Book Review: Hot Summer Lovin' by Ali Parker

One Hot Summer Book 1

She’s looking for change. I’m looking for my next score. I’m the guy fathers warn their daughters about. Trouble. Even when I’m trying to escape it, it finds me. The sinfully beautiful new girl in town is after a summer fling. If she knew I robbed banks in my spare time, she might run the other way. As she should, if she knew what was good for her. But lucky for me, she’s only focused on one thing. Our budding love affair. It’s a distraction I can’t afford. Life hasn’t ever been easy for me, but I make it bend to my will. Just like I’d like to make this new woman do. Best part of it all? She ends up with my baby. Worst part? She keeps it a secret. But us thieves have a way of finding these out. Looks like we might be up for more than just hot summer lovin’.

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My Review:

Maybe it’s the number of years between my age and the age of the heroine in this book, but I had a lot of trouble getting into it. Heidi’s childish behavior, and that of and her friend Val, bothered me to no end. I couldn’t connect with her. Will came across as being more mature, so it was easier for me to understand him and his motivations. One of the things I adore most about a Parker story is that the ‘bad boy’ hero is still a good man. This book really pushed it to the edge. I was having problems fitting Will into the good man category for most of the book. He pulls it off in the end, but it was a near thing. For me, this was a three-and-a-half star review, but I’m going to round it up. I know there are readers who are going to love this story the way I wanted to. The story is well-written, the characters are complex and believable, I just wasn’t able to get far enough past Heidi and Val’s spoiled, selfish attitudes.

I received a complimentary advanced copy of this book from the author.