Title: The Hotter You Burn (The Original Heartbreakers #2)
Author: Gena Showalter
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: HQN Books
Published: July 28th 2015
Page Number: 416
Rating: 4.5/5
Summary:
Beck O'ckley is ruthless in the boardroom...and the bedroom. He's never been with the same woman twice, and vows he never will. With a past as twisted as his, meaningless sex keeps the demons at bay. His motto: One and done. No harm, no foul.
Harlow Glass is the most hated girl in town. The beautiful artist is penniless, jobless and homeless. When she sneaks into Beck's home—her ancestral estate—for food, she's shocked by his early return...and her immediate, sizzling and intense attraction to him.
For the first time in Beck's life, he can't get a woman out of his mind. All too soon, friendship blooms into obsession and he'll have to break her heart...or surrender his own.
REVIEW
I really enjoyed the first book in this series and with Beck being one of my favourite male characters, I was excited to see his backstory into what made him who he is today. And Gena did not once disappoint. I got everything I wanted and more. Cute scenes that made me have butterflies, sexual tension that could have burned the pages in my hand and a former bully who had me rooting for her from page 1.
In the second book of the Original Heartbreakers series we follow our Hero, Beck who's a known playboy never being seen with the same woman twice. Our Heroine is Harlow Glass a former bully in school and now known for being a layabout after getting kicked out of her home by the bank because she supposedly wouldn't pay the rent. One of the thing Gena did so right about Harlow was that she created a character that everyone would either love to hate. It's human genetics. We all love to hate someone and vice versa.
However, Harlow is actually misunderstood a lot. She didn't have the best home life and like they say: You can choose your friends but you can't choose your family. And that goes heavily for Harlow. When her and Beck first officially meet it's because Harlow has stolen a pie from his fridge (Harlow's house is now owned by Jase, Beck and West). He chases her down and demands she pays him back otherwise he'll go to the authorities. To me this is the essential scene for the whole book.
The romance between these two was a little like child's play. But it keeps you on your toes, anticipating the moment they finally say those 3 precious words. I love you. And with Beck's past you can honestly understand why. His upbringing wasn't an easy one and he's lived with the guilt of lying to the police so his friend can take the shit for him. And we all know guilt can eat a person alive.
Was this book better than the first one? Absolutely. I actually loved Harlow's naivety because the person she was as a teenager was actually a character to hide the person she truly was. And her relationship with Beck is special because he's her first. I just honestly love anything Gena Showalter writes.
