Ravaged

Basketball player Jordan Ransom and Mensa member Miriam Ransom, a graphic novelist, shared a single scorching night together before the start of Simone’s grating second BURNED, Inc. romance (after Heated) and have since agreed to be “just friends”—a feat at which they are failing spectacularly. The slightest provocation—from a brief touch, to a look, to the other person simply entering a room—elicits aggressively horny inner monologues and improbable physical responses from the dual narrators. (“Heat flares so hot, so suddenly, low and deep inside me I wouldn’t be surprised if my ovaries are covered in soot.” “My cock pounds out a steady beat.”) Why ignore such obvious chemistry? It’s Miriam’s policy that she “doesn’t do” athletes, having been burned before. Her friendship with Jordan already erodes this boundary, but she draws the line at dating. That is until Jordan, in a self-sacrificing move, sets her up with a widower teammate, Daniel, who’s interested in dating for the first time since the death of his wife, and Miriam, hypocritically, agrees. The ensuing lackluster love triangle feels largely pointless; Daniel never stands a chance, and both Miriam and Jordan come off like jerks for allowing him to hope. Readers will struggle to root for this couple’s happy ending. Agent: Rachel Brooks, Bookends Literary. (Nov.)