Customer Reviews

Red Hot Reunion

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

 

 

Emma and Jason were a mismatched couple from the start - she a debutante and he a guy from the wrong side of the tracks on scholarship. After a lot of pressure from her parents, she takes the easy way out and marries within her station, always wishing she had saved herself for Jason. She gets a second chance with him when they both attend their 10 year college reunion. Jason is a successful chef with his own TV show and vineyard - and he is out for revenge. He wants to make Emma fall for him again and then rip the rug out from under her like she did a decade earlier. After a torrid encounter outside at the reunion and she immediately feels love; he flees. Not satisfied with the outcome, she shows up at his Napa vineyard and the two embark of an affair where he calls the shots, and she tows the line. Will Jason be able to forget the past and build a new future with Emma?

Andre's latest spicy offering trades good plotting for an overabundance of sex. Other than the shared past and overactive libidos, this couple has nothing in common, and the constant sexual encounters just get really boring after awhile, as well as Emma's lack of a spine. A secondary romance for her friend Kate and his sous chef are promising, but again not fully developed. Andre has done much better - I loved her first novel "Take Me." This was a disappointment in comparison, and could have been so much more had the plot been developed, instead it is sadly just average.

I hate romances where the heroine is weak, pathetic, and humorless and that's what this book offers in spades. At 32, Emma has no mind of her own, no spine, no wit, no brains, no personality, and she spends all her time pining over Jason, who she jilted in college and laments she never had sex with. SO much so, all she appears to have done with her life in the 10 years since is fantasize about having sex with him. Constantly. Lame. Seriously, I don't know what there is to recommend her.

When Emma and Jason do meet again at their college reunion, he's now a successful famous chef and can have any woman he wants. But apparently, he too has been pining over Emma for the past 10 years, but wants revenge for her having broken his heart. He walks into the reunion, basically says 1 sentence to her which is on the order of: "let's go outside and f---". And she complies eagerly like a dopey puppy. Throughout the book, she and Jason barely converse (other than sex talk) or even interact all that much, other than to have sex. And as a previous reviewer stated, it's pretty basic sex. Or maybe it just felt that way because I didn't care about any of the characters. Actually, the most entertaining & therefore welcome character, is her best friend Kate. At least she has a personality and for as little as she's in the book, she's the best drawn character, which isn't saying much. Emma's parents and ex-husband are charichatures, and you really have no sense of why Emma is under their control or why she makes no decisions about her own life. Except for the sudden decision to be Jason's sex kitten, no matter what, for the majority of the book - apparently a decision out of character for her.

The very first chapter starts right out of the gate with a mild bondage sex scene between the 2 main characters (which turns out to be Emma's fantasy)that's sort of raunchy via the language and the mention of weird details like: "His 9 rock hard inches" which made me laugh out loud and immediately made me think of those penthouse forum letters (or the like) where wishful thinking men always "drop" that claim into their stories. Plus, we don't know anything about these characters yet, so there's no sexual tension or romance to it. It was a turn off. Ironically, there's so much sex in this book and so little substance, it got boring and I started to skim the sex scenes. Unfortunately, the story & plot didn't hold enough drama or conflict either, nor did the characters engage or leap off the page either. Lots of time spent in the main characters heads rehashing the same old angst over and over again. And with very little interesting dialogue between characters to supplement,it was hardly rivetting. I actually read this book in about 2 hours - not because it was a page turner, but because it's a skimmer. 277 pages, big print.

At her ten year college reunion, Emma Holden is nervous to see Jason Roberts. Although she dumped him in college, Emma has never stopped loving Jason. Now that she is free, Emma is determined to live her life to the fullest. Opening her heart to Jason is her first step in achieving her dream.

Although he is incredibly successful, Jason Roberts has never gotten over Emma Holden. Seeing her again at their college reunion, Jason decides he wants revenge. He wants Emma to experience what he did ten years ago. Jason plans to seduce Emma and leave her high and dry. What Jason doesn't expect is for Emma to set him on fire and make it hard for him to walk away.

Bella Andre writes such romantic stories. I just adore how her writing makes my heart swell with emotion. Red Hot Reunion is passionate, romantic and yes, it is indeed, RED HOT! Emma and Jason are shivery delicious together. Totally pantalicious! If you love heart warming, erotic and yummy romances, you will adore Bella Andre's Red Hot Reunion!

Annmarie
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

I loved Bella Andre's first two books. I thought the sex was exciting and the love stories sweet. In "Red Hot Reunion" I could tell that the author really wanted to make a point of how in love the couple were in college and how much their love was fated to be. But frankly, the sex was all very basic stuff and not near as spicey and erotic as Bella's "Tempt Me, Taste Me, Touch Me." That book I loved.

If you want a sweet love story, you will likely really enjoy this book. If you also wanted some racey love scenes that raise the temperature to a boil, then this is not your book.

IT WAS NICE TO READ A BOOK WITH A GREAT PLOT.. IT TRULLY KEPT ME HOOKED FROM PAGE ONE THAT I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN AND SPENT MY ENTIRE SUNDAY READING THE ENTIRE BOOK..WOW HOTTTTTT!

At college Emma Cartwright fell in love with Jason Roberts. However, instead of following her heart she listened to her parents that she should marry her own kind not a scholarship type. She wed Steven instead and after a few unhappy years with the womanizer they divorced. She regrets heeding her parents' admonition as she knows she threw away the love of a lifetime.

Ten years later they will see one another for the first time since she dumped him at the Stanford University class reunion. He, like his two scholarship friends, Rick Stodler and Ace McKinty, has become a success as a celebrity chef with a TV show and a bestselling book. He intends to attend only to avenge the affront that has burned his heart. However, when they see one another for the first time in a decade, the attraction remains strong, but not as powerful as his thirst for vengeance as he holds her culpable for the big hurt that haunts him regardless of the myriad of women he has been with since.

RED HOT REUNION lives up to its title and more as the lead couple have a second chance at love if they can get past the recriminations and go to the heart of the matter between them. The story line contains light bondage as Emma and Jason provide torrid sexual encounters. The suspense remains whether Jason can see the truth of his failure a decade ago; Emma seen it form the moment she realized Steven was cheating on her while saying I do. Belle Andre writes a heated contemporary romance starring likable lead characters who hopefully find the ties that bind outside the bedroom as well as those they already have found inside the bedroom.

Harriet Klausner

Ive read Game for Seduction and really liked it...so i was anxious to read another book by her. But this one was terribly written--the plot, the heroine..everything! the heroine was so weak..and why did the author wait until the last 5 minutes to give her a backbone? i think the title itself is misleading as well..it should have been called The payback or something since the male main character seemed to say or think that every five minutes. Also maybe im naive or something but who meets a guy they havent seen in 10 years at a reunion, has sex with him the same night (at the reunion)--not even 10 minutes later.. and then follows him the next day? seriously?! and that was the beginning of my issue with this book. And her friend, Kate..ugh! its just a very poorly written book which i should have never bought.

Opinion:
Too much pondering their feelings, thinking about their situation rather than action, conversations and doing something. Several times Jason assumes Emma is lying which was not true - but merely a cheap device used by author to create conflict or plot. Most of the book is conflict due to the past and being separated. We don't get to see the developing relationship. Cover picture is wrong. The college is Stanford, not County. Jason has long hair not the short cut in the picture.

Data:
Story length: 278 pages. Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: 12. Setting: current day California. Copyright: 2007. Genre: erotic contemporary romance.

They loved each other. In spite of everything, their love came through.

I can see where some would think Emma was pitiful or pathetic, but some of us can identify with her. Being encapsulated and molded by a family's expectations, being an only child whose own desires and hopes were overshadowed by her own parents, Emma made the only decision she was capable of, as did Jason, and that was to succumb to her parents' wants rather than her own. Good grief - she was so repressed by them, she did not have the fight in her to defy them. And Jason was too young and insecure to fight for her against the overwhelmingly wealthy family. They were both so young. They made mistakes, the wrong decisions.

This story is about the painful process of emerging from years of living with those wrong decisions. With some painful soul searching by both Jason and Emma, they begin the journey back to each other. Emma struggles to find her backbone to not only stand up for what she wants, but for the first time in her life, she begins to ask herself what it is she wants instead of what everyone else wants for her. And Jason is so torn by his pain from their breakup years ago and his drive for retribution, and the undeniable fact that he still loves Emma, that he struggles with his decision constantly while being lavished with Emma's never dying love for him.

I couldn't put the book down. It touched me.