Wild at Heart [Mass Market Paperback]

Now Alex & Val have a history with lots of baggage. He was her superior officer when she was in training at the Police Academy, five years before. She was a wild lady who broke too many rules and got too creative with the solutions to be a good cop - so Alex believed. He decided to recommend her dismissal from the Academy. The evening before she was to be told bye-bye, in a meeting with the Lieutenant and Alex, Alex decided to tell her personally. He thought it would be less painful. So he dropped by her apartment, they had wild sex, he left her sleeping in the middle of the night...and he never told her. The next day, at the meeting, she learned she was no longer a police cadet - and she totally flipped out. Wouldn't you?

Val doesn't really believe that Alex, a stickler for the rules & Mr. Control Freak, would commit murder. All evidence to the contrary, he is a basically decent guy. But, no one else was with the victim at the time of her death - and Val knows because she was surveilling the place. When someone takes a shot at her, however, she really begins to believe that Alex is innocent. So Val & Alex wind up taking off to find the murderer.

Adventures ensue, i.e., wild animals, an attack by a Bengal Tiger, a burning barn, an "almost" rape by a sadistic ex-con, some terrific sex, etc., and we meet some interesting folks along the way, including a goofy deputy sheriff who means well but can't make a right move. Who said the path to love was easy, especially when facing a 20 year sentence for manslaughter.

I enjoyed this sequel to "I've Got You Babe." Alex was so hard-boiled in that 1st novel, that I really looked forward to reading more about him. There had to be a softer, more vulnerable side. But this book is not as fast-paced as Ms. Graves's first attempt. And the characters are not as endearing as John and Renee. The action does pick up midway through, and the romance gets passionate - but it just doesn't rate 5 stars.

A wonderful romance, with characters you'll love. Jane Graves tells a story you won't be able to put down!

WILD AT HEART opens with the best first chapter ever; no one who reads those early pages will be able to put down this novel. Graves is a master, with a such a command of language that she sculpts her sentences as much as she writes them.

There is a lively and riveting plot. One of Jane Graves' greatest skills is that she takes a storyline that is implausible, but not impossible, and she makes it actually seem very likely. The scenes at the small town Texas fair and the game preserve as so visual that they beg for a movie, maybe with George Clooney and Julia Roberts in the leads.

The earlier book featuring the de Marco brothers cried for a sequel; this sequel calls for a screenplay. And the notes at the back promise that a third novel in this series already is in the works. Terrific!