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After reading Meant to Be and absolutely loving it, I immediately jumped into Up to the Challenge. This is the second book in Terri Osburn's Anchor Island series. I was also able to apply this read to prompt guy on the right for Summer of Swoon board 2.
After seeing Lucas lose his fiancé in Meant to Be, we see him coming back to the island a few weeks later. His father has had a heart attack and he comes home to help out with the restaurant. What everybody doesn't know, is that he was on leave before the hospitalization since he was struggling. He decides to spend his time off on the island helping out. Pulling away from Joe's charter boat is Sid. She's usually his assistant and boat mechanic, but help is needed more at the restaurant. She has been in love with Lucas since high school, but he's never really noticed her feelings or her at all. Now that they are working close together, they both start to connect.
This was a little more angsty than the first book, but I kind of expected it going in. This isn't too long after Meant to Be, so Lucas is still struggling with his emotions. While he acknowledges that him and Beth wouldn't have had a good marriage, if they even got that far, and he does want them to be happy, he's still hurt by the situation. I loved how he kept snapping at people, but immediately apologizing and being upfront that he's trying to not to be bitter but it's hard sometimes. I also loved that while Sid kind of hero worshipped Lucas, it was more. She saw more of him and I feel like she did love him. It was fun to see her love change to being in love with him.
There was great banter between them and I think I enjoyed their banter a little bit more. There was also more steam here, and it started earlier. Before then though, the sexual tension was once again on point. Terri Osburn so far is writing great chemistry and tension between the characters. I also loved how Sid was unabashedly herself. While at first Lucas thought it was because she was mechanic and she had a Napoleon complex, but she just was who she was. Yeah she wears snarky shirts and curses like a sailor, but she enjoys the shirts and works with sailors all day. It didn't feel like a front at all which was so nice.
This just wasn't quite a 5-star read for me. When I finished, I just didn't feel like it was. When I started to think about it, there wasn't really anything to detract from it, but because I was struggling on how to rate it I realized that it meant it wasn't. After having some space and time from finishing, I didn't like a couple things. The main conflict at the end was kind of predictable, but it bothered me that it was a miscommunication and omission from both of them. I think the biggest thing I didn't like was Sid pushing against any help whatsoever. I am very much a person that doesn't like to ask for help as well, but she pushed so much against it that I got a little frustrated. Yes Lucas went a little overboard helping her without consent. But as I grow as a person I've been really trying to learn to be comfortable not only asking for help but accepting it as well. I just wish that that portion of their relationship was addressed as well instead of Lucas talking all the fault (for that specific situation).
I really enjoyed this series and the small town vibes I'm getting. I will definitely continue reading the series and also added Terri's backlist to my tbr. She has country musician series that sounds pretty fun too! I'm not going to immediately go into the third book, Home to Stay, right away though. We kind of get hints about Will's past and I know there's going to be some sort of trauma about abuse of something similar. I just need a little bit of a better mood before jumping into that one. I will get to it though.
Have you read Up to the Challenge?
Bookishly Yours,
Stasi🍎
STASISTICS: Up to the Challenge, Terri Osburn, 4-stars, 0 days, eBook, 350 pages, published in 2013
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