MAKE IT HOT by Gwyneth Bolton

Take one look at that gorgeous cover and I'm sure your dirty mind leaps to assumptions, but get it out of the gutter and know this book has a fireman hero. Firemen, you know, fight fires and fires are hot. Well, that's their job. And when they get home from work...well...okay...so the title DOES have double-meaning!

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Samantha's a physical therapist pretty much satisfied with her life. She's worked very hard to achieve success, despite losing her beloved father at age 12 to murder and her mother to nuttiness after that. One night she's just passing through the adjacent hospital and a badly injured fireman is raced through on a gurney. She's taken with how his fellow firefighters are as upset as any close brothers would be. She falls a little bit in love with the injured fireman when she sees how devoted his biological family is too, especially his decidedly 'un-nutty' mother. They have everything she lost at age 12.

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Joel Hightower was born into a family of police officers and firemen. He has three brothers, including Jason who found love in PROTECT AND SERVE which I reviewed earlier this year. Joel used to be a joker, the life of the party, lived and breathed firefighting. Hanging with his brothers and fighting fires was his old world. It defined him. After falling out of a burning building, however, he's lucky to be alive. He's even luckier to find out he'll walk again...with a little help from a physical therapist.

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Samantha builds up her expectations of Joel, only to have them dashed by his crankiness during his first physical therapy session. She doesn't realize he's cranky because he fears he'll never fight fires again and he's attracted to her take-no-crap approach. He starts calling her his Lil Spitfire behind her back, of course, and starts building his own expectations.

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Meanwhile, Samantha's tormented by her nutty mother. Everyone knows when your mother's nuts and shows no signs of rehabilitation the best thing you can do is put a few thousand miles between the two of you. Samantha does this and gets on with her life, but her longing for all she lost when she was twelve eats away at her soul. She desperately wants her mother to be nice and to have a relationship with her.

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Expectations and barriers fall away between Joel and Samantha as he nears the end of his own rehabilitation. Their relationship moves fast, since they've already been falling in love for weeks and weeks. Then, Samantha's mother ends up in the hospital and she must learn if love really can heal all wounds.

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MAKE IT HOT lives up to its name. It really is hot. I almost rate it Highly Sensual, but Gwyneth handles the growing love relationship so well that it supports the level of sensuality. I rate it as Sensual.

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If you like MAKE IT HOT, you should definitely check out the first in the series PROTECT AND SERVE which I reviewed http://enduringromance.blogspot.com/2008/05/protect-and-serve-by-gwyneth-bolton.html . You can learn more about Gwyneth Bolton's novels at http://gwynethbolton.com/ MAKE IT HOT hits the bookshelves Monday, September 1st. Unfortunately, some bookstores still segregate African American authors. If you can't find Gwyneth's books in the Romance aisle, please take the time to search the African American section. I've read all of Gwyneth's novels (except the Erotica) and I can tell you it's worth the trip!