I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley, Afterglow Books by Harlequin in exchange for an honest review; thank you!
Review of Ms. V's Hot Girl Summer
Adult General Fiction, Romance Women’s Fiction, Contemporary Romance
TW: Sex Scenes
Tropes: Age Gap, Single Mother, Single Father, Close Proximity, Forced Proximity
Representation: Multiethnic main female, main male characters, and families.
About the author
A H Cunningham is an introverted woman who loves romance books. Cunnigham loves lovely dovely romance books and erotica. Her main characters are Black or Multicultural adults.
Summary
Trinidad Velasquez is a single mother. She prioritizes her children and her work above all else. At one time, Ms. V once lived a life filled with fun and pleasure. But she married and got a divorce. Now she is dating a man who is stable yet boring. She still hopes to stay in a fulfilling relationship.
Although she finds Mr. Orlando Wiggins, her twin sons’ teacher, attractive. The problem is that Ms. V thinks he is too young. Orlando is ten years younger than her.
Orlando is attractive to her, but she can sense her apprehension. He tries to give her space, which is hard because she picks the boys up almost every day. He hopes his trip to Carnival can get his mind off Ms. V.
She even plans a vacation with her current boyfriend, even though she doesn’t want to go. Her plans are deterred. Her kids planned a surprise trip to the Carnival, her favorite event. While there, she has no place to stay. She must stay with the hot teacher.
Analysis
I notice a lot of readers did not understand why she was apprehensive about dating Orlando. But the author explains her reasons.
Trinidad feels that dating a sexy young man will ruin her current life. Ms. V is a mom and thinks her fun days are over. She gave up her party days and wild sex life. She thinks dating a younger person like Orlando would take her back to those unstable days. Ms. V wants a calm, nice, and safe life for her and the boys.
But She find that she is wrong about Orlando. Trinidad's sons trick bad her feel unsafe and put her in a dangerous situation, but Orlando helped. He gives her a place to stay and allows her to feel safe.
Orlando is responsible despite being younger than her. The reason was his upbringing. He is the oldest child of immigrant parents. He had to help his siblings and mother. This was a surprise to Trinidad. But when she sees his family and how he interacts with him she feels that he is a good person for her.
Conclusion
The book was slow, but I still enjoyed it. Most of the time, the main character struggles with her emotions. It bothered me that she didn’t listen to her heart. Trinidad knows she likes and loves Orlando,but is afraid of how it would look.
It made me so happy that she changed her mind. Orlando proved not only mature, but passionate and fun. Overall, it was an excellent slow burn with spicy moments.
