Wendy Etherington. Raising the Stakes. Toronto: Harlequin, 2010.

Evie Winters and Jared Hunt saw each other all the time when they were growing up.  Their parents were good friends and the extended Winter and Hunt families gathered for holiday meals, summer cookouts, and life’s small and large events.  Evie–a tall girl with a talent for math–had a crush on Jared, but Jared was a boy who taste ran to cheerleaders and prom queens.  Evie once confessed her love for Jared. Even after he rejected her, the two kept up a friendship on the phone and via email.

As the years passed, Evie established herself as an accountant in New York. Jared stayed in North Carolina and parlayed his skill tinkering with machines into an impressive career as an engine builder for NASCAR teams.  The years have been hard on both families–deaths, job losses, and worse–but the final blow for Evie’s mom comes when her younger son is accused of murder.  Evie takes a leave from her job in New York to come home and help her mother cope.

Evie finds temporary work analyzing the accounts for the FastMax racing team, one of the teams that uses Jared’s engines.  Evie’s cost-cutting measures at FastMax jeopardize Jared’s contract with the company and create distrust between the old friends even as a romance blooms between them.   Just when it appears that business matters will not stand between the lovers, family secrets threaten their happiness.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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