Reviewed by Kati Dancy
2.75 stars

Lori Love is the local mechanic in tiny Tumble Creek, Colorado. She didn’t always want to be a mechanic. For years, she wanted to travel, to discover new places and new experiences. But when her father got sick, she took over working at the shop he owned, and when he died, after racking up thousands of dollars in medical expenses, Lori ends up tethered to the shop and to a life she never really wanted. She knows that with perseverance and hard work, she might be able to pay off the debt and get started on her “real” life. But this means very little frivolity, silliness, and certainly no time for any kind of a serious relationship. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t want sex. She definitely does, but only in a no strings attached kind of way.

Quinn Jennings is Lori’s best friend, Molly’s brother. He is a rising star in architecture, and is passionate about his job. So passionate that often times other aspects of his life suffer. He is easily absorbed in his work and in his free time is building his dream home. That’s not to say he doesn’t want sex, he’s just awful at relationships because he’s so absorbed in his work and doesn’t have time for all the protocols of dating that women seem to expect. But when Lori comes out to repair a piece of construction equipment at his dream home, they reconnect, and he finds that Lori is a gorgeous, desirable woman. He decides to pursue her, and is thrilled when he finds that she’s just looking for some meaningless sex, certainly nothing serious. But as Quinn gets to know Lori, he realizes that she might just be the woman he has been waiting for all of his life. But will he be able to convince her to take a real chance on love?

This is the second of Victoria Dahl’s foray into contemporary romance. And for the most part, it is a very successful one. Quinn is a great hero, one who is smart and driven, and willing to go the extra mile to make his woman happy. He realizes pretty quickly that he and Lori are having more than just sex, and he’s willing to take the experiment to a new higher level. It is Lori that I had a problem with. She is adamant that she is not going to get into a relationship with Quinn; she’s just having a fling with him. Even when all indications are she’s falling for him. Her absolute certainty that they have nothing in common and that she could never have a serious relationship stymied me. I didn’t find her reasoning about why she couldn’t fall in love with Quinn to be credible, and every part of me was frustrated with her lack of either self-awareness or understanding that today’s women can have both, a career AND a loving relationship. My issues with Lori aside, there is much to recommend the book. Dahl writes beautifully choreographed love scenes, which combine genuine emotion, adventurous loving and very steamy sex. Her heroes continue to delight. Quinn is an ideal contemporary hero, respectful of the heroine, sexually attracted, a gentleman and possessed of a terrific sense of humor. Now if I’d only felt that Lori deserved him. Overall, Start Me Up is a serviceable contemporary romance that I think a lot of romance readers will enjoy, but for me, my lack of connection with the heroine lowered the book’s final grade.