Vogel

Title: Getting Hot

Series: Jailbait #3

Author: Mia Storm

Publication Date: August 17, 2015

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

**A stand alone Jail Bait novel**

Rules of engagement:
1) You have the right to use force to defend yourself.
2) Fire may be returned to stop a hostile attack.
3) You may not seize the property of others to accomplish your mission.
4) Detention of civilians is authorized in self-defense.

Delilah Morgan and her older sister Destiny have been on their own for two years, since their parents burned down the family home and went to jail for cooking meth. She’s street smart and tough. Nothing about her says sixteen, and she’s not about to tell anyone. Especially Bran, the hot ex-marine bartender Destiny has her eye on. He’s stable and successful and everything her sister needs to keep them off the street. The only problem, something about Bran inspires her and suddenly she’s writing the best music she ever has. About him.

Branson Silo knows what it means to be in the line of fire. Home for a year from his second tour of duty in Afghanistan, he thinks he’s safe…until he meets Delilah. Despite a sharp tongue that makes him want to take cover, he can’t deny the attraction. But when he hires her to play weekends at his family’s saloon, he finds out she’s more than he can handle…which is saying something considering he used to blow things up for a living.

When the grenade finally explodes and the shrapnel flies, will Bran be left standing? Or has he survived years at war only to be taken down by Jail Bait?

Getting Hot is real hot. Sinfully so. To be honest, when I first heard about this Jailbait series, I was weary about it, so I never gave it a chance. By the time the third one Getting Hot rolled around, I decided to cave in and give it a chance, and I'm glad I did. Now that I've read this one and liked it, I will give the previous books in this series a shot. There was a cameo of the couples from other books in here, and I wouldn't mind delving deeper into their stories.

Getting Hot focuses on Delilah and Branson when Bran mixes up Lilah with her sister Destiny, his co-worker at his family's bar. That is until Lilah clears the air and let it be known that she is actually Destiny's sister, Bran thinking twin sister, which she does not clarify. As you can imagine, that can stir up some trouble since they find a strong attraction to each other when she waltzes in looking for a gig to make some money to help her and her sister stay off the streets.

When we first met Destiny through Bran's POV in the very beginning chapters, I sensed that she'd be one of those crazy clingy stalker gold-digging girlfriends. I even got scared of her at one point. But it stemmed so much deeper than that. The behaviors were actually caused by a trauma that happened to both of them in the past that motivated Destiny to do whatever it takes to have that sense of security especially since they're on their own now. It's so important to talk it out even though something so terrible happened to you; it'll help you heal and move on from that so you can feel safe inside out. It shows how bad trauma really affects our state of mind into altering things or believing things that may be misconstrued in one's mind. I felt bad for what Lilah and Destiny went through at such a young age, and I'm so proud at how strong they were and how they fought back. It's not what anyone should have to go through.

Bran was so strongly opposed by the thought of hooking up with a minor because he's seen all the consequences his friends suffered through because of that, so he was pretty much set in being careful and avoiding the young ones. When the truth on Lilah's age came out, Bran reacted the way you'd expect after hearing how opposed to that he was, but I felt that it wasn't as explosive as I thought it was going to be. He was royally pissed off as he should be. But to be lied to like that and finding himself in the very situation he did not ever want to be in and not have him drag out his hurt, betrayal, anger and avoidance of her was surprising to me. That is a very good thing. He was so mature about the whole thing, kept his cool and set out to keep his girl but he was responsible and respectful about that, that he was willing to wait for her to be of age. That was what made me swoon the most, and will make any lady swoon her panties off. Also doesn't hurt that he knows how to please a lady either. Just sayin. Luckily for Bran though, Lilah is already of age, so they can legally get it on all they want.

Getting Hot took me by surprise, because underage sex in books are usually just briefly mentioned or a rape flashback, if they even happen at all. And if they're briefly mentioned, they're never in detail. And to have Lilah and Bran get it on -- in detail, might I add -- was what surprised me, because technically that's illegal, right? I mean, Bran is of legal age after all. That's why sex is never detailed in literature when a character is underage, even though this happens in real life all the time. Yes, both parties were consenting -- willing is the more accurate term -- but court doesn't see it that way. Not sure why I was surprised though because in the state that they're in, the age of consent is 16 years old, the age that Lilah is. 

Trigger warnings: flashback scenes of rape.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review and as a part of the blog tour, however, it does not influence my review nor was I monetarily compensated.