It Runs in the Family: Looking for a Hotshot

My sister Melissa returns after her birthday week with another review for you all! Mel reads a lot of paranormal YA, as well as NA novels, so she'll be posting about books that I might not necessarily read (or haven't gotten to just yet). This week, she talks about a novel from one of our favorite authors ever - Julie Garwood!

Hotshot by Julie Garwood

Series: Buchanan-Renard #11

Publisher: Dutton Adult

Publication Date: August 6, 2013

Source/Format: Borrowed from the library || Hardcover

Peyton Lockhart and her sisters have inherited Bishop’s Cove, a small, luxurious oceanfront resort, but it comes with a condition: The girls must run the resort for one year and show a profit—only then will they own it. A graduate of a prestigious French culinary school, Peyton has just lost her job as a food critic. Out of work and in a bad place personally, a year doing something completely different sounds wonderful.

There are countless challenges and too many people who want to stop the sisters from succeeding. Among them are Peyton’s contentious cousins, who are outraged that they didn’t inherit the resort, as well as a powerful group of land developers who have been eyeing the coveted beachfront property. It’s soon apparent to Peyton that their efforts are being sabotaged, but she refuses to let the threats scare her—until she’s nearly killed. She calls on her childhood friend and protector, Finn MacBain, now with the FBI, and asks for his help. He saved her life once; he can do it again.

+ The Story: This is good. Real good, if you ask me. It kind of reminds me of Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks. When her dream job turns into an unexpected nightmare, Peyton Lockhart finds herself turning to the one person she can trust, her "guardian angel" Finn MacBain. He saved her life once before, but things are different now. Complicated, to say the least. But nothing can stop the flames of passion that ignite between the two, and now more than ever, Finn might be the only one who can save her. 

Like any romance, it can be fairly predictable, but that didn't stop me from enjoying myself. There's just something about the way Julie Garwood builds the romance, tugging at our heartstrings in all the right places. Most, if not all of her historical romances are my favorites, but Hotshot, in spite of being contemporary, manages to equally satisfy the fangirl in me. This book delivers a beautifully action-packed love story, I'm sure I'll be reading over and over again. 

+ The Main Man: Finn Mac Bain. Profile: Six Foot Olympic Swimmer, Stanford Law (on scholarship) turned FBI agent. Need I say more? Sold. No questions asked. 

+ The Romance: Hotshot speaks for itself. It's sizzling. 

I would definitely give this book *snaps* and recommend that you get a hold of it. Hotshot has a great mix of passion, suspense, romance, and equally compelling characters that you’ll find it so hard to put it down. Believe me, I tried (and failed). I was hooked on this Hotshot right from the start.