Hot Water

Title: Hot Water Author: Kathryn Jordan Publisher: Berkley Trade/Penguin Genre: Contemporary Publication date: January 2006 ISBN: 0-425-20757-9 Pages: 274 Series: Heat Level: 1 chili pepper Rating: 5 Kisses Hot Water is a gloriously poetic novel that begins in the style of Contemporary Chick Lit but rapidly branches out into philosophy and metaphysics, and into allegory and metaphor. Hot Water truly has the capacity to melt the most jaded, cynical, ice-block heart. Hot Water is a glorious precious gem of a story, one which transforms ugly routine reality into a faceted diamond catching the light. No reader, male nor female, is going to resist this one; it fully deserves best-seller status. A tired, invisible, empty-nest housewife from Minnesota and a lover of books in all their aspects and fantasy in its most imaginative, treats herself to a weekend away, alone. And why not? Her loving hubby, owner of a heavy-equipment fleet, has just recently purchased a half-million dollar hunting lodge in the upstate Minnesota woods; a fact which he has kept completely concealed. With the collaboration of her sister, Lucile, she books a weekend getaway at a luxurious, magical, health spa in the upper California desert, hidden away and very expensive, and she, who's never driven a sports car in her life, leases a red Lamborghini for the weekend. She plans this to the be the weekend to build memories to last her a lifetime, so she also selects a male escort on the Internet, and chooses to identify herself as Julia, and him as William. William is at the end of three years in his field and wants desperately to enter graduate school to begin work on his Ph.D. He just needs a little more in his savings, just a few more jobs, and a weekend with Julia from Minnesota will pay for most of the remainder needed. Neither Julia nor William could possibly entertain the notion that the weekend getaway will change them both, and those close to them, in ways they could not have conceived of, even in fantasy. Hot Water is the kind of story one reads the first time for the sheer joy and pleasure of it; but it is also a novel that finds its way immediately to the keeper shelf. It will be reread over and over again, each time the reader is in need of a dose of Hope. There is not one factor at fault in this book. The plot, the characters, the gorgeous setting, the philosophy and metaphor: every aspect of this book shines, and the reader comes away looking at herself or himself for traces of faery dust glow. This book is that good. Kathryn Jordan is a debut novelist, but I hope this is only the first in a long line of outstanding stories from this gifted author. Review by Frost, TwoLips [...]

I haven't read such a fun, sexy and totally entertaining book in a long time. No wonder Hot Water is catching on with women across the country and has become a popular choice among book discussion groups. Romantic but not a romance novel and as steamy as erotic fiction but with plenty of philosophy in the mix, Hot Water is about a woman's escape from her humdrum life, uniquely told from both the woman's and man's point of view. The story takes place over a single weekend when Julia, an attractive Minnesota housewife in her mid-forties, secretly flies to California, rents a red Lamborghini and checks in at a luxurious desert spa. Her expectations don't begin to measure up to what actually transpires during her rendezvous with William - also rented for the weekend - a darkly handsome graduate student in philosophy who is more than ten years her junior. As this page-turner progresses, the title becomes the perfect metaphor for lust, love and life.

Kathryn Jordan's book Hot Water was unbelievable. The book took me to a sensual place out of the ordinary beyond my wildest dreams. Sometimes we as women just go through life not listening to our innermost dreams and callings. This book inspires women who are stuck in a rut to go out and do something that they always wanted to do. I recommend it highly. Thank you Kathryn for writing about the goddess within ourselves.

Jordan's book has it all for the female reader. It's sexy in a very comfortable way; it's deep in literary content and it's provocative with a delicious story line that makes it impossible to put down. I recommend it to all who love spice and not everything nice.

(FYI, I am female, just using my husband's account to post this review.) 'Julia', a woman of a certain age trapped in an unhappy marriage, rents a Lamborghini Murcielago and escapes for a weekend to a luxury spa. There she meets 'William', a male escort she's hired for the occasion, and they embark on what turns out to be a romance. First time novelist Kathryn Jordan skillfully weaves a tale of love, philosophy and sexual healing under the California desert sun. Fans of erotic romance will enjoy this book; the sex scenes are explicit and realistic without being crass. I am a big fan of beach reads in general, and I must admit I was attracted to this book by the steamy cover and wish-fulfillment premise. But I'm also a writer and a lover of substantial literature, and I was pleasantly surprised by the complexity and depth of this book. Julia and William discuss Hannah Arendt and the Gaia theory between adventures, and the flights of fancy and tone of magical realism evoked such writers as Hunter Thompson and Laura Esquivel. The premise of sensual pleasure as a path to spiritual healing was really interesting, and I found myself thinking about the characters' conversations days later. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a quality read with a bit of spice. Very enjoyable...I polished it off in one sitting!