In UP TO THE CHALLENGE, diner owner Tom Dempsey has a heart
attack, and calls on his two sons to help keep the business
going while he recuperates. For Lucas Dempsey, this is no
easy task. He is a suave, sophisticated attorney in
Richmond, Virginia; and busy working on his law career.
Coming back to Anchor Island will dredge up
the sting of recently losing his fiancé Beth to another
man, his own brother Joe. Lucas does his family duty,
however; and manages to get a leave of absence from his law
firm.
Sid Navarro is unlike any other woman. She is a mechanic
who can rebuild or restore almost anything with an
engine. Her great dream in life is to buy the rundown
building she has had her eyes on for years, and turn it
into a boat engine repair and restoration garage. Sid's
other great dream is to get a shot at Lucas Dempsey, the
man she has had a crush on since high school. She knows
that she is not the right kind of woman for an upwardly
mobile, high-powered lawyer like Lucas; but it doesn't stop
her from wanting him any way she can get him.
As a family friend, Sid is happy to help the Dempseys out
at the diner. Working alongside Lucas is another matter
entirely. He brings out her competitive nature, and they
spend their time throwing barbs at each other, and engaging
in spirited competition. When the obvious attraction comes
to a head and they succumb to it, Sid grabs for whatever
she can have with Lucas; and decides to have an affair with
him for the short time he is going to be on the island.
As for Lucas, not only is he running the diner and having
an enjoyable fling with Sid; the local retired lawyer keeps
throwing clients his way for legal advice. Lucas wants
none of it. He just wants to run the diner, do his duty to
his family, and spend as much time as possible with Sid.
Just when things are going along nicely between them, a
monkey wrench gets thrown into their romance. Sid finds
out that the garage she has been saving for years to buy
has been sold out from under her to an outsider; and Lucas
gets the call from his law firm to come back to work
immediately, or else.
UP TO THE CHALLENGE is the second book in Terri Osburn's
appealing Anchor Island series. Fun, light, and
charming; it is a spirited read that keeps the reader's
attention throughout. Although the outcome is never in
doubt; the story takes some standard romance tropes and
gives them a fresh new twist. UP TO THE CHALLENGE is a
fluffy treasure to read, and the series looks to continue
in the same winning fashion.
When the Dempsey patriarch suffers a heart attack, Lucas
Dempsey steps up to keep the doors of the family restaurant
open. The proverbial prodigal son returns home to Anchor
Island—putting family first and his quest to make partner at
his high-powered law firm on hold. Sporting a bruised ego
after losing his fiancée to his older brother, Lucas would
rather walk on glass than spend six weeks within spitting
distance of the happy couple. But family duty calls. And
that duty includes working side-by-side with a tantalizing
spitfire intent on driving him mad.
Tough-as-nails boat mechanic Sid Navarro is happy to
trade her tools for an apron to help the Dempseys in their
time of need. That is, until she realizes she’ll be working
alongside Lucas, the man she’s loved from afar since she
first laid eyes on him in high school. Lucas could charm the
paint off a schooner, but Sid knows she doesn’t fit his
girl-next-door type. To show her true feelings would mean
certain heartbreak, but the temptation of Lucas in her bed
might be more than she can resist.
After a rocky start punctuated by verbal barbs and
exasperating arguments, things heat up between them—big-time
—but their steamy affair turns more than casual in a matter
of weeks. Sid’s life has become the dream she’s always
wanted, and Lucas has fallen hard for the last woman he ever
expected to love.
But this affair has an end-date, as Lucas must return to
his life and career in the big city, a place where Sid would
never fit in. When the end comes earlier than expected,
walking away turns out to be a challenge neither of them
wants to win.
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