Lucy Connors’ best friend Claire gives Lucy one heck of a birthday present: a week at Fantasy Ranch. Lucy finds out about her present when she arrives home to find a shirtless cowboy handcuffed to her bed. Lucy, who had just been bemoaning her lack of experiencing wild and passionate sex, doesn’t know what to do. It’s so not her to do something like this. On the other hand, it is her birthday,and what better way to celebrate than to treat herself to something decadent, something she’d never do otherwise? She decides to take the suitcase Claire packed for her and go for it!

This started off as a book with a lot of potential for some light, sexy fun. The concept of the Fantasy Ranch, where people go to take ahedonistic, sexual vacation, was a bit much for me, but I decided to go with it. While I enjoyed Lucy’s start down the wild path, toward the end of her journey I started to lose interest.

Lucy was lots of fun. She’s the type of woman who wears no makeup and does her best to fade into the background. She’s safe and sensible, and she thinks she’s boring. Her idea of wild behavior is eating a decadent chocolate dessert – but not often. Lucy is a health nut, which gives her a fabulous body. I loved watching her gain confidence and blossom into someone with a wild side. I really like transformation stories. However, where I had a little trouble was the way Lucy kept thinking she was deceiving Judd. But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Judd Walker, PI and former cop, is the man handcuffed to Lucy’s bed. Lucy’s escort to the ranch was supposed to be the ranch’s stud, Buck (think Fabio here). Judd’s brother, who happens to be the ranch owner, thinks that employees of the travel agency where Lucy works are sabotaging the ranch. So he sends Judd to stand in for Buck and investigate Lucy. Judd has no desire to be one of the ranch employees. He hates the revealing outfits and the pretense of being a himbo. Good looking, intelligent, and sexy, Judd is also protective of Lucy. There is really not much to dislike about him. I like that he likes Lucy for all the contradictions he sees in her. I also liked it that Judd was pretty quick to rule Lucy out as a suspect in the sabotage.

Judd and Lucy are very cute together. The ride out to the ranch is amusing as Lucy gets drunk on champagne and starts to find her wild side. They make a good pair as Judd’s sexiness contrasts with Lucy’s naivete about her looks and effect on him.

What worked less well was the suspense plot, which seemed to appear and disappear at random. The story’s focus goes back and forth between Lucy and Judd’s relationship and the sabatoge, and they weren’t always well integrated. The investigation distracted from the story when it was anything other than a reason for the two to be together. The sexy and fun chemistry was so great to watch, but every time the sub-plot was brought back into focus, my interest waned. Also problematical was Lucy’s inability to give Judd credit for seeing the “real” her. She thought she was deceiving him by pretending to be wild, which read more as “romance novel device” than anything else. And then there was Claire, Lucy’s best friend. Good in small doses and the catalyst for Lucy’s transformation, she overtook the story when she showed up at the ranch. Still, she’s appealing, fun, and likable, and would do well in her own story.

Some Like It Sizzling is Jamie Sobrato’s first book, and she’s got a lot of potential. With a little tweaking, this would havebeen the perfect lighthearted, sexy read. Even though I had few minor problems with this one, I can’t wait to read Sobrato’s next book.