Wild Card by Lora Leigh (2008)

Wild Card by Lora Leigh (2008)

too long, too alpha male, too many perfect special forces guys. ( )

Nathan Malone was captured and tortured by the terrorist Sorell and the drug dealer Diego Fuentes in the Tempting SEALs series. He was rescued during Hidden Agendas, but his body, and a large part of his spirit, were shattered. (Part of his torture was to remain faithful to his wife while under the influence of Whore's Dust. He does, so he never actually 'breaks'.) After he starts recovering, he decides no one must tell his wife that he is actually alive. The Nathan she knew, the man capable of gentleness, is no more. He joins the Elite Ops to ensure Nathan Malone dies, and only Noah Blake remains. Six years later, Elite Ops must go to his home town, stop the Black Collar Militia, and protect his wife, Sabelle. ( )

I've come to expect basically one thing from Lora Leigh's books -- spicy hot relationships between characters. 'Wild Card' offers a bit more substance, though, in the form of one tortured ex-SEAL and his struggling yet determined would-be widow. Sabella is a terrific character and would carry the book on her own if need be. Thankfully, a little drama and a lot of passion fills things out nicely. ( )

It was supposed to be simple. All Navy SEAL Nathan Malone had to do was rescue three young girls from a Colombia drug cartel, then allow himself to be captured just long enough to draw out a government spy. That was before his mission went disastrously wrong.and before his wife, Bella, was told that Nathan was never coming home.

Bella's mourned her husband's death for three long years. But she has no idea he's still alive. Forced to assume a new identity, the man Nathan was is now dead. If he can get back to his wife, can he keep the secret of who he really is.even as desire threatens to consume them? And as danger threatens to tear Bella from Nathan's arms once more?

Readers are first introduced to Nathan in the 'Tempting Seals' series. ( )

I'm not sure what it was about Lora Leigh's latest, "Wild Card", but something just didn't hit all my pleasure buttons with it. Maybe it was the hero's stubbornness that lasted just too long for me not to get irritated with it. Or maybe it was his push/pull tactics that drove me nuts...Either way, I just wasn't as thrilled with this book as I usually am with most everything Leigh writes.

Bella lost her soulmate three years ago when her SEAL husband didn't return from his last mission. Since then, she's had horrible nightmares and has only recently returned to 'living'...only to battle to save what's left of their life together, their home and business. So why now, when she's finally trying to move on, does she meet another man who makes her blood sizzle and reminds her in so many ways of her dead love?

Nathan was held prisoner and pumped full of drugs for months on end. When he was finally rescued, he was more animal than man. Even though his dreams of his wife were all that kept him alive, he decides to remain 'dead'. Instead of returning to his 'other' life, he undergoes innumerable surgeries and comes out a new man with a new identity...and he refuses to 'taint' his wife with the dark creature he is now. But when his wife is unknowingly dragged into danger, he can't NOT help her. And once, he's near her, he can't NOT want her. But if he won't reveal his past, how can the two of them have anything?

As I said, this book is very intense. The connection between the hero and heroine is at times a bit mystical, and always red hot. The difference between their 'younger' lives and their current lives provides a harsh glimpse of the reality of some relationships. And it's not until each individual can reveal their true selves, and be accepted by the other, that a relationship can really become deep and solid. I appreciated this extra hint of realism on Leigh's part. But by golly, I spent an awful lot of this book wanting to kick Nate's ass! His actions and motives seem awfully selfish for a full 2/3 of the book and I hated that. Of course, I DID keep reading and I will continue to read Lora Leigh's stories. She manages to touch something in me and bring something to her tales that other author's can't quite touch. So, Alpha jerks or no, I'll keep looking for her titles... ( )

Elizabeth Lowell used to do it so well - that kind of manic intensity, where the hero can do the most awful things because he believes it in the heroines best interest and while you are immersed in the book, you believe it too. However in this book, the premise that Nathan Malone lets his wife of 2 years believe he is dead, and only returns SIX years later, because she is in danger, just doesn't work for me. For one thing he becomes insanely jealous of her commitment to her dead husband (him) and we are asked to believe that neither of them so much as looked at another person in the intervening time. But it wasn't the improbability of the plot that bothered me so much, as that the repetition of key themes and phrases wore thin 'I'm not your husband' her husband frequently declares 'Nathan Malone is dead.' But Sabella, our heroine, no fool, realizes very quickly that this new man, with the totally different name of Noah, is, in fact Nathan. Instead of saying anything about it to him, they just keep having the same arguments of who is more committed to whom. She very reasonably says, even if you are a new man in my life, are you offering me any more stability or commitment than my husband did? and of course that makes him go off on the deep end.

I didn't mind Sabella, who at least had the excuse of being 18 when we first met her, but the hero, as either Nathan or Noah, was just annoying. I didn't believe him or feel his angst. Instead I just wish he woudl stop lying to himself and Sabella and get over it. Also, the whore's dust drug line - that didnt' work either! So I'm rating this a C. ( )

In this story we finally get Nathan Malone's story. In previous novels of Lora Leigh's Tempting Seals series, Nathan was captured by the mostly evil but certainly morally bankrupt Diego Fuentes. He was pumped full of a drug called Whore's Dust- sorta like a hyper ruffie- tortured, and generally soul scarred by the time he managed to survive an explosion that set him free.

Because of all he endured, he went along with the governments decision to allow Nathan Malone to be declared dead so he could join a covert ops team as a new man- one Noah "Wild Card" Blake. (DING DING! We have a title!)

One problem- Nathan is married. And though his love for his wife, Bella, kept him chaste while being tortured under Fuentes, he didn't believe for one second his soft-hearted wife could handle the hardened man Noah has become.

Only Bella isn't as soft as he thinks. For though it almost killed her when she lost him, she did eventually manage to pull not only herself together but also her husband's all but defunct auto mechanic business.

Up until now Noah has ruthlessly excised his former existence from his life- when his uncle gave him reports on Bella, he trashed them satisfied with the knowledge she was alive and well.

Things change when Noah's uncle lets him in on some bad things going down in his hometown. A mysterious militia group is targeting illegal immigrants and are now focusing on Noah's garage as well as Bella.

Noah can't resist the mission because, of course, Bella still owns his soul and he's can't fight the urge to protect her. When he returns, riding into town on his Harley with a new hardened visage, Bella has no idea it's the husband she's grieved for these many years. But something about him reawakens a part of her she thought lost forever and though she feels she's betraying her late husband, she finds herself helplessly falling for him.

Of course they eventually bust the Militia ring but not before they both learn what they thought they knew of each other is nothing like what they truly are!

I LOVED Nathan/Noah. Sure he's a jerk for letting the wife he supposedly still loved and longed for believe he was dead for 6 years- but hey, some guys just have no faith in the inner strength of a woman! And too, Sabella Malone hid her spine of steel from him. (She's was young when they got married, and stupid enough to believe that a wilting hothouse flower of a wife was what her in-control husband needed.)

Personally I liked the changed Bella and Nathan much more than their earlier persona's. They were much more intense and, hooooo boy, when they get together again? The pages sizzle with heat!

Yep it's a scorcher, but it also has an almost poignant tenderness about it that will melt the heart of any romantic reader out there!

This one gets a 4.5 out of 5 from me. The editor on this one- AGAIN- needs their hands slapped- different times whole sections were repeated like it was copy and pasted from later in the book and then forgotten to be deleted from it's original spot- but I easily overlooked it because I enjoyed this couple so much! ( )