Newly divorced, Avery Hart returns home to Wildwood eager to take on her dream opportunity and transform her family’s dive bar into her own bakery. The contractor for hire isn’t just a master with his hands—he’s big, built, and wears a tool belt like nobody’s business. Despite being an ex-con, Trace Hutton is irresistible. Too bad he’d never go for someone as inexperienced as Avery.

Trace needs to focus on the job at hand, not daydream about smearing icing all over the sexy baker…and licking it off. This job is the key to getting his construction company back on its feet after his time in prison. Besides, no one deserves a fresh start more than Avery, and she certainly won’t get that with him.

After a delectable night of passion (and pie), Trace craves something more. But he’ll be damned if he’ll let his checkered past crush her dreams. And as Avery starts to realize how Trace fulfills more than just her physical needs, she struggles with whether to let her history decide her future, or explore the wild new possibilities of forever…

Review 

I loved the first book in the series, Forbidden Fling, and this one is just as good - a moving, sexy, heart-warming romance in a small town setting.

I really like what the author is doing with this series, building a great small town community and populating with the most amazing and intriguing characters. We get the feel-good, heart-warming atmosphere of small-town romance with the added edge of really complex characters, struggling with their past trying to move forward and ultimately falling in love. 

I really loved the heroine here. Avery married young her high school sweetheart but their marriage soon turned loveless and she ended back in her hometown, divorced and trying to get a fresh start. I liked the twist of her having been married, yet being very much inexperienced both sexually and romantically. She was understandably cautious with men but couldn't resist falling for Trace. I loved how determined to succeed, personally and professionally she was. 

Trace was a great character as well, an ex-con, a ladies' man trying to stay away from Avery because he didn't think he was good enough for her. He had a lot of going on in his life and falling (and trying to stay away from) Avery who on top of everything was his current boss was a complication he didn't need.

They had great chemistry and the sexual attraction was there from the start but nothing happened easily for them. The conflict they had to overcome in order to be together felt very real and the way they bumbled their way into a relationship was fitting to their characters - imperfect, a little lost, a lot hesitant because of their pasts but also hopeful and willing to give love a chance. There were no magical solutions to their personal and professional troubles but hard work and concentrated effort made things work for them.

Both Avery and Trace have a lot going on in their lives when they met each other - both trying to get back on their feet, dealing with difficult family issues (though neither of them was on their own) and both reluctant to enter a relationship and yet unable to resist the attraction between them. 

I enjoyed the complex, even slightly convoluted plot and feel it helped bring out all the best/worst qualities of the characters making the reader see them as real people and not just  as figments of the author's imagination.

Wild Kisses is sweet and sexy, real and deeply romantic, definitely a recommended read for me. 

Add to Goodreads


My rating: 4.5 stars

Review

Title: Rebel (Renegades #2)
Author: Skye Jordan
Date of publication: 21 Dec 2013
Genre/themes: Contemporary Romance

Author's links:
Facebook / Goodreads

My rating: 3.5 stars

Raised a simple country-boy, Wes knows the brazen Rubi isn’t his type. But after spending time with her, he discovers she’s everything he’s ever wanted in a woman. To win her wild rebel heart, he’ll have to prove he sees behind her smokescreen to all the goodness she tries to hide. Then it’s just a matter of crushing her fears, shattering her barriers, and convincing her that loving him is everything she’s been missing in her life, too.

Piece of cake.

My Review

This is the second book in the Renegades series Skye Jordan, it delivers the same light and sexy fun as book 1, Reckless. I feel like there is more romance in the story of Rubi and Wes, but there is also more drama, which got just a bit too much towards the end of the book.  

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Here are the rules:

• Grab your current read 

• Open to a random page 

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 

• Be careful not the include spoilers! 

• Share the title & author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers. 

I have modified them slightly for my Teasers. It will not be two sentences from a random page but two, usually more, sentences from the pages I have read so far that have struck me as most interesting, original or that I just happen to like a lot.

This week's teaser comes from my current read, Rebel (Renegades #2) by Skye Jordan. This time I am keeping it short and sweet. I have read the first book in the series, Reckless, (my review), so I decided to continue with the second one. I am almost done with it and it is just as enjoyable, fun, sexy read as book 1.

"Rubi. Out of all the women he could have fallen in love with, he'd gone and fallen for Rubi Russo? Seriously?"

Goodreads Blurb

Sassy, smart, and sexy, former supermodel-turned-tech guru Rubi Russo has it all—looks, money, confidence and freedom. Her life is a whirlwind of fast cars and fleeting affairs—and she likes it that way. With a past like Rubi’s, forever isn’t part of her vocabulary. So when studly Renegade stuntman Wes Lawson wants to take their friendship to the next level, she’s all out.

Raised a simple country-boy, Wes knows the brazen Rubi isn’t his type. But after spending time with her, he discovers she’s everything he’s ever wanted in a woman. To win her wild rebel heart, he’ll have to prove he sees behind her smokescreen to all the goodness she tries to hide. Then it’s just a matter of crushing her fears, shattering her barriers, and convincing her that loving him is everything she’s been missing in her life, too.

Piece of cake.

Title: Reckless (Renegates 1)

Author: Skye Jordan

Date of publication: 23 Aug 2013

Genre/themes: Contemporary Romance

Author's links:

Facebook / Goodreads

My rating: 3.5 stars

Goodreads Blrurb

A couture wedding dress designer to the rich and famous, Lexi LaCroix’s image means everything. But crossing paths with a sexier-than-sin, bad-boy biker makes Lexi realize how much living she’s sacrificed for her success and one touch is all it takes to threaten her carefully choreographed life. When that touch fills far more than just Lexi’s physical needs, she finds herself torn between the career she needs and the bad-boy she craves.

Jax Chamberlin gave up the superficial life of acting for the thrill of running his own stunt company years ago. But a recent betrayal proves he’s still too close to the limelight to find a woman who doesn’t plan to use him as a stepping-stone to success. When the charming and mysterious Lexi offers him a totally anonymous hook-up during an out of town trip, Jax accepts. Only Lexi is more sextacular than charming, and Jax wants more.

But Lexi’s got a major hang-up over his renegade lifestyle, and Jax isn’t willing to change his ways. Especially not when he discovers who she really is. Because if she finds out his connections could catapult her to the top of her career, he’s afraid the fantasy woman he’s falling for might just end up like all the other gold-diggers. And this time, it’s not just his bad-boy reputation at risk, but his heart, too.

My Review

Reckless was a funny, steamy read which I really enjoyed. It is a cute romance set in the flashy world of Hollywood and bridal fashion for millionaires. The love story of Jax and Lexi had its fair share of obstacles, but fortunately lacked too much drama and angst.

The way the affair between Jax and Lexi happened from her getting his number to the scene at the fashion show in the end was rather unrealistic and improbable, yet I would just describe their story as the romance of dreams. For me this is a romance we all dream of - perfect people who gorgeous and smart, super rich and successful, meet and immediately share sizzling-hot chemistry and then fall head-over-heels madly in love. It is the perfect fairytale that doesn't happen in real life, yet one can always dream or read about in romance novels :)

The book has a very nice, light-hearted feel to it. It is quite a steamy read, coupled with funny banter between the characters and reading it just puts you in a feel-good, happy mood. There are some obstacles the characters need to overcome en route to their HEA, but they are nothing major, and ultimately love does conquer all. 

My main complaint with this book which defers me from giving it a higher rating is the writing. While I do like short, one-word sentences, they should only be used sparingly, for emphasis. When they are overused, they become distracting and annoying. As a whole the writing style felt simplistic and repetitive and at times it distracted me from the story itself. 

Although I love the happy ending for Jax and Lexi, I would have liked to read an epilogue, or chapter of them further along in the future as a more estalished couple. 

I am looking forward to the next instalment in the series, hoping that it will be about Wes (and Rubi?). I will also be really happy to see more of Jax and Lexi in the next book.

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Here are the rules:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not the include spoilers!
• Share the title & author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

I have modified them slightly for my Teasers. It will not be two sentences from a random page but two, usually more, sentences from the pages I have read so far that have struck me as most interesting, original or that I just happen to like a lot.

My teaser this week comes from Reckless (Renegades #1) by Skye Jordan. It is a rather hot, fun read where the worlds of movies and fashion collide. It is nothing overly dramtic or angst-filled for a change and I am really enjoying it. 

"Her nerves kicked up. She'd felt so capable when she was flirting with Jax. So sexy. So in control. Now, she felt inept. And incompetent. And ... reckless."

A couture wedding dress designer to the rich and famous, Lexi LaCroix’s image means everything. But crossing paths with a sexier-than-sin, bad-boy biker makes Lexi realize how much living she’s sacrificed for her success and one touch is all it takes to threaten her carefully choreographed life. When that touch fills far more than just Lexi’s physical needs, she finds herself torn between the career she needs and the bad-boy she craves.

Jax Chamberlin gave up the superficial life of acting for the thrill of running his own stunt company years ago. But a recent betrayal proves he’s still too close to the limelight to find a woman who doesn’t plan to use him as a stepping-stone to success. When the charming and mysterious Lexi offers him a totally anonymous hook-up during an out of town trip, Jax accepts. Only Lexi is more sextacular than charming, and Jax wants more.

But Lexi’s got a major hang-up over his renegade lifestyle, and Jax isn’t willing to change his ways. Especially not when he discovers who she really is. Because if she finds out his connections could catapult her to the top of her career, he’s afraid the fantasy woman he’s falling for might just end up like all the other gold-diggers. And this time, it’s not just his bad-boy reputation at risk, but his heart, too.