Title: Never Too Hot (Hot Shots: Men Of Fire #3)
Author: Bella Andre
Publisher: Bantam
Publication Date: 15th May 2010
Paperback: 351 pages
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Reviewed by Zosia
RATING: 5/10
BOOK COVER SUMMARY:
A TOUCH IGNITES. A FIRE BURNS. AND THE HEAT HAS JUST BEGUN.
Deep in the cool green mountains of the Adirondacks, wounded firefighter Connor MacKenzie has come to rebuild the 100-year-old MacKenzie family cabin—and to be alone. A horrific blaze has left him scarred inside and out and certain of two things: He’ll get back on his hotshot crew no matter what it takes, and any woman who ventures too close will not stay long.
Ginger Sinclair has been burned by a different kind of fire. Having just escaped from a bad marriage, she’s retreated to the safety of the lakeside vacation town in upstate New York to start a new life. She’s done with men, with relationships, with the danger of desires that can rage out of control—until she unexpectedly encounters Connor MacKenzie. As a hot summer on the lake grows ever hotter, they find themselves sharing a cabin and a romance that will swiftly engulf them both.
REVIEW:
This was not what I expected. ‘Wild Heat’ and ‘Hot As Sin’ were great reads, and I expected something special to conclude the Hot Shots series. I have an issue with authors who change genres in the middle of a series, and Bella Andre has taken her Hot Shots series from romantic suspense focusing on one relationship to contemporary romance (in a different location) with multiple relationships involving characters of all ages. Once I adjusted my expectations I thought the book was okay – if a tad clichéd – but I am disappointed with what Andre has done.
Perhaps it is the success of Robyn Carr’s cosy, small town ‘Virgin River’ series that has driven other writers to move in this direction; there are certainly echoes of Carr in this one. However, watching so many of my favourite authors move away from one of my favourite genres is not a trend I appreciate.
Books featuring firefighter heroes tend to leave a lot to be desired. Writers apparently work on the idea all a woman wants to read about is a man with lots of muscles hauling distressed damsels out of burning buildings. I appreciated the Hot Shots books because Andre has clearly done a lot of research about the profession, and the stories had depth others in the genre did not. That is no different in Never Too Hot; she knows what she’s writing about, and it makes for a more believable story.
The problem though, is that the firefighter aspect doesn’t come into this story until a couple of pages towards the end! What a waste!
For me the best aspect of Never Too Hot was the story of Connor’s father and the childhood sweetheart he abandoned thirty years earlier. Their parts of the book were where I became emotionally involved and they were far more interesting characters than the main pair. I would have liked to have read a full book about them.
This was not a terrible book, but nor was there anything in particular about it that I found special. Connor’s brother featured in the last book and I liked his character very much, so I was a bit let down to discover Connor was so bland. We’ve seen him in the background until now and I expected the story of him finding life and love after a terrible career-ending injury to be something special. Connor could have been anybody in this book. He does have bad burns from something that happened in book one, but he could have attained those burns another way and his chosen profession would have been completely irrelevant to the story.
There was simply no conflict in the plot. In book one they were looking for a killer. In book two they were looking for the heroine’s sister. In this one they were…fixing the electrical wiring in the cabin.
Ginger was a walking cliché. The poor rich girl whose parents and ex-husband never accepted her because she was a little larger than other women in her social circles. The woman the hero is more turned on by than any woman he’s ever met before. So turned on, the woman’s weight is portrayed as the most important aspect of her character. As for her character, Ginger was too pushy and rude and intrusive for me, getting involved in everyone’s business and demanding answers to very personal questions. I connect with a story better if the heroine is someone I’d be happy to spend time with in real life; Ginger wasn’t.
In this story – as with all others in the ‘discover life is better when you move to a small mountain town’ genre – we have plenty of scenes where Connor discovers maybe the exciting life he led wasn’t as good as this new lifestyle. He pines for the happy, quiet little marriage all his childhood friends have – blueberry pancakes and pot belly included. The women gather to knit and gossip and all of them want lots of babies. I was waiting for the Brady Bunch to make an appearance to make the stereotype complete. I only kept reading because I was so shocked the author who created the first two books in the series could have created this one.
On a side note, I’m astounded Andre thought it was realistic that adults could have sex for weeks and forget to use contraception the whole time! It was a lazy way to make the plot arrive at a desired point.
Romantic suspense authors seem to be particularly bad about genre-jumping before their series is over. Whatever the reason, I don’t like it. The first two books – ‘Wild Heat’ and ‘Hot As Sin’ – were excellent, and so while Never Too Hot was often good, it was definitely a big letdown for me.
VERDICT:
I can highly recommend the first two books in the Hot Shots series. If you plan on reading this one be prepared for a genre-change and also for some truly clichéd situations. If this was the first Bella Andre book I read I’m not sure I would read another. Don’t start here.
SOURCE: This book is from Zosia’s personal library.
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5 Comments
Sorry to hear this one did not work for you, I liked this one the most of the three, because Connor and Ginger felt real to me. Logan's story I liked too, the second one I had trouble with, I found the suspense part too far-fetched. Loved reading your review!
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It's a shame a book doesn't meet expectations, especially if part of a series and even more if it's the last book! Sorry this one wasn't very good – thanks for the review Zosia
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Why is it the final book in a series so often lets readers down?!
Marissa – you're correct about the suspense in the second book! The reason I liked it so much was because of the two main characters, but I think the first book was the best as far as the combination of romance and suspense.
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Oh how disappointing the back cover looks so good too. I've never read a firefighter hero book before.
As @bookchickcity said there's nothing worse than a disappointing end to a series.
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Laura, I was really looking forward to it (even if nekkid guys on covers annoy me)!! I know a lot of people liked this book, but then there's a huge trend for small town romances at the moment, and it's not something I generally like to read. It's not what I expected either.
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