Customer Reviews

Hot Shot

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This was one of her first books and it shows her writing style changed quite a bit. I enjoyed this book it was interesting and it reminded me of a "Judith Michael" book so I actually understood the flow of the story with the long absence of romance between the 2 characters. I was lucky enough to have read this book early on in my SEP reading so therefore I wasn't to dissapointed.

This book is not "light" and "humorous" as her others but it is a keeper if you like to see an author's growth. She did a tremendous amount of research (you can tell) about the beginning of the Computer age and Silicon Valley which was much appreciated and I think the romance was just thrown in because that was what she writes. All in all not a bad book just not something to pick up if you just finished reading "It Had to Be You" or "Nobody's Baby but Mine" this is a different style all together.
Happy Reading

I've read several books by Susan Elizabeth Phillips and of them, HOT SHOT is my hands-down favorite. I found the characters rich and fascinating and I loved the backdrop of the birth of personal computers. And this is coming from someone who is just barely computer-literate!

Susannah's relationships with the pirate, the nerd, and the stuffed shirt are great. Her growth in the book from Daddy's girl, to rebel, to woman is wonderful. Also interesting is the evolution of her relationship with her sister, Paige. Anyone who wasn't touched by Joel and Angela's pilgrimage to Elvis' funeral in August, 1977, must have ice water flowing through her veins.

But the distinctiveness of the book is its exploration of the birth of personal computers. It was fun watching SysVal duke it out with Apple. As an aside, I thought the battle for Susannah at the end was one of the most hilarious scenes I've read in romance fiction. Don't miss it!

I haven't read another book by Susan Elizabeth Phillips that I've enjoyed as much as this one. Try it!

This is the first book by Susan Elizabeth Phillips that I've read.. and I've been searching for a book that's as good, ever since.

I was amazed by the increadible research that SEP must have done to write such an indepth look into the beginnings of a computer company and how it affected the main character(s) lives. Of course, I'm sure she got the idea from the lives of Steve Jobbs and Bill Gates. But adding a female to this combination was the perfect ingredient.

Susannah is an incredible heroine, one I could relate to, and I was sad when the story of her life was over. Her relationships and hardships were very real, and I found myself eatting up every page.. wondering what would happen next.

You'll also find one of the most well-written flashbacks of a character's life when you read the story of Mitch's childhood. I feel like I could read a whole book just on him.

Read this book.. it's not a typical frivilous romance novel.. You'll enjoy the story, but be prepared to get angry, cry like a baby, and burst out in laughter. Enjoy!

I've read almost all her books and never thought I'd ever give her less than five stars but this early SEP style is a little different than what I am used to and I prefer the style of her later books. Of course, SEP at worst is still great when compared to alot of what is out there in the mainstream romance category.

Not that this book is bad in ANY way. It reads well as I would expect from SEP but it's not my idea of what I want to read when I read for escapism/fantasy. It had a little too much real-life senarios for my taste.

I also don't want any confusion about who the hero and heroine is supposed to be. It's been over a month since I read Hot Shot and I still get an uneasy feeling when I think of Sam and what he did to Suzi. Guys like that exist in real life, I don't want that in my fantasy. I want to feel good and warm and happy. I want happily ever after with the same guy in my romances. Nothing dark is welcome there. I also thought Suzi should have woken up and smelled the coffee a long time before she did. And that was ONLY by accident! How long would she have kept her head buried in the sand? I prefer my heroines a little stronger. And her running away for as long as she did did not impress me either. I understand and I might have done the same thing but Suzi is my heroine, not me. I want my heroine to do all the gutsy stuff that I could never do, that's why I read FICTION.

As usual, all of SEP's characters are well drawn and you still get a good story written very skillfully. Her writing is one of the best in her field and she doesn't fail here. Don't get me wrong, there is a happy ever after - but with a twist. I also loved the part about when she was a little girl and how she looked up to her step-father as the golden prince who came to rescue her. That and Suzi's ever-lasting devotion to her step-father and the way that SEP explains it all is the SEP I know and love!

But I also agree w/other reviewers when she got detailed about the computer field. It is interesting, just not what I want in my romance. Obviously, I have conflicting feelings about this book. If you're like me and label yourself SEP's number one fan, then by all means, go get this book and read it.

If you want to read a short saga about a high-class young woman growing up and changing into a more confident woman during the computer revolution in the silicon valley before silicon valley became a household word and about the three men that shaped her life, then this book is for you.

Though this is not a typical SEP book, I loved it! This is a wonderful story that grabs the reader right from the start and doesn't let go. The author has created well drawn, interesting characters with her usual style and talent. The complex story centered on the development of the personal computer in Silicon Valley is woven in a seamless fashion and includes intrigue, betrayal, suspense, humor and yes - passion. I couldn't put it down!

SEP is one of my favorite romance authors - I was hooked with "Nobody's Baby but Mine" and "Lady Be Good" - so when I was looking for more of her books to read, the reviews I found here convinced me that I had found another winner.

I couldn't have been more surprised and disappointed by how truly BAD this book is. It lacked all of the wit and sparkle of her other writing and the characters were completely without depth and failed to capture any of my sympathy. (I actually actively disliked both Susannah and Sam for the first half of the book. I grew resigned to Susannah but still couldn't see what she saw in Sam, an arrogant and vulgar jerk.) As one of the other reviewers here noted, SEP probably did do a tremendous amount of research for this book. But her research overshadowed the romance of the story entirely. If I had wanted to read about the history of microcomputers I would have gotten one of the books that SEP suggests in her acknowlegments.

And where exactly were the editors of this book? One of the first rules of fiction is "show, don't tell" but this book consists of LONG passages of tedious narration and flashbacks when a few well done scenes could have conveyed the information much more effectively. In other cases, repetitive phrasing such as "electronics permeated the air" and "a public relations nightmare" was used over and over on the same page, which just smacks of amateurish writing. The only time I actually laughed during the book was when Mitch and Susannah were speaking. Mitch asked Susannah to let him use a video game before her and she refuses. His reply is, "at least I don't have to beat off Yank too."

I would have given "Hot Shot" NO stars if I could have. I am a lone dissenting opinion here but if you are a fan of SEP's later work, I suggest you give this one a miss. If you simply must read it, check it out of the library and please, please, please let this title fade off into "out of print" land...

It's been about three years since I've read this book, so I won't go into the nitty-gritty of the plot. I'll just tell you why this book has stayed in my memory all this time, despite the fact I don't read much romance, and even less contemporary romance.

The basic story is that Susannah, a restless debutante in the late seventies, flees her society wedding on the back of a Harley driven by a sexy entrepreneur she's known for only a few weeks. The biker, Sam, is starting a computer business with his two friends, a straitlaced businessman and a "geek". Susannah and Sam are joined at the hip for years, but then his dark side comes out, and Susannah begins to see the jerk he really is--and realizes that the real Prince Charming is right in front of her eyes. Her party-girl sister, Paige, also finds love in an unlikely quarter.

Here's what I like about this book, which I think is the same reason other reviewers are griping about it. It's one of only a handful of romance novels in which the "alpha male" macho jerk doesn't win the lady in the end. Most romances have the heroines falling for these violent, promiscuous, impulsive men, and end with the couple riding off into the sunset together, and supposedly this jerk has changed his ways. Come on, we all know most of those couples will be in divorce court in a year, when the woman realizes that the man is *still* violent, promiscuous, and impulsive. The guy with the attitude and the flashy clothes is not always the best catch, and this book is a wonderful illustration of that. It *begins* with the heroine riding off with the macho man, and then we get to see what happens next.

I also liked the detailed research that went into this book's Silicon Valley setting. Some readers complain that the computer history is too detailed, but personally I prefer novels where the setting is more than a painted backdrop and a trunkful of costumes; novels where the background becomes real. But that's just me.

I think this is one of the best romance novels of all time: smart, sophisticated, funny, touching, complex, and fascinating. Susannah's character arc alone is worth the cover price, but Phillips finely drawn cast of supporting characters makes every page a treat. It's just a wonderful read!

I had read SEP's Chicago Stars series and absolutely loved them, so I bought several of her older books. Although I HATED Fancy Pants (way too dark for me, too much back story, etc.) I decided to pick up Hot Shot. It was extrememely well written, and since I'm a Mac fan, it was interesting and entertaining to read how Apple and the personal computer industry came to be in the 1970s and '80s. But the story, although very good, left me feeling very uneasy about halfway through the book. When Susannah leaves on Sam's motorcycle, it was like the heroine leaving with Prince Charming and riding off into the sunset, only to discover that Prince Charming lives with his mother, and is a whiner, and eventually a cheat. On the other hand, I felt, along with Susannah, those same emotions of betrayal, lonliness and the like throughout the book. And Yank, Paige and Mitch were great characters. It's a good book, but if you're looking for something lighthearted and fun, this isn't it. However, if you're after an emotional rollercoaster, this is one of the better reads.

If you like Nora Roberts style of romance, then you will love this book. Susan takes a new view of Pirates of Silicon Valley. After all the stuff my Info Tech class made me read on Steve Jobs (of Apple computers) I see where she modeled Sam from.

I loved the characters. If you have the patience to stick out the book, you will too. Usually, SEP uses humor and situational comedy to hook her readers, but here she tries something different. That does not mean it's bad! I almost didn't read it after a few of these reviews, but I am glad I took the time.

As usual, I am upset that's the end of the story, I want to keep on reading about Susanah and hear how the rest of her life turns out.