A sexy three book enemies to lovers romance with a dirty dancing twist! Spoiled Princess is what he used to call me.We were an inferno of hate and passion wound up with a dash of chaos.For four years I watched him mow my lawn.For four years I watched my friends make fun of him.For four years I hated myself for wanting him, but even more for the way I treated him.And then I had him.For one night, … him.
And then I had him.
For one night, we put all labels away and I spent the best night of my life in his arms.
Then the next day, with my secret night under lock and key, I looked the other way while my friends shamed him.
But now the jokes on me, because the scrawny lawn boy who I secretly loved from afar is now the director of Hollywood’s most exclusive summer camp.
And I’m on his staff.
Now it’s his turn to punish me.
His turn to make me pay.
His turn to take his revenge after years of humiliation.
He’s no longer a boy you can ridicule.
But a college graduate who can have any woman he wants.
I want him to look at me the way he did that one night we had together, but right now
the look in his eyes tells me he’s going to enjoy having me under him for two straight months.
I don’t know where his hatred ends, his passion begins.
All I know is he wants revenge.
And I’m his lucky target.
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I freaking loved this book. It was so much fun to get lost in a true new adult novel for once. To remember that summer love, teenage crush coming back into your life.
This book is filled with so much heart and I can’t recommend it enough.
Summer Heat sizzles as Ray and Marlo take an old rivalry and kick it up a notch in a fiery enemies-to-lovers book that leaves you scorched.
“I had no self-control when it came to him. Maybe I never did. Because even all those years ago. I’d always wanted him to want me.”
I fell into the Rachel Van Dyken vortex. I just saw her name on the cover and stopped thinking, started clicking. She never disappoints and I wanted a taste of her word wizardry.
I devoured Summer Heat from start to finish without realizing it was a trilogy. You should have seen my face when I got to the last page and tried to turn it, repeatedly. Yeah, I’m sure it was funny. Dont’ get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I loved every word. I could smell the campfire and taste the marshmallow on the end of my stick. I enjoyed the hell out of being at summer camp. I was very entertained by the colorful support characters. I felt the sexual tension between the sworn enemies and couldn’t wait for them to give in to their lust.
I can’t wait to get my hands on Summer Seduction. The line forms here…
Very good romance about the unrequited love and the stupidity of young people
I liked this book a lot. Though there was a lot of angst and both the H and the h were full of the angst. It seems they had feelings for each other ever since they were young when Marlon was the foster kid of her maid and the skinny kid who mowed the lawn. While Ray was the popular rich girl with the good looking boyfriend who was a jerk and treated Marlon like crap. Ray would stare out her window at him while he mowed the lawn and he would refer to her as “Spoiled Princess”.
Though there was that one night when they both had too much to drink and spent the night in her room. But the next day she was back to acting like she didn’t know him. She got the Drama scholarship he wanted and he had to work to get to college.
Fast forward 4 years and Marlon is the director of the hottest summer Drama camp in the country and Ray is working there as well. He is determined to get revenge and make her life miserable. But he starts to see that things may not be exactly as he had always thought. Ray, on the other hand, doesn’t even recognize Marlo at first. He is no longer the lanky kid she remembers but a hot gorgeous guy with killer abs and he can sometimes even be nice when he tries.
Though just when things get really good and you start to wonder what really happened back when they were kids and what will happen next? There is a huge cliffhanger. The next books are only available on iBooks right now, but I gotta find out.
4 Stars
Review by Lisa
Late Night Reviewer
Up All Night w/ Books Blog
Summer Heat by Rachel Van Dyken is the first book in the Cruel Summer series and it is so appropriately named!!
It brings heat, tension steam, and chemistry. It is so well written and I am dying to find out more because the way this one ended is well done. Well played, Ms. Van Dyken, well played.
Two enemies, that have watched each other for four years. Four years of watching her friends bully him. Four years of hating herself, but no one knows who she really is.
Four years watching her. Until one night and one night only everything is left at the door and the next day it was like it never happened.
Skip forward a few years land she finds herself Working for him. When push comes to shove, who will end up on top?
So well written that I just skipped right through the pages.
What a enemies to…. well enemies as of now book.
Marlo and Ray have known each other since they were kids. Having endured high school with pretty much hating each other. They are both at a summer camp and are thrown into working with each other. These two have so much sexual tension you can feel it through the words in this book.
I can’t wait to read more.
I was given a copy of this book through NetGalley for my honest and voluntary review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Summer Heat is the first book in a three part novella series by the ever-talented, Rachel Van Dyken. It is an iBooks exclusive so go an borrow those iPads if you need to. You don’t want to miss this summer read.
Marlo mowed lawns. Ray lived in a castle. For four years Marlo was an outsider in her world. He was the nerdy gardener living in the house beside her castle. They went to high school together and while she was the princess, he was the boy being shoved into lockers just for looking at her. She never laughed but she never told them to stop. He hated her for it. And now it was time for his revenge…
He was now in charge of her future. She was a staff member to the summer drama camp to future Hollywood stars and he was the director. It’s been four years since he saw her. She looked just as perfect as she did back then. He thought he let the hate go while punching bags in the gym but it was still there. So was the undeniable lust. He never forgot how she felt. How she smelled. How she whimpered. It was one night. A night apparently both of them never forgot from the way she looked at him. With a mixture of hate and heat. He hated her for it. It was time to show her how much.
Wow! This is a short read but it didn’t feel like it. So many emotions. So much story. From the past and present. I knew from the very beginning that I was going to not want to stop reading. Damn you, bedtime. I couldn’t wait to get back to it this morning. I had to know what was going to happen next. Is he going to be nice Marlo or arrogant Marlo? Is she going to be going to let him in or push him away?
Overall…I loved it!! It gave me all the feels. I can’t wait for the next book! Thank God, it releases at the end of the month.
P.S. I can see myself falling for Jackson.
Quotes:
“Damn it she needed to stop being so pretty and annoying all at once.”
“You tasted like candied rum and broken dreams.”
“See me,” I whispered.”
Excerpt From
Summer Heat
Rachel Van Dyken
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/summ…
This material may be protected by copyright.
4.5 stars this was a great YA enemies to lover start of the series (it does end with a kind of cliffhanger) Ray and Marlo grew up together, although she was the privileged daughter and he was the foster son of the nanny. They end up at the same theater camp where Marlo is in change of the staff, which includes Ray. This is a fun, but emotional book as we start understand the trials Ray has been through and watch Marlo start to also see Ray in a somewhat different light. I can’t wait to read the othe r2 books and see what happens with this relationship!
Summer Heat (Cruel Summer #1) was a great read by Rachel Van Dyken. Marlon always called Ray a spoiled princess. They were a cross between hate and passion. For four years of high school; she would watch him mow her lawn, and would make fun of him. But she also wanted him and hated herself for that and the way she treated him. During school, they spent one amazing night together. The next day she looked the other way when her friends shamed him. Marlon is now the director of Hollywood’s most exclusive summer camp, and Ray is one of his staff. He now has the opportunity to make her pay and get his revenge for years of humiliation. I really enjoyed reading this book. I can’t wait to read more by Rachel Van Dyken and the rest of this series.
I love the enemies to lovers trope in romance. It’s one of my favorite type of stories to read about. And Summer Heat definitely has that going for it.
Our two main characters knew each other in high school and that’s where the enemies part of the story starts. We do get a few flash backs to some scenes from that time, but not full chapters or anything. I do wish we got a little bit more from that time period. It would have made connecting with the characters a little bit easier, I think.
“For minutes, I felt like a princess. And my knight in shining armor had ridden in to rescue me from the demons that haunted me.”
They meet up years later and wind up having to work with each other, and that definitely causes some major tension. The tension and angst between these two is very easily felt. I liked both of the main characters. This book is duel point of view and I liked getting to see both Ray and Marlo’s perspective.
I would consider the romance in this first book to be a slow burn, lots of tension to keep you hooked to the pages though.
It definitely has that first book feel to it, you can tell that it’s setting up for the events and things to happen in the future books. And by the ending, this is definitely just the beginning to Ray and Marlo’s story together. It does end on a cliff hanger, so if you don’t like those, I would definitely have book two handy.
“Music set souls free. It didn’t trap them.”
Overall I thought it was a good slow burn romance. It’s a great start to the series. The tension, and back and forth between Marlo and Ray keeps it interesting. It is a really short book, so it’s a very quick read.
I think if you’re looking for a lighter, quick enemies to lovers read then you will very much enjoy Summer Heat. It was a quick, enjoyable read for me.
*ARC Received from NetGalley and Social Butterfly PR in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
Ray and Marlon will pull you in all directions. I feel this is RVD’s best work to date.
So what happens when the one person from your past, you really wanted to forget about – all of a sudden shows up at the Summer camp you are the director at? Well for Marlon – it brings up a lot of anger and maybe some revenge.
Ray and Marlon had been friends since they were little kids. With his foster mom working for Ray’s family, she was always a part of his life. Until High School, things changed. Ray was a popular girl. Dating the captain of the football team. The IT girl. While Marlon was the skinny nerdy kid who had a major crush on Ray. One night. He thought everything changed, until the next day… it seemed everything was back the way it was before.
So when Ray shows up as a camp counselor at the theater camp he’s the director of years later. All he sees is red. And maybe making her life miserable.
I can’t give too much away but know that this book is full of sexual tension and all kinds of yummy angst. Seriously I could not put the book down! It does end on a cliffhanger, so be aware. But luckily for us, we will get the next book fairly quickly! Pick up this series! Its a MUST.
Summer Heat is book one in the Cruel Summer series. The series has three books. It ends with a cliffhanger and you’ll want to grab the next boo right away. I was so glad that I could get book two right after finishing this one because that cliffy left me wanting more. This series was so addictive that I read all three back to back. Marlon and Ray knew each other as kids. Ray is the spoiled rich kid while Marlon is the help’s kid. Years later, Ray is camp counselor at the theater camp and Marlon is the director of years later. Marlon wants revenge. They have a connection and chemistry. I thought maybe they could get over their angry at each other and be so much more than friends but then the ending came that had me guessing what comes next.
Ahhhhhh!
Rachel Van Dyken has set out to taunt us with this trilogy. Quick hits and cliffhangers….ahhhhhhh!
I know I’m needy. I just want all the answers now. With he twisted bomb drop ending, my mind, heart, and body are swirling in a fit of rage, heartache, anger, and even self righteousness. Clearly, my heart and head are not aligned. This is going to be a doozy.
Just from the first few pages, I was hooked on Marlo and Ray. Two people who had a hatred stemming back from High School. But there’s always more to a person, than the surface.
Marlo hates Ray beyond anything. After a little fling as teenagers, she turned his back on him. But there’s a pull that they have with each other that they can’t deny. The heat burned up the pages in this story. You could feel it the moment their eyes met.
I don’t want to give away most of the story. This was the first book in the series, and I’m going to quickly jump into number two. How could you not? With an ending like that one.
Overall, Five Boundless Stars
Cliffhanger ending…But oh so good
Marlon and Ray have a past together. He sees her as the spoiled princess who had and has it all. The snooty rich mean girl. And he was the poor loser who hates and wanted her. Rey is much more than the rich mean girl. We see the cracks in her glossy exterior. And together they ignite! I now must read the next book. That cliffhanger leaves me wanting more!!
I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.
3.5 Stars
This is my first time reading anything by this author, and It was entertaining, and enjoyable. This is the first book in the Cruel Summer series, and the story of Marlon, and Ray. Secretly crushing on Marlon in private, Ray, and her friends would torment Marlon, bullying him in public. Now years later, Ray, and Marlon’s paths cross, but Marlon is not the same boy her use to be, and he’s looking for revenge. This was a great read, ends on a cliffhanger, and we have so much more to learn about Ray, and I want to explore more of the chemistry these 2 characters have, I look forward to reading the next in the series.
This is a fun, sexy, quick yet highly entertaining summer adventure filled with a great enemies to so much more journey that will have you laughing out loud and emotional all at the same time… Loved this fun and romantic adventure.
Rachel can do no wrong, loved this.
Sweet and funny. Character’s are amazing and cant wait to start book 2.
:-O
WOW!!!!!
I cannot count how many times I wanted to punch Marlo. I get that he was angry and his feelings were still raw. BUT this is 5 years after high school. No need to be like that
Mason thinks Ray has it all. After a fling in H.S. that left him battered, he vowed revenge.
Ray mat seem like she has it all, but she never has shown anyone the real her, except that one night with Mason.
Years later, he is her boss and he’s making her pay.
Can they fight their attracttion? What is Ray hiding, isn’t she a shallow spoiled princess?
This story will leave you hanging, because it’s not over.