newest novel, however, does not begin with their glory days. Rather, as the story unfolds, we learn that Kyle has isolated himself across the country, Casey is living a shell of her past life, and their community is still reeling from their separation. But when Kyle is called back to care for his ailing father, he realizes all that was left behind, and wonders if it's worth trying to reclaim any of it. It helps, of course, that the local middle school boys hockey team (and their manager, Casey) needs a little help.

Tracey Lange's third novel once again centers around a complex family dynamic, this time with a deeper second chance narrative fueling its characters motivations. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MCCRAYS? reads like a mix of BEARTOWN, ALL YOUR PERFECTS, and MERCURY. Which is to say: It's going to make you cry. It's going to make you feel. It's going to make you love the life you have and the family that holds you up. And it's going to make you want to try and play hockey again. The dual timelines helps build the mystery of the story, making it compulsively readable. The tender reveal about halfway through the novel comes in a series of heartbreaking moments, but they make the reward that much sweeter. I need the movie adaptation of this, STAT!

Thank you to #NetGalley, Celadon, and the author Tracey Lange for the opportunity to read, #WhatHappenedtotheMcCrays?, a wonderful novel about love, hope, family, friendship, and second chances.

Kyle McCray left his hometown in New York to move far away from his family, friends, and the love of his life. Two years after he moved to Spokane, Washington he found out his father had a stroke and he rushed back, not knowing whether anyone would even speak to him upon his return, to help his father with his recovery.

After he arrived back in his closely knit small town, he realized the friends and family he thought would be angry with him were actually being very kind, everyone except his ex-wife, Casey. All Kyle wanted was to try and find a way to break through the wall that had been built between them and find their way back to some kind of friendship. Every time he felt like they were making progress Casey shot his efforts down again. It was obvious that something horrible had happened between them.

When Kyle realized his Dad's recovery was going to take longer than expected he decided to try and find ways to show Casey he still cared about her. He decided to help out with the middle school hockey team, knowing the kids were taught by Casey and were extremely dependent on her. He also tried to figure out a way to convince Casey to open up to him.

The author, Tracey Lange, did an amazing job of building intense and layered characters, convincing the reader to be empathetic to both sides of the overall conflict. There was a significant secret that Kyle, Casey, and the entire town shared. I found myself rooting for both sides and for Kyle and Casey to find their way back to one another. I wanted hope and love to ultimately win in the end.

I absolutely was enthralled with this story. It was definitely a five star book in my opinion and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good old fashioned love story.

DNF at 23%

I think I saw that a lot of people were reading this book, and though I read the description, I didn’t read it closely enough to see that it was going to be a romance and not an edgy family drama. I don’t really do romance (though I guess I’ll be reading TWO this year for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge. There’s usually one, but two?! There’s “read a romance book without an illustrated cover” and “read a holiday romance that isn’t Christmas.” Sigh.), so I won’t be finishing or rating this one. It started off fine, I guess. Seemed like a lot of people are liking it OK. You can definitely tell exactly what is going to happen.