REVIEW: Up To The Challenge by Terri Osburn

In Up To The Challenge by Terri Osborne, Lucas is back on Anchor Island, the place he’s always been desperate to escape from. But when his father has a heart attack and help is needed in the family business, Lucas steps up. Little does anyone know that he’s actually on a forced leave from the law office he practices with. Ever since his former fiancee hooked up with his brother, Lucas has felt out of sorts. He’s not really mourning the loss of her as much as the humiliation…deep down he knows they would have not made it work together.

Sid has lived on Anchor Island for much of her life with her brother. She has also been half in love with Lucas for years…but she hides it well. Most people think of Sid as one of the guys, but when Sid ends up working with Lucas in his family’s restaurant to help out, Lucas starts to see a whole new side of Sid…one he is extremely attracted to. The air between Lucas and Sid sizzles with mutual attraction and soon they are involved in a temporary ‘fling’. Lucas will not be staying and Sid will not be leaving. But somewhere along the way what they have becomes much more than a fling…even if neither of them will admit it to the other. When the time for Lucas to leave comes sooner than they expected will their hearts survive? Can they move on without each other?

Terri Osburn gives us another wonderful visit to Anchor Island. I love the small town quirkiness, the interactions, and life by the water!

Sid is an independent, hard worker who has no idea how gorgeous she is! She always seems so surprised by this and unassuming, making her sound like a great friend to have! Sid has her goals…all of which include staying on Anchor Island. Lucas has always felt like he was in his brother’s shadow, though I’m not really sure why. He’s always felt like he has to prove himself, strives for the best and for better…whatever that might be. He was a bit of a puzzle to figure out, but I admired his way of being and how he did care about others…he just had a harder time showing it. He is very driven. Sid and Lucas are both very like-able and realistic characters that you can envision in your head.

The interactions between Sid and Lucas were highly amusing at times…the way they’d poke at each other, make bets, and tease. The chemistry is definitely there between them, and I was really curious to see how or if they could work things out between them when both of them were so determined to stay where they were in life. One of them might have to decide what’s really important or they will both lose out.

Up To The Challenge is a fast paced, very well written romance that is every thing you could want to take you away for a few hours! Terri writes so smoothly, the scenes flow so well across the pages effortlessly. Besides the strong, very like-able characters in Up To The Challenge, Terri’s descriptives of Anchor Island will take you there…from the beach scene to the storm.

Although this is book 2 in Terri’s Anchor Island series, it stands well alone. (Although I do recommend the first book in the series too because it’s just as great!) I’d recommend this to any romance reader who likes to laugh a bit along the way and really get to know the characters.

Book Info:

Published October 22nd 2013 by Montlake

Opposites attract in a sexy tale of unexpected love

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.

Up to the Challenge is a sexy, fast-paced, romantic story of family, island life, and finding love in unexpected places.