When widowed advice columnist Virginia Chase sells everything and buys a broken down old farmhouse in Maine she ends up with a lot more than she bargained for. First she is quoted an outrageously high price to fix what's wrong with it…and then the man she does hire to do the work aims to fix what's wrong with her: a soul-deep sense of loss preventing her from moving on with her life in any way but the most obvious geographical one. The problem is that the man in question is way too young for her, or so she would like to believe in order to keep her emotions safe.

Mike Standish might be more than a decade younger than Ginny, but that doesn't dim his desire for her, and much as he respects her need to grieve, when she reaches out to him there is no way he'll turn her down. Their mutual lust blooms hotter than hot, and in no time he finds himself in love with the sexy 40 year old.

However, Ginny finds it nearly impossible to get over their age difference and uses that as well as the excuse of her husband's early demise to keep him away. In the end it comes down to her willingness to accept the possible loss of another man she loves.

Oh Yum. That is the name of the series for which Sierra Dafoe wrote Built to Last. And man-oh man is Michael Standish yummy! Ginny eventually refers to him as her 'hunkalicious boy toy', and even for the most faithful of wives, it would be impossible not to wish for one at home to play with! Resourceful, hard-working, gorgeous, sexy as all get out, and an insatiable lover-what more could you ask for?

And yet Ginny's reservations are all too real, as are Mike's insecurities, and it's easy to relate to both sides. Ms. Dafoe has created characters with believable feelings, infusing just the right amount of internal and external conflict in a relatively short tale. In Built to Last she has again proved herself to be a writer whose stories are both captivating and titillating, making the reader wish for more at the end of each one. Five Angels RR

Reviewed by: Lynn