Love So Hot by Marquita Valentine

Title: Love So Hot
Author: Marquita Valentine
Series: Lawson Brothers
Pages: 200
Genre(s): Contemporary
Hot Buttons: /

Bank Teller and all around good girl, Sydney McKnight, is tired of being the girl all the guys want to have as a friend. Who better to help unleash her inner vixen than her best friend and secret crush, Brody Lawson? Only, Sydney has no idea how to ask him, without their friendship going up in flames, until that is, the town of Jessamine's annual Firemen's Auction gives her the perfect excuse to set her plan into motion.

Fire Captain Brody Lawson has been in love with his best friend, Sydney, for years, but he would never risk their friendship by confessing his feelings to her. So, when Sydney beats out the competition to buy his time at the annual Firemen's Auction, Brody can hardly believe his luck until she asks him to teach her how to seduce a fellow fireman.

Now, it’s up to Brody to show Sydney how perfect she already is and convince her that the only man for her is him, because if Sydney is going to seduce any man, it’s going to be him. And once he has her in his bed, he’s not letting her go.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23264600-love-so-hot

Fun but lacked some oomph

Can I just start by saying that this was about the cutest and sweetest book I’ve ever read! It was so much fun. It doesn’t hurt that I love a best friends into lovers storyline - even better that they’ve both been hiding their feelings for the other for fear of losing their friendship. It's almost as good as a second chance romance for me.

The story is set in a small town and the author clearly knows the nuances of that setting well. Some of the small town quirks seemed crazy but never came across as cliched or scathing of life in a small town in mid-America. I was surprised to realise that this was the first in the series of books as there were a number of characters introduced that I was under the impression that I should have known. Having said that, I’ll be looking out for books about some of the other folks in the town as I can’t resist finding out their stories since we got some interesting glimpses.

The two main characters were really fun. Sydney and Brody were perfect for each other and I liked how they played off each other and danced around each other before getting to that happily ever after part.

The main reason that I didn’t give this book 5 stars - despite liking it a lot - is that I just felt it lacked a little something. There were sex scenes but they never really caught fire. There was talk of love but we never really felt the way the characters were feeling. It just lacked a little depth. A little oomph. And the big misunderstanding/argument before the final declaration was a little bit silly. Brody just needed to man up a bit, in my opinion, instead of going in a strop when he had been doing things that were just as bad (but neither worthy of a massive argument) as Sydney had been doing.

Having said that, this is still a fun, cute and sweet book and, as I said, I’ll be looking out for others in the series as the story was well-written and a good way to spend a couple of hours. 4 stars.

Plus - not crazy about the cover. Oh, the guy and gal are hot enough but the pic looks like a badly lit snapshot that I might take when I'm trying to pretend that I'm an arty photographer. Which I'm definitely not!