Wild Man by Kristen Ashley

Wild Man is the second book in the Dream Man series by Kristen Ashley.  Here is the blurb.

While filling her display case in her bakery, the bell over the door sounds and Tessa O’Hara looks up and sees the man of her dreams. Within thirty seconds he asks her out for a beer. Thirty seconds later, she says yes. But after four months of falling in love, she discovers he’s an undercover DEA Agent investigating the possibility she’s involved in her ex-husband’s drug business

Obviously Tess decides this means it’s over.

But DEA Agent Brock Lucas disagrees. A man on a mission who’s really committed to his job, he’s spent years in the underbelly of Denver with the dregs of society. And spending four months with Tess who’s as sweet as her cupcakes, he seriously enjoyed his job. But during Tess’s interrogation, Brock learns the devastating secret Tess is carrying and he’s determined to be the man who helps her heal as well as take her back as she walks on the wild side.

As wild and sweet mix, they face challenge after challenge of family struggling with history and terminal illness. Not to mention, Tess’s ex-husband, the drug lord and Brock’s ex-wife, who has a very big playbook are scheming to tear them apart.

But Brock Lucas has wild in him and once in his past on the trail of vengeance he let that wild loose, making a mistake that he would have no idea years later will put his sweet Tess in the position to pay his penance.

I had a bit of trouble with this book.  It took me a bit longer to finish than the other Kristen Ashley books that I’ve read.  I just didn’t really like Brock or Tess that much and in places I found it to be a bit boring.  From the books I’ve read of Ms Ashley’s there is a bit of a formula to them.  We have a feisty sometimes stupid heroine who meets an hot uber alpha male, they do the will they won’t they dance, somewhere along the road the woman gets kidnapped and the man rescues her.  Interspersed with all of this there is some laughs and some tears and I didn’t feel that we got this with Wild Man. 

I found the characters a bit bland.  Tess does not play games with Brock at all she does what she says and she is sweet and safe and boring.  Brock is kind of wild in a bossy no nonsense type of way but he just didn’t do it for me.  I had a huge problem with the language used in this book too.  Brock uses the c-word lots.  He does not use it to refer to people in a negative way, no he uses to describe Tess’ you know what.  For me this was a real turn off.  Tess is portrayed as such a nice sweet person that I found Brock using this term with her not to be in keeping with her character.  I cannot imagine Tess finding this word acceptable at all.

We get to meet some of the characters from the Rock Chick series as well as Hawk and Mitch from Mystery Man.  I am definitely carrying on with the Dream Man series and I would like to give Wild Man 3 stars.