Review: It will definitely warm you up on a cold night.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 21, 2014
I think this is the first time I came across a Navy SEAL who wants to settle down. Usually they are all for keeping it light and fun, but not Jackson Ramsey. Blame it on his small town roots or whatever, the man wants a woman for life and he wants her now. After getting set up on too many disastrous blind dates by his friends, he accidentally finds Mia in his neighbour's lawn.Immediately intrigued by this short, beautiful and spunky lady, he wants to get to know her better, except she turns him down. Mia does not have time to date, between working two jobs and raising her younger brother, her days are filled up. Jackson is not one to take no for an answer. He wants her, so he will get her and quitting is not in a Navy SEAL's dictionary.What starts as one date, easily turns into two and so on. Before they know it things get serious fast and Mia does not know if she's ready for that. Somehow she's afraid she is like her mom, who is now on husband number ten. Totally ridiculous excuses is what I believe, though that does not make the fear any less. She will need to let go of her negative believes and give Jackson a real chance.Somehow I always skip the warning that authors post concerning their books. So I was expecting the more regular smexy scenes and completely didn't saw the dominant kinky scenes coming until they were already happening. That took me quite by surprise, though not necessarily in a bad way. This was the first book I've read by Elle Kennedy, but from the other characters in the book I can already see that traditional is not her way to go.I really liked Mia, she was really witty and that added a lot of humour in the book. Her uncertainties were at times a bit annoying, because to me they were unfounded and it all put a drag on her relationship with Jackson. Danny her younger brother is totally adorable and such a typical sixteen-year-old. The interactions/quibbling between the two siblings came across as very real.Now Jackson seems like an easy going, relaxed kind of guy, which is very misleading. The guy definitely needs to be in control, though it is a side of him he has very much kept hidden from his friends and normally takes time before he shows his lovers. When it comes to Mia though, there is no holding back.The overall plot in the book was a bit lacking. There was all this drama from Mia and Danny's mom, she just left Danny on Mia's doorstep two years ago and never came back. It seems now she wants to get in touch again, but you can smell the lies from miles away. So that was very predictable. Then there is also Jackson family. He is from a small town and when he was younger there was an incident. Since then everyone there knows what he is in to and he gets judged for it a lot. That has more to do with being conservative and prejudice, still it this all did not really draw me in.I don't mind certain scenes, even if they get freaky, but I don't need them to happen every chapter. That is an exaggeration, though there were just too many scenes for me. The focus was too much on that and I would have liked to've seen more effort put into the plot instead.As Hot As It Gets has fun characters, with interesting stories, a bit of an underdeveloped plot and plenty of hot scenes. It will definitely warm you up on a cold night.