The Hot Box: A Novel [Hardcover]

Zane (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 10, 2010

“Hot Box” is a baseball drill that can be played with three or more players and two to four bases. The players take turns being fielders and runners, ultimately trying to tag the rest of the players out. In The Hot Box, best friends Milena and Lydia are playing the game with Jacour, Yosef, Glenn, and Phil. The only problem: the men do not realize that they are playing. Milena lives a sheltered and dismal existence and has not allowed a man to touch her body in eight years . . . until now. Lydia dreams of getting away from small-town America but, until she can make that happen, she is prepared to do whatever it takes to continue to have her bills paid . . . on time. Good sex always does the trick. Two women. Four men. Two love triangles. Reading has never been this hot because, once again, Zane is taking you outside the box.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Zane is known for her steamy tales about African American women seeking love and sexual fulfillment, and her latest certainly fits the bill. Best friends Lydia and Milena are each involved with two men. Lydia has been in a stable relationship with Glenn for three years, but she can’t keep her hands off his best friend, Phil. Milena has eschewed romantic entanglements of any kind ever since she left her fiancé, baseball star Jacour, at the altar eight years ago after discovering he cheated on her at his bachelor party. Now Jacour has returned to the small town of Kannapolis, North Carolina, intent on winning Milena back. Determined to fight her feelings for him, Milena invents a boyfriend and finds an attractive homeless man, Yosef, to play the part. After cleaning Yosef up and learning of the sad circumstances that left him destitute, Milena finds herself falling for him—even as she’s battling her feelings for Jacour. Zane keeps her readers on their toes with some unexpected twists in this appealing and scintillating tale. --Kristine Huntley

Review

“Arguably not since the emergence of Nancy Friday has American letters produced a purveyor of erotica with such mass-market appeal.” —The New York Times

“Zane’s writing warms me, heats me up, satisfies me with a passion.” —Eric Jerome Dickey

"A legend among her fellow authors." --Today's Black Woman

"Sweaty, grab-the-back-of-his-head-and-make-him-scream-sex." --Entertainment Weekly

THE HOT BOX is an emotional thrill-ride that will send you hurtling from tears and raucous laughter to fiery titillation. In a league of her own, Zane fuses smoldering sex, snappy dialogue, and social consciousness into a well-crafted tale that is written in her sassy signature style. Zaniacs be warned…you will not be able to put this hot book down.

--Allison Hobbs, Bestselling Author of Stealing Candy

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Atria Books; 1 edition (August 10, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743499271
• ISBN-13: 978-0743499279
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #89,512 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Zane is the author of Addicted, The Sex Chronicles, Gettin' Buck Wild, The Heat Seekers, The Sisters of APF, Shame on It All, Nervous, Skyscraper, Afterburn, and Love Is Never Painless and is also the editor of Chocolate Flava and Caramel Flava. She is the publisher of Strebor Books, an imprint of Atria Books/Simon & Schuster, and lives in the Washington, D.C., area with her family. Visit her website at www.eroticanoir.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yep. She did it again..., August 8, 2010

By 

Jason Frost "RubiconReader" (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Hot Box: A Novel (Hardcover)

The "hot box"; a baseball drill that can be played with three or more players and two to four bases, or... a title from today's hottest erotic author. Talk about a double entendre! When you read a Zane book, you pretty much know what to expect. Sex. Drama. Sex. Humor. Sex. More drama. More humor. More sex. However, what makes Zane so special, is even though you know what you're going to get, she can still surprise you with HOW you get it. I read this book with the same zeal that I read all of her books. I start and I seriously can't stop until the last freaking page.

This book is aptly named because the people in this book take you hither and yon with all the mess they get into, create, and encourage. I sometimes get lost when there is such a dogfight mentality with the characters and plot, but again, Zane steers us as only a skilled literary navigator can and I didn't get lost. Only hot. I would finish Zane's books a lot faster if this woman wouldn't give me so much to daydream with, DAMN!

This story centers around Milena, Lydia, Glenn, Phil, Yosef, and Jacour. Two women, four men that have more loin action going on than most Las Vegas brothels! No, I'm NOT joking! Milena has some very strong morals, so strong that she hasn't let anyone near her morals for eight years (yeah you heard me right). The question is how far can she keep on playing "Chastity Clamp-it-shut" before someone comes along that makes her test those morals? You won't believe what happens. Lydia is quite the little hoochie. She spends major time with the guys and really should open her very own chain of 24-hour Kegel fitness gyms.

Glen & Phil... *sigh*. What can I saw about these two? Like most of you, I had a mother who said, "if you can't say something nice about someone don't say nothing at all". I'm sure Mama Frost meant REAL people, so Glen & Phil are fair game! (good). I'm a guy who loves women so I know firsthand the "power" they possess and what we guys do to get a taste or feel of that "power". But I mean COME ON fellas! I guess every story must have its fools right? Every one of these characters have redeeming qualities, they just get caught up. Zane comes strong with this one, but really... what else would you expect?

**On a personal note**
While reading an author's work is in and of itself intimate because you get to read what came from their hands, their brain, their sweat; what Zane writes at the end of this book only makes me admire her even more. She breaks it down and gets really personal and real about some revelations she's had, how she feels about writing erotica, and her candid feelings on some pretty timely topics. I don't have to agree with them all to appreciate what a talent this woman is. I've always taken issues with people who say "ewww, she writes erotica". Yeah, so? I'd bet money that most of these people haven't even picked up a novel written by this woman, and I'm sure they have NO IDEA the careers she's launched or how brilliant of an entrepreneur she is. I understand why she wrote what she did at the end, but she didn't need to. Her success says it all.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DAMN DAMN DAMN, August 14, 2010

By 

Ginesta - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hot Box: A Novel (Hardcover)

WOW!! Didn't even know you had a new book until I walked into my local Wal-Mart, who never has anything. When I saw Zane is bold letters I knew I had hit the jackpot! YOU DID GIRL!! Thanks soooooo damn much for bringing some excitement in my life. I couldn't put The Hot Box down. I read it in 16 hours. It's that damn good. I couldn't wait to get to the next work, page, paragraph, chapter! I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT. For all of those reading this, if you haven't gotten it GET IT NOW!! It is a must have for all ZANIACS!! Our girl has brought drama, suspense, love, confusion-all to this book. Thank you so much Zane once again, for being a beautiful black woman, and giving us some of the greatest books!!!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Seriously???, July 8, 2011

By 

blackorchid24 - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hot Box: A Novel (Hardcover)

Ok, I have read and own everything and I mean everything that Zane has put her name on, even the books she edits, and I have to say that more and more she is disappointing me. Her earlier writings you could find a way to relate the characters or situations to some aspect of your life, making the characters more relateable and lovable, but now her works just seem to be rushed. If I am totally honest the last two books she wrote it seems like she had a ghost writer, they are so not her style. The last two books she has hurt her image as a positive Black author, not saying that she has always had positive black characters cause she had some low down ones, but the last few have just had me shaking my head. I really do not like books or movies portraying Black men or women as weak, stupid, or just plain doggish and thuggish. She is just feeding stereotypes, which I didnt think her capable of. With her branching out into cable television she has widend her audience and in doing so she has forgotten who her first fans were. Now her new fans will read about the same sterotypical things regarding black people as the rest of the world shows on television. She's just feeding the BS. It is a classic case of her going commercial and not sticking to her roots. I love Zane and I aint mad at her for getting her money, I just wish she stuck to her roots. She built this huge following and its feels like she abandoned everything I liked about her. After wasting twenty dollars a piece for her last two books, it will be a long time before I buy another one. And can someone please tell me what happened to Addicted the movie and AFTERBURN TWO coming out?! I have been waiting forever. Seriously!