Reviewer: Tracy Hot in Hellcat Canyon by Julie Anne Long
Series: Hellcat Canyon #1
Publisher: Harper Collins, Avon
Publication Date: May 31st 2016
Genres: Contemporary Romance
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Series Rating:
A broken truck, a broken career, and a breakup heard around the world land superstar John Tennessee McCord in Hellcat Canyon. Legend has it that hearts come in two colors there: gold or black. And that you can find whatever you’re looking for, whether it’s love . . . or trouble. JT may have found both in waitress Britt Langley.
His looks might cause whiplash and weak knees, but Britt sees past JT’s rough edge and sexy drawl to a person a lot like her: in need of the kind of comfort best given hot and quick, with clothes off and the lights out.
Her wit is sharp but her eyes and heart—not to mention the rest of her—are soft, and JT is falling hard. But Britt has a secret as dark as the hills, and JT’s past is poised to invade their present. It’s up to the people of Hellcat Canyon to help make sure their future includes a happily ever after.
J.T. McCord is an actor who is in Hellcat Canyon to kind of check things out as he’ll be filming in the area and wants to see the area and get a feel for the people. He meets Britt when he eats in a local diner and they have an instant connection. They start to see each other regularly but tell each other that it’s just a fling and not anything real, even though they’re both feeling the “real” of it. When it comes time for J.T. to head out for a friends’ wedding will J.T. leave for good or realize that he can never leave Britt behind.
I have to admit that I started it and then put it down and went back to it a later date as I just wasn’t feeling it and that was a bit shocking as I’ve never done that with a Julie Anne Long book. When I picked it back up I got a bit more into it but honestly never really felt a great connection with the characters. At some points I thought that the conversations between J.T. and Britt would have been better in one of JAL’s historical romances but didn’t quite work in the contemporary setting.
Britt was a woman who had been hurt in the past and was telling herself she was just living her life but she hadn’t actually lived since moving to Hellcat Canyon. Meeting J.T. changed all that but she still wasn’t able to admit to herself that what she was feeling was real. I understood her hesitancy as J.T. was a famous guy and she was just your average woman – not a celebrity. I was happy that J.T. finally was able to get through Britt’s head that she was the one he wanted.
Overall the story was cute but I’m sorry to say not as good as I expected it to be. It wasn’t, imho, on par with JAL’s historical novels.
Rating: 3/3.5 out of 5