Heat Wave: A Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

Kat isn't there very long when a neighbor comes by Jake's house to see her. Ty Chandler, one of the residents of this small resort town, has heard about her and asks if he can hire her to do a job. He has just found out that he has a daughter, born nineteen years ago to an old girlfriend from high school, but was never told about the daughter until recently, right before his mother passed away. He's angry with his mother for hiding this information from him. She had never liked his girlfriend Amy and wanted to protect him, but his mother and Amy are now both gone, and it was time to make up for the time he had lost. He's ready to find his daughter.

With only a few clues to go by, Kat and Ty work side by side, searching the Internet and making phone calls, following the trail of the missing girl. While this is strictly business for Kat, she senses that Ty is growing fond of her, but Kat does her best to tell him "no." She insists that she does not mix business with pleasure, but she also remembers what Jake has told her --- that she needs to relax and let someone new into her life. It was about time she moved on from her tragic past, a past that she hides from everyone she has met since leaving her home in Hawaii. Her career as a private investigator had come about because of what she endured on Hawaii due to a tragic accident. Only her family and friends back on the island of Kauai know of her tragic loss and the pain she kept buried inside her all these years.

Ty and Kat have enough clues to find Ty's daughter, who they discover is now living in Southern California with a number of other people her age, all of whom seem to be destitute, shady-looking and lacking any financial means to make ends meet. Upon meeting them, Sunny, Ty's daughter, looks upon both of them with distrust and lets them know that she is not interested in going back with Ty to Twilight Cove. But Ty hands over his phone number to her, hoping that she changes her mind.

Sunny does take Ty up on his offer and comes to find him in Twilight Cove. They get to know each other while she tries to make a home for herself and her baby, another surprise for Ty. While Ty is dealing with a new family, Kat is dealing with her own feelings, not sure whether she is falling in love with Ty or wanting to run away again. She's also not sure about Sunny, and decides to investigate Sunny's past to see what kind of trouble she may have gotten herself into.

HEAT WAVE was a surprise to this reviewer. It was a lot more than a romance. The story of Ty and his long-lost daughter was a great story-within-the-story, allowing the reader to get to know Ty's character much better than simply as a love interest. And Sunny's account of her life in Southern California was another interesting side-story that fit in with the rest of the book. Landis does a good job at creating characters that the reader will relate to, although this reviewer was not totally sure she liked Kat Vargas at first. As is the case with any romance, the most important feature should be the reader's ability to relate to the characters, and whether the story is believable or not. Based on that, this reviewer recommends HEAT WAVE to any person looking for an engrossing romance and a great beach read.

--- Reviewed by Marie Hashima Lofton