Wild Card by Lora Leigh

Jeez. Who'da thought that a writer of erotica would come up with a modern romance about everlasting love? Jeez.

Did I say I absolutely love this book?

Did I say I absolutely loved the things I hated in so many of the author's previous novels? The small-town politics. The southern melodrama. The screaming hysterics. Well. I absolutely loved them all in Wild Card.

But most of all I loved that 18-year old beauty Sabella could commit forever to Nathan and mean it. And vice versa. Jeez. Jeez.

I'm not saying the book is perfect. By any means. But I've always had a preference for husband and wife romances. Which unfortunately are not often written nowadays.

Hotness afficienados might say that the hotness takes a while to get going and that it's just slightly repetitive. It would have been nice if Bella had swallowed just once. (Oops. Actually she does.) Or that exactly the same phrases occur in different places in the novel. And really why on earth would the BCM want Sabella's auto repair shop. (Other than all the people in Texas small towns are completely crazy.) But that's it. That's where I stop.

This story is going straight on my recommended list. Which is only fair. Considering the amount of Lora Leigh books that I read. But I'm nervous about my decision. My experience has been that her books don't stand up well to more than one reading. (Elizabeth turned out to be one of the stupidest, criminally negligent parents I've ever come across in a novel.)

The clever thing about Wild Card is that both Bella and Nathan were young when they married. They claim they've both changed (not) and they're still committed. It's funny when Nathan is jealous of himself. But that Sienna got off much too lightly. Seeing how it was made obvious that she had repeatedly punched poor Sabella on most of her body. Sienna should have died in screaming agony after say, being bitten by a deadly rattler in the cave. As she watched Noah hold Sabella in his arms.

Some great little scenes. Of course. The chapter where Sabella lets Nathan drive his own pickup is just totally cute. I also loved every time Sabella tries to smack Nathan pretending to be Noah, and he reminds her patiently and gently that she is not allowed to do that. Imagining Sabella riding behind Nathan on the Harley in her bare legs was also somewhat awe-inspiring. (I'd never have the nerve myself.) The scene where Sabella realises Noah is Nathan is pretty good considering she could have had screaming hysterics...but she saves those for later. I completely loved Nathan's words when he admitted to Sabella he was '...an ignorant fool too fucking scared to have his wife see him weak.' Poor Nathan. His poor body is actually covered in scar tissue but he never dwells on his physical injuries. He thinks they've changed his nature but they haven't. Also. It's absolutely great how Nathan is completely rooted in this small town in Texas. I loved this strange theme of how you can grow up in a place like that and not really be aware of what's going on. Nathan could have turned out looking stupid but he didn't because he had a total sense of honor and did not hesitate to put right what had gone wrong with the community.

Some readers are gonna ask why Sabella was such a wimp in the cave. That's because her main focus was on protecting the baby and keeping knowledge of the baby from that vicious bitch Sienna. Sabella never had any doubt that Nathan would rescue her. I loved the way the author had Sabella tell Nathan straight out that it was Sienna that gave her the facial bruise. Like she didn't know Sienna was dead meat from that point onwards. Personally I also enjoyed the presence of Ian and Kira and seeing their relationship towards each other.

I have to say I totally mourn the absence of the c-word. In my experience the p-word is used almost exclusively by males in their teens.

And yes. I did take the day off work to read it. And I'd do it again. So there!

Novels like Wild Card and Dangerous Secrets completely make up for all the dross I read in 2008. The shame is that even other books by the same writers will be nowhere near as entertaining.

I think I'll try the Nauti series next...

Finally. I also loved the ambiguity of the front cover...even though the author went to a great deal of trouble to show that Nathan's roots were totally Irish...Obviously she hasn't seen Bernie Mac's performance in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. tee hee.

Ok. The gushing ends. Here. And. Now.