Wild Man

By: Kristen Ashley

Narrated by: Kate Russell

Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Goodreads Reader’s Choice Nominee, Best Romance, 2012

Goodreads Author of the Year Nominee

She's about to walk on the wild side....

While filling the display case in her bakery, the bell over the door sounds and Tessa O'Hara looks up to see the man of her dreams. Within 30 seconds he asks her out for a beer. But after four months of dating, she discovers he's an undercover DEA agent—and he's investigating her possible role in her ex-husband's drug business. For Tess, this means their relationship is over.

Brock disagrees. He's committed to his anti-drug mission, but he's fallen in love with the beautiful woman who's as sweet as her cupcakes—and he'll do anything to win her back.

Standing between Tess and Brock are their own exes, one of them a drug lord who's determined to get what he wants. Now as danger threatens, can Brock break the rules he's lived by and let loose his wild side to protect the woman he loves?

©2013 Kristen Ashley (P)2013 Hachette Audio

Another good one!

2nd book in the series of 4, very good! More realistic than the first. I like this couple, they are totally honest, once things get going. They are older, in their 40's which is somewhat new but not bad. I love the drama and I LOVE a guy who knows what he wants and goes after it. He totally chases her and I love that. There is a lot of stuff in this one, great story.

Love this book so I bought the audio version!!

Which character – as performed by Kate Russell – was your favorite?

Did a really good job.

Any additional comments?

Great story and series!! A++++ I loved this book when I read and really enjoyed the audio version.

Weak 3 stars.

I enjoyed it even though there wasn’t enough plot.

I had trouble with this book. I adored “Mystery Man” book 1 in the Dream Man series. This is book 2, and it just doesn’t compare. It’s like there is nothing to write about. I love the hot guy Brock. I love the way he treats Tess, protects her, takes care of her, and handles her in bed. That’s typical K. Ashley. It’s the best thing about her. But in this book, there’s not enough story and not enough interesting character interaction. The main plot problems are Tess’ ex husband Damien and Brock’s ex wife Olivia. One scene has Tess yelling at Damien repeating things that were said before. It was repetitive and boring. My thoughts were “I know. I heard that before. Let’s get on with the story.”

The main characters were a little older. Tess 43. Brock 45. The sex scenes were hot, nice, good. The f-word and sh** are used a lot.

The reason I bought this was the narrator Kate Russell. She was fantastic doing Mystery Man. She wasn’t as good here but it was because the material wasn’t as good. I will still buy her next book because I was so impressed with how she did Mystery Man - giving a feeling to the heroine that was better than my own interpretation if reading the physical book.

Genre: contemporary romance

"My Sweet Tess"

If you could sum up Wild Man in three words, what would they be?

Sweet, wild, and realistic.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

I enjoyed Kate's performance. She is a pro.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes. The language in this book is stronger than I like, but still a good read.

Any additional comments?

I liked that this book had characters in their 40's and it showed. Especially the way Tess handled The ex in her bakery. It was mature, hot, and sweet at the same time. Kristen Ashley has a new fan in me.

When the wild meets the sweet.

My audio books aren’t lasting as long as they should be. I was buying them to keep me amused on the way to and from work and when I bake or exercise. It seems that I’m struggling to just keep it to those times. I mean, it’s hard to just limit myself. I’m invested in the story. I’ve been sucked in. There’s a crucial stage I’m reaching and the last thing I want to do is press stop and wait. This means I’m listening to nearly one a week and putting off book reading to listen instead.

Well, this is what happened when I started Wild Man. I just couldn't stop. It’s a re-read, so the story isn’t new to me, but it is a KA which means it's very hard to put down. When Brock steps into a room he’s got my full attention. Tess going through a crisis because Damien (her ex-husband) is stalking her, well, of course, I need to listen to it now before I hit stop. Olivia and her bony ass making a nuisance, well, it’s got to be sorted out. This is the struggle I face. It’s tough, but someone’s got to do it.

The beginning of Wild Man is a little hard to take we meet Tess and Brock after they had been in a relationship for 4 months. Tess really likes Brock and while Brock seems to like Tess, he also seems to be holding himself back a bit. This is because Brock is an undercover DEA agent, and he’s investigating Tess because of her douchewaffle ex-husband and the bugger's drug business. When Tess finds out that Brock had only approached her because of his job she’s devastated. She puts it behind her and tries to move on with her life. Brock lets her have a little time to get over it and then comes after her.

Well, this is a KA book and of course when you have one of her heroes chasing you, you walk away…very, very slowly, in the hopes he’ll catch you, chuck you over his shoulder and claim you. Yes, Tess put up a token resistance, but Brock is way too much temptation to refuse.

Their relationship is not all plain sailing. Brock has an ex-wife and two sons. The ex is a skank who treats her kids pretty shabby. Up till now, Brock hasn’t been in a position to contest custody. With the change in his job (leaving DEA to be a detective) and finally having a good woman in his life, it’s now time to try. The ex, Olivia, does not make things easy and she tries to manipulate the boys for her own gain. With Tess on the scene, Olivia has a new target to aim for.

So, between Brock’s ex, Tess’s ex and her bakery, and his job they definitely have their hands full. It doesn’t take her long to realise that all the stress is worth it. Brock and his two boys have brought a lot of happiness to her life. Tess is the woman Brock has been waiting for...and it also helps that she bakes a mean cake or cookie.

Now, in regards to the audio, it was pretty good. The narrator's voice is easy to listen to and understand. I did have a bit of a problem when she changed from a female character to a male character as she doesn’t change her voice much. This does make it a little hard. It was more like someone just reading the story to me instead of acting it out. That probably sounds weird, acting it out, but some of the best audio’s, the narrator is able to manipulate their voice so it’s easy to hear the emotions, and tell the changes in characters.

Wild Man is one of my favourite Kristen Ashley stories. For one thing, Tess mentioning Snickerdoodles, which I had never heard of before this book, made me go searching for a recipe. In my boys' circle of friends, I’m known for 1 - The biscuits that taste like cinnamon doughnuts. AND 2 - (whispers) Snickerdoodle has the word doodle in them. The smirks on their faces when they ask for a snickerdoodle is priceless. Boys and their doodles. ;)

I’ve already got my next audio, With Everything I Am, lined up and I’m hoping it will last more than a few day.

Really enjoyed it!

Great story, even better voice actor. I loved the way she spoke the children's parts. The author really seems to know kids and they were an important grounding point. not sure why everyone sounded like they had a NY accent most of the time, being in Denver. I listened to the preview for Lawman and I may get that one too.

Awesome

This series as well as the spin off series Chaos are great books, start with the first book ~Mystery Man~and you will want to listen to them all as fast as you can.

Nana

Perhaps I'm just old fashioned but there seems to be way too much swearing (the f word). Way more than necessary. A little is okay but when it gets to be every other word it makes me cringe!

Dream Man Series:Spell bounding stories, but...

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would suggest that you start the series at book 1, as the characters in the books make appearances in subsequent stories. By then you have met them, and know a bit about their background. Sort of like meeting friends again, and picking up the trail in the rest of the series.

Have you listened to any of Kate Russell’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have listened to all the Dream Man Series books (4), all read by Kate Russel. I would give her a 10, if not for the fact that she fails to 'whisper/shout/etc.' when the text tells us the character whispered/shout, etc. I understand that the reader goes through the text before taping, so she should be expected to be able to change the volume, etc. as she reads. in fact, it usually felt as if she did the opposite of what the text called for. this was very disturbing to the overall performance.
But she still gets a 9.

Hate when authors do this

Hate when author's don't describe any of the character's race...except the black characters. FYI Kate Russell, Elvira would be funny even without the ghettoish accent. Not sure why she has to sound so different from every other character.

Book was okay. Having heard the other books in this series, the Brock/Jake sounded like Hawk, who sounded like the rest of the leading males.

Good book, but not worth a credit.