Burnin’ Love The Plot Ends On The First Page Of This Steamy Tale Of Passion

‘Tis the season of love. So even if you missed out on yesterday’s Valentine’s rituals, there’s still plenty of mushy stuff to talk about. So we dedicate today’s page to that four-letter word.

Sex sells. It’s a simple fact, and some romance novelists capitalize on it. Lust, not love, is the basis for a relationship in certain guilty-pleasure novels, and the plots echo the weaknesses of such a union. Case in point: The two tales in “Summer Heat,” by Pamela Burford and Patricia Ryan, positively reek of sex for sex’s sake, with little plot involved.

Burford’s “July” opens with Quinn Marshall spying his new summer house neighbor, Molly Lamb, in the buff. Quinn eventually asks her out (what guy wouldn’t?) and the two share a couple of dates while trying to keep the fact that they’re romantically involved from the landlord, Molly’s ex. End of story, and the plot actually ends on page one.

In Ryan’s “August,” there are no naked bodies in the opening. Bravely forging on anyway, we meet contractor Tom O’Hearn, trying to keep his relationship with client Sally Curran from the same slimy landlord while fixing up the summer house Quinn and Molly rented for a month. The plot for “August” ended in July.

Burford and Ryan probably hoped “Summer Heat” would melt winter snow, but all it really does is leave readers cold and lonely for something of substance.

If you’re an “I know they’re badly written but I can’t resist them” reader, you might also check out Judith Krantz’s “Scruples” and “Scruples Two.”