Floundering in an unhappy marriage, a Minnesota housewife
creates the perfect fantasy and then plans the way to make
it come true. Calling herself Julia Reeves, she checks into
an adults-only spa, Hidden Springs in California, and
awaits the arrival of the man she's hired for the weekend.
Javier is spending a lot of time wondering how he drifted
into life as a male escort. Chance had brought him his
first job -- and the kind of good looks that left women
audibly sucking in their breaths. But he hadn't intended to
make it a career. Now, speeding toward Hidden Springs for a
rendezvous with some housewife from Minnesota, he's
wondering if he should even go. But she's already paid and
he's building a nest egg to return to college.
The first sight of Julia, who's called him William for her
fantasy, shakes Javier out of the hardened and blasé
attitude he's donned to survive his world. She's natural
and funny and naive in a completely appealing way.
Julia finds that she has to constantly remind herself that
William is just very good at playing the game. It feels so
real and for the first time since she had small children,
she's in touch with a part of herself that was buried in
the depths of a shallow marriage.
But it can't be real. None of it is. The beauty of Hidden
Springs is simply a moment away from real life. William is
too beautiful, too young, too smooth, too everything, to be
real. And Julia must deal with the repercussions of her
marriage and take on the challenge of a future that she
creates for herself.
But when it's time to leave the fantasy, no one wants to.
Can Julia go home, can William/Javier go on to his
next 'date'?
I wasn't sure what to expect of a romance with a married
woman as the heroine. (At least, when the husband isn't the
hero.) But Kathryn Jordan's debut novel takes a
potentially sordid situation and makes it real. Maybe not
the right thing to do -- that's hard to argue with. It would
be better if life was neat and clean and Julia left her
husband BEFORE the trip to Hidden Springs. But she doesn't,
and it's easy to understand why Julia has used this fantasy
trip to bridge the two parts of her life -- the past and the
future. Of course, I'd be thinking about booking my own
little trip if I could get a weekend with
William/Javier/or...hmmm, what would I call him?
While there were numerous sex scenes and the chemistry
between the two was hot, what you'll find in HOT WATER is
romance. It's like dreaming about someone to come up behind
you and kiss your neck, rather than grab you and make mad,
passionate love. What most women want is intimacy and it's
right here in this book, between William and Julia. A very
good read.
When you flirt with a fantasy, you risk falling in
love.
Trapped in an unhappy marriage, a Minnesota housewife
indulges in a weekend at a luxurious spa-and a man who'll
bring her most intimate fantasies to life. Calling herself
Julia Reeves, she hires a gorgeous man - whom she calls
William - through the Internet, rents a red Lamborghini,
splurges on some ultra-sexy lingerie, and escapes on her
clandestine adventure.
The Hidden Springs spa is all that she imagined. "William"
is much, much more. Her plan was to live out a fantasy and
then return to reality. But a weekend may not be enough.