cover image Getting Hot with the Scot

Getting Hot with the Scot

Melonie Johnson. St. Martin’s, $7.99. mass market (368p) ISBN 978-1-250-19309-4

An internet jokester butts heads with a vacationing reporter in this fun contemporary. Chicagoan Cassie Crow and four friends are on the girls’ trip of a lifetime, visting Italy, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and the U.K. Cassie’s hoping to have a “fabulous, wanton” fling somewhere along the way. In an Edinburgh castle, Cassie bumps into Logan Reid, a sexy Highlander in a kilt who claims to be a time-traveling romance hero. She doesn’t believe him, but she’s happy to share a scorching kiss with him. Then he reveals he’s a prankster and she’s on camera. Incensed, she refuses to sign a release that would let him use the video in a pitch to get his web show on television. Logan follows her to London, hoping to change her mind, and they begin a steamy affair that gradually becomes a relationship. The lovemaking scenes are electric, but the most revealing moments are outside of bed when Logan and Cassie are laughing with their friends and families. They grow and change together, as Cassie learns to let go of her rigid plans for the future and Logan resolves the pain of his father’s death, but the story never loses its lighthearted tone. This enjoyable tale gently pokes fun at romance clichés while giving romance readers what they’re looking for. [em]Agent: Pamela Harty, Knight Agency. (Apr.) [/em]