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Hotshot (Buchanan / Renard / MacKenna Book 11) Kindle Edition
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Peyton Lockhart and her sisters have just inherited Bishop’s Cove, a charming oceanfront resort. But it comes with a condition: They must run the resort for one year and show a profit—only then will they own it.
Peyton welcomes the challenge, yet has no idea how many people want to sabotage her success—including her vindictive cousins and the powerful land developers who have an eye on the coveted beachfront property. But when the threats against Peyton escalate into dangerous territory, she enlists the help of her childhood friend, FBI agent Finn MacBain.
Finn saved her life once before. Peyton has no choice but to trust him to do it again.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBerkley
- Publication dateAugust 6, 2013
- File size1934 KB
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Review
“Whoever thinks romantic suspense is dead should read a Julie Garwood book.”—USA Today
“A trusted brand name in romantic suspense.”—People
“Julie Garwood creates masterpieces every time she writes a book.”—The Kansas City Star
“Undoubtedly Garwood is a pro.”—Kirkus Reviews
“If a book has Julie Garwood’s name on it, it’s guaranteed to be a meticulously written...and thoroughly engaging story.”—Sun Journal (ME)
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
His cell phone rang, reminding him that he needed to turn it off before the ceremony. He saw who was calling and felt a wave of exhaustion. On-again off-again Danielle was trying to reconnect with him. He wasn’t about to get into that drama. He’d had enough, and he simply didn’t have the stamina for any more of her games. He declined the call and turned off the phone. He should go in, he decided, and was about to do just that when he saw her. The vision in blue. He watched her cross the parking lot and start up the walkway, her high heels clicking against the brick. He noticed her body first, of course. It was damn near perfect. The short, fitted dress showed off her curves and her long, gorgeous legs. Her stride was every bit as sexy as her body. The way she moved was sensual and seductive. She was absolutely beautiful. Her long dark hair, the color of midnight, fell in soft curls just below her slender shoulders.
She must have felt him watching her, for she suddenly turned and looked up the hill. When she saw him, she stepped off the path and started walking toward him. He wanted to swallow, but he couldn’t seem to remember how. He had never reacted to any woman this fiercely, this quickly. What had happened to his self-control? He excused his bizarre behavior by reasoning that she was no ordinary woman. He didn’t want to stare, but the closer she came, the better she looked. Beneath her thick dark eyelashes were the most beautiful, crystalline blue eyes he had ever seen, and her rosy lips were full and inviting.
She stepped directly in front of him and gave him a heart-stopping smile. The dimple in her cheek was sexy as hell. So was her scent, which was light and feminine.
Her eyes sparkled with laughter when she stretched up, kissed him on his cheek, and said, “Hello, Hotshot.”
He was speechless. Peyton Lockhart? He couldn’t believe it. She was all grown-up. She had gone from a skinny little girl to this beautiful woman with a devastating smile. When did this happen? The transformation seemed to have taken place overnight, but then Finn realized he hadn’t been around while she was growing up. He’d gone to California to do his undergraduate work at Stanford and had stayed there for law school. During that time his parents had downsized to a smaller, more energy-efficient home about a mile from their old house in Brentwood. Whenever Finn was home on break, he never had enough time to go back to the old neighborhood.
Finn overcame his surprise enough to speak. “Don’t call me Hotshot.”
“You didn’t know who I was, did you, Finn?” she asked, saying his name to placate him.
“I didn’t have a clue,” he admitted. He was still trying to get past his initial reaction and stop acting as though he had never seen a beautiful woman before. This was Peyton, the little girl who would sit on the front steps and wait for him to come home from high school so she could tell him about her day. She was a nuisance back then, and now a temptress.
“Are your sisters here? I won’t recognize them, either, will I?”
“Yes, they’re here already. I’m running late.”
Beck whistled from the doorway to get Finn’s attention.
“Aren’t you in the wedding?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, I should go in. It’s good to see you again.”
Peyton didn’t want to miss the bride walking down the aisle. “It’s good to see you, too.”
It had suddenly become awkward, and she didn’t understand why. He wasn’t leaving. Beck whistled again, but Finn didn’t move.
“Are you going to the reception?” he asked.
“No, I’m afraid I can’t.”
“Maybe I’ll see you after the wedding, then.”
Peyton continued on, but when she glanced back, she thought it strange that Finn was still standing in the same spot.
Finn had walked down to the parking lot to get away from the noise. He was listening to phone messages and turned just as Peyton was approaching. He offered to walk her to her car.
“How come you aren’t coming to the reception?” he asked.
“I have to work,” she answered. She dug the keys out of her little clutch and hit the unlock button. Standing beside her car, she said, “It really was good to see you.”
“I’m sorry we didn’t get to—” He stopped. “When did you get this car?” he asked, staring past her and frowning.
“About a year ago. Why?”
Finn moved closer and squatted down behind the rear bumper. “These are bullet holes.”
“Yes, they are,” she agreed. She didn’t seem the least fazed. “I’ve got to get going or I’ll be late for work.”
He wasn’t about to let her leave. “They haven’t been here long.”
“The bullet holes?”
“Yes, the bullet holes,” he said.
He was asking questions so rapidly he wasn’t giving her time to answer.
“Yes, I was in the car. I was on the highway when it happened. He wanted me to stop. I didn’t know he shot at me until I was back in Texas. The holes are so low, I didn’t see them until a few days later. In fact, you’re the only other person who’s noticed them.”
“You couldn’t hear gunshots?” His voice was brisk, no nonsense. He was all FBI now.
Her hand went to her hip. “I was in the middle of a blizzard at the time. All I could hear was the howling wind.”
“Where exactly were you?”
“Northwest of Minneapolis. Finn, I’ve got to leave.”
She wasn’t going anywhere until she gave him a few more details.
“Who did you report it to?”
Peyton knew he wasn’t going to like her answer. “I didn’t report it.”
“Because you didn’t realize he was shooting at you.”
“Exactly.”
“But when you did see the bullet holes—”
She cut him off. “I didn’t report it.”
“Why the hell not?” Frustration made his voice sharp. “He could be out there now trolling for his next victim, and maybe this time he’ll hit the gas tank or, worse, the driver.”
She shook her head. “No, he won’t.”
“Did you get the make or model?”
“I have to leave.”
“No, you have to answer me.”
“You know what, Finn. You’re just as bossy and stubborn as you were when I was a little girl.”
“And you’re just as aggravating. Now answer me.”
She gave in. “It was a big white truck, and I know for a fact that he isn’t out on the highway looking for other victims.” Unless someone gets on Drew Albertson’s bad side, she silently added. She took a step closer. “And I’m not a victim. I took control of the situation and forced him to stop chasing me.”
“How?” he asked, trying to concentrate on what she was saying and not how sexy she was or how good she smelled.
“I sent him into a field. Actually, I sent him through a fence into a field.”
“How did you do that?”
“Some...intricate driving moves.” Slamming on the brakes and going into a spin that she was helpless to control could be considered an intricate move, couldn’t it?
“Intricate driving moves, huh?” he repeated, smiling.
“Yes,” she said. “He didn’t get hurt,” she hastened to add. “His car sank into the snow, and he was stuck. I pulled over to make sure he didn’t need an ambulance. I watched him get out and start pounding his fists on the truck.”
“You saw the shooter?”
Uh-oh. Too late, she realized she shouldn’t have mentioned that fact because now he was going to ask her another hundred questions. She decided to stop him before he got started.
“I didn’t get a close look at him, but I’ve got a good idea who he is.”
He seemed to take the news in stride. “Okay. Who is he?”
“His name is Rick Parsons, and he works for the company that hired me.”
He nodded calmly, but she noticed his jaw was clenched. “Since you never reported the incident to the police, he wasn’t arrested.”
“That’s right.”
“Why was he chasing you?”
“Because I left,” she said, evading the details. “They really hate it when you leave the company”—she shrugged—“so they shoot at you.”
Peyton thought he would think her answer funny, but apparently he wasn’t amused. She was sure he would have kept her there with his questions for the rest of the evening, or until he had the entire story, if a groomsman hadn’t appeared and told him he had to return to the church for photos.
Finn answered that he would be right there, then opened the car door for Peyton. Before he started back up the hill toward the church, he turned to Peyton and said, “We aren’t finished with this.” --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Product details
- ASIN : B009VMBZYS
- Publisher : Berkley (August 6, 2013)
- Publication date : August 6, 2013
- Language : English
- File size : 1934 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 402 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : 0451467558
- Best Sellers Rank: #52,254 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #664 in Sisters Fiction
- #1,706 in Sports Romance (Books)
- #2,019 in Contemporary Romance Fiction
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Julie Garwood is the author of numerous New York Times bestsellers. The most recent, WIRED, landed at #2. With over 36 million copies in print, her novels take you from the rugged clans of Medieval Scotland to the mind of a modern-day computer hacker, all with her signature humor blended with good helpings of romance and suspense.
For more information and a list of her books visit her website www.JULIEGARWOOD.com or follow her at Facebook.com/JulieGarwood or on Twitter @JulieGarwood.
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Like many other reviewers have mentioned, Ms Garwood seems to have totally phoned this one in. In fact,I just realized when I started writing this that I cant even remember the hero's name.... and I just finished it 5 minutes ago. Tht's a bad sign.
On the surface, this has the hallmarks of a standard Garwood. Beautiful (but nice) woman in sudden danger, FBI agent friend/non-jerk alpha male who comes to help, "why is this happening to me", insta-love, happily ever after, etc etc. The fact that this is her only formula doesnt bother me; I actually like that I always know what Im in for. Sometimes youre in the mood for something specific. What's missing is any kind of.. well, spark.
The heroine is stock; gorgeous (but completely clueless to the trail of drooling men left staring at her "gently swaying hips"), wonderfully kind and sweet, naive. But that's it. Ms Garwood left her almost completely devoid of personality. She's a chef trying to bring back a hotel with her sister, but beyond mentioning her "trying out some recipes" and cooking for the hero a few times, she doesnt do any chef things. I cant imagine what those things would be, but if you're going to give her a semi-quirky job, you should have an idea. In fact, though a hotel manager is a character, it reads as though *she* was doing admin work (the few times it's mentioned, it's phrased as "she took her laptop into the [room] to do paperwork"). Oh! There's a mention of her ordering a shipment of argula, that counts, I guess?
The hero is similarly two dimensionale. He's a winner of 3 gold Olympic medals turned FBI agent, a waste of potential quirkiness. His status as such gets 3 one-sentence mentions (I'm not sure Ms Garwood understands what level of dedication it takes to achieve that level of athleticism). Somehow I dont think its that easy to breeze thru law achool (immediately after the Olymics) and immediately get recruited by the FBI (even though you're a certified genius with a 4.0 GPA ... in what, high school classes?). Ironically, my one sentence description makes him sound more interesting than she writes him. The heroine asks him what he does for the FBI at one point and he says he's "someone who gets people to talk". So does he specialize in interrogations? Just super good at that aspect? Behavioral sciences savant? We'll never know. Beyond one brief (unrelated to plot) scene of him questioning a suspect, this is never touched on again. Another waste of potential. And that scene goes as such: he's mentioned as charming the suspect into conversationly bragging about the crime, he zones out, gets a text that the heroine has been hurt, slams the suspect against the wall and whispers something, suspect turns pale and scrambles to the table to write a confession. Okie doke? Behavioral sciences savant, check.
The plot is truly laughable, even by formulaic JG standards. I realize that Ms Garwood writes romances with a hint of danger..ish (danger-lite?).. and Im fine with that. I dont expect thrillers, suspense, or mystery, but this was... it was bad, guys.
Spoilers! I mean, there's nothing really to spoil but....
Alright, so we know who the bad guy is (he's got a page of thinking "Im gonna get her!" and a side character telling the heroine how he'd get her (to make it clear in case this is the first "mystery/thriller" youve ever read. Ever.), we know why he's after her, the characters know who, why, and how, and where he is. It was silly to the point I thought there must be some twist - but nope. Theyve got 2 other agents looking for the gun used (off camera - we get updates via phone conversations).
I know evidence gathering is kind of a big thing in criminal cases, but when it's written as "[H] called the other agent. 'Find the gun?' 'No, we're still looking' 'Alright, let me know if you do.' " it's b-o-r-i-n-g.
There's a tiny side mystery-ish about the hotel sabotage that's so obvious you want to bang your head into the wall - or expect some sort of twist because my god this a professional author who has tons of real books published, not a fan forum.
Hey, there's person we dislike because she's always doing bad things. Wow, she screamed "I'll ruin this place!" (literally! in front of everyone including the agents! The Trained. Investigator. Agents.) Weird, she shows up and a bunch of things start going wrong. Huh, she leaves and everything goes better but then she comes back and the accidents start again. Who, who, who could be behind this? GASP. It was her the whole time?! That's crazy!
Usually Ms Garwood writes quirky side characters and kinda silly/kinda funny banter between the hero and heroine. That's completely missing. Completely. Not even one iota. Zip, zero.
Honestly, it reads like Ms Garwood wrote a pretty good standard outline, then forgot her deadline, remembered it 2 days before it was due, and had to race to make it. I can sympathize; I used to do that in college. Difference was, Im not a NYT best selling author, I didnt charge for my papers, and my profs were the only ones who had to read them.
So why did I give it 3 stars? Because it's not terrible. If I would have gotten it from the library, I'd have shrugged and figured it was a better way to kill a few hours than some movies Ive seen. I got mosly what I was in the mood for. Uncomplicated little romance where the H/h didnt fight constantly (except when tearing their clothes off), bad guy vanquished, ending tied up with no lingering threads for a sequel, happily ever after. No sparks, but sometimes a quick peck on the lips and a "See ya" is fine. Not great, but fine.
The plot is interesting with Peyton working for a boss who sexually harasses the women in his company. She leaves and there ends up being several attempts on her life. In comes Finn to the rescue. There’s a good amount of action and the author did a great job not portraying Peyton as a victim. No angst and an enjoyable book.
Finn MacBain, what a smexy hero this man is.. He is dashing and daring.. An FBI agent, an olympic swimmer, a great brother and loving son.. yep no flaws so far.. and more than that he is a bonafide hero and has been one since the age of 14 when he saved his neighbors life. Finn is one of the good guys.. no shades of gray here.. He has spent his entire adulthood trying to make the world a better place and nothing and no one throws him for a loop.. well that is until Peyton Lockhart shows up as a guest at his brother's wedding..
Peyton Lockhart is a chef with dreams of her own kitchen but she knows she has to work her way to the top. When the opportunity arrives for her to be a food critic for a prestiges magazine she jumps on it. Only to find there is way more going on than she thought.. She is determined to escape the job from hell and when things get dangerous she knows of only one person who can help her.. The man who has been her hero her entire life.. The man who actually saved her life as a child, her very own Hotshot, Finn McBain.
If Peyton can just get out the trouble she has found herself in she and her sisters have an opportunity to make something wonderful of an unexpected inheritance. But life just keeps getting tangled up in the details.. and the family connections.. A snotty, selfish, self entitled cousin demands a piece of the estate and a wuss of a father and limp noodle uncle (amazing since he managed to create a real estate empire) force the cousin upon the sisters..
Peyton has trouble all around her, a former boss who wants to eliminate his problem, a new neighbor (business) who wants to take of\ver her new business, a bossy pain in the butt older sister and said snotty selfish cousin.. sheesh.. there is just too much going on. Sure the chemistry between Finn and Peyton is spectacular and their story is fabulous.. I just didn't like a lot of the secondary cast of characters, even the good guys.
All that being said.. this book was written by the amazing Julie Garwood.. so those of you who are Julie Garwood fans know this book is way better than your average book. While I didn't enjoy some (most) of the characters I did appreciate Ms Garwood's talent for creating them. They come alive and right off the pages. I am sure I have met most of these people at some point or another in my life.
Not every book is the best book an author has ever written.. that doesn't mean we can't enjoy it for what it is and Hotshot is an emotional, intense rollercoaster of a read. Sharing a story about two people who learn what love is and what they are willing to do for that love.. Do I recommend it.. yeah I really do..
Shauni
This review is based on the ARC of Hotshot provided by netgalley
For me this was a struggle to get through.
Top reviews from other countries
So saying, it was a bit overdone on the constant references to "great bodies".
And I don't think bloky slamming of bodies in interrigation represents this day and age
Sisters inheriting a resort and trying to bring it all together within a year, enter the F.B.I. in the form of "Fin" who falls in love with "Peyton" one of the sisters who is in some danger.
The storyline struggled and was flat and not very believable.
I still read J.G. early novels over and over but her latest contemporaries do nothing for me, the best thing about this one is the book cover at least someone got that right.
If you want a fantastic J.G. try--The Bride--Saving Grace--The prize, or any of her early works most of these medieval. The only contemporary I would recommend would be --Heartbreaker--now that one I did like.
marrianna
"Just one minute can change and save a life... As well as what others can think about you..." It starts like this and with a teenager. But he has to grow up... An became a FBI agente...with a continue path to discovery






