Review | One Hot Summer ~ Kat French

One Hot Summer

Kat French

Avon

June 2016

Rating 5/5

Kindle | Paperback

       

              

Being married to a celebrity isn't all it's cracked up to be, especially when that celebrity has a very public affair with his co-star…

Alice McBride is determined that the one thing she won't lose in her marriage breakup is Borne Manor, her beloved home, but she gets more than she bargained for when she rents it out for the summer and a sexy cowboy comes to stay.

Country music star Robinson Duff has had his own share of heartbreak and needs somewhere quiet to hide out for the summer. Neither Alice nor Robinson are in any position for romance; the timing is terrible and they're both rebounding like out of control frisbees.

Can a holiday romance help mend their broken hearts. Or will it just make things even worse when the long hot summer comes to its inevitable end?

             

I knew as soon as I saw the gorgeous cover, that One Hot Summer was a book I would enjoy. What I didn't realise was that this would be one of them books that completely took over my life.

I literally devoured One Hot Summer in a day and would thoroughly recommend this.

One Hot Summer starts off with us being introduced to Alice McBride when she discovers photos in the paper of her film star husband, Brad, in rather compromising poses with his co-star.

As Alice quickly kicks Brad our of their marital home, Borne Manor, realisation soon hits her that she is on her own in a house that she adores and left wondering how she will afford it.

Soon enough it is decided that she would rent out Borne Manor and move to a van in the garden with the intentions of doing up the attached boat and tree houses to form a glamping site.

Enter Robinson Duff. 

Robinson is a successful country singer but is dealing with his own heart ache and decides to escape to England for the summer.

Kat French wrote One Hot Summer in such a way that I completely fell for the love story of the English rose and her country cowboy... I could feel the tension between the two of them ooze of the page and this led me to keep reading to see how their summer panned out.

When Alice and Robinson are alone and in their bubble, they are happy in their 'summer holiday romance' agreement, but throw in their ex's and his pushy manager and everything is threatened to finish early.

Alongside the leading pair, there is a wonderfully eccentric group of sub characters which gave the book some humour next to the romantic tension giving a great balance.

One Hot Summer has everything you would like in a romance novel - it oozes sexual tension yet is full of tender moments. It made me giggle, it made me sigh in awe and it had a beautiful backdrop of a setting.

Cover Reveal | One Hot Summer - Kat French

Today I'm delighted to be sharing with you an extremely summery book cover from those cover reveal fairies at Avon... so without further ado...

ONE HOT SUMMER

Kat French

Publishes: 2^nd June in PB and EB

Being married to a celebrity isn't all it's cracked up to be, especially when that celebrity has a very public affair with his co-star…

Alice McBride is determined that the one thing she won't lose in her marriage breakup is Borne Manor, her beloved home, but she gets more than she bargained for when she rents it out for the summer and a sexy cowboy comes to stay.

Country music star Robinson Duff has had his own share of heartbreak and needs somewhere quiet to hide out for the summer. Neither Alice nor Robinson are in any position for romance; the timing is terrible and they're both rebounding like out of control frisbees.

Can a holiday romance help mend their broken hearts. Or will it just make things even worse when the long hot summer comes to its inevitable end?

Undertaking Love by Kat French

'Try not tho wheel any dead bodies across the pavement when the brides outside, okay?'

When Marla Jacobs discovers that the vacant shop next to her Little White Weeding Chapel is to become a funeral parlour, she declares and all-out war on new proprietor Gabriel Ryan.

With an army of loyal supporters, she embarks on a campaign to sabotage his reputation and livelihood.

But when she finally meets Gabriel, she realises just how much trouble she's in. With his effortless charm and Celtic good looks, Gabriel begins to form alliances with her so called 'loyal' army and, reluctantly, she finds herself falling under his spell. And destroying him becomes the last thing on her mind....

I'd never heard of Kat French before I picked up this book, I was drawn to the cute cover design to start with and then was intrigued by the books blurb.

Undertaking Love was a fast past read but what's particularly liked about the book was that there was a handful of characters that you got to know really well other than the main two, Marla and Gabe.

Marla originates from America and whilst she all for everyone else falling in love and getting married, she doesn't feel the same applies to her own life, yet this doesn't stop her owing a quaint little chapel that plays host to a vast variety of weddings... Goth and barn dance included.

She has successful been running her business for a few years but goes into total meltdown when she sees the signs going up next door, indicating its to be a funeral parlour... Weddings and funerals eh?

Gabriel is an undertaker, and despite his family's successful funeral business back in Ireland, he's decided to go out alone. From the moment Marla walks in declaring he absolutely must vacate the building because weddings and funerals just won't work, he's smitten.

Over the course of the book there is very much a will they won't they scenario, almost like a Romeo and Juliet story, only with brides and bodies getting in the way.

Marla and her two friends who help run the chapel, Emily and Jonny, set up a petition to get Gabe to leave, from the outset it all goes wrong when Jonny won't let it drop and it goes viral online resulting in the window to the funeral parlour being smashed... There is then the clash of a wedding and funeral at the same time, the one thing they both agreed on trying to avoid.

It takes almost to the end of the book for you to know on whether they get together or not, although it's clear to the reader and the other characters they are mad on each other. Gabe will happily declare his feelings, but Marla refuses to allowe herself to trust her heart.

The sub-plots in the book are just as interesting which is enough to keep you gripped without losing sight that Marla and Gabes story is the real focus.

~Emily and her husband Tom are having troubles trying to conceive a longed for baby. Tom refuses to get help and would rather work away a lot, leaving Em feeling lonely. When Tom chooses work over being home for her birthday, she gets drunk with Gabes best friend, Dan, having a one night stand that leads to pregnancy.

~Dan a typical jack the lad!

~Jonny is very much a bright, loud yet loveable character. His witty one liners had me laughing out loud and it's clear his character is very protective over his friends, and although there's no mention of a partner, the way the book is written I very much felt he was looking for the man of his dreams.

~Melanie, Gabes receptionist, has a major crush on her boss and will quite literally do anything to win her boss over.. She's also the reason for Marlas heartbreak which leads to her getting that little bit closer to Gabe.

~And then there is Dora and Ivor. An elderly couple who are the heart of the little village with a fabulous love story to tell.

Ivor tends to the chapels gardens and Dora cleans for both the chapel and parlour, consequently becoming a go between for the pair!

Each of the sub plot characters all have a story to tell and at times the book had me unexpectedly crying, yet being set in a small village and only having a few characters I felt worked really well with getting their stories linked together.

Undertaking Love has all you would want from a book... Fun and laughter mixed equally with passion and desire, not forgetting emotion too. 

A thoroughly good read that was enjoyed from cover to cover, I wouldn't hesitate giving another book by Kat French a read either!