Available March 18, 2025

A joyfully unhinged story of money, marriage, sex, and revenge unspools when a billionaire crashes his hot-air balloon into the middle of a post-pandemic first date.

Joannie hadn’t been on a date in seven years when Johnny invites Joannie and her daughter to dinner. His house is beautiful, his son is sweet, and their first kiss is, well, it’s not the best, but Joannie could convince herself it was nice enough. But when Joannie’s childhood crush, a summer-camp fling turned famous billionaire, crash-lands his hot-air balloon in Johnny’s swimming pool, Joannie dives in.

Soon she finds herself alighting on a lost weekend with Johnny the bad kisser, Jonathan the billionaire, and Julia, his smart, stunning wife. Does Joannie want Jonathan? Does Julia want her husband? Or Joannie? Or Joannie’s beautiful little girl? Does Johnny want Julia? Does Jonathan want Joannie, or Julia, or maybe, his much younger personal assistant, Vivian, who is tasked to fix it all? A tale of lust and money and lust for money, Hot Air is as astonishing as it is blisteringly funny, a delirious, delicious story for our billionaire era.

Praise for Hot Air

“Unapologetically and pleasurably absurd….This novel is a romp, fully of the witty, razor sharp prose characteristic of all Dermansky’s books. I cannot recommend this novel enough.”
—Roxane Gay, New York Times best-selling author of Bad Feminist

“A new Dermansky novel is like a holiday declared out of the blue”.
—Kirkus Reviews

“[A] scorching satire of wacky relationships, iced with a juicy layer of saucy seduction…. Dermansky distills a potent brew from the sad consequences of power disparities among people. No arena of domestic human emotions is safe from her biting wit and analysis. Mother-daughter, employer-worker, husband-wife, rich-poor conflicts: all get their moment in the spotlight. It’s a laugh-till-you cry experience.”
—Library Journal

About Hot Air

Praise

“Unapologetically and pleasurably absurd….This novel is a romp, full of the witty, razor sharp prose characteristic of all Dermansky’s books. I cannot recommend this novel enough.”
—Roxane Gay, New York Times best-selling author of Bad Feminist

“[A] scorching satire of wacky relationships, iced with a juicy layer of saucy seduction…. Dermansky distills a potent brew from the sad consequences of power disparities among people. No arena of domestic human emotions is safe from her biting wit and analysis. Mother-daughter, employer-worker, husband-wife, rich-poor conflicts: all get their moment in the spotlight. It’s a laugh-till-you cry experience.”
—Library Journal

“Dermansky’s slim volume packs a punch. It’s full of gimlet-eyed observations about privilege, desire, and satisfaction (or lack thereof)….Daring and wise.”
—Booklist