The Challenge

A Single Dad Romance

By: Penelope Ward

Narrated by: Connor Crais, Desireé Ketchum

From New York Times bestselling author Penelope Ward comes a new, STANDALONE contemporary romance performed in DUET…

Nothing says welcome home like accidentally moving in with your first heartbreak…and his little girl.

Coming back to my small Wyoming hometown was supposed to be temporary. I only planned to stay long enough to help my ailing mother and sort through the mess of my family’s old belongings. Instead, I somehow ended up living in Evan Ricci’s house. The single dad now owned a bunch of properties and one of them was the place I’d rented. He’d taken it off the market and moved in before I got there. I just never got the memo. Unfortunately, there was no other place in town available, so Evan let me stay.

Evan—the guy my parents took in years ago after his mother died.

The same Evan who used to dare me into ridiculous challenges that somehow always made me stronger—a game we’d dubbed The Challenge. The same guy who ultimately rejected me before I left for college after I’d finally garnered the courage to shoot my shot.

Now Evan was a rugged single dad with an eight-year-old daughter, a cocky attitude, and a dangerous ability to make me forget every reason I should still hate him.

Sharing a house with him should’ve been unbearable. Instead, it felt dangerously familiar, nearly making me forget that I had a life and a job to get back to in Chicago. I realized the biggest challenge wasn’t surviving living with Evan Ricci.

It was not falling in love with him all over again.

©2026 Penelope Ward (P)2026 Penelope Ward

Not as much drama

Slow burn, great character development, awesome narrators. Just not as much drama and heartache as I’m used to getting from Penelope.

Childhood crushes

Chloe and Evan has been friends since she was twelve and Evan was sixteen.
Now she's back in town and has rented a house but things were mixed up and her rental was supposed to be canceled. It turns out to be Evan's and his young daughter, Effie's house. He has her stay since there isn't any where else for her.
Old feelings resurface for both of them. I enjoyed the Challenges that they revived.
This was a wonderful and emotional book. The narration in duet was really good.

Emotional II - The Challenge

I have titled my review "Emotional II" because I loved the prior reviewer's review that is titled, "emotional". If you have not read that review please do so. It was the review that pushed me to purchase this book. I love Penelope Ward's novels. I have listened to quite a few of them on Audible, but I have discovered the books I have listen to and then immediately turned around and listened to a second time are the books I adore the most. "The Challenge" is one of my immediately must listen to a second time books. Of course, Penelope's writing is a huge reason for this occurrence, but the two narrators of this book must be given a standing ovation, in my opinion, for making this audible the "Gold Star - Jewel" that it is. I found myself lost in the story and feeling an entire gammit of "emotions" while listening. I fell in love with Connor Crais' deep voice, and his voice is perfect for the character "Evan". This is the first audible I have listened to with either Desiree Ketchum or Connor Crais voices, and I loved both their narrations. Desiree's voice is a enjoyable, clear, feminine adult voice. If she also did Effie's voice (the daughter voice) too, I am quite impressed. If you love a "Second Chance" love story mixed in with a single dad storyline, you will love this book.

Amazing Audio 🎧

I absolutely loved this story!! Evan, Chloe and Effie were made to be together 💙. I love how seamlessly they all just vibe together and their Challenges were fun and well meaning ☺️
I am hoping that this author gives us more from this family and Dry River, Wyoming 🎧💍💍

Very good

Narration was great and so was the storyline. I really enjoyed it. Will listen to other books by this author.