Review & Giveaway - - In Love on Anchor Island

In Love on Anchor Island
by Terri Osburn
131 Page Novella
Publisher: Macie Rae Publishing
Release Date: February 11, 2020
Reviewed by PJ
  

Roxie Chandler is a screw up. She doesn’t look for trouble, but it finds her anyway. After creating a scandal in her hometown, she takes refuge on Anchor Island, her cousin’s adopted home in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Planning to stick around only until she finds an alternative, Roxie doesn’t expect to make friends. Or to find love.

Alex Fielding is living his dream. A small town doctor making a difference in his neighbors’ lives, he ignores his father’s demands to return to the big city and take his rightful place in the family practice. His life on Anchor Island is quiet and simple, just how he likes it, until a leather-clad rebel with a chip on her shoulder moves in next door.

Roxie and Alex get off to a rough start, but sparks fly even when they’re fighting. The more he learns about her, the more Alex wants to save her from herself. And the longer she’s on the island, the more Roxie thinks about staying. But when her prediction comes true and she screws up once again, Anchor Island may no longer be her port in the storm.


PJ's Thoughts:

They say you can't go home again but that doesn't apply to author Terri Osburn who, in this novella, returns to the fictional island, and beloved characters, she created in her debut Anchor Island series. I loved every minute of it. 

As with the earlier books in Osburn's Anchor Island series, this story is infused with humor, deep emotion, and a strong sense of community. I enjoyed how she wove characters from the original series into Alex and Roxie's journey, giving Anchor Island fans the opportunity to check in with favorite couples while at the same time offering up a fresh, new story, with new main characters, for those readers unfamiliar with the series. 

At first, Roxie and Alex appear to be an opposites-attract couple with a dash of enemies-to-lovers but these two have many more common values than they realize. Osburn gives them wonderful banter, delicious sizzle, and heart-tugging complexities. I loved the growth of both characters and the ways in which they each helped the other achieve that growth. The emotions that accompany their journey are deep, rich, and true; eliciting laughter, tears, and deep sighs of satisfaction. Also, anger and frustration. Osburn has a knack for creating realistic and complex dysfunction within families and certain characters had me ready to rally the troops to ride to Alex and Roxie's defense. 

This story may be a shorter-length novella but it has all the depth and emotional richness I expect in a full-length novel. It checked my happy reader boxes and has me hoping Osburn will decide to return to Anchor Island for more stories in the future. There's something very special about both the island and the characters who live there. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Have you read any of the Anchor Island books?

Do you have a favorite Anchor Island couple?

One person who comments before 11:00 PM, February 18, will receive a Kindle copy of In Love on Anchor Island.

*Must be 18 or older

Review - - More to Give

More to Give
Anchor Island #4
By Terri Osburn
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Release Date: November 11, 2014

Six years ago, Callie Wellman’s husband and her best friend were killed in a fiery crash, exposing an extra-marital affair that left their respective spouses stunned by the unthinkable betrayal. Mired in mutual grief, Callie and Sam Edwards turned to one another in a single night of unplanned passion but by morning Sam had disappeared without a word. Callie moved on and with the help of therapy became a stronger person, returning to college and excelling in her chosen career – a career that has brought Callie (now using her maiden name of Henderson) to Anchor Island and a job interview with Sam. Will Sam remember her? Will he judge her on her merits or hold their spouses’ betrayal as well as that one night they shared against her? Callie desperately needs this job to take her career to the next level. Sam holds her future in his hands…in more ways than she can imagine.

Sam Edwards is counting the days until he’s able to leave Anchor Island. Tied to the island by the terms of his uncle’s will, he just wants to get the remodeling of his uncle’s inn completed, find a loophole in the will and get back to the mainland. He has no ties to the island, in fact, has made sure to not form any. Sam has become an expert at burying himself in his work, holding himself apart from the islanders, refusing to bring the ghosts of his past into the open and deal with them…until the day his past walks into his office - a beautiful, strong woman more desirable than ever - and turns his well-ordered, sterile life upside down.

Terri Osburn’s Anchor Island has become one of my favorite fictional places to visit. She brings the slow-paced, laid-back island to life through the well-formed main characters and quirky old-timers who call the island home. Her stories are well-paced, heartwarming, often humorous and filled with the passion and pathos of real life. While I have enjoyed all four books in the series, More to Give edges out Meant to Be (Book #1) as my favorite. Callie and Sam have more than their spouses’ betrayal to overcome before they can claim a happy ending which makes that happy-ever-after all the more sweet when it finally occurs but it’s not a destination that they can reach on their own. They’re going to need a little help from their friends, including two irascible old men with a love of bickering over checkers, a gangly teenage boy who thinks he’s all that but blushes at the drop of a hat, our favorite couples from the first three books and, not to be forgotten, a fast-talking parrot with a gourmet cracker habit.

More to Give stands well on its own but, fair warning, once you meet the other residents of Anchor Island you’ll be buying their books faster than you can say, “Cecil wants a high-priced oval party cracker!”

~PJ

Anchor Island Series
Meant to Be
Up to the Challenge
Home to Stay
More to Give

Review - - Home to Stay

Home to Stay
Anchor Island - Book 3
By Terri Osburn
Publisher:  Montlake Romance
Release Date:  May 1, 2014

I have grown very attached to the characters at Anchor Island, and the transient Will Parsons is no exception. She belongs there in a way she hasn’t belonged anywhere else—but there’s a reason why Randy calls her gypsy. Will Parsons is used to doing for herself and knows better than to accept help from anyone, a lesson she learned the hard way after the death of her mother. Now her code is to lay low and not make a scene; however, when a magazine journalist and a photographer come to the island to feature Anchor Island for some much needed tourist publicity, it’s very hard for Will to stick to the code. The usually unflappable, competent Will becomes very, very flappable, which lends itself to Terri Osburn’s signature humor.

Randy Navarro is sublime beefcake, if you go for that sort of thing, and the most beta of betas in the best of all possible ways. He’s Zen. He’s vegetarian. He’s athletic and happy go lucky and just an all-around nice guy. Lately the only thing that’s actually making him mad is the fact that every time he gets around Will Parsons, she behaves as if he’s seconds away from doing a Hulk imitation and destroying everything around him, including her. He certainly can’t think what he’s done to merit such a reaction.

Tying the two together is Beth, the heroine from MEANT TO BE, who is now planning her wedding and is giving a credible rendition of a Bridezilla. (Honestly, Will should be far more afraid of her.) Will takes on the task of keeping Beth’s wedding on track when Beth has a little health scare (she’s pregnant—terrifying!) and needs to relax. Randy helps Will, whenever, that is, Will is willing to be helped, frankly as little as possible, but the man is irritatingly handy. The wedding itself is going to take place in an area that Randy owns and has already detailed. Those people that Will doesn’t know, Randy does. She doesn’t want to spend time with him, as she makes clear time and again, but she’s not going to get far without his help. Will gets some rude awakenings that Randy is not some he-man Goliath without thoughts that don’t revolve around sports. The man’s helpful; he’s sensitive; and God help her, he’s incredibly hot.

As a scene involving a jet ski will attest.

HOME TO STAY is a bit darker than its predecessors, but because it’s a contemporary romance, it stays true to its roots and doesn’t skive off into major romantic suspense and thriller episodes. Although Will came from an abusive relationship, there is not a black moment where the bad guy sneaks into her room while she’s sleeping, there’s a tussle, and he falls off the balcony to his death. Contrary to television fiction, that doesn’t always happen. But what it doesn’t have in overly dramatic showdowns, it makes up for with sweet and sassy characters, a spicy romance (did I mention the jet ski? The jet ski is important), and a satisfying ending. Well, mostly. I am glad that there will be a fourth book to show us what Beth is going to have and a little more entertainment among our favorite cast of characters. Anchor Island is a lot like the desserts at Opal’s—there’s no such thing as too much of a good thing. 

~Hellie

Hellie Sinclair (a.k.a. Fran) was one of the founding members of the Romance Writer's Revenge, where she frequently got to satisfy her love of good books and her need to expound by writing reviews. Hellie loves to craft on projects she rarely finishes, watch British dramas as a sort of Olympic marathon event, and do most anything that fits the description "indolent and pleasurable." Fortunately reading falls into that category.  Connect with Hellie on Facebook. 

Today's Special - - Terri Osburn

She's back!  One of our favorite new authors, Terri Osburn returns to the Dish today to blog about her new book, Home to Stay, third in her heartwarming Anchor Island contemporary romance series.  Although born in the Ohio Valley, Terri found her true home between the covers of her favorite books. Classics like The Wizard of Oz and Little Women filled her childhood, and the genre of romance beckoned during her teen years. In 2007, she decided to put pen to paper and write her own. Just five years later, she was named a 2012 finalist for the Romance Writers of America® Golden Heart® Award. You can learn more about Terri and her work by visiting her website at www.terriosburn.com.

Take it away, Terri!

Hot Stuff In The Kitchen

I am NOT a foodie. In fact, I rarely cook anything that doesn’t come out of a box. There are six or seven cookbooks on a bookshelf in my kitchen, but I never open them. Heck, I don’t even know what the word mince means.

And all of this could be a contributing factor for why I keep writing heroes who can cook. Normally, I’d say writers are not putting their own fantasies onto the page. In this case, that is exactly what I’m doing. But the odd thing is, I didn’t even realize I was doing it.

Back in olden days, when I first sat down to put fingers to keyboard (that sounds dirtier than intended – apologies), the hero who walked into my brain was a former Navy cook turned chef. As you can probably guess, my first thought was “What the fudge do I know about writing a chef?”

(Yes, I said fudge. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.)

Poor Bryan never did get his happily ever after, and I’ve yet to write a chef hero, but of the three heroes in the Anchor Island series so far, two of them are really good cooks. Ironically, my heroines rarely cook, but they do spend a lot of time at the sweet shop on the island, partaking of their favorite desserts.

So basically, through my highly-skilled-in-the-kitchen heroes, I’ve realized that I am indeed putting my own fantasies into my books. As for my heroines, well, that’s more my reality.

And speaking of my cooking heroes, the next book in the Anchor Island Series, HOME TO STAY, goes on sale in all formats on May 1. Very soon you’ll get to read about Randy Navarro, my vegetarian, green tea drinking, adrenaline junkie, giant Teddy Bear of a man who makes a killer fettuccini alfredo for his heroine, Willow Parsons.

Here’s the blurb for the book:

Willow Parsons’s two new best friends are getting married, putting her squarely on the sidelines of romance—which suits her just fine. After escaping the ultimate Mr. Wrong, she is more than happy to spend her days slinging drinks in Dempsey’s Bar & Grill, and her nights alone. But her Anchor Island refuge has just one catch: muscle-bound charmer Randy Navarro.

Everyone in town knows that Randy, owner of the local fitness club, is a giant teddy bear. Everyone, it seems, except for Willow. He’s convinced that her avoidance is more than just playing hard to get, and is determined to uncover the secrets that keep her on edge. But when old fears are dragged into the light, can Randy get Willow to stay and fight for their love…or will she take flight, leaving both him and Anchor Island behind?

Home to Stay is a charming, romantic tale about following your heart to find where you belong.

So what about you? Good cook? Non-cook like me? Do you like a hero with solid kitchen skills? Know one in real life? Got a favorite from a book? Starving minds want to know!

One lucky commenter today will win a signed copy of HOME TO STAY along with some fun book swag. (US & Canada only.)

HOME TO STAY 

by Terri Osburn

Contemporary Romance

ISBN: 1477818367

May 1, 2014 

Buy Links:

Kindle > http://amzn.to/1g0U5W2

Print > http://amzn.to/1aIBRRt

Connect with Terri online:

Website > http://www.terriosburn.com

Facebook Page > https://www.facebook.com/TerriOsburnAuthor?fref=ts

Twitter > @TerriOsburn

Pinterest > http://pinterest.com/terriosburn/

Goodreads > http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6873792.Terri_Osburn

Review - - Meant to Be

Meant to Be
Anchor Island - Book 1
By Terri Osburn
Publisher:  Montlake Romance
Release Date:  May 21, 2013

What happens when you finally meet the love of your life and he turns out to be your fiancé's older brother?

Elizabeth Chandler has spent her life pleasing other people and living other people's dreams.  She's a lawyer because that's the respectable career path the grandparents who raised her wanted for her.  Her workaholic fiancé has no idea what she likes or dislikes because he makes all the decisions in their relationship right down to the type of wine she drinks and music she listens to and because it makes him happy, she lets him.   She's suppressed every ounce of young Beth Chandler's creativity and zest for life in an effort to be what everyone expects her to be.  But that's all about to change.

Only for Lucas Dempsey would Elizabeth Chandler, a woman deathly afraid of the water, be on a ferry to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to meet her new fiancé's family.  Lucas was supposed to be with her but, once again, the law office where they both work has taken priority and left Elizabeth to make the crossing on her own.  She's in the midst of a full-blown panic attack when an over-sized dog and his gorgeous owner come to her rescue.  Charmed in spite of herself, by both this man and his dog, she introduces herself as Beth and allows herself to secretly indulge in the instant attraction she feels to this calm, sexy man with the adorable dimple.  Then she discovers he's her future brother-in-law.

Joe Dempsey has a mental image of the woman his younger step-brother is bringing home and it sure isn't a sweet, sexy young woman who makes his own pulse race.  They get off on the wrong foot and the instant attraction that sparks between them doesn't help matters but gradually, as they get to know one another, their feelings begin to shift and then deepen though they both fight it.  Joe loves his brother, even if he doesn't understand him or approve of the way he puts Beth last on his list of priorities.  He's not about to poach on his territory.  As wrong as he may feel Beth is for Lucas, and as right as he feels she is for him, he has too much honor to come between them, no matter how much he grows to care for her.  And Beth, no matter how much she comes to care for Joe, is not about to do anything to harm the members of the Dempsey family who have come to mean so much to her.  With the odds stacked against them, does this couple have any chance of a happy ending?

First of all, let me say that love triangles are one of my least favorite romance tropes but this story is written in such a way that I'm okay with the situation.  Once Elizabeth arrives on the island and begins to re-discover, as Beth, the person she is truly meant to be, it's obvious that she and workaholic Lucas would be a terrible match.  It also helps that the author keeps Lucas in Richmond and contact between them to a minimum, placing the focus of the story on Beth's journey of self-discovery and the developing relationship between her and Joe.  I also appreciated the fact that, in spite of their growing feelings for one another, both Joe and Beth have too much honor to betray Lucas.  And while I don't feel Lucas is the right brother for Beth, Osburn doesn't make him a jerk, just a man with some misplaced priorities.  It's my understanding that he will find his happy ending in the next Anchor Island book and that makes me very happy.

This is a debut book but you'd never guess it.  Terri Osburn writes with the skill of a seasoned veteran, drawing the reader into the heart of her characters and the small island they inhabit and making us care about them.  While there is plenty of humor and lighthearted banter, both Beth and Joe are complex characters with a depth of emotion that is slowly and skillfully revealed throughout the course of the book.  A rich cast of secondary characters add to that depth.  Particular favorites are Miss Lola, a spritely senior citizen with important lessons to impart, Dozer, a floppy-tongued dog that stole my heart - and Beth's - and Sid, a smart-mouthed but gorgeous woman, slowly learning to embrace her femininity, who ( I hope) is destined to lead Lucas a merry chase in the next Anchor Island story.  I can't wait!

I've known Terri Osburn for a number of years and watched her grow as a writer over that time.  Even though she's a friend, the process I followed in reviewing this book is the same as that for every book I read and I was fair and honest in my comments.

I'm delighted to say that I highly recommend this book.  It's sitting on my keeper shelf where I'm sure it will be re-visited.  Do yourself a favor and take a trip to Anchor Island through the pages of Meant to Be.

~PJ

Have you discovered any good debut authors lately?

What books will you be taking to the beach, pool or backyard this summer?  

Do you have a favorite place to read in the summer?  Is it different from where you read the rest of the year?

One randomly chosen person who leaves a comment will receive a Kindle version of Meant to Be.