Hot Water by Fern Fraser

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Wanting a novella that hit the spot a little more than Rocky Waters, I checked out book three in the Lovers Lake series. Each book is written by different authors and I was intrigued by Hot Water. Update: I applied this to the prompt of set in summer for the 3rd board of Summer of Swoon.

Ethan is a vet that has returned to his grandparents run down hotel. He's working on restoring it to reopen. A good friend of him is willing to invest if he hires his younger sister Lexi to do the management portion. They knew each other growing up, but there is a significant age gap paired with Lexi and her family being very affluent. They are instantly attracted to each other, but stick with pining since they both don't want to deal with her brother's input as well as mess with their working relationship.

This was cute. I liked Ethan and really enjoyed him. He was a little bit moody, but such a great blue-collar hero that I could really see being able to hold down a full length novel. I also liked Lexi, but she was okay. She was a little stereotypical and bland for a heroine, but there wasn't anything I disliked about her. While this was closer to the 100 page count that I prefer for novellas, I still felt like there wasn't enough development between them for my taste. While I did think the small time jumps were perfect, especially for the circumstances, I felt like it was more insta-lust than insta-love.

The biggest detraction for me was how much was spent on couples from other of Fern Fraser's novellas and setting up future ones. While comparatively it isn't much time spent on them, I wish that since this was so short it was more of a quick mention and not much more. I like that she was trying to draw you to her other works, but it also felt like too much for this series specifically. I guess the balance just wasn't hit right. I have to say though that I really loved Ethan and his fellow vet that was helping out.

I enjoyed Fern's writing style and will probably try her again, especially if it's more full length. The steam and tension was decent and I'm certainly intrigued. She's jut not at the top of my list. I might read some of the remaining books in the series, but it'll probably save until next year. These are all summer based, but I am ready for fall. If I pick up any of these type of novellas moving forward, it'll most likely be autumn based.

Have you read Hot Water?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Hot Water, Fern Fraser, 3-stars, 1 day, eBook, 77 pages, published in 2021