Sophie Renwick ~ "Hot in Here"

A miss... HUGE miss!

Here goes...
Bryce is a chef with some reputation trouble, caused by his “I like my women the way I like my recipes: fast, easy and full of variety.” blabber, that made his fans turn their backs on him. He needs a U-turn in his career, so he calls his friend Jenna - PR girl - to make a strategy. The same Jenna - plain Jane, shy and insecure - that's in love with him for ten years... ever since she spotted him in school cafeteria, and dumped a tray of meat loaf and mac and cheese in his lap.



Anyway, they're discussing the perfect plan for bringing Bryce's fans back to him, while at the same time she's thinking of ways to make him notice her as a woman, and he's so hot for her it's almost unbelievable.
Did I say almost? I meant un-fuckin'-believable!

What happens next is my first big issue with this book.
Bryce shows up at her apartment, one thing leads to another, and they end up having sex.
News flash? BORING!
The next morning Jenna suddenly decides that's not how her plan should go, she doesn't want him to regret it, and - what a marvelous idea - she'll be a player. Hard to get, just sex, no emotions involved kind of player.
Bryce, on the other hand, decides she's great, he wants more, he wants it all, and he'll do anything to get it.

Is it me? Like three pages before this she was shy, insecure, soooo in love with her friend, but couldn't make herself do anything about it. And, he was a serious player, who "went through women like NASCAR drivers went through tires". YES, that's a quote!
Suddenly, it's like reading about some other characters that have the same names like the ones at the beginning of the story. WTF?!

I won't tell you what happens after that. Mostly because it's sex-misunderstanding-sex-plot-sex-plot-sex...
Sex that was NOT hot, and the rest of the story that was so poorly executed I wanted to cry.
It's supposed to be sizzling, burning, over the top sex. There's a lot of food play (well, he is a chef!) and quite graphic descriptions all the way.
It was BORING!
There was lots of it, so I was bored a lot.
When they weren't having sex, it was even more boring, and frustrating, because there were like fifty different things going on - none of which was explained, or made sense.

He's a player/He's in love with her for years. ?
She's shy/She's hell on wheels and spineless. ?
His brother has some serious issues with their father. ?
His brother and her sister have something going on, but why, how...?

You know what? This is a case of an erotic story where the sex is boring, characters are cardboard-ish and I have no idea what they're actually supposed to be like, and adding all that unexplained pieces of drama just makes this too much for me.

I. AM. SO. FRUSTRATED.

P.S. Since it seems this is one of those "everyone likes it but me" reads, I can hardly claim you'd share my feelings. So, if you're in the mood for some (erotic) romance, do read it - and let me know how you liked it.