Review: The Long Hot Summer
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 24, 2014
It has been some time since I have read such a fun and sweet story. The author writes to spark our imagination and lead us through a fantasy. Even in this 21st century, don't we dream of doing something out of the norm, something unacceptable, but fun? Further, having our fantasy of an illicit encounter with a roue'.  An Earl that is tall, has broad shoulders and chest (mandatory), the smile that admits him in and out of trouble-not to mention the lips, and a deep, resonate voice. He absconds first with her lips, her virtue and her heart...take me away!So it goes for Lorlei Lindon, who meets said Earl on the Paddington Road...in the middle of the night...when she is ghost hunting.  His carriage is disabled so he climbs up behind her to be rescued. Even her horse, Tulip, doesn't mind. As a thank you, he gives her a first memorable kiss under the veil that hides her face, and he snatches her deceased mother's locket.Later, in town for her presentation and first season, at a garden party given by her new friend Julia who introduces her to her uncle-she recognizes the name-Alasdair Tilbury, sixth Earl of Winbourne. And he recognizes her golden locks.Much as she tries, she cannot stay away from him-that voice, those arms, those lips.  And, try as he might (tongue in cheek), he cannot stay away from her. He cannot deny she is chipping away at his cold rake's heart. This ducking and dodging leads to some unexpected, humorous and enticing scenarios including her showing up to act at his inconspicuous 'second' in a duel in which he spots her, thus leading him getting injured, and she risks her reputation to take him to an inn to tend to his wound for a week.There is dancing, walks/rides in Hyde Park, horseback riding instructions at a country estate with the earl in tow, that all ends in chaos and Lorlei lost in Alastair's eyes...and his lips...on hers.