Hotter in the Hamptons

by Tinx

"Tinx brings us her fiction debut packed with glamorous escapism, scandal, and sexual tension. Hotter in the Hamptons is the romance for a new generation." - Chelsea Handler  

Travel to the heart of the Hamptons in an irresistible summer fling from New York Times bestselling author Tinx!

As New York City's fashion it-girl, Lola has been living her dream. But when her career comes to a screeching halt after a very public snafu, everything Lola has worked for – her loyal following, her designer closet, her perfect boyfriend – starts to go up in flames. And when notorious culture critic Aly Ray Carter lights the final match by writing a scathing exposé, it feels as if Lola has lost it all. 

When Lola flees to the Hamptons to escape her mistakes, she expects to spend her summer drinking Minuty by the pool while carefully rebuilding both her confidence and her brand. Instead, she looks over the trimmed hedges to see none other than her rival and newest Aly Ray Carter.

As summer blazes on, Lola is swept into an intoxicating situation with the woman who ruined her life, marred by chaos and confusion as she tries to pinpoint why Aly has her so captivated. She thought the Hamptons would be the perfect place to outrun her mess, but quickly realizes there's no place to run.

Genres: Romance, Summer, Audiobook, Fiction, Book Club, Summer Reads, LGBT

336 pages, Hardcover

Published May 6, 2025

About the author

Hailed as “TikTok’s Big Sister,” Christina Najjar―better known as Tinx―is a viral content creator with an audience of over 2 million, known for her real-talk dating advice. Tinx is also the NYT bestselling author of THE SHIFT and host of IT’S ME, TINX on Sirius XM.

source: Amazon

Reviews

[KeepsTheTbrAway · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't usually like to review books that I didn't enjoy, but with Hotter In The Hamptons, it's not that I disliked it and more that this book dealt me increasing levels of psychic damage the longer it went on.
At first I thought that this book was just something that wouldn't be for me, that I had no interest in reading from the POV of an out of touch wealthy fashion influencer whose every other word was 'chic'. But, I wanted to give this book a chance.

Summary:
- Lola is just Tinx. Literally. Down to the design school she went to
- Every character is a total stereotype in the most UNIRONIC way
- Aside from their assigned stereotypes, every character is essentially the same person
- Lola's complete refusal to call herself anything other than straight as if it's the end of the freaking world
- Everything about this book trivializes the experience of being a queer person

At about 30% into the book I decided to look up the author, Tinx, who I'd never heard of before. She's a fashion influencer, who went to Parsons to study fashion journalism & in 2022 she was cancelled. Sound familiar? The main character, Lola, a fashion influencer who studied fashion at Parsons & then got cancelled. At first I thought that it would be interesting to read about how it is to be cancelled and come back from it, to really change and grow from the experience. Boy, was I wrong. Lola (AKA fictional Tinx) does not change or grow from her experience at all. She frequently expresses and demands sympathy for the fact that she was cancelled for "stupid" reasons that aren't a big deal. Is that the attitude that Tinx holds about her experience in real life? I sure hope not. The things she said about other women were vile. She calls herself "Tiktoks big sister" but fatshames women on twitter? Right. I sincerely hope she was more introspective than her characters.

When Aly was introduced and described as a 'heartbreaker' who 'tends to pull straight girls' it was really the first thing that set off my alarm bells. That is famously something that SO many people assume about gay women. For so many queer people it is a reality that when someone finds out you're gay, they assume you're attracted to them or that you're going to try to "turn them gay". And then this was DOUBLED DOWN by Aly not only having been with a straight girl, but also having her whole romance with Lola be made to revolve around the fact that Lola considers herself to be straight. What makes this even more frustrating to me is that this "information" (AKA blatantly homophobic rumor) is relayed to Lola by her best friend Ryan, who is the most stereotypical gay best friend character I've seen outside of an early 2000s romcom. And I don't even think the author realized that she was writing such stereotypical characters, because they are ALL like that (Aly the lesbian that goes after straight women, Ryan the sassy fashionable gay best friend, Justin the boyfriend who doesn't pay attention to or understand his girlfriend, Lola the clueless rich girl who never takes the blame, Colette the jealous ex gf who tries to break them up).

Aside from each character's assigned stereotype, they are all the same person. And they're all freaking awful. Every single one of them is selfish, immature and genuinely frustrating to read about. "Oh you got cancelled? You didn't think about how it would affect ME first? whatever let's get married or break up! who cares?" "Oh you just got outed and aren't even sure of your sexuality yet? and your ex who dumped you after you didn't want to get panic married is back? uhhhh let's break up" "What boyfriend? You didn't tell me that! Well okay yeah you did but what about MY fling with our hot neighbor that ruined my life?"

Throughout her summer fling with Aly, Lola struggles with her attraction to her. She repeatedly says how she's straight, straight straight straight. Couldn't possibly be bisexual. She's just always had sexual fantasies about women, watched lesbian porn, is dating a woman and frequently fooling around with her. But before Aly she only dated men so she's straight. Obviously, everyone's journey with their sexuality is different. As a bisexual woman, I know first hand that finding a label that suits you can be incredibly personal and difficult, particularly when you're attracted to more than one gender. But Lola's complete denial of the possibility of her being bisexual, to the point of melting down over it like a toddler, it's just feels as "bisexual" is a bad word to her. She has gay friends, so many in fact that she claimed to forget that queer language isn't hers to use when she was cancelled for it. But she can't consider that she might be bi? Is gay or straight the only acceptable option? Bisexual is NOT a bad word.

My last issue with this book is that it completely trivializes what it is to be queer. Queerness to this book is a phase, a summer fling. It comes SO close to hitting the nail on the head when Aly literally brings this topic up to Lola while they're fighting. She tells Lola "Some of us don’t have the luxury of just liking who we like. It’s who we are. It impacts our rights.” To which Lola responds "Please don't yell at me." and the concept is just. Never brought back up? It's so frustrating to seeing it come so close to being handled properly and then just dropped.

After their argument about Lola being straight, they spend some time apart, then Lola rides her bike to see Aly, Aly reads her a piece she wrote basically saying that she's in love with Lola, they get it on in the pool & then pretty much immediately break up after that and never get back together. That's it, the end. Happily never after.

[Lila Salley · Rating 5 out of 5]

To all you naysayers, have you considered reading this with 3 glasses of Prosecco in first class?

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was such a strange one for me, I sat with my thoughts for a few days and I’m still struggling to process my feelings. When I started this I was looking for a beachy read and this definitely fits the bill. It’s very surface level and looks at the glitzy world of summer in the Hamptons in a very trivial and superficial way. The main character, Lola is hard to really root for, she seems immature for her age and her internal monologue sounds like a horny teenaged boy. This one is super spicy, but like I said lots of the sex scenes were super cringey and maybe there was too much emphasis on the sexual relationships in this one. I did end up liking Lola more by the end of the book but it took forever for her to show some growth and character development. I will say I was somehow still oddly invested here but overall this felt very juvenile and immature.

[emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

respectfully, what a clusterfuck. i would like a refund for the few hours of my life that it took to read this. as a lesbian, reading a book in which the main character has a LOT of sex with (and has feelings for!) a lesbian while staunchly calling herself straight is not really my idea of a good time.

i honestly feel kind of deceived? it feels disingenuous to market this as “the romance for a new generation” when i personally do not find it romantic for the main character to have this crazy run of internalized homophobia that’s actually never resolved. if you are actively falling in love with a woman, you are not straight!! straight girls don’t do that!! i feel like i’m going crazy. i don’t want to be mean, but this quite frankly felt disrespectful to read, so that’s just how the cookie crumbles today.

thank you to netgalley & the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Devan (devsday) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I went into this with an open mind, because I don’t really know anything about Tinx, and the summary made it seem like something that would be right up my alley. First I will start with the writing— it’s very elementary. She names popular luxury fashion and home items, but never gets into actually describing them— which is odd in assuming that most people just know what they are. The LGBTQ+ characters felt so stereotypical and they come across like caricatures. Overall, all of the characters are underdeveloped. I won’t even get into the fact that a straight woman wrote these characters. This is such a huge miss, and I think Tinx needs more “no” people in her life.

[Jamie Rosenblit · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hated it and the writing was beyond cheesy but I also couldn’t put it down?

[Britt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh this was… not good. Problematic, poorly written, out of touch in the worst ways. Also written in 3rd person without a HEA. Hard pass on this one.. I can’t believe it’s getting made into a show. Cringe.

[Crush Critiques · Rating 1 out of 5]

This had the potential to be good, instead it read like an advertisement of sponsored brands that Tinx was being paid to promote. It was mind numbingly superficial and the label name dropping became tiresome very quickly.

Lola totally doesn’t act like a 30 year old woman. She’s childish, completely self-absorbed, and flighty. This book was very difficult to read at times bc I found Lola very shallow and unlikable & her gay best friend, Ryan, was so cliché. There were no characters that I liked actually.

I don’t know much about the author other than they’re an influencer, but a lot of the book felt incredibly stereotypical towards the LGBTQIA+ community. I’m not sure if they are in that community or if they just used it for the narrative and marketing purposes, but it just felt ick to me, especially the fact that Lola seemed to find the thought of being bisexual (or labeled as such) to be so reprehensible.

Little things irritated me as well, like
writing that you can’t dive gracefully with large breasts, or having Lola make french toast as if it were a difficult meal to make. The paragraph describing what designer sunglasses everyone was wearing in the car was so unnecessary and shallow that I wanted to toss my phone in irritation. Completely unnecessary. More time should have been spent on the characters so they weren’t cookie cutouts of stereotypes but instead Tinx felt it necessary to mention Aly’s Tom Ford sunglasses 5 times…

If you’re a teen or a fellow influencer you might enjoy this book. There’s really not much to it other than designer labels and spice; Lola doesn’t really have a satisfying character arc. If you want to read something substantial and not something that comes across as brand name fan fiction, skip this one.

1 star

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley and Sourcebooks Bloom Books,  however this review is completely my own unbiased personal opinion, left of my own volition.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

This wasn’t the worst but it also wasn’t the best.

I was actually very intrigued by the whole influencer situation Lola found herself in because I’ve seen how easily you can either make or break your career. However, she got so annoying and whiney in constantly needing that validation from her followers. I know it’s hard sometimes to not seek it but Lola needed therapy.

I was happy to see that little bit of growth at the end but I felt the situation lacked a depth to it. It all felt surface level and it just kind of happened. The entire time I thought she needed to be on her own and I’m glad she finally figured that out.

Here is my concern with this book however. I did not know who Tinx was and I realized she is in fact an influencer. This book is heavy on LGBTQIA+ stereotypes and I’m hoping it’s coming from a place of experience and not just trying to use it for a storyline. I’ve heard it’s even getting picked up to be a series as well so I truly hope this is not a money grab.

I did have moments I enjoyed the storyline but mostly, I just couldn’t get past the whole Aly writing such a mean article about Lola and Lola starts dating her? I love me an enemies to lovers trope but this just felt weird. The spice was a bit spicy though so I give it a 3 🌶️ out of 5.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloom Books for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

[S · Rating 1 out of 5]

they will never make me like you tinx

[Maren’s Reads]

ARC received. The reviews are....interesting?! Will be keeping an open mind going into this one.

Thank you Bloom Books for sending this my way.

[Sarah Lodder · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thought this was just a splashy beach read? Think again given the drama the book and author are currently embroiled in; this book is about a queer coming of age story, but is being published under a straight woman’s name (Tinx) yet written by a gay ghost writer (Gabrielle Korn). If it wasn’t for that under lying issue, this would probably go by largely unknown because the book is fine, but not great given the lack of fully flushed out supporting characters and love interests.

Lola, a fashion influencer living in NYC, gets cancelled a few months prior to her 30’s and unwillingly finds herself at a crossroad after her boyfriend drops a marriage and bicoastal move ultimatum on her. In order to cope she finds escape by spending her summer with her friend in the Hamptons. It’s here she befriends a woman she cannot deny an attraction to and much to her confusion begins to pursue romantically. The book does a great job of glamming up the life of influencers and the rich, dropping 2-4 brand names every page to anchor the story in our 2025 reality. That will probably age poorly, but makes for an easy read. I finished this in 3 days for reference. But where the book falters is the queer identity of Lola because her internalized homophobia is so prevalent it’s offensive to any actual queer readers. Lola defends her straightness and slyly villainizes other queer characters (issues with ex-girlfriends, gay best friend drama, and general commentary on LGBT+) throughout the book despite being with a woman romantically and sexually. It’s degrading to have confusion on sexual orientation be interpreted negatively and without any true resolution- and to also never address that Lola’s motives in her negative thoughts were internalized homophobia. Instead the blame gets placed on the LGBT+ community for wanting her to claim a label, and honestly that’s not really a thing especially in NYC, where the spectrum is so fluid it flows better than water in the pipes.

But let’s set aside the issues with the actual writing and construction of this plot. After all, the elephant in this room remains to be that it’s pandering LGBT+ stereotypes to a broad audience of largely cis-women who make up Tinx’s following. This might be their first encounter with LGBT+ relationships or sexual awakening stories, and it’s ultimately opening the door to a novel they might not have picked up if it was penned under Gabrielle Korn (who has written other lesbian books to middling success and reception). If it get’s people who haven’t read LGBT+ literature into the category then that’s great! But it doesn’t outweigh the harm of the homophobia, poorly executed narrative on labels (which can be really empowering to some people to feel apart of a community), and leveraging an author’s audience over representation in writing.

PUBLISHERS- people will buy GREAT queer stories, written by actual queer authors. Stop providing these whitewashed fictional narratives of the gay best friend, ice hearted lesbians, and denying the socio-political reality of being queer. Being queer in itself is an act of love, and this book missed the entire point of that by the whole of Long Island.

[Amanda Knutzen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing in this book was elementary and I really just didn’t appreciate the story. I couldn’t immerse myself in the world the author was trying to create (and I live in nyc and have visited the Hamptons). Most consumer goods described in this book were just labeled as a high-end/luxury items. They were never really described in detail around what they looked like, the texture, etc. which could have brought the characters and landscape to life. I thought the sub theme of fashion, in particular, fell short.

The main character Lola, an influencer, was an insufferable snob and her ‘personal growth’ was overshadowed by the external validation she sought from social media. She would have been more relatable, for me, if she had any girl friends. It made sense she didn’t because she was self-absorbed and selfish, but it led to a lack of underdeveloped side characters. I don’t know any girls that don’t have any girl friends and only one gay (male) best friend. I think that trope only exists in pop culture fiction.

Overall, not my fav.

[Sabina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Liked in some ways but disliked in others! The main upside was the way it read like tea-filled reality TV in the best way, but it fell flat for me in other areas. I was hoping for a bit more of a summery, Hamptons atmosphere—there were the beginnings of that vibe, but we didn’t quite get to the sun-drenched feeling I wanted. I also thought the queer rep was strange. The MC insisted that she was straight and that it was odd/weirdly “political” that the other characters were asking if she was bi or queer when she was fully eating box and saying she was in love with a lesbian woman??? I thought we were going to have a reckoning about internalized homophobia but alas… Overall entertaining & a quick read but unsure if I would recommend or not :/

Edit:: INSTANT one star demotion upon finding out the author says she’s straight and only dates straight men??? What is going on bro

[Ellie Pepper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've seen the reviews are not good on this one but I actually liked it a lot? It's a cute summer beach read and it's fun. Her plot depth / character development could use work, there is stuff not built out enough but I thought it was a great first book for her! I enjoyed it a lot and gave me good vibes for summer.

[erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

So cliche lol whatever get ur bag tinx

[Michela Eckhouse · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bad

[Mandi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had potential, but unfortunately it didn’t live up to it for me. I was intrigued by the premise and initially interested, even if it leaned cheesy, but things quickly went downhill after the two FMCs got together around the 40% mark. From there, I just couldn’t stay invested.

The characters lacked depth and development. I found it hard to connect with any of them, and there was little to no chemistry between the leads. The plot felt predictable and flat, and while the book did have some spice, even that didn’t do much to elevate the story.

By the end, I was mostly just ready for it to be over. And the self-promo plug for Tinx’s own podcast at the end? That pulled me out of the story and honestly just felt cringe.

I didn’t hate it, but I definitely didn’t enjoy it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloom Books for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Tara Larsen]

WeWoreWhat x Willa Bennett fanfic

[all.the.smut.things · Rating 3 out of 5]

RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
SPICE: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

✨ Hamptons Summer Vibes
✨ Enemies to Lovers
✨ Sapphic / Gay Awakening
✨ influencer x Critic

This book was easy to read, a little bit messy, and kinda felt like I was a fly on the wall in a rich lifestyle. I feels like this was gossip girl meets sapphic love story and while it was entertaining I wish I had gotten a little more.

Lola and Aly definitely have chemistry and watching Lola’s journey to figuring out her sexuality was a whole ride. This book just didn’t feel as authentic as I wanted it to.

It’s entertaining has some great trend references and delivers on the spice. I think some people might enjoy that.

[Kristy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really don't know how to describe my feelings about this book.

First of all, I have no idea who Tinx is, nor do I want to. But if this book is modeled after her, she did not do herself a lot of favors.

Our main character Lola is a fashion influencer; she started out posting her own vintage designs but has morphed into shilling anything from her sponsors. When she gets canceled for something said while going live, her fancy influencer life starts to fall apart. She and her boyfriend break up and--to make things even worse--journalist Aly Ray Carter writes a scathing piece about Lola, calling her vapid (and more). After that, no one will touch her.

Lola does little to nothing to convince us that she is not the vapid influencer Aly writes about. She cares about very little but money, status, and notoriety. She's also a terrible friend, especially to her BFF, Ryan, who stars as the stereotypical gay best friend, but is also way too forgiving of this girl. (She can't even remember the name of his boyfriend, or to show up to meet him for dinner.)

Meanwhile, as Lola and Ryan flee to the Hamptons, they find out they are staying right next door to Aly. Aly and Lola become romantically entangled, leading to some very spicy scenes and Lola's downright refusal to accept that she could be bisexual.

Here's where the book gets extra confusing: everyone is allowed to come out on their own terms. No one has to label themselves as anything against their wishes. As the book progresses, some pretty awful stuff does happen to Lola, and no one should be outed against their wishes. At the same time, her cluelessness about what the queer community faces (her best friend is gay for god's sake) is just insane. In many ways, this sums up my feelings for this story: vacillating between sympathy for Lola and then wanting to shake sense into her.

I'm not really sure the point of this story. Putting aside the money and bad decisions, Lola was just someone trying to figure herself out. (Yes, she does this badly for the most part.) The NYC elite come off looking as bad as ever, here, and you'll find yourself grateful to be a poor, normal person with zero social status.

Not really a book I'd recommend, but I didn't completely hate it, either. So confusing! 2.5ish stars.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Bloom Books in return for an unbiased review.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somehow it was exactly what I expected? Nothing life changing but a quick, messy read! Like a grown up version of the Clique books.

Thank you so much to Bloom Books, Tinx and NetGalley for sending me an early copy.

[Charles Binion · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m extremely skeptical of influencer-centered fiction, and this book confirmed every one of my doubts. It’s quite possibly the worst book I’ve ever read. Tinx clearly based the main character on her own life—elite upbringing, influencer career, fashion-world name-dropping—but stripped it of anything resembling depth or introspection. What’s left is an insufferable main character obsessed with herself, surrounded by one-dimensional supporting characters who only reinforce every tired stereotype (including the overused gay best friend trope).

It’s obvious Tinx was aiming for a modern take on the “West Village Girl”—trying to channel the essence of “Sex and the City” with Lola as Carrie Bradshaw, her ex as Big, and her best friend as a watered-down Stanford. But instead of landing as iconic or aspirational, it flopped hard. The writing reads at a middle-school level, despite being ghostwritten, and the constant name-dropping of fashion labels and restaurants made the whole thing feel more like a Google Maps crawl through downtown and East Hampton than a novel.

The relationships, especially Lola’s with her ex and with Aly, are bafflingly shallow. The stakes feel fake, the dialogue is cringe, and the resolution—if you can call it that—is laughable. Even the “cancellation” that supposedly ruins Lola’s life is completely unrealistic for someone in that space. Also, why does Lola have absolutely no real friends, yet we’re supposed to believe she’s one of the most followed people on Instagram? Make it make sense.

What’s even more bizarre is that the storyline is basically lifted from real-life influencer drama—specifically Danielle Bernstein (WeWoreWhat) and her endless cycle of cancellation and redemption. Lola’s lifestyle, social presence, and scandals mirror Danielle’s almost too closely, but without any of the actual nuance or learning moments that come with living it in real time.

I like Tinx as a personality, but I felt like her book was a long-winded paid sponsorship. She’s self-described as a sex and relationship expert, yet the entire plotline was messy, juvenile, and nothing was actually resolved—it was all just childish. It proves that truly anyone can write a book. I’m shocked this has been optioned for a show, and is in production.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

i think books about influencers are just not for me. i am very proud of lola’s growth at the end of the book but overall the book just didn’t land for me. the authors writing style just wasn’t for me.

[Sarah Mitchell · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 - not what I was expecting…. I adore tinx and I hated this book. I will stick to the shift.

[Caitlin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This feels really problematic.

So much of this is an obsession about how incredible the FMC is and how everyone else is wrong. She has this obsession with being adamant about being straight even though she is into other things. It made queerness feel wrong and it felt like a super dig at bi people because there was this huge divide between being straight and liking women, like there wasn't another option that is okay. The author also writes things that are not great about different kinds of people (like fatphobic comments) and it felt like the entire book was going to be destructive in hurtful and not cute ways.

In the end, I think that the author wrote a Mary Sue book about herself and in doing so feels like everything is fine and justified. I wish there would've been an editor or two that would've challenged some of this a little bit.

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meredith if you’re reading please this stop here.

Sad to say but I think my friend Natalie had it right when she gave the book away before reading it.

I think the book was fine. If it hadn’t been written by Tinx I would think it’s on par with a low tier beach read. What made this book weird to me was that the whole time I was thinking of Tinx and what she was trying to communicate about herself via Lola. I guess she has tried to distance herself from being Lola but I think that’s impossible … especially considering Lola’s characteristics and Ryan being Pig (IYKYK)

Finally, to my knowledge, Tinx has been crickets during pride month which is weird to me as an author of a lesbian book in the current climate. I saw this take on Reddit.

[Aurora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hotter in the Hamptons was a fast-paced, easy to read book despite the unlikable main character. Lola's emotions felt very realistic and relatable even though her actions were questionable throughout almost all of the book.

My main issue with the book is that it felt as if Aly was purposely being made into an unlikable lesbian stereotype just so that Lola could find herself and be more rightfully angry at her. The portrayal of lesbian culture in her friend group didn't seem realistic (a traditional butch/femme couple is not going to have the butch wearing a dress, for example). Lola annoyed me by all her wishy-washiness about her sexuality and I do not feel as if the novel provided good or realistic sapphic representation. I have noticed a trend of lesbians, especially dominant lesbians, being fetishized while still being treated as suspect simply because they are lesbians, and on a meta level it feels to me as if the novel did this. It's hard to give specifics without giving spoilers.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Meredith Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS IS AN EXTREMELY BIAS REVIEW. You have been warned.

Giving it 5 stars because I have to. But also I enjoyed it a lot in all honesty. I love how you can hear the author in the narrative. The ending is such a good message that you don’t normally see in romance type books. Kind of took me by surprise in the best way. It really resonated with me and felt real. See I told you guys this was gonna be bias and really only positive but IDC.

[Jenna Post Crorkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obligatory book club read that I didn’t not hate. Let’s remember that a brand isn’t a descriptive adjective.