ONE HOT SUMMER – Melissa Cutler
A One and Only Texas Novel , Book 1
St. Martin's Paperbacks
ISBN: 978-1-250-07186-6
April 2016
Contemporary Romance

The Texas Hill Country

Because wedding planner to celebrities Remedy Lane is, herself, a well-known Hollywood personality as the daughter of two major movie stars, the blame for the cancelation of an upcoming marriage between another pair of stars falls on her. The embarrassment drives her out of town until she can reestablish her reputation enough to go back where she belongs. She lands a job as executive event planner at the upscale Briscoe Ranch Resort near the little town of Dulcet, Texas. It caters to the rich and powerful from all over. Things don't go smoothly for Remedy, what with frolicking elephants on the golf course, her difficulties with the head chef, and her run-ins with the county's fire chief/fire marshal. Now, that latter is a main theme of the book. Remedy is feisty and independent, not given to kowtowing to men, and Chief Micah Garrity takes his duties seriously. After-all, it's a hot, dry fire season not good for celebratory fireworks or flaming desserts. While it's true Remedy and Micah rub each other the wrong way, it's also true they would really like to rub each other—the right way.

Frankly, I didn't think I was going to like Remedy at first, and I wasn't too sure about Micah, whom Destiny quickly dubs the Alpha Bubba. As it turned out, it was lots of fun watching the two from such different cultures collide. I ended up liking them a lot as they lost their respective prejudices. Remedy, especially, grew up and became the woman she thought she was. ONE HOT SUMMER has tons of humor and some really hot—and sensuous—love scenes. Also there are well-developed characters a-plenty, some endearing, some definitely not—and not all are human. And all the while you'll find yourself smiling, even laughing, at the repartee and antics.

And happily, this is just book one. The last pages have a sneak peek at the next One and Only Texas novel, ONE MORE TASTE. Do yourself a treat and dig into this tasty series.

Jane Bowers