I heart Brock Lucas. Sigh.
So, Wild Man picks up maybe six months to a year after Mystery Man leaves off. Brock Lucas was left looking like a total douchebag at the end of that book. (Acting like a crazy drugged kidnapper does that even if you’re working undercover to bring the drug ring down.) Things have not changed at the start of this book. If anything, Brock’s a little bit douchier. He’s about to bring down another major drug ring. This time his cover is boyfriend to the drug boss’s ex-wife, Tess. The thing is, Tess is completely clear of that life, to the point that she doesn’t even know what her ex-husband of five years ago is a drug lord. Four months into the assignment, Brock takes his “boyfriend” duties way too far, just hours before DEA agents invade Tess’s house and take her into custody for questioning. Bastard, right? I know. Fast forward three months. Tess is getting on with her life sans Brock. He’s not happy with the situation, and like any true alpha male hero, he marches into her house and tells her they’re dating again. She’s not so sure, for like five minutes, then they commence building a life together for the rest of the book. There’s not much danger or mystery in this one (unlike the last), but impending doom definitely plays a major role. Tess and Brock have to deal with two psychotic exes, a dad dying of cancer, and a family in shambles before they can get to their happily ever after, which of course they do.
Here’s the deal. There’s not much plot to this book. Everything I described in the first 14 sentences of this review happens in the first two chapters. In a Kristen Ashley book, we know the first two chapters are seriously five percent of the book. The story falls into Ashley’s sweet romance category. You keep reading because you love the characters so much, not because you’re dying to know what happens next. Now at the end there was a liberal dose of scary mystery thrown in, which was good, but not necessary. I was rooting for Brock and Tess from the get go. I love when Ashley has more mature characters (read any character older than 36). Both had dealt with so much crapola in their lives that they were due for some squishy falling in love feelings. I do wish that Brock had to work a little harder to get back in with Tess. It seemed a little unrealistic that Tess fell back into his arms after three months and lots of heartache just because he told her to. Still, I guess it wouldn’t have fit her straight up honest personality if she made him jump through hoops. I loved this book. I love Brock and Tess, and I loved the crossover from the Rock Chick universe. Bottom line, totally read this book. It can stand alone as a fantastic story without reading Mystery Man, but I’d read that book too. (Mainly because I love Kristen Ashley and I’m a fanatic about reading things in order. Both are sort of literary diseases I have to deal with daily.)