hot hot hot (the weather AND my review)

Current work: revisions on MH fairground book
Listening to: Robert Plant
Reading: Sarah Mayberry, Cruise Control (really enjoyed it but it made me bawl my eyes out – heroine’s conflict is one of the subjects I find a bit close to the bone and can really only cope with at this time of year. Have another of hers which I’m really looking forward to)

We’re having a heatwave. And I function best in cool, crisp temperatures. So it’s a matter of having a fan on all the time and drinking lots of iced water with a slice of lime and, um, being grumpy.

Daughter is becoming more and more a mini-me. She had a major strop on Sunday night. ‘It’s HOT. I can’t sleep.’ (Yeah. Neither can Mummy.) ‘It’s not fair. You’ve got a fan.’ (Yup.) And then, looking daggers at her father: ‘It’s all right for you – YOU don’t have long hair.’ (DH has, um, not much hair. So that was hilarious and she wasn't very pleased when we laughed.) Bless. I taught her the trick of running cold water over your inner wrists to cool you down. She responded by… yup, using our en-suite rather than the family bathroom at 2am. Urrr.

She has an inset (teacher training) day today. We had planned to do baking, but NOT in this heat. We’re shopping and flopping instead. And visiting Dad.

And the hot review? Well. Sometimes you write a book and think ‘this one’s a bit special’. I had two of those, last year: the second being Surrender to the Playboy Sheikh. It’s netted a Top Pick from Romantic Times… and it got a GRADE A from TGTBTU. Their review made me glow (and not just because I’m in the middle of a heatwave).

This is what Lynne Connolly had to say:

If anyone thinks that HMB books are churned out with next to no effort from the writer - this is one of the best examples against this argument that I've read, and certainly the best this year… This book took the trope of the playboy sheikh and turned him into a real person, one you could like... I adored the way he considered the needs and wants of the woman he falls in love with. He doesn't take for granted that she will fall in with his wishes, he doesn't force her or blackmail her or coerce her, he seduces her… with respect and healthy anticipation. I adored that about Karim and I could see exactly why Lily fell for him.

…And a warning here - Kate Hardy knows about cooking and if the descriptions of little ice-cream balls and coffee mousse filled choux buns don't make you hungry, ur not doin it rite. [note from me – yup. This is why Kate Hardy is overweight. She cooks the stuff in her books AND eats it.]

The stumbling blocks in the romance are believable and are dealt with in a great way… you can see the couple falling in love, and even before they fall they care about each other, so the sex scenes are about connection and pleasure, not about athletics or marathons.

I spent a lovely morning with this book, and I'd advise you to do likewise. I read the UK version, but the US version is one of the July Harlequin Presents offerings. Get it. You'll love it.

***

Read the full review here. And thank you, Lynne, for putting a huge smile on my face (no mean task in a heatwave, when I am usually grumpiness personified).