Skip to main content

seriously romantic: too hot to handle by tessa bailey

tessa bailey's romancing the clarksons series follows 4 estranged siblings as they cope with the aftermath of their mother's death and struggle to honor her last wishes. belmont, rita, aaron and peggy clarkson are all emotional wrecks, with abandonment issues, imposter syndrome, commitment issues galore. the series kicks off with too hot to handle, and follows the siblings' decision to take a road trip to new york from san diego in order to fulfill one of their mysterious mother's crazy last requests and jump into the atlantic from a pier on coney island at midnight on new year's eve.

rita starts the entire chain of events when she accidentally burns down her mother's restaurant. at loose ends, her culinary career in question she guilts her siblings into driving across the country with her. when they end up stranded in the town of hurley, new mexico not too long after their disastrous road trip starts rita finds herself attracted to one of the locals, jasper ellis.

as the one sibling who followed their mother's footsteps into the cooking world, rita can't help feeling like she never measures up. her younger sister, peggy, is the pretty one. her brothers remain at arm's length for reasons that we'll likely get to explore in their books. meanwhile jasper is trying to reform his reputation, he's been the town's go-to-guy for an easy lay. he wants something more out of life, out of his relationships. he wants something more with rita. of course his hesitancy to just jump her bones feeds into her deeply held insecurities. eventually these two get on the same page about how attracted they are to one another and whether or not sleeping together will mean they don't respect each other in the morning, but it takes a while to get there, at least it takes a while in words written. the actual time frame that the novel takes place in is over a course of days. which does make the whole thing somewhat unbelievable.

and this is a romance novel with a lot of family drama. the clarksons are super messed up. being in rita and jasper's heads most of the time was occasionally difficult. there's a lot of intense emotional baggage. and these are two characters who have major self-esteem issues. and while the occasional insecure heroine is certainly a romantic trope, having both leads saddled with these feelings of unworthiness can be kind of a downer when you are looking for something light-hearted and sexy. this book was sexy, but not light-hearted at all.

i'm scheduled to read aaron's story, too wild to tame next, and i'm hoping it's a bit breezier of a read. it's not that i mind deep emotional issues in my romances, but for some reason i just found too hot to handle to be a book i needed to keep putting down and reading other lighter fare in between.i tend to be a binge-reader so this is not normal reading behavior from me. it's hard for me to put into words what i found so difficult about this novel.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

simply catching up on all things general hospital

hmmm, it's been months since i've blogged about gh . partly this is due to the fact that i fell behind while i was traveling. partly because all the outrage lapsed into disinterest when i realized i couldn't bring myself to care anymore and everything that was happening was just so trite and boring. some days i still feel that way. and there are still whole storylines that i either hate or just fast forward through. but there are some good things too. in no particular order, here are my thoughts on the goings-on in port charles: 1. soras [and why re-casting roles works on soaps even if you do miss the original actors]: the new, older versions of sonny's kids are turning out to be quite enjoyable. [although hilariously, cameron whom i believe is older than molly is now younger. and because cameron is so cute, i'm kind of hoping they won't fix that. we also haven't seen spencer in ages, so he may be approaching 50.] in any case, at this point we've only s

genre debate: urban fantasy versus epic fantasy: team epic gets their say

Team Epic: Why I Love Epic Fantasy! Since it's my blog, I'll go first: Epic fantasies take you on quests that take you beyond the limits of what is real. The rules can be different, they are different, and everything just matters more. It's not just one life at stake, it's lives, it's a whole world, a whole way of being. Epic fantasies force you to use your imagination and take you on an adventure to places you never thought possible, but as different as everything feels, there are still things that are always real, no matter how you write it. Keep reading to see what a handful of Entangled TEEN authors think about epic fantasies: Erica Cameron - Island of Exiles (The Ryogan Chronicles, #1): Why do I love epic fantasy? It's a blank slate. We can erase all of our preconceived notions of society and law and even science, throwing all of that over the side of a cliff. Epic fantasy lets us push humanity well past the breaking point with ever

simply a preview of the forbidden by jodi ellen malpas

Releasing on August 8, 2017, read on for more information about The Forbidden , including an excerpt and giveaway! Synopsis What do you do when you can't control your feelings for someone? When you know you shouldn't go there? Not even in your head.  Annie has never experienced the 'spark' with a guy-the kind of instant chemistry that steals your breath and blindsides you completely. Until a night out with friends brings her face to face with the wickedly sexy and mysterious Jack. It's not just a spark that ignites between them. It's an explosion. Jack promises to consume Annie, and he fully delivers on that promise. Overwhelmed by the intensity of their one night together, Annie slips out of their hotel room. She is certain that a man who's had such a powerful impact on her and who could bend her to his will so easily, must be dangerous. But she's already in too deep. And Jack isn't only dangerous. He is forbidden.