THE LONG HEAT: DESIRE AWAKENED BY SUMMER by Lora Shin

In the sweltering heat of a Cincinnati summer, Mark Reynolds is left alone in a house that feels too large and too quiet. His wife is consumed by her nursing shifts, and his 21-year-old stepdaughter Jenna has just left for a beach vacation in Florida. What begins as forbidden attraction—built through lingering glances, charged silences, and one explosive night before she departs—ignites into something far more dangerous once she’s gone.

Separated by miles of highway and the vast blue Gulf, their longing only deepens. Late-night calls turn explicit. Texts become confessions. Every photograph she sends from the sunlit sand fuels his obsession, while every empty afternoon in the humid suburbs sharpens her need for the one man she should never want. When Jenna returns early, the carefully maintained boundaries between them shatter in a single afternoon of raw, unrestrained passion.

What follows is a secret summer affair—stolen hours in bedrooms and garages, desperate encounters laced with guilt and possession, and a bond that grows more intense with every risk of discovery. But as autumn approaches and Jenna’s life pulls her toward a new city, they must face the truth: some desires, once awakened, refuse to be silenced.

The Long Heat is a lush, slow-burn taboo romance that explores the dangerous beauty of forbidden connection, the ache of separation, and the fire that burns even brighter when it must stay hidden.

Warning: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, taboo themes (stepfather/stepdaughter), infidelity elements, age-gap dynamics, and emotional intensity. Intended for mature readers 18+ only.