Too Hot to Handle by Tessa Bailey Series: Romancing The Clarksons #1
Published by Forever on May 17, 2016
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Narrator: Greyson Ash
Length: 8 Hours and 44 Mins
Pages: 336
Format: Audiobook
Source: Library
When rescue looks like a whole lot of trouble . . .
The road trip was definitely a bad idea. Having already flambéed her culinary career beyond recognition, Rita Clarkson is now stranded in God-Knows-Where, New Mexico, with a busted-ass car and her three temperamental siblings, who she hasn't seen in years. When rescue shows up---six-feet-plus of hot, charming sex on a motorcycle---Rita's pretty certain she's gone from the frying pan right into the fire . . .
Jasper Ellis has a bad boy reputation in this town, and he loathes it. The moment he sees Rita, though, Jasper knows he's about to be sorely tempted. There's something real between them. Something raw. And Jasper has only a few days to show Rita that he isn't just for tonight---he's forever.
Too Hot To Handle is the first book in Bailey’s “Romancing The Clarksons” series, and to be honest I wasn’t super eager for this book. Unlike many readers of Tessa Bailey, I haven’t really enjoyed the books I have read from her. She is really hard to get into her books, the writing just isn’t engaging enough for me but lately I keep hearing so many podcasters rave about this author so I decided to give her another chance with this series through Audio. Now at first, I admit I wanted to DNF because this narrator is not whom I would have chosen for this author but I decided to stick with it for a couple of hours and I eventually became drawn into this story and I am glad that I did with it.
Too Hot To Handle begins with our heroine, and her siblings whose mother has recently passed away and left behind a journal. Rita Clarkson, is the one that took after her mother in the cooking department. The Clarkson mother was a infamous chef and Rita took after her although Rita always had to work much harder to become the chef she imagined her mother wanted her to become. But then when their mother’s resturaunt burns down, Rita convinces her siblings to go to the east coast to fulfill the wish of their mother so they all jump into a car and on their journey to the east coast, their car breaks down in New Mexico and they are rescued by Jasper Ellis who is drawn to Rita. There is some powerful chemistry between Jasper and Rita. And with their car broke down in this small podunk town, Rita and Jasper try to fit everything they feel for each other in just a handful of days even knowing they don’t have much time together. Rita will need to make a decision a new life somewhere else or stay with the man she loves?
I found Too Hot To Handle to be a sexy romance and I really loved the whole small town setting that Bailey creates here. I love small town settings so what Bailey creates here for this story was super fun. I really loved the whole city gal with the country boy mix up here. And they make such a great match. I do want to say that Bailey creates some great sexual tension between Jasper and Rita. Jasper is such a sexy hero and yeah he definitely is alpha in the bedroom for sure. I had a blast with his character, he is such a mix of strong yet respectful toward Rita unless he is in the bedroom and he likes to be very “bad” but its a delicious bad that I really was drawn to. Rita is so self controlled so I liked how she let herself go with Jasper in the sexy times. There is a pretty good balance of romance and smexy times and I enjoyed seeing how it was handled in this story.
I will admit that this story, although enjoyable, wasn’t too impressive. It felt “average” to me, I did love the differing personalities between the siblings and I was very intrigued with seeing how they interact with one another and I definitely will be reading more of the series in the near future because I find myself intrigued by these characters. But the romance between Jasper and Rita wasn’t too memorable, and even though I liked it, I didn’t necessarily love it. But we shall see what future books hold.
Overall I found Too Hot To Handle a enjoyable and slowly satisfying romance that is hot as the desert and will sate your hunger for some delicious smexy times.
About Tessa Bailey
Tessa Bailey is originally from Carlsbad, California. The day after high school graduation, she packed her yearbook, ripped jeans and laptop, driving cross-country to New York City in under four days.
Her most valuable life experiences were learned thereafter while waitressing at K-Dees, a Manhattan pub owned by her uncle. Inside those four walls, she met her husband, best friend and discovered the magic of classic rock, managing to put herself through Kingsborough Community College and the English program at Pace University at the same time. Several stunted attempts to enter the work force as a journalist followed, but romance writing continued to demand her attention.
She now lives in Long Island, New York with her husband of eleven years and seven-year-old daughter. Although she is severely sleep-deprived, she is incredibly happy to be living her dream of writing about people falling in love.
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