A decent story with one really out MC and one seriously confused MC. It hit for me as a just right - perhaps because I have known big family groups who are just as diverse yet role-bound as this one. The characters were nicely developed and the story arc was decent with comedy and internal angst.
Overall a relaxing read that did not require any deep thoughts. ( )

I didn't read all of this novel. At 65%, staring at chapter sixteen, I decided I'd had enough and skipped to the last chapter (22). I... That was a smart decision. The promise of the prequel story was not delivered here.

I expected Shane to be more compassionate. He wasn't. The terrible flaw in this novel is lack of communication between the two guys, particularly from Shane. He shows Mike friends and clubs, but there is no discussion of what it all means to Shane and can mean to Mike--Mike's just left to figure that out on his own, surrounded by homophobic male relatives and nice but clueless women relatives. It's cruel.

It is not loving.

When we invent a world close to real, we have an opportunity to display how to do it better than often happens in reality. These authors chose not to give us that. Instead there is pining, groping, sex, and flailing followed by silence and hurt feelings. On top of that, the writing style is a little sloppy, a bit repetitive in plot, and a lot shallower emotionally than I was expecting. ( )

Not the best, but I liked it and will continue the series. ( )

Hot Seat is the first book in the ‘Hot Cannolis’ series co-written by Eli Easton and Tara Lain. This book stars Mike Canali, a young firefighter, and Shane Bower, a college student. The story is told in first person from Mike and Shane’s povs.

4.5 Stars



First, I’ll review the cover. I love it! It suits the series and I can imagine the cover model is Mike Canali. The cover gets an A from me.

This series can’t be read as a stand-a-lone. The first book, Fireman’s Carry is written by Eli Easton and is a prelude to this book and the rest of the series. The prelude introduces the characters, Mike and Shane, and this book picks up after the other book ends. The blurb does a good job explaining about the plot, so I won’t go into it much.

When I reviewed Fireman’s Carry, I mentioned that I had concerns about this follow-up story, and especially Shane not being consistent with the prelude. One of the authors does like to write over-the-top twinks and I was afraid that was what was going to happen to Shane in this book. I am happy to say and very relieved, that did not happen here. The authors did a great job of conveying distinct personalities for Shane and Mike throughout the book. Readers were given insight into Shane’s personality in the prelude story, but we didn’t really know what Mike was like. One personality difference I noticed that I don’t know if anyone else did, was that Mike was immature. It came across more during his inner monologue. I don’t think it was because he didn’t know anything about the gay community, it was something else that I can’t put my finger on. Maybe it was his fear to try new things outside what his father and brothers did. He seemed rather sheltered. Shane on the other hand came across as more mature.

I liked that Shane helped expose Mike to the gay community, but Shane did seem to have his own agenda. As if the more Mike learned, the more he’d be willing to come out to his family. Shane told himself he wasn’t pressuring Mike, but it seemed to me that Shane’s motives were not all altruistic. I was glad to read at the end of the book, Shane’s grandfather brought up that exact topic. Shane needed to be a true friend, not someone motivated by the desire to date Mike. Mike seemed to be the kind of guy who needed guidance. Being the youngest in his family, he looked up to his father and brothers and they set the path on which Mike followed. Mike was not a self-directing type of person. He needed someone to tell him what to do. Mike’s character growth was terrific. I could really believe how conflicted he was, especially growing up with the kind of family he had. I can also believe what he did at the climax of the story. Shane did a little growth, but not as much as Mike. This story was more about Mike than Shane, I would say. It was easy to believe in Shane and Mike as a couple.

I enjoyed this story tremendously, but there was one character I didn’t enjoy. Remember how I said that I was concerned about Shane being written as over-the-top? He wasn’t, but Mike’s mother, Lucille, was. I didn’t like her character. She was written like a squealing high school or young college girl who the men in the family protected from hearing curse words. Because in Lucille’s own words, ‘they were a good Catholic family!’ I have many comments about that. Lucille likely knew her husband was homophobic when she married him. I doubt he changed over the years except to get worse, but she still married a homophobe and was okay with that. Not only that, but her sons learned to be homophobic. I don’t remember once early in the book that Lucille confronted any of them about their behavior or derogatory words about gays. Because of that, I can only believe that she agreed with them because, ‘they were a good Catholic family!’ Only after meeting Shane, and Tessa talking to her mother about gays did her mother seem to acknowledge that there was nothing bad about being gay. So, I have a major issue with Lucille as a character and how she was written. She ended up being the over-the-top character that Shane was not. I don’t think I know any women in my life who act like Lucille did in the story, except teenagers.

Overall, Hot Seat is a terrific story with a believable storyline of how a young man growing up in a homophobic and religious family would be fearful of coming out. Mike and Shane get their HEA after a disaster, but that did wake up Mike’s family. The one person I didn’t care for in the story was Lucille. I found her unrealistic and an over-the-top teenager. I want to give 4.5 stars because of that one character, but since I can’t give half stars on Goodreads, I’ll up the stars to 5 Stars because the plot, and Mike and Shane are great.

I’m looking forward to the next book in the series which stars Donny, Mike’s older brother and a huge homophobe, and Dell, who is gay and a hot-shot fire pilot. I’m hoping that story is as good as this one.



I received an ARC of this book from the authors for an honest and unbiased opinion. ( )

Follow on story to freebie story. Really should have put the freebie onto the front of this novel. Liked it and interested to see follow up stories. Will Easton offer up anything new or keep rewriting the same story?

Closeted firefighter, youngest in a big family of firefighters. All homophobic. ( )