Review: Wild Man (#2, Dream Man) by Kristen Ashley - Vilma Iris | Lifestyle Blogger

This post contains affiliate links, meaning I’ll receive a small commission should you purchase using those links. All opinions expressed are my own. I receive no compensation for reviews.

Review: Wild Man (#2, Dream Man) by Kristen Ashley

My Thoughts

Another sexy, intense installment in the Dream Man series. Wild man Brock Lucas delivers big-time drama, sizzle and suspense.

4stars

Synopsis

wild man coverWhile 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.

My Review

“There’s a wild that’s fucked and there’s a wild that’s just, plain wild. You just hooked yourself to a different kind of wild, Tess, and I swear, baby, swear,” his arms squeezed before he finished, “I’ll show you that’s a good, safe place to be.”

I’m kicking myself for taking so long to read the Dream Man series. It’s been a wild ride and it definitely got even wilder with big-time alpha agent, Brock Lucas. Tess O’Hara sees the man of her dreams when he walks through her bakery’s door. With all that swagger, confidence and good looks, it took less than a second to say yes when he asked her out for a beer. They had chemistry. Sizzle. A whole lot of goodness. Their relationship worked from the get-go, but when Tess is pulled from her own home by agents investigating her ex-husband’s drug business and finds her man surprisingly in the mix and wearing a badge, she is done. She is even more done when she realizes she didn’t even know his name. She is still done months later when Brock comes knocking on her door again, when he tells her that he’s done spending time apart from his woman.

“I can’t make any promises about where this is gonna go but what I can do is give you me, keep you safe while you walk on the wild side and work my ass off to do what I can so this never goes bad for you.”

Brock and Tess’ second go-round is way bumpier than the first. Now that Tess knows who Brock really is, she needs to get past the lying and get to really knowing him. Brock is a complicated man. He’s an all alpha, explosive temper, over protective, wild force of nature. He’s got a lot buried in his past and a lot riding on his shoulders in the present. That makes him intense and unpredictable, but he’s found a good woman in Tess and he isn’t about to let a good woman as sweet as Tess go.

“With Tess O’ Hara, what you see is what you get. No bullshit. No games. No mask. No lies. No nothin’.”

Tess is good and sweet and totally honest. But Tess has a past that is also full of hurt. Both Brock and Tess have to vehemently battle the past in order to be free and able to explore a future together. Their relationship is rather intriguing and truly a juxtaposition of opposites that seem to fit. Where Brock is explosive, Tess is gentle. Where Brock goes into a rage to deal with things, Tess buries it deep. Brock is rough around the edges and Tess is all realness and honesty. Yet, they work. They are exactly what the other needs and although they must work through the typical ins and outs of a relationship, it’s really the external forces at play that endeavor to pry them apart.

“Babe, you think I found the women of my dreams at 45 years old and I’m gonna let anything happen to her, think again. That’s a long fuckin’ time to wait for what you want. I waited. I found it. I’m pullin’ out all the stops to take care of it.”

Brock and Tess have so much to overcome and much of it is not only the past coming back to mess with them, but also, family drama that stems from all kinds of places that needs simultaneous and urgent attention. There are some incredibly sweet moments between Tess and Brock’s family and as always, I loved that when things really got tough, the people that loved them were ready and poised for battle. It took me a little while longer than usual to get into the groove of total addiction with this one and I think it’s because Brock is not your typical, easy-to-love alpha, but the more I understood him, the more I grew to love him and understand the demons he had to work through. Once again, one of the delights of a KA book is seeing the other characters you love come into the fold and this book was no different. I loved the sweet, the sexy, the action and the unexpected in this book and I cannot wait to fall even deeper with our hunky law man, Mitch Lawson.
addseriestogoodreads

Reading Order and Links

Click on the image to order from Amazon U.S.
Visit this page for the complete Kristen Ashley series reading orders.

the gamble

Hawk & Gwen

the gamble

Brock & Tess

the gamble

Mitch & Mara

the gamble

Tack & Tyra

Connect with Kristen

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Subscribe for Updates:

Share This Post

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

On Instagram