boeklogboek: Susan Elizabeth Phillips – Hot Shot

zondag 22 februari 2015

Susan Elizabeth Phillips – Hot Shot – Read for #LLC2015

A novel, published June 1, 1991.
Genre: contemporary romance
Cover: my book has a much prettier cover

Dear Readers:
Of all the books I’ve written, I’m proudest of Hot Shot. This was a story I’d been longing to tell for years, the kind I love best – the story of a woman with the courage to take on the world of men. And was there ever a heroine more ill-equipped to do that than proper, well-bred Susannah Faulconer?
Susannah fled her society wedding on the back of a bad boy’s Harley and enters a world for which no etiquette book could ever prepare her. A world with men such a Mitch Blaine, a corporate genius who has no time for a rich socialite, and Sam Gamble, a charismatic visionary. You’ll also meet Yank Yankowski, one of those fabulous nerds I love writing about. Those three men will force Susannah to test both her courage and the power of her love in the biggest challenge of her life.
Come along. Take this journey with me.
Love, Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

The first part of the book deals with Susannah’s childhood, and that was bad. Her flighty, shallow and egoistical mother left her with her grandmother to resume her party girl life. But her grandmother was mad, and punished the little girl severely for every imagined infraction of the rules. And so Susannah became a little mouse, scared of her shadow. Until one day, her mother’s new husband came for a visit, and discovered her locked in the closet, and he rescued her.
He fell in love with her instantly, even more than with his own daughter, Susannah’s half sister Paige. But just when Susannah learned to enjoy life, to be a child for the first time, she was kidnapped, and left for death in the desert. Only to be rescued in the nick of time.

From that day on, her life was one of rigid security, and lived firmly within the rules. Obeying her new father, and doing everything she can to please him. She became the wife her mother could never be for this successful businessman. (But never in a sexual way! Don’t worry!)

But just a few weeks before her marriage, Susannah meets Sam. A free spirit, a rebel and a visionary, and for some reason, he sees through her facade to the passionate woman hidden within. Her father punishes her for having him meet with Sam, by giving her the cold shoulder (again). And when her fiancé shows the same way of “punishing” her for disagreeing with him, she doesn;t know what to do anymore. She is only 25 and she feels like an old woman already. So when Sam crashes her wedding on his Harley and commands her to come with him, she does. Burning all her ships behind her, earning the vengeance of her father, her half sister and her fiancé. Her half sister has been admonished to be like Susannah all her life, and she has rebelled against it forever, being disowned by her father because of it. But now that Susannah has left, her father needs her to stop in ...

And so Susannah enters the world of geeks, of visionaries, the time of the first personal computers and computer games. With Sam as the man with the vision, and his best friend Yank as the genius who can build it, and Susannah as the practical one who can hold it all together and organize everything, they start their own small computer company. It is a time for geeks to work out of their garages, Steve Jobs is doing the same thing with Apple, and the big companies are laughing at them. Personal computers as household goods? Who would want such a thing? Computers are gigantic things, filling whole rooms, and are only owned by big companies.

My first book by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and it certainly won’t be my last one. I was mesmerized by this story; I was totally submerged in it. It was so interesting and so well written and I loved Susannah and how she grew from an obedient daughter into a self reliant woman. From riches to rags to riches again. She literally only has the bridal dress on her back when she flees with Sam, as her father freezes all her accounts and gives her nothing. So he has to support her completely at first.

It was such an exciting time to read about. And see Susannah grow. She and Sam are in love, and they eventually marry, but Sam is just not good for her. He is a taker, and he won’t give in return. But she will never be sorry for those years spend together.

I really liked Sam’s mother, and hated how he treated her, she was never good enough, he wanted the best and she loves Elvis on Velvet and owns a very small hairsalon. He loves Susannah for her class, and her elegance, and her good taste.

So: amazing story, amazing characters, awesome timeperiod. What are you waiting for? Even though it is an “old” book, buy it and read it!

10 stars.