Sex, Lies & Hot Tubs

   In this blog post, I reviewed Elissa Ambrose’s Sex, Lies, & Hot Tubs, this stand-alone women’s fiction novel has a bit of humor and intrigue into this storyline. It all started to go downhill for Ellen Dunwell, who had celebrated her fiftieth birthday, with friends and family. As a mother of a surly teenager and a high school math teacher, things aren’t what they seem or appear to be to her. Her daughter Claire has been struggling in her senior year of high school and been hanging out with the wrong people.  Her neighbor’s son is a Peeping Tom and has eyes on her. Though she’s suspicious of her husband Jeffrey, who had affairs in the past, and had been coming and going for “business purposes.” But when he was supposed to come home from a trip, Ellen had sleuthed around to find out what he had been up to and discovered some shocking clues. The deeper she looked, the closer she would get to find out the truth… it would hit close to home with a startling revelation.

This compelling women's fiction has you hooked and intrigued from the first page.  I cared for Ellen, who wanted nothing more than her daughter to behave, and her husband to be straight with her. I became suspicious of her and everyone in her neighborhood who might’ve had an affair with her husband. I also became worried for Claire and her attitude toward her mother.  The location of Phoenix was perfect to set the idyllic scenic settings. The theme of the story is trust your gut when people can mislead you.

This interesting women’s fiction will keep you in suspense and make you gasp and laugh.  I rated this book, four out of five stars, due to some typos and minor punctuation errors and passive wordings. If you love women's fiction with non-stop dramatic action, plenty of suspense, and hints of mystery, give Sex, Lies & Hot Tubs a try. This book is recommended for fans who love Karen White, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and Taylor Jenkins Reid.