Customer Reviews

Extremely Hot

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been a big fan of Jennifer Apodaca for some time now and have read and enjoyed all her earlier works. It was with great anticipation that I ordered "Extremely Hot" or perhaps "Sorta Luke Warm" would be a better title. Being a voracious reader I enjoy nothing more than a good book that pulls me in and keeps me reading, sometimes into the wee hours of the morning. That being said, I found Luke more than a tad arrogant, I found Ivy more than willing to give up everything she believed in for so long and very young to have accomplished so much, and her mother gave new meaning to there is no fool like an old fool though to make her age work with Ivy's experience she must have been sexually active at a very early age; though apparently like Brenda Starr she never ages. Altogether I found the plot line thin and rather stretched out and the book too easy to set aside.

In Claremont, California, Ivy York hosts the popular Economic Sex Hex radio show that entreats women to take care of their money and not depend on men. She catches her interior designer mother Mallory in the station's kitchen having sex with a temporary worker Trip Vaughn. She warns her mom that the owner Leah Allen will fire both of them if mom fails to show decorum while redesigning the station. Ivy knows she has always been the adult while mom has been more like the teen in heat.

Leah hires Luke Sterling as a temporary assistant to Ivy for two weeks when a man with a knife arrives threatening his new boss. Luke "slips", disarms the man, and breaks his arm in what looks like a clumsy accident. The police take Ed Bailey away; Ivy admits she used her forensic accounting skills to help the man's wife find hidden assets. Luke, known as the "Urban Legend", is undercover hired by Professor Regina Parker whose valuable Jade Goddess of Fertility and Virility was stolen. He thinks Ivy is the brains behind the theft; her ditzy mom and Trip, who worked for Regina, took the statue. He believes Ivy scammed her previous boss out of $3 million; she blamed her vanished boyfriend Dirk Campbell. Still Ivy and Luke are attracted to one another so when the case spins into homicide with Mallory as the prime suspect and Dirk somehow involved, they investigate together.

This is an entertaining romantic suspense starring fascinating lead characters who each has problems with commitment. The support cast is strong with their own personalities and flaws and the mystery is cleverly designed to keep the audience attention wondering who has the missing statues. Although Mallory's lack of self esteem is never explained, fans will enjoy the adventures of the Economic Sex Hex host and the Urban Legend.

Harriet Klausner