I’m working my way through this series and I’ve enjoyed it; the books are not perfect in fact in every one there are things that bug me, but the characters grab me, and the plot lines are compelling making me want to finish them. The same holds true for Some Like It Hotter, these characters both had traumatic pasts; both were convinced love was not for them, yet both were the type of people to help others even if it came at great personal sacrifice. These characters were complex, they had issues, they’d had a previous one night stand that neither could forget, and to top it off their siblings were married to each other so complicated doesn’t even begin to describe their relationship. Some Like It Hotter is a story of putting your past behind you, living in the moment, and looking to the future even when it looks different that you’ve imagined it.
Lindsay might only be 33 but she has two ex-husbands and no plans to ever marry again. She likes her life; her art is her passion but she also has begun to realize that it’s time to have a steadier income so once her residency in Berlin is up, she’s returning to college to get her degree so she can teach art at the high school level. She’s excited about her future and she’s been playing poker at the casinos to fund her college degree and living expenses, something she hasn’t told anyone about other than her friend in Berlin. She doesn’t feel she can share her gambling with her sister after what they went through with their dad, but Andrea is not her father she doesn’t spend her winning on frivolous things and she certainly doesn’t lose it all the next night. When her brother in law and ex-one night stand Giovanni shows up in Berlin she’s suspicious and she knows something is up with him, she just has no idea that what he asks of her will change her life forever.
Giovanni knows asking Lindsay to agree to marry him for a short while is a long shot, but it’s one he’s willing to take to protect the children of his late best friend. Tracking her down in Berlin, he never expects to have an altercation with one of her suitors or to find her playing poker to fund her college education for when she returns to the states. Growing up wealthy and being a plastic surgeon although one who has spent his career helping children in third world countries, he’s never had to worry about money. When she turns him down, he knows he’s going to have to work harder to convince her but when a tragedy occurs she reluctantly agrees but he worries if they will both survive unscathed since it is obvious neither one has been able to put their one night behind them.
The attraction between Lindsay and Giovanni was undeniable from the start and it continued even when they tried to not give in to it. Both these characters had experiences in their past that weren’t pretty which led them to locking their hearts up tight and despite Lindsay being married twice she never gave herself fully to either of her husbands; she didn’t share her past with them. Giovanni hadn’t shared his past with anyone close to him either something that had sent him spiraling down fast only to be pulled back when his best friend and then roommate contacted his father out of concern. Their experiences shaped them, they let it define them, but as they shared they began to heal. It wasn’t easy or pretty and to be honest at one point I wasn’t sure they’d come back from it when Lindsay kept a big secret from Giovanni (an ongoing theme in this author’s books keeping secrets from a partner), but once apart they both realized that they were happier when together and that their love would see them through. I liked these two together a lot and felt that their past experiences were similar enough that they not only understood one another better than anyone else could.
Overall, I did enjoy Some Like It Hotter; these characters were damaged yet their hearts were so giving, their stories while tragic made them stronger, and their love for one another while unexpected filled them with a joy neither one had experienced before.
Review copy provided for a voluntary review.