Title: Wilde Thing
Author: Jannine Gallant
Series: Born to be Wilde #3
A few minor issues but I enjoyed it despite them
I would like to thank Jannine Gallant, Kensington Publishing, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
After her best friend’s brother, Tripp Wilde, is injured during a skiing competition, Hannah Ryder takes him on as a physical therapy client to honor her friendship with his sister. A man of action who hates being cooped up indoors, Tripp convinces her to go skiing with him against her better judgment. When they witness a murder on the slopes, no one believes their account…until a series of accidents suggests someone wants them silenced.
While trying to figure out who the homicidal maniac could be, Hannah struggles to keep Tripp at a distance, but his charm and the simple fact that she likes hanging out with him wears on her resolves. She eventually lets him take her to dinner…and then to bed. But it’s fine, as long as she doesn’t get too attached, because when things settle down and he’s back in shape, Tripp, a flirtatious player at heart, will undoubtedly get bored with her and move on. When that happens, she will not be left behind with a broken heart.
I liked this book! I had a few minor problems with the story, but I really enjoyed watching Hannah and Tripp fall in love. She’s the grounded girl-next-door type, looking for stability and security, even if tedium accompanies those traits. An adrenaline junkie who does everything fast—except sex, of course *wink*—Tripp lives large and enjoys taking risks. They’re a match of opposites, but they’re completely aware of and up front about their differences, and despite them, they truly care about each other and agree to compromise their lifestyles and work together to make their relationship work. I wish people in real life were that mature and rational.
Things worked out okay plot-wise. The romance between Hannah and Tripp felt organic and grew at a steady, believable pace. One thing got a little old, though—there seemed to be a lot of scenes of grocery shopping and cooking. Cooking I don’t mind so much, that’s less avoidable and can be intimate in a number of ways, but grocery shopping is a terribly mundane, public chore. I’d rather have it mentioned instead of described, unless some crazy attempted murder action takes place in the canned goods aisle. I understand the point in this book was to show character insight and relationship development in the direction of domestication, and that’s fine, I just found it boring.
The suspense plot, while a good idea, wasn’t very exciting. Hannah and Tripp took a little too long to catch on that the accidents weren’t accidents, and said accidents seemed so…benign. It wasn’t until the end that I felt they were really in danger.
Also, I think Gallant tried a bit too hard to misdirect us. There were several unnecessary minor characters, and some things happened that I thought were involved in the mystery but weren’t at all relevant. They were, ironically, just accidents. For example, the sole purpose of the avalanche at the beginning was to give Hannah and Tripp a reason to be together, which normally I don’t think I’d have minded—or even noticed—except the circumstances surrounding the avalanche purposefully sounded suspicious, and I paid unnecessary attention to it as I tried to solve the mystery. When it wasn’t relevant whatsoever, it come across as more a cheap ruse than a clever one.
As to the mystery itself…not entirely predictable, what with all the misdirection cluttering things up, but the culprit joined my top-three whodunit list the moment he was mentioned, and while he jockeyed for #1 suspect a couple of times, he remained my favorite throughout most of the book. I was not surprised at all when he turned up.
However, I was surprised by everything he revealed, and I’m not sure it made much sense. I did not see child molestation coming, at all, and it jarred my tonal perception of the story. It got really dark, really fast. With hindsight, I can’t say that it wasn’t alluded to, but I think the “signs and symptoms” Hannah displayed were conveniently ambiguous ones. Withdrawn, introverted, distrustful of men, disinclined to have intimate relationships, an unconscious motive for eating too much— That could describe me, for heaven’s sake, and probably a lot of other people who can’t claim Hannah’s past trauma…unless we’re repressing it to the point of complete memory wipe, like Hannah, which was just way, way too convenient. I’m sure it’s possible, and yes, she did feel uncomfortable around her abuser, but she attributed that to another legit reason, and in fact seemed to miss the man, because she remembered that he’d loved her…which he had, but not in the way she remembered. It was rather confusing, and I just don’t think it fit the story at all.
Plot aside, Gallant’s excellent writing skills were present. She did a wonderful job describing settings, which is a good thing, since she lives in Lake Tahoe. If she hadn’t described it well, I’d be worried. She also seemed to be very familiar with the worlds of competitive skiing, physical therapy, and law enforcement. I’m not, so I can’t validate any of it, but she seemed to know what she was talking about.
Finally, I have to mention that I did notice all of the nudge-nudge-wink-wink references to romance novels. I particularly got a kick out of this line: “…[T]heir quick dive into a relationship wouldn’t be the stuff of romantic fiction. More like a comedy of errors.” Each time, all I could think was:
Overall, it was a pleasant diversion, and I can’t wait until Wilde Horses, the final installment in this series, becomes available.
