Jenny Yueh is a Chinese-Canadian with an extremely traditional family. She lives at home and behaves as a dutiful daughter should whenever her family is around, but when she’s on her own she revels in her Westerness and shies away from anything that her family would approve of. She dates only non-Chinese men away from the scrutiny of her parents and has always lived a life of lies.

Jenny and her friends have decided to participate in the choosing of the firefighters to grace the pages of the Greater Vancouver firefighters calendar. Jenny figures that she can get a great article along with some drool worthy pictures. When a man with a body to die for and an aura that oozes sensuality steps on stage and taps; Jenny knows that her dry spell is over and she needs to meet the man behind the shoes.

Scott Jackman cannot believe that his sister talked him into doing a tap routine instead of a raunchier number like the other contestants, but the music just flat out does it for him. A sultry sax does more than a pulsing rhythm in his book. When he finishes his number and finds himself the coveted Mr. February he decides that alls well that ends well, especially when he becomes the meat in a blonde sandwich. Imagine his surprise when a tiny Asian powerhouse shoos the blondes away and ‘requests’ an interview with him. What can he do but agree?

Sparks fly and one thing leads to another. Jenny and Scott find themselves in a relationship that they both think is about sex. When life interferes and they chafe against the boundaries they had started with, both Jenny and Scott need to step back and wonder what it is they are truly looking for.

Susan Lyons creates a fascinating conflict with her characters in Hot In Here. The lies that Jenny is forced to tell in order to straddle the line between being a good and respectful daughter and a Western woman caused her no end of trouble. Ethically, lying is wrong, but you can really understand why she acts the way she does. She really was a firecracker and it was a lot of fun to peek into her fantasy life, and I found myself waiting eagerly to see what she would come up with next. Scott was a fascinating blend of eager-to-please and take control. He really tried to do right by her and had every right to react to the obstacles that encroached on their relationship the way that he did. I applaud Ms. Lyons for tackling an aspect of society that isn’t often dealt with in fiction.



Reviewed by: Serena