Lola is drifting along with her social media until a wrong phrase ended her social media. Lola is an interesting character so full of herself and then is feeling sorry for herself. The plot is spicy, dramatic and a finding of yourself. Lola is girlfend to Justin but that does not work out then she meets ARC and that does not work out. Finding yolurself is difficult and a strange journey. I recommn ed this book for all readers.

I enjoyed this book and the setting! It’s different from a lot of romance books. I was not a huge fan of the main character who has flaws but I think was by design by the author.

This book surprised me!! I figured with a title and premise like that it would be a little spicy but the erotic nature of the story came almost instantly and it had me hooked! Very impressed by the smut as sapphic novels tend to lack well written sex scenes. I will say some aspects of the main love story were a little fast paced and a little unbelievable but I could also tell this author has an appreciation for queer stories and culture so it didn't take me too out of it. I was also surprised by the ending and the character growth. Overall a delightful read and definitely beach worthy vacation book!

Hotter in the Hamptons is an entertaining summer read with plenty of glamorous settings, fun drama, and sharp writing. However, readers might find it difficult to connect with the main character, Lola, whose choices and attitude sometimes make her feel more like an observer of her own life than an active participant. While this emotional distance can make it hard to fully invest in her journey, the novel still delivers engaging prose and a fast-paced narrative that keeps the pages turning. Tinx’s writing shines in its wit and humor, making this an enjoyable, if not entirely immersive, beach read.

Thanks so much to Net Galley, Source Books Bloom Books and Tinx for the ARC of Hotter in the Hamptons. I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy this. I love a good rom com, but I was worried this would be a little too young for me. It turned out to be a cute story of friendship, romance and the ups and downs of life. The writing was a bit colloquial but fast paced and thus easy to read. As a once famous influencer, Lola finds herself cancelled thanks to a story written by the well known journalist Aly Ray Carter. Soon she finds herself out of a job and no plans for the summer. She accepts an invitation with her best friend to the Hamptons. She thought she would spend a relaxing healing summer with her best friend laying by the pool but finds herself in a uniquely awkward situation. In an enemies to lovers story, Hotter in the Hamptons would be a great beach read or sunshine novel!

Tinx's writing delivers an entertaining and fun experience, ideal for readers who enjoy romance with some humor and a gorgeous setting, and is a delightful summer read,

Overall, this book was an entertaining enough read, but it was hard to connect with the main character Lola. However, she did show some growth toward the end so that brought it back around some.

I wanted to love this book but the botox references and negativity towards wrinkles just wasn’t something I had a desire to continue reading in a book. This is likely meant to create a character and I do believe the reader is meant to feel this way, but I personally hate botox and have had prior trauma with it, so I need to skip on this book as it is not for me. Tearing women down is not something I want in a book right now.

I did enjoy the writing style, and I do think this book could get better, but botox and wrinkles trash talk in 2025 made me angry.

Thank you for the opportunity to leave honest feedback! I received an eARC of this book.

Hotter in the Hamptons is fast-paced, easy-to-read, queer/sapphic summer fling. Set in both New York City and the Hamptons, in shows us the life of Lola, A NYC fashion influencer whose life goes down hill fast after making an off-handed comment while a little intoxicated. Aly Ray Carter, a culture critic, makes matters whose and Lola seeks freedom/space in the Hamptons with her Gay bestie, Ryan. Whose is the next door neighbor, none other than ARC. This has enemies to lovers trope, self discovery & self- growth.

I found this book enjoyable overall but do find it to have some harmful lesbian/bisexual stereotypes. I also learned the author is not queer nor sapphic so that doesn’t really sit right with me but this in my opinion an accurate portrayal of a sapphic situationship.

Overall, I would recommend this to someone looking for a quick read that has both the beach and influencer lifestyle.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Bloom Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

THIS WAS AMAZING!!!! Such an incredible switch up from our ever loving happy ending romance novels! This also had a happy ending, just with herself and everyone is going to love it. Can’t wait for everyone to get their hands on this!

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Bloom for the ARC of Hotter in the Hamptons: A Novel by Tinx!

This book follows Lola, a recently cancelled influencer spending the summer in the Hamptons while juggling career drama, friendships, and a supposed enemies-to-lovers romance. On paper, it sounds like my kind of messy, but in reality? I was found wanting.

Sadly, I just didn't feel invested in any of Lola’s relationships. I love an enemies-to-lovers trope SO much, but her situationship with Aly? They meet, acknowledge they’re both hot, she writes a hit piece on her, a few weeks pass, and suddenly, they’re hooking up? Where’s the tension? Where is the banter and slowly developing feelings for one another? This made me question the queer stereotypes (aka love-bombing homosexual relationship). Also, Lola was a trash friend to Ryan, and I really wanted to see more growth in that friendship. Honestly, I didn’t like any of the characters.

On the bright side, I did like the queer rep, and I actually really liked the ending. It wasn’t some unrealistic, tied-up-in-a-bow HEA, and I respected that. The Hamptons setting was also super fun—I’ve never been, so it was cool to live vicariously through the book. Plus, it was an easy read, and I can totally see this being a good one to toss in your beach bag if you just want something light and messy to breeze through.

Overall, not a favorite, but if you’re into drama-filled, low-stakes summer reads, it might be worth a shot!

I was initially intrigued by the premise of this book, particularly the influencer situation Lola found herself in, as it’s such a relevant and relatable topic in today’s world. However, as the story unfolded, I found myself increasingly frustrated, especially with how LGBTQIA+ themes were handled. The book leaned heavily into stereotypes that felt shallow and uninformed, which was both off-putting and disappointing. I truly hope these elements were written from a place of genuine experience rather than being used as a convenient plot device or a way to appeal to trends. If this book is going to be part of a series, I hope future installments move away from these tropes and offer more thoughtful representation. What also pains me is that these stereotypes are coming from a straight women, so that is especially harmful.

While there were moments of growth for Lola by the end, the journey felt rushed and lacked emotional depth. Her reliance on validation from her followers was frustrating to read about, and while I appreciated her eventual realization that she needed to stand on her own, it felt like therapy or deeper introspection was missing from her arc.

Another major issue for me was the storyline involving Aly writing such a cruel article about Lola, only for them to end up dating. While I generally enjoy the enemies-to-lovers trope, this dynamic felt forced and uncomfortable in this context. It didn’t resonate emotionally and left me feeling disconnected from their relationship.

The spice level was decent, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to redeem the overall experience for me. I give this book 3 🌶️ out of 5 but sincerely hope future works in this series are more mindful in their portrayal of LGBTQIA+ characters and themes.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloom Books for the ARC.

I almost feel like the blurb was misleading. It felt like I was watching a show that had too many commercial breaks, what was up with so many ad placements?! I didn't connect with Lola at all, like in any way. I thought this would be an interesting read but unfortunately it wasn't for me.

title: Hotter in the Hamptons

author: Tinx

publisher: Bloom Books

publication date: May 6, 2025

pages: 336

peppers: 3 (on this scale)

warnings: cancel culture, binge drinking, vomit mentioned (in past)

summary: When social media influencer/content creator Lola makes a thoughtless comment that loses her thousands of followers, her media team convinces her to let Aly Ray Carter, an up-and-coming journalist interview her to publicize her side of the story. Unfortunately, ARC writes a scathing review that not only completes Lola's cancelation into obscurity but also convinces her boyfriend of five years to take a break. So when Lola's best friend Ryan suggests that they live together in a sublet in the Hamptons for the summer, Lola has nothing to lose. By total coincidence, ARC lives in the house next door.

tropes (this is NOT a romance novel):

gay for you
gay best friend
starting over
being canceled
finding myself
enemies to lovers
meeting the ex

what I liked:

Lola's journey to love herself and find herself seems valid/believable
glimpses into influencer lifestyle
friendships

what I didn’t like: 

while I understand that an influencer would use lots of brand names, parts of the novel felt like product placement. Plus, there were too many names for me to keep up.


overall rating: 4 (of 5 stars)

This book was great. Overall it had great plot, I enjoyed the storyline the book had to offer, it lived to the name, it was hot. I enjoyed every second of it and enjoyed the book in all its glory

I really enjoyed the writing in Hotter in the Hamptons! The story follows Lola, a messy but ultimately relatable protagonist navigating love, career, and self-discovery. While I found her frustrating at times—especially her lack of drive in both work and relationships—I understood that she needed to go through that phase to truly find herself.

Both of her relationships had toxic elements, and I was relieved that she didn’t end up with either of them. She was really going through it! Instead, her personal growth took center stage, which made for a satisfying conclusion.

I also loved the influencer world aspect—the setting felt well-developed and realistic. And bless Ryan, because I have no idea how he put up with Lola’s chaos!

In the end, what I appreciated most was the book’s message: it’s never too late to figure out who you are and reinvent yourself. Lola’s journey felt authentic, and I was happy to see her finally take control of her own life.

I’d give this book a 3.5/5⭐️ but I do think that if you like Tinx (as I do!) you will enjoy this book.

This had the potential to be good, instead it read like an advertisement of sponsored brands that Tinx was being paid to promote. It was mind numbingly superficial and the label name dropping became tiresome very quickly.

Lola totally doesn’t act like a 30 year old woman. She’s childish, completely self-absorbed, and flighty. This book was very difficult to read at times bc I found Lola very shallow and unlikable & her gay best friend, Ryan, was so cliché. There were no characters that I liked actually.

I don’t know much about the author other than they’re an influencer, but a lot of the book felt incredibly stereotypical towards the LGBTQIA+ community. I’m not sure if they are in that community or if they just used it for the narrative and marketing purposes, but it just felt ick to me, especially the fact that Lola seemed to find the thought of being bisexual (or labeled as such) to be so reprehensible.

Little things irritated me as well, like
writing that you can’t dive gracefully with large breasts, or having Lola make french toast as if it were a difficult meal to make. The paragraph describing what designer sunglasses everyone was wearing in the car was so unnecessary and shallow that I wanted to toss my phone in irritation. Completely unnecessary. More time should have been spent on the characters so they weren’t cookie cutouts of stereotypes but instead Tinx felt it necessary to mention Aly’s Tom Ford sunglasses 5 times…

If you’re a teen or a fellow influencer you might enjoy this book. There’s really not much to it other than designer labels and spice; Lola doesn’t really have a satisfying character arc. If you want to read something substantial and not something that comes across as brand name fan fiction, skip this one.

1 star

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley and Sourcebooks Bloom Books,  however this review is completely my own unbiased personal opinion, left of my own volition.

I wanted to like this but the main character was kind of insufferable. I get sexuality is a tough thing to navigate but this was hard to get through.

Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC of this book.

It seems that everything is not hotter in the Hamptons. *sigh*

If this book was written by an author that could delve into the issues here with grace and depth, it would be an interesting examination of an influencer, Lola, whose life was precariously titled toward mediocrity and subsequently fell like a stack of Jenga tiles when her ticket to cancellation was punched and ratcheted into overdrive by Aly Carter’s expose. However, Tinx does not have the skill to make this book with all of it’s inherent complexities truly take off. Instead, her prose is superficial and curated like an Instagram post full of glossy fashion and the finest of everything revealing nothing of substance.

It seems that the “blandification” Aly Carter speaks about here has overtaken this book as well.

Lola’s style is bland.

Lola’s significant other at the beginning of the book, Justin, is bland.

Lola’s relationships with her team is bland.

Lola’s snobbery is bland.

Lola’s discussion of her sexuality is bland (and off-putting as well).

Lola’s sex life is bland. Yes, there’s a lot of spice in this book, but it’s bland at best and tedious at worst. It’s like Tinx thought that the spicier the book, the better; however, she’s not good at writing more than a bland spicy scene. Yawn.

Lola’s drinking and partying is bland.

Lola’s best friend, Ryan, is bland adjacent because he offers more insight into her than anyone else, but he’s relegated to a non-essential worker here because he’s barely on the page.

Lola’s plans for her life are bland.

Lola’s love-story is bland.

Everything turned to beige as I continued to read hoping that things would turn around. They did not. More often than not, I was annoyed with the superficial and oftentimes troubling discussions of sexuality. Tell me you aren’t adept at taking on this topic without telling me you aren’t adept at taking on this topic. Honestly, did this book have any sensitivity readers? It needed them.

In short, Lola’s life is bland, and even with a renewed effort to get back to “herself” toward the end of the book, I couldn’t be bothered to care. Her carefully curated life was still bland. Bless her heart.

Thank you so much to Bloom and NetGalley for this ARC!

Hotter in the Hamptons was simultaneously a delight and a wild ride. It was clever, a thought-provoking critique of so much of modern American pop culture. For the first several chapters, I was kind of annoyed by all of the label and brand name drops, the way she just floated through life without thinking much beyond the surface. It took me a minute and then it clicked - duh, that’s Lola’s problem. I thought it was especially interesting that it was written by someone who got their start in content creation. It felt like the reader got a look behind the curtain of the reality of that lifestyle.

I saw so much of my 20-something self in Lola. She was both endearing and maddening. Honestly, she was probably so endearing and maddening because of how much I related to from my younger years. There were so many times I wanted to shake her for being an idiot, and then the next page I’d just want to hold her hand and tell her she would find her footing eventually. I got frustrated feeling like she “should” know better for many things, but that was the whole point - there was so much she didn’t know about herself, let alone navigating life. Also, the story takes place over the course of only a few months, when her entire world has been upturned. Lola felt *real*. I resonated with every time she was dealing harsh criticism that was completely justified - and she knew it.

I felt like both Justin and Aly were written so well. Each had a specific role to play in Lola’s journey, and they were both just as flawed and complex as Lola. In so many books with romance, characters fulfill tropes. They’re either the good guy or the bad guy. The villain or Prince Charming. None of the characters in Hotter in the Hamptons can be easily categorized. Except for maybe Ryan - he was just the best.

I was so proud of Lola by the end. The fact that she chose herself over anyone else, for the first time, was such great character growth. I felt like I was watching my little sister figure herself out. I loved that the ending was open ended, with Lola stepping into the next chapter of her life with hope and passion.

The exploration of sexual orientation and all that comes with it (first times, outing, insecurity, labeling) felt genuine. I haven’t experienced what Lola went through personally, but it all felt like viable struggles someone questioning their sexuality would have. The spice was spicing - both ways.

My ONLY complaint about this book? The long chapters! I hate long chapters. That is totally a personal preference thing, and it didn’t ruin my experience with the book, it’s just one of those pet peeves.