Grade C-

Hot Finish is the third book in Erin McCarthy's Fast Track series centering around NASCAR race car drivers. Suzanne and Ryder Jefferson married young and could never seem to talk about their marriage problems. After a few years they divorced feeling it was for the best. But Suzanne and Ryder somehow seem to keep the other still in their life, not to mention the pesky little problem of still having feelings for the other. Suzanne and Ryder are once again thrust together when the wedding Suzanne is planning is a NASCAR wedding the Ryder is the best man of the groom. To complicate matters it turns out the divorce papers were never signed properly and Suzanne and Ryder are still legally married.

Hot Finish was a major disappointment for me. I really enjoy Erin McCarthy's writing. I loved her last Fast Track novel, Hard and Fast choosing it as a top read for last year. With that in mind I was really looking forward to her next release. The main reason for my disappointment was that Suzanne was such a BITCH!!! Honestly, she was not a very nice person. She was always griping and complaining. It was made even more glaringly obnoxious because Ryder was always so considerate and generous with her. I just couldn't stand the way she would treat him. Granted I will say that some of her behavior I could understand, but most of the time it just grated on my nerves.

Fortunately, Hot Finish is a well written book, with good dialogue between the NASCAR boys and the camaraderie between Suzanne and her friends. It's funny and fast paced like McCarthy's other books, but I just couldn't stand the heroine. If it wasn't for the stellar story telling I would haven't even finished the book. If you don't mind a prickly, bitch heroine with a stick up her butt, then maybe you will enjoy this more than I did.

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I liked it.

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Suzanne and Ryder aren't my favorite couple of this series and I found it rather difficult to read this book. Couple this with barbie doll Nikki's wedding planning, another hated character and this book was nowhere near as good as the first two in the series.

Suzanne and Ryder were divorced two years ago or so they thought. While working with bridezilla Nikki, they get the news that the divorce was never finalized and they are still legally married. These two fight and bicker like no one I've ever met and have remained "friends" since they travel in the same racing circles. Ryder still carries a torch for Suzanne but won't admit it to her. And Suzanne has rarely dated because she's still hung up on Ryder but won't can't express her emotions so has failed to tell him the simple truth. It was a comedy of errors without the comedy. I found myself cringing again and again when they started up. Though I will admit that regardless of their problems, the sex was hot and frequent. So hot that I found myself just turning pages because it depressed me. lol

I'm definitely looking forward to Evan Monroe's book. Mr. perpetual bachelor, I am not a one woman man is finally going to meet his match. I can't wait.

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2/3s of the way into the book, the hero and his buddies suddenly become women in hairy suits when the guys (all in the testosterone heavy profession of race car driging) start asking the hero how his relationship with his woman was going. Then they tell him he should TALK to her about the RELATIONSHIP. I mean, come on. How girlie is this? Do you know any guy who would do this with his buds? I dont. Not one. (Okay, maybe my gay guy friends. Maybe.) But a hetro male? Theyd rather be boiled in oil than talk about to their wife/girlfriend/significant other about their relationship. Theyd sooner be tortured to death than offer each other relationship advice. The women, meanwhile, are having the same conversation with the heroine, and accusing her of thinking like a man because she doesnt talk to her girlfriends about the things that bug her. So its not that the author doesnt understand that theres a difference between the way men and women think and communicate. She just chose to ignore it. Even worse, if the hero and heroine had been given this advice earlier and followed it, the story would have been finished in ten pages, which would have been fine by me, because I got very tired of the talk-have sex-take offense-argue pattern that kept repeating through the story

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what a fun story! I was anxiously awaiting Suzanne and Ryder's story and it did not disappoint!

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