The Hotter You Burn
by Gena Showalter
Series: The Original Heartbreakers, #2
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: July 28, 2015
New York Times bestselling author Gena Showalter is back with a sizzling Original Heartbreakers tale featuring a troubled playboy and the woman he can’t resist…
Beck Ockley is ruthless in the boardroom...and the bedroom. He's never been with the same woman twice, and vows he never will. With a past as twisted as his, meaningless sex keeps the demons at bay. His motto: One and done. No harm, no foul.
Harlow Glass is the most hated girl in town. The beautiful artist is penniless, jobless and homeless. When she sneaks into Beck's home—her ancestral estate—for food, she's shocked by his early return...and her immediate, sizzling and intense attraction to him.
For the first time in Beck's life, he can't get a woman out of his mind. All too soon, friendship blooms into obsession and he'll have to break her heart...or surrender his own.
Gena Showalter delivers another solid story with fun dialogue and colorful characters. There’s plenty of angst and drama, some of that trademark Showalter snark, and some blistering heat that make this small town romance a perfect read to escape with.
I have to say I was not a big Harlow fan. I applauded the fact she was trying to make amends for all the hurt and pain she caused everyone in high school, and it was tough watching just how awful most of the townspeople treated her even though she is trying her best to redeem herself, but I wish she would have stood up for herself a bit more – the whole way her job at the inn played out was just too much for me to accept.
Beck obviously had issues that stemmed from his childhood and it was fun watching him get frustrated about his feelings for Harlow. He’s never given any of the women he’s taken to bed any promises or false hope, but still, it was nice to see him be the one who wanted more. He was a bit arrogant, but so much of that at times was a result of those issues he has. I love the relationship he has with Jace and West, and how he was expanding that very tight circle of family out to include a few others.
Beck and Harlow together didn’t make much sense to me at times, but they did grow on me as a couple. I liked how they both knew that Harlow was a forever type of woman, so any type of physical relationship was not a good idea for either of them. Of course once Beck volunteers to help Harlow find her forever type of guy, he realizes just how much that doesn’t work for him. These two both had so many issues to work through and confront, so it was no wonder that their relationship wouldn’t be an easy one.
A couple of things did bother me about the book. I found Harlow’s living situation (in a tent) a bit farfetched – call me crazy, but for someone who barely had any food to eat she seemed to be in pretty good health. I was also rather annoyed at the townspeople. Their behavior towards Harlow when she was working at the inn and also the incident at the end had me seriously hating on these small town residents, residents that in my opinion should have quickly seen how she was trying to make amends and rallied around her rather than try to keep her down. I was very disappointed in those local characters!
All in all this was a really good read that has me looking forward to West’s book. Gena Showalter always delivers wonderful dialogue and her small town of Strawberry Valley will pull you in with the diverse group of characters that take up residence there. I may not have liked some of the characters or their actions, but this was a well-developed story that evoked some pretty strong emotions for me and kept my interest right up until the end.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review.
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