I'm thrilled to be hosting a tour stop for Serena Bell's Turn up the Heat! This is the first book in a new steamy contemporary romance series, Second Chances. If you like your sex scenes on the kinky side, this is a must-read! I've had great luck with Loveswept before, and I'm happy to say that this one does not disappoint. Stick around for my review!
The Book
For readers of Jill Shalvis
and Susan Mallery, USA Today bestselling author Serena Bell teases all five
senses in this poignant, tantalizing novel of fantasies long hidden . . . and
finally indulged.
Aspiring
chef Lily McKee noticed Kincaid Graves the first time he walked into the dingy
diner where she waits tables. With his ice-blue eyes and primal tattoos, his
presence puts Lily on edge—and reminds her of all the unfulfilled longings she
isn’t pursuing while she’s stuck in this dead-end job. Without a doubt, the man
is dangerous to her long-term plans of leaving town and hiring on at a real
kitchen—and yet, she hungers for him, if even for just a taste.
Kincaid
didn’t come back to his coastal Oregon hometown looking for a good time or a
good meal. The ex-con has a score to settle, old wrongs to set right. But Lily,
equal parts innocence and insight, brings out an impulsive side of him he
thought he’d left behind in the past. And it only takes one intense moment of
weakness between them to make him consider the possibility of an entirely new
future—and the promise of passion beyond either of their wildest dreams.
Turn up the Heat is available now!
Excerpt
The other two waitresses had temporarily divvied up Lily’s tables between them, but Gina
hadn’t come in yet, so Lily
retook her tables. She made the rounds, getting back on track with her
customers. She brought the redheaded family desserts, refilled water glasses,
and took a few more orders. Then she grabbed the coffeepot and headed back to
9.
Getting near him felt like being drawn into some planet’s orbit.
His eyes scraped over her as she poured his coffee. “You cooked
this.” He tilted his head at his now empty plate.
She nodded.
“Best burger I’ve had here. By a mile.”
“Thanks.” She
couldn’t keep the pleasure
off her face.
She waited for him to say something else, but he didn’t, only kept those blue eyes on her. His
gaze should have felt cool where it touched her face, but it felt hot instead,
and it sent heat sloshing through her. She looked down. The book he’d been reading was on the table. A
textbook, with a stack of flags and a highlighter beside it. Abernathy’s Law in the United
States.
She rearranged her notions of him around that. Maybe a cop, but a
law student, too. Huh. “Light
reading?”
He grinned.
“You done?” she asked.
“I’ll take a slice
of chocolate cake.”
She went back for the cake, cutting an extra-thick piece for him. God,
the need to feed him was intense. And all mixed up with her other cravings.
Just
because he’s big doesn’t mean he’s rough. Doesn’t
mean he likes it rough. And it doesn’t matter, because that’s not what you’re
here to do.
But the frustration and disappointment of failing at her chance in
the kitchen got all wrapped up with her other feelings. The elation she’d experienced when her
ex-boyfriend, Fallon, had bound her—the ropes, the tape, the surge of power
that powerlessness had given her. The way she’d struggled, the way restraint had poured pleasure into her body.
How Fallon had turned away from it, in distaste and disgust.
How willing she’d
been to renounce her newfound self, her newfound joy, for what she thought
was love. For the trappings that came with love—the apartment she shared with
him, the mentoring he’d given
freely, the job he could offer her. How deep she’d buried her real self so she could be what he needed her to be and
so she could have the life he was offering her.
And most of all, the true shame and hurt—of losing it all, anyway,
to lies.
All of that, that tight knot of emotion, needed an outlet. It wanted
to work itself raw, shake itself off. It wanted to drown itself.
It wanted this man, rational or not. It wanted to unbury itself for
him. She
wanted to unbury herself for him.
Instead, she set the cake down before him.
“Did you get in trouble with the owner? I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. I just wanted him to
know you did good.”
She wanted to shrug it off, but instead was horrified to discover
that the tears she’d pushed
back were threatening to fall. “It was a rookie mistake,” she said, steadying
her voice. “I should have known better. You never mess with the recipes. You
don’t question the chef.
Ever.”
She’d known, but
she’d wanted too desperately
to cook this man something he’d
love. Her desire to feed him would do her in. She knew it, now, already.
He was shaking his head, the muscles flowing in his thick—and yet
somehow finely built—neck. The skin under his tattoo was as smooth as satin,
and she realized she was fantasizing about licking it. Biting it.
He rubbed a thumb back and forth over the laminate table, as if
cleaning up a spot of something that had spilled. “Rumor is he’s crazy. Should
have retired years ago, but has some price in mind and won’t settle for less, even though the place
needs a ton of work. Meanwhile, he won’t change anything from his dad’s day—not the recipes, the decor, nothing. It’s not you, kiddo. It’s him.”
The kiddo killed her. Slew her dead, right then. It
should have felt demeaning, condescending, but it had the same effect on her
the rest of him did. Made her want to be a small thing he tossed around, the
way his sandpaper voice tossed off that word. Kiddo.
She needed to walk away from this craving, from this stranger who
didn’t feel like a stranger. As if maybe all those locked gazes, the fact of
his being there dependably week after week, had built a slow, strange,
invisible trust.
She was here in Tierney Bay, love life ruined, career in suspended
animation, self-regard shredded, having fled as far as she could from her
mistakes, and she had vowed not to make them again. She had vowed not to let
anything get between her and rebuilding her life. Because it wasn’t, couldn’t possibly be, worth it.
But in the end, there were two parts of her. There was the part that
wanted to rebuild her life.
And
there was the part that just wanted to live.
My Review
Sometimes I grab a book that's exactly what I need to read at the time. Turn up the Heat was one of those books. I needed something that was sexy, light, romantic, and ended on a fully positive and upbeat note. Turn up the Heat checked every one of those boxes.
A contemporary romance that pairs an ex-con with an aspiring chef, I thought right from the start that Turn up the Heat had excellent chemistry between its romantic leads. There's something magnetic about Lily and Kincaid that drew me in.
Both of these characters have baggage from their pasts, of varying degrees. Lily's got an ex who put her through hell, while Kincaid, well, he's an ex-con, so you can imagine some of the story there. She's all shiny goodness and light, while Kincaid is brooding and dark. The contrasts are pretty obvious, but that didn't dampen my enthusiasm for the story at all.
What this book does *exceptionally well* is present kinky sex--in the form of rough, moderately dominant-submissive sex--in a way that seems completely realistic to me. This story bypasses the more formal dom-sub scenarios that have been so popular, instead depicting this type of sex in a way that I suspect is much more common in the real world. Lily and Kincaid share an interest in rough sex--and have been conditioned to sublimate that desire. So, when they find each other, and recognize the potential they have togethe, it's *smoking hot.*
One of the big themes in this book is trust, and I thought that was also handled--and emphasized--in really clever ways. It's such an important component of any relationship, and the ways in which Lily and Kincaid instinctively trust each other, but also have to learn to trust each other and themselves, make for fantastic reading.
I also really enjoyed the ex-con angle. It's not simply thrown in to add flavour and, potentially, make Kincaid sexier (he doesn't need to be sexier, for starters...). There's some thought-provoking comments about the life of ex-cons, and about doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. This created some depth in a book that could have simply a very sexy version of the same-old, same-old.
Bottom line:
I absolutely recommend Turn up the Heat for fans of steamy contemporary romance. If you prefer a more genteel approach--fade-to-black, for example-- you will want to skip this one, which is really unfortunate because I thought it was awesome. I will absolutely come back for the second book in this series!
5 stars
For fans of contemporary romance, sexy romance, rough and/or kinky sex
A contemporary romance that pairs an ex-con with an aspiring chef, I thought right from the start that Turn up the Heat had excellent chemistry between its romantic leads. There's something magnetic about Lily and Kincaid that drew me in.
Both of these characters have baggage from their pasts, of varying degrees. Lily's got an ex who put her through hell, while Kincaid, well, he's an ex-con, so you can imagine some of the story there. She's all shiny goodness and light, while Kincaid is brooding and dark. The contrasts are pretty obvious, but that didn't dampen my enthusiasm for the story at all.
What this book does *exceptionally well* is present kinky sex--in the form of rough, moderately dominant-submissive sex--in a way that seems completely realistic to me. This story bypasses the more formal dom-sub scenarios that have been so popular, instead depicting this type of sex in a way that I suspect is much more common in the real world. Lily and Kincaid share an interest in rough sex--and have been conditioned to sublimate that desire. So, when they find each other, and recognize the potential they have togethe, it's *smoking hot.*
One of the big themes in this book is trust, and I thought that was also handled--and emphasized--in really clever ways. It's such an important component of any relationship, and the ways in which Lily and Kincaid instinctively trust each other, but also have to learn to trust each other and themselves, make for fantastic reading.
I also really enjoyed the ex-con angle. It's not simply thrown in to add flavour and, potentially, make Kincaid sexier (he doesn't need to be sexier, for starters...). There's some thought-provoking comments about the life of ex-cons, and about doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. This created some depth in a book that could have simply a very sexy version of the same-old, same-old.
I absolutely recommend Turn up the Heat for fans of steamy contemporary romance. If you prefer a more genteel approach--fade-to-black, for example-- you will want to skip this one, which is really unfortunate because I thought it was awesome. I will absolutely come back for the second book in this series!
About the Author
USA Today
bestselling author Serena Bell writes
stories about how sex messes with your head, why smart people sometimes do
stupid things, and how love can make it all better. She wrote her first steamy
romance before she was old enough to understand what all the words meant and
has been perfecting the art of hiding pages and screens from curious eyes ever
since—a skill that’s particularly useful now that she’s the mother of two
school-aged children.
USA Today
bestselling author Serena Bell writes
stories about how sex messes with your head, why smart people sometimes do
stupid things, and how love can make it all better. She wrote her first steamy
romance before she was old enough to understand what all the words meant and
has been perfecting the art of hiding pages and screens from curious eyes ever
since—a skill that’s particularly useful now that she’s the mother of two
school-aged children.
Thank you so much for hosting TURN UP THE HEAT!
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