Wild Child by A.S. Green – a Review

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Description:
I have never been to a place so tiny. Little Bear Island could fit in New York’s armpit. Still a job is a job and, after surviving Afghanistan, what’s twenty-four hours in podunk hell?

Providing private security for a celebrity wedding is nothing new…until I come face-to-face with Natalie O’Brien. The woman who chose someone else and kicked me to the curb six years ago. Time has done nothing to tame her. She’s a red-headed beauty with a sharp tongue and nerves of steel who could seriously knock me off my game…

When my assistant bails, Natalie jumps at the chance to get off this tiny island. Now we’re stuck criss-crossing the country in my SUV, with her tantalizing scent filling the cab and her smart mouth making me very…uncomfortable. Good thing the job will be over soon. So why does the thought of saying goodbye a second time make my heart stop?

Review:

Wild Child is the follow up to the book Summer Girl by A. S. Green.

Natalie O’Brien lives on Little Bear Island on Lake Superior.  She is everyone’s go to person on the island. A Jane of all trades so to speak. She is the glue that holds her small family together.  But something is missing.  Something or someone has been missing since she walked away from the love of her life six years ago. Six years ago, she was following her favorite band around the country, when she met Jackson Sparke, Jax as she called him. They had a whirlwind romance and he has forever been stuck in her mind.  So much so that no man that has come into Natalie’s life can not hold a candle to Jax.

 For the past six years Natalie has pined away for the man she was sure she would never see again.  That is until there is a celebrity wedding on the island and she meets the man in charge of the security detail.

Jackson Sparke has had a rough go of life.  His parents were never there for him,  his gram passed away when he was younger and the girl of his dreams walked away from him and never looked back.  He joined the Navy and became a Navy Seal.  Saw combat and lost some friends who meant the world to him. Struggling with his own issues he never expects to run into the girl that has been on his mind for the past six years.

When they first meet each other again, they both pretend to not recognize the other.  They both have gotten older and their looks have slightly changed. But how long can they pretend that that have no idea who the other is?  What begins here is a wonderful angst filled story of rekindling old love, second chances and moving forward when there are so many complications from the past.

I enjoyed Natalie’s character.  She seems to mean a lot to a lot of people.  She seems to be everything for everyone else.  And in that she loses herself. She doesn’t want to spend the rest of her life on her little island.  She dreams of leaving and traveling and trying new things.  She has clearly not gotten over the romance she shared years ago with Jax.  And when he comes back into her life and offers her a job in New York City, she jumps at the chance. But she is just a small town girl, how will she hold up in the big city.  

Jax was an angst riddled character that you just absolutely fall in love with.  You can see that he has truly been done wrong by people that were supposed to love him.   You can see that he truly cared for Natalie when he met her six years ago and was devastated when she didn’t stay with him and chose to return to the island without him.  He loved his grandmother and her death was just another whole left in his heart.  But he has gone on to do amazing things.  Start his own investigation company, which is currently doing quite well.  But he is not prepared for what running into Natalie again has brought to his life.

This is a classic romance with a twist of angst.  You aren’t quite sure you will get your happily ever after with this one. but in the end the romance is romantic and the lives of the characters feel real and fact based.  I loved that Jax was real, and while he was handsome and hard, he still was real.  With real faults, and qualities he just does not like about himself.  But when he is willing to make an effort to open up to Natalie and let his guard down – you completely fall in love with him.

This book can be read as a complete stand alone – which is what I have done.  There was nothing that left me questioning what I have missed. But now I want to go back and read Katherine’s story and will do just that with Summer Girl.

Reviewed by Erin

Copy provided by Publisher