Liz Allison and Wendy Etherington, Winning It All

Winning It All

Liz Allison and Wendy Etherington

Harlequin HQN, Oct 2009, $7.99

ISBN: 9780373774029

Former NASCAR champion driver Bryan "Steel" Garrison still recovers from the car accident injuries that ended his racing career. Emotionally that accident was strike two as his wife left him several years ago, which was strike one. Now the president of Garrison Racing, he reluctantly acquiesces to his family pressure and hires a physical therapist.

Widow Darcy Butler accepts the position. Upon their first meeting, he cannot see how the tiny blonde is going to be physically and mentally strong enough to bully him. He soon realizes she matches him in obstinacy and has a steel fortitude. As he begins to regain the condition he had when he drove the oval, Bryan finds he has finally moved beyond his emotional traumas as he wants his therapist, but she has issues too although she reciprocates his desire.

The third Garrison Racing romance (see NO HOLDING BACK and RISKING HER HEART) is a fun spin around the track as both of the lead protagonists carry plenty of personal issues that leave each distrustful of relationships. Character driven, he has learned how brittle steel can be while she has learned how brittle life can be. The return of the stars of the previous books mostly to yell at Bryan adds that sense of family to an entertaining straightforward (even around the oval) NASCAR romance.

Harriet Klausner