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Ivy York was once an accountant at a respected firm when she took leave of her senses. She fell in love with the wrong man. A bad boy who charmed his way into her bed, into her heart and helped himself to her clients’ bank accounts. He ultimately skipped town, and she barely escaped a prison stint. However, while she has her freedom, her career is toast. So she reinvents herself as a radio personality with her show The Economic Sex Hex and tells women how to guard their finances against bad boys. Think of her as a bitter Suze Orman.

Into her life waltzes Luke Sterling. Ivy’s boss hired him as a personal assistant, but that’s not what he really is. Luke is actually the Urban Legend, a private investigator who specializes in stolen art. Over the years his reputation as a bad boy has grown to the point where the press hounds him and women call up Ivy’s radio show reportedly to discuss the fabulous sex they had with him. Think of him as Indian Jones meets Casanova.

Luke’s latest job is to track down the Jade Goddesses of Fertility and Virility, two statues reported to have mystical powers. The owner is getting ready to take the statues on a tour when they are stolen. She hires Luke to find them, and his trail leads straight to the radio station, Ivy and her hot-to-trot mother, Mallory, who has more sex than a sailor on shore leave.

Jennifer Apodaca writes “beach books.” They aren’t deep, they won’t change your life, but they can be very fun. If it’s a day of mental sunshine you want, this is your author. Extremely Hot has many of her trademarks – a likable heroine, hot steamy sex, and a light mystery with a few dead bodies tossed in. However, it’s not without problems that are sometimes hard to overlook.

I understood Ivy. This is a woman who has been badly burned and feels really stupid about it. Hey, most women have been there. Fallen for the wrong man and had their heart broken. Not all of us have been threatened with prison, but emotional betrayal is pretty universal. So even though she does come off as bitter, it’s easy to understand why she is that way.

Luke is another matter entirely. First, the Urban Legend stuff is particularly hard to swallow since one would think a man who makes his living on stealth would do just about anything to guard his privacy. He’s also straight out of central casting – shuffled between foster homes as a kid, a former Special Ops pilot who thinks it’s “all his fault” that his buddies died, and thinks he’s so unworthy of love that he refuses to get attached to a woman. Any romance reader worth their salt knows where this is going – he behaves like a jackass and says awful things to the heroine. Plus he has the annoying habit of calling her “princess” or “baby cakes” which just about drove me insane.

Ivy’s mother, Mallory, pretty much follows the same mold except she’s a woman who uses younger men for sex so she doesn’t have to get close to anyone. This is a woman who has had self-esteem issues since her Daddy kicked her out of the house and called her a slut. I can understand that, when you’re nineteen, single and pregnant, but she’s a grown up now. She has a daughter who loves her enough to keep bailing her pathetic butt out of trouble. I wanted to shake her until her teeth rattled and tell her to grow up already.

The mystery here is pretty good and it keeps the pages humming along. However, I found myself frustrated more than once by Luke and/or Mallory. Every conflict, every argument, every quibble I had with the story led back to these two characters. Ivy seems like a good kid, and lord knows I’m happy she got some great sex out of the deal, but I couldn’t help thinking for the majority of the story that she should have cut mommy off, told Luke to shove off and found herself a nice cowboy or Greek billionaire to settle down with.

You can learn more about Jennifer Apodaca here and buy this book here or here.