The Book Diva's Reads

2.5 star read

Peyton Lockhart has had a crush on Finn MacBain since she was six years old. Finn saved her from a potential drowning and then taught her to swim. For most of her preteen life she considered Finn her own guardian angel. As Finn grew older and went away to college their friendship seemed to gradually dissolve away, but Peyton has never forgotten him.

Newly graduated from culinary school, Peyton wants to find a job and strike out on her own. The only job seems to be an editor’s assistant at a culinary magazine miles away from home. Peyton accepts the job and moves away from friends and family. Unfortunately the job comes with some undesirable attention; the lecherous attention of her boss...her married boss. The work environment is filled with hostile and unwanted sexual advances from her boss and she is told that she can't file a complaint until she's been there awhile. She tries to go over her boss’s head to the company owner, her boss’s father-in-law, but is thwarted at every turn. Peyton's only recourse is to quit the job and go back home.

Peyton returns home to find that her favorite uncle is giving her and her sisters a unique opportunity to strike out on their own. They have to take over the management of a resort hotel in Florida and make it profitable in one year's time in order to become full owners of the resort. It's an offer too good to refuse.

Peyton had hoped that leaving the magazine would end her problems, but they seem to follow her and her sisters to Florida. After she's been shot at and had other close calls she resorts to calling her childhood guardian angel for help. Finn is now an FBI agent and he is just what is needed to keep Peyton safe.

Hotshot is not just the title but the childhood nickname Peyton had given to Finn. She's hopeful that he'll be able to ride into town and save the day as he often did during her childhood. The problem is that there are so many fires to be put out: saboteurs on the hotel renovation, death threats (presumably from previous employers), oblique threats from potential hotel rivals, and family drama from an unwelcomed (and horribly spoiled) cousin. I don't know if it was just me, but the story wasn't as tight as I usually expect from this author. I actually enjoyed the storyline about sexual harassment. The unwelcome cousin I felt was a bit much and didn't really add that much to the story. I enjoyed the back story for Peyton and Finn, as well as their current developing relationship. I found Hotshot to be a quick read and it was interesting for the most part, but there was just something about the story that didn't quite fit in my mind. The beginning of the story and the end I found plausible and enjoyable, but the middle just seems to get a bit muddled.