Review: Hot and Heavy
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 23, 2013
This is a drive by review, which means it is an impulse review on my part. The author didn't request a review and I downloaded the story from Amazon during a free day.Cover:Oh My God. This cover is climatically good. If I were a man, I'd be happy just looking at the picture!Story:TEACH ME TO RIDE is a contemporary erotic romance set in England. The story offers up instant sparks between the hero and heroine along with sizzling sexual tension. Right from the get go, some unintentional Tom-peepery  kicks the heat levels to meteor levels.The prose is solid with smooth flow. There are a couple editing issues that bugged me.  Dialogue is often intense and the emotional conflict gut wrenching. The sex scenes are HOT.  HOT.  I liked the protagonists, and disliked the antagonist. In other words, all was as it should be with the fundamental storytelling elements.Caroline James is an aspiring investigative reporter who has been assigned to cover a horse jumping event by her editor. The heroine is a city gal and it is immediately clear that she is unhappy with her assignment. She pretty quickly perceives an opportunity to turn the hero's conflict with his famous father into a story and proceeds to pursue the angle, which means pursuing Michael.Michael Canton is tall, dark and handsome. He trains horses to jump, but seems to harbor professional unhappiness about not being a rider. He's a hard fellow with some daddy issues.  Caroline wants a story. Michael wants to be rid of his father. Together, they team up with the goal of achieving a mutually beneficial outcome, the whole while engaging in the age old courtship dance of our species.OK, on the horse knowledge issue. The author may be an expert on horses or may be self-educated. I don't know enough to say or judge.  Point blank, what I know about horses is this:They stink and I'm allergic.They look great on calendars.That said, if I wanted to read a horse-torically accurate book, I'd pick up Thunderhead or My Friend Flicka. When it comes to erotic romance, the only stud I care about the heroine mounting is the hero. (I confess, I was hoping for some in-the-saddle sex but it didn't happen. English saddles. Eh.)Anyway, TEACH ME TO RIDE isn't a horse story. It's about the conflict between fathers and sons, balancing personal ambition against self-sacrifice, and how attraction can become a foundation for trust and then the beginning of love.  The ending is more Happily For Now than HEA but I found it an appropriate conclusion to this erotic novella.