Review: Too Hot to Handle

Too Hot to Handle by Tessa Bailey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Holy wowzers! This book just blew me away!! This is the first book I’ve read of Ms. Bailey and I am notably impressed. The first book in the series follows the children of famous chef Miriam Clarkson as they deal with the grief that follows her passing and the subsequent burning down of her restaurant Wayfaire.
This book focuses on Rita, the eldest daughter and the one who actually burned down the restaurant while working in it. After her career and place of work go up in literal flames, Rita, her brothers Belmont and Aaron, and the youngest, Peggy all embark on a cross country trip from their home in San Francisco to New York City so they could join in the Coney Island Polar Bear Club and jump in Atlantic Ocean. Their mother’s dying wish.
On the way there, in their mothers broken down old Suburban no less, they run into car trouble outside the small town of Hurley, New Mexico. A knight on a shiny motorcycle pulls up, just kidding, it’s Jasper, the owner of the local bar (absolutely died laughing at the name). He offers to give Rita a ride into town to dispatch a tow truck.
There’s a huge case of instant attraction and the old Jasper would have done his damnedest to get in her panties, but this is the new and improved Jasper. He’s been celibate for two years and even though extremely tempted, he knows she’s leaving in the morning. Or is she? Wanting to spend more time with her, he hatches a plot…
This book is so awesome! One of the best I’ve read this year. The characters are real, flawed, and human. The writing is great, the plot flows, I never got bored. I do have to say though, Belmont is my favorite character. I can’t wait for his story.

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