Bring on the Heat

Bring on the Heat was fun and entertaining to read. It was sort of Cinderella-like, with the main character, Darcy, dressing up in the clothes of rich and famous Lydia, and going to a benefit as her in order to meet a baseball team that she admired. Upon meeting pitcher, Chase, she finds that she likes him so much that she can't give up impersonating Lydia, which eventually leads to trouble.

I liked Darcy, although the whole pretending to be Lydia was not well done of her. I am glad that she ended up taking responsibility for all of her actions and doing everything she could do put things right. I think she was a good person who let her impulses steer her into doing something that wasn't right.

Chase was a great character, and I am glad that he ended up staying true to himself and deciding what was important in his life. I didn't admire the way he thought he should be chasing fame and fortune earlier in the book, but he was a really genuinely nice guy who made the right choices in the end.

This was a very quick book to read, and it was enjoyable. I liked the characters and the storyline kept me interested. I"ll be looking forward to the next book in the series.

Darcy only wanted a ritzy night out, a chance to meet the rising star on her favorite sports team, just one night to see how the other half lives. What she didn't expect was that her borrowed dress and resemblance to the socialite heiress who signs her paycheck would have everyone mistaking her for the notorious Lydia Logan. And she certainly didn't expect the man of her dreams to be interested in who he thought she was.

But... If you’re in the mood for something realistic, this is not it. Of course, if you pick it up after reading the synopsis, let’s hope you already know it’s going to be a bit far-fetched. But that’s not exactly a bad thing. After all, romance novels are supposed to be a bit of fantasy, right? Bring on the Heat tells a story that might never happen in real life, but it’s certainly fun to imagine.

Judging Covers: It’s not what I’d call an awful cover, but it’s a little dull. The rather plain font (is that Times New Roman?), the background that matches his pants… The somewhat plain picture just begs for a more creative font. Or maybe the pretty standard font begs for a more colorful picture? If it weren't for the Loveswept logo and the drop-shadow, I would have assumed someone with no previous design experience threw together using Photobucket’s text option.

The Verdict: Darcy’s predicament was in many ways every woman’s fantasy. Who doesn't want to be someone else, someone with more money and an important name, someone who could attract the attention of their dream man?

When Darcy was initially mistaken for Lydia Logan, her heiress/socialite boss, she did what most people would do, which is try to clear up the confusion. But when no one really listened — or really cared all that much — she just decided to go with it, and I can’t blame her. After all, one night of mistaken identity at an event filled with the kind of strangers you only read about in magazines doesn't seem like such an issue. But a pair of forgotten earrings leaves Darcy little choice. She can admit the charade or play along just a bit longer, retrieve the earrings, and go back to her not so magical life. Of course, things don’t exactly go to plan.

I also like that Chase saw bits of Darcy’s true personality beyond the cool exterior she tried to project, and especially that he never suspected anything was amiss. It made his attraction to and ultimately his feelings for her come across as more genuine. However, I was rather disappointed in his reaction when he found out who Darcy really was (though I’d be lying if I said I didn't expect it), considering how his motives weren't exactly the best when he started seeing her. She might have been pretending to be someone else to be near him, but he was pretending about his reasons to be near her as well.

Bring on the Heat was a cute, lighthearted read that placed the characters in the kind of situation you really only see in movies. Once I abandoned reality, it wasn't hard to be entertained by Darcy, who apparently looked so much like the famous Lydia that people didn't see the difference. I can’t say I really connected with the character, since her handling of the whole extended mix-up was less how most people would react and more to drive the plot, but I could certainly understand being dazzled by the way the other half lives. At the same time, I’d be lying if I said the story wasn't predictable, but I was still interested enough in finding out HOW it would all happen that I went along for the ride to happily ever after.

***FicCentral received this book from Random House LLC (via NetGalley) for free in exchange for an honest review. Even so, we're far too opinionated to let a freebie influence our thoughts or the contents of the reviews we post here.