Review: Heat Wave- Anthology

Title: Heat Wave

Author: Donna Hill, Niobia Bryant, and Zuri Day

Release Date: July, 2011

Publisher: Dafina

Genre: Contemporary/ Anthology

Rating: 3 Hoots

Reviewer: Charity

New York is having a summer heat wave and three women are feeling it—and dealing with it—each in their own steamy way... 

Summer Fever by Donna Hill 

Nina Forbes is excited to house sit in the Hamptons—but her handsome neighbor, Barbados native Ian Harrison, excites her even more. Soon the two are sharing conversation, kisses. . .and sizzling sleepovers. Ian promises to keep in touch after he returns home in the fall. But as the days pass, Nina fears their passion was just summer fever. . . 

One Hot Summer by Niobia Bryant 

After a high-profile divorce, event planner Simone "Love" Lovey swears off dating famous people. . .until sexy star athlete Maleek Trenton enters her life. Their romance is bliss, but Love again finds herself amid paparazzi, groupies—and calls from a woman who claims she's involved with Maleek, and has intimate details to prove it. . . 

Too Hot To Handle by Zuri Day 

Choice McKinley gets stuck in an elevator during a blackout, on the hottest July 4th ever. That she's locked in with gorgeous Trey Scott only adds to the heat. Soon, relief from the high temperature requires clothing removal and sultry kisses. But Trey doesn't know Choice is his boss's off-limits daughter—and Choice doesn't know Trey is a wanted man. All that will come after the doors open to reality. . .  (Goodreads)

3.5 Hoots for Summer Fever. It was a cute story. The characters seemed real and the story progressed at a good pace. The sex scenes were steamy and definitely felt real. The ending… not so much. The last chapter was very rushed and was too short. I would have liked to see more details.

One Hot Summer gets 3 Hoots. The suspense was the best part of the whole story. I had a hard time connecting with the characters. Love and Maleek both come off as spoiled; it’s all about me, type people. I didn’t feel the love and connection with them. Tashi’s character was a good twist.

3.5 Hoots for Too Hot to Handle also. I thought the story itself was great. I liked the chemistry between Choice and Trey. What I didn’t like was the writing style. The point of view changed randomly anywhere and everywhere, it was very distracting.

I also need to point out that this is my first African American read with the “Nigga” language. Both One Hot Summer and Too Hot to Handle had an overabundance of the dialog and it really takes away from the story. This is especially so with Trey in the last story. I can’t wrap my mind around the fact that a Harvard grad in a high end business would really talk like that. Overall, I do not feel this book was a waste of my time, but it is not going on my reread list.