Title: Wilde Side
Author: Jannine Gallant
Series: Born to be Wilde #2
A touching story that threw me a loop
I would like to thank Jannine Gallant, Lyrical Press, and Kensington Publishing Corp., for allowing me to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Devin Lockhart and Sawyer Wilde are drawn to each other the moment the lay eyes on each other. He’s the guide on a rafting trip she’s taken with her boss, a congressman seeking good press and a strong, hearty image. Devin and Sawyer decide to go with their emotions and have some fun during the trip—but when they realize the congressman’s “accidents” are intended to be deadly, it’s not fun anymore.
This review will be short and sweet. I really, really liked this book, and I’m surprised to say so because for some reason I didn’t expect to like it. I don’t know if it was the cheesy, unoriginal play on “wild” or what, but regardless, I consider it a pleasant surprise.
I thought I had this book figured out from the get-go, but a twist had me rethinking things. And it didn’t come out of nowhere, after I thought about it. I enjoyed the suspense subplot, and the main romance as well. I haven’t read too many books with the long distance relationship issue, but the ones I have didn’t make it seem like that much of a problem, produced a solution too easily. Here it was a persistent dilemma, and I’m glad neither of them completely caved for the other. However, I wonder if Sawyer would have bent so willingly if they hadn’t been in a life-or-death situation. I think he would have eventually, but he’d have taken more wearing down.
Sawyer was a little selfish, a little chauvinistic to begin with, but it was part of his arc—he learned to bend and meet halfway. Devin learned the same thing. I loved Devin. She was kind, she stood up for herself, she was upfront and honest with everyone, but in a friendly way, not a bitchy one. She was a great heroine—and Sawyer was a great hero! They both had their flaws and called each other on them even as they learned to accept them.
The writing was excellent. Not overly burdened with detail or thought process. The action scenes were exciting, and the pace moved right along and didn’t seem to explain anything to death. The sex scenes weren’t graphic, which was refreshing, but gave just enough detail to be sexy as well as sweet. Overall, I believe I’ll look into Gallant’s other work. If they’re as good as this one, they may find a home on my keeper shelves.
Thanks for the great review. I’m so glad you loved Devin and Sawyer!