Where did you get the book: Bought
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: Out now
In the primitive wilds of the South Louisiana swamps, the hot-blooded Cajun Cherchat brothers take lost photographer Sahara Jensen captive, thinking to use her soft, warm flesh for their–and her–sexual pleasure. But when one of them unwittingly falls in love with the woman, who then is the captor, and who is really the prisoner…?
*Blurb taken from Goodreads*
I’ve heard lots of good things about this book over the years because it was considered to be one of the earliest digital erotic romances and Nikita Black is the penname of Nina Bruhns who has written some fun romances. But it took me until now to pick up her Nikita Black title, which at the time was difficult to get because I didn’t have an ereader. But I did keep these titles in mind, especially CAJUN HOT because it features a Louisiana setting and a Cajun hero which is one my favourite types and I heard so many things. But in this case I wished I hadn’t. It was nothing like her Bruhns’ titles and Cajun Hot was just full of crazy wtfery that not even the sex could help save it.
Sahara Jenson is bogged down in the swamps in Louisiana after taking pictures for a freelance assignment for National Geographic but she is soon saved from her predicament when two brothers, Jacque and Quint, come to her rescue. But instead of taking her to town they take a liking to her and bring her to their cabin because their intentions were not chivalrous and both plan to seduce her. Despite her misgivings and suspicions, Sahara is attracted and drawn to the two brothers and begins to reciprocate the attraction between them.
And this is where the book just fell apart for me, because this is when the crazy train arrived. Once she is settled and cleaned up from her little dunking in the swamp she embarks on a sexy threesome with the Cherchet brothers. But before they can step up to between the sheets, Quint’s wife barges in (helpfully notified earlier by Jacque who had called to let her know) and interrupts them just before he manages to get busy with Sahara. This obviously causes a huge scene and awkwardness ensues when Sahara realises she may be in crazyland (ya think?) this pleases Jacque who wants Sahara for himself. He then commences to get back in the action that had been meanly interrupted by his sister-in-law. I think any sane and sensible woman would want to demand to leave after that scene, and I didn’t find the brothers sexy or attractive because they came across as cheating smarmy A-holes. But Jacque is too irresistible to Sahara despite the ugly scene they share a very hot night together. Yet the next morning she wants to leave so she can finish and send off her assignment to the magazine.
However Jacque wants to keep her and manages to persuade her to stay and then more nutty things happens with them getting interrupted again by his crazy family at a very awkward moment – which I found to be a common theme in this book. And for some strange and inexplicable reason, his family decides that Jacque must marry Sahara because she’s the one and it’s about time he finds a strange woman he hardly knows, strip off her clothes in front of them all and commence with a shotgun wedding. Add to all this she is carrying his child which according to his grandmother has the gift of predicting pregnancies and is never wrong. I had to admit I was amused by this to some extent because it was like being on a crazy train and it was so out there. Although I never got the appeal and the buzz this book got because despite the hot sex, the romance didn’t stand out. The character development was flat and uninspired and there was no real development in the tension between them. I think it really showed this was an early book from the author because there were good elements but it was rough, very rough.
But the book really went downhill for me once the shotgun wedding ended, when Jacque decided he was in love with Sahara because he never had a such hot and intense time with his previous relationships. But because he was secretly a millionaire, he wanted a bride who would love him for him instead of his wealth, and is afraid of the gold-diggers coming after his money. He is reluctant to tell Sahara but wants her to accept him as he is. This premise leapt out of the realm of crazy train to complete and utter wtfery because he ends up chaining her to his bed when Sahara manages to escape.
I don’t mind wtfery elements if there is humour and real characterisation to balance things out and I do get amused by outlandish situations. But for Cajun Hot it was more hot mess than sizzling romance. Lack of real development in the plot and one dimensional characters made this a rough read. The insta-lust-turns-love was unrealistic and the only good factors were the love scenes but even then they were not that memorable. I think I will be sticking to Nina Bruhns’ titles from now on.
I give Hot Cajun a D+
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