The Chance by Karen Kingsbury

Ellie and Ryan were childhood friends and then at 15 Ryan tells her that one day she will become his wife. Ellie's world is torn apart when it is revealed that her mother had an affair with a country music singer and as a result conceived the man's child. He father takes her away from her mother refusing to let her mother have anything to do with her. At the beginning I didn't like either of the parents. I thought the father was hateful and I thought the mother was selfish for thinking of herself by having an affair in the first place. She had the affair because she felt neglected. Anyway the father whisks Ellie off to another state. Ellie makes some bad decisions with boys and as a result had a child out of wedlock. She abandons the faith of her childhood. In the meantime Ryan becomes an athlete and his faith just gets stronger and stronger. He never forgets Ellie and hopes to one day be reunited with her. This book is a stand alone novel but some characters from The Bridge make an appearance in this novel. I have enjoyed these new stand alone novels by Karen Kingsbury a lot more than I did the Baxter novels that dragged on for 20 books.