Blog Tour, Reviews. & Giveaway: Some Like it Wild & Wild Child: M. Leighton

by - Monday, March 03, 2014


Some Like It Wild (The Wild Ones #2)
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Expected Release March 4, 2014

First was The Wild Ones. Now, the next book in M. Leighton's Wild Ones series...

How far will a good girl go for the bad boy she loves?

Laney Holt is a preacher’s daughter. A good girl. Her only goal was to get married, have babies, and live happily ever after, just like her parents. Only that didn’t happen. The two people closest to her betrayed her, and Laney’s dreams came crashing down. Now she’s left with an empty space she doesn’t know how to fill. Until she meets Jake Theopolis, a daredevil with a death wish who has heartbreaker written all over him.

Jake has no interest in thinking beyond the here and now. All he wants out of life is the next rush, the next “feel-good” thing to keep his mind off the pain of his past. His latest rush? Showing Laney there’s more to life than being a good girl—and that going bad can be so much fun. Her only concern now is how she can ever hope to satisfy the wild side of a boy like Jake. She’s looking forward to trying. And so is Jake.

Read chapter one on M. Leighton's blog

Four years earlier, the preacher's daughter, Laney and town bad boy, Jake Theopolis shared a flirty, memorable few moments. They went their separate ways with Jake leaving town and living his life to the fullest. And Laney settling into a seemingly perfect, safe life.  But the illusion was just suddenly ripped apart by betrayal. Now Jake is back in Greenfield after a death in the family and Laney is back home avoiding her present situation. She  has been assigned as the paralegal dealing with the estate inventory so they are thrust  into close contact.

Jake is cocky, flirty, challenging and considered the town bad boy. Laney is reserved, insecure, shy, and has been burned by love. She needs a break from her boring life and betrayal. He is just the man to show her spontaneity and fun. He does not do attachments and has his reasons. She is a long term kind of girl raised with good values. and high expectations. And her family and ex fiance' still have many expectations of her.

But they find each other appealing and even though they are opposites, they develop a flirty banter. Jake is the king of sexual innuendo. He is a merciless flirt and dirty talker. But he is also broken, damaged, and feels unworthy. He has big walls up due to his past. But he is a man on a mission to have sex with the preacher's daughter despite the complications in her life. It will all be fine as  long as she does not get attached. 

She's better off thinking the worst of me. That way, she'll never get attached, Or have any expectations. Or, even worse, fall in love with me. She deserves better than that.  I wouldn't wish me on my worst enemy. I'm a black hole for love. It's the way I was born. 

Jake is her tour guide for her walk on the wild side. he thrives on adrenaline. He slowly pushes her to try new things and to expand her horizons. They play house while trying not to involve their hearts. Their chemistry is smoldering. And as their bodies get closer, their hearts aren't too far behind. But they just cannot admit it and deny their own true needs and wants due to fear and insecurities. 

Despite it all--the unsavory reputation, the badboy ways, the thrill-seeking streak, the aversion to relationships--I still want him to be all mine. But I don't know if a guy like Jake will ever be all anybody's.

And as drama unfolds, their pasts are revealed, and real life interferes, will it bring them closer together or tear them apart for good?

I really loved Jake and Laney. They were so much fun. Jake was all kinds of sexy bad boy while Laney was sweet with a little sass. I loved seeing them grow and change throughout the story. We really got to see under Jake's rough exterior to the broken man he was underneath and unleash Laney's inner vixen. It was told in both points of view so we could see right into their confused hearts and minds. It was  fun, engaging, sweet, emotional, and had some drama. There was one part in particular that had me grasping my kindle and holding my breath and then tearing up. 

This is part of a series but really can be read as a stand alone. We did get  to see a little of his sister, Jenna who is the subject of the novella Wild Child (book 1.5). And we also met Jake's rocker friend, Jet who will be the main character in  the upcoming book three There's Wild, Then There's You.

Thanks to M. Leighton and PENGUIN GROUP Berkley, NAL / Signet Romance, DAW for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. 
Preacher’s daughter Laney, and local bad-boy Jake bring us back to Greenfield and the Theopolis’s peach orchard in Some Like it Wild. Laney is a paralegal sent to the orchard to catalog the value of Jake’s family peach orchard. She is also home after having broken off her engagement to Shane, the man her parents still want her to reconcile with. 

Laney was cute. In the prologue she is shy, but shows a bit of backbone with the help of her best friend, Tori. Her shyness continues, but seems to be more present as a result of the town’s view of her as the preacher’s daughter rather than an innate shyness. As she begins to worry less about what the town thinks, she begins breaking out of her shell. 

Jake had a bad boy reputation around town, and especially with Laney’s parents. He’s been as far from Greenfield as he could get for years, avoiding the feelings the orchard brought up, until his sister needed his help keeping the orchard out of the hands of their aunt. I never really felt like his reputation was explained, other than the reason why his father was so negative towards him. 

It was interesting to watch their relationship develop while in somewhat of a bubble. They were outside their usual schedules and routines and as a result their feelings weren’t influenced by the people around them. When outside influences start coming in again, they both question what they are feeling. 

I missed seeing more of the other characters from the previous books. Rusty and Jenna made a few appearances, Jenna more so than Rusty, but they weren’t major players in the storyline. It felt like a standalone in that the focus really stayed on Jake and Laney, though aspects of the previous books did come into play, and the next character is introduced. 

It was a quick read, but a perfect length for Jake and Laney to find each other and work through everything that needed to be addressed. I liked this continuation of the Wild Ones series and hope to see more of these characters show up again in upcoming books.

Thanks to M. Leighton and PENGUIN GROUP Berkley, NAL / Signet Romance, DAW for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. 
Wild Child (The Wild Ones# 1.5)
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Jenna Theopolis has always known what she wanted. Getting out of her small hometown of Greenfield was number one on her list of priorities. Until she met Rusty Catron.
Rusty’s fun-loving personality was the perfect match for Jenna’s inner wild child. But what started off as a summer fling quickly turns into something more. At least it does for Jenna.

Rusty has lived with the ghost of his father’s abandonment since he was a child, but now he’s beginning to feel the crippling effects of his scars. He wants to trust in Jenna, but deep down he doesn’t believe someone so wild and free can ever be tamed. 

But tragedy strikes, pushing Jenna out of Greenfield and leaving Rusty with a choice to make—face his inner demons or lose the love of his life. Forever.

We met Jenna and Rusty in book one The Wild Ones as Cami and Trick's best friends. Jenna is also Jake's sister from book two, Some Like it Wild. Jenna is spirited, outspoken, and fun loving. She has always looked forward to leaving Greenfield behind and making something out of herself. Rusty is wild, passionate, and charismatic, but has insecurities stemming from his past. They are totally compatible, hot for each other, and have strong feelings. But they do have some issues with communication. Rusty has fears and is afraid of admitting how he really feels or moving them forward. And Jenna needs to know what he feels so she can plan our her own path.
"He thinks I'm some sort of wild child that will never settle down."

A week of enforced celibacy, friends' wedding activities, and the  thought of losing her all makes for a lot of heated foreplay and sends Rusty reeling. Their chemistry is definitely hot and they really are good together. But they are both afraid to rock the boat too much.

I want to break him. I want him to give in because he just can't stand it. I want him to forsake all else for me, for the want of me, for the love of me. That's all I've ever wanted from Rusty--his devotion. The same kind of devotion I have for him. 

You can love somebody and still end up leaving them. Some people are just made that way--to always want greener pastures. I've seen it before. And I'm not getting attached to a person like that again. 

But they can't live in limbo forever. Rusty has fears of abandonment. Jenna is tired of being hurt and has to figure out what she wants to do about her future. And life is about to them some major curve balls that will test them personally and as a couple  in ways they never expected. 

This was steamy, funny, emotional, and romantic. I really liked Rusty and Jenna and getting to see more into Cami and Trick's future. It was  good extended epilogue for the first book, and also more fully explored the passion and relationship of Rusty and Jenna as well. It was told in both points of view allowing us to understand their true feelings that they had trouble expressing for much of the story. This is a novella but it still felt like she gave Rusty and Jenna enough story and conflict and time to resolve it. And also providing more of a chance to spend time with Trick and Cami. This events in this book lead into Jake's book, Some Like it Wild. 

Thanks to M. Leighton and PENGUIN GROUP Berkley, NAL / Signet Romance, DAW for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. 

Wild Child is a stand-alone novella that fits between the storylines of The Wild Ones and Some Like It Wild. Rusty and Jenna hit it off in The Wild Ones, but most of what happens between them is off-camera, so to speak. Here, we get a little more about their story while the friends are all prepping for Trick and Cami’s wedding. 

Jenna has returned home to transition between college and her first job, especially as she doesn’t know where she will be working. But the one thing she knows is she doesn’t want to stay in Greenfield for long. Rusty knows Jenna isn’t interested in sticking around long, but figures there is no reason they can’t have fun while they can. What niether planned on was developing deeper feelings for the other. 

Jenna is generally fun and carefree, so it was interesting to see her handle situations where she wasn’t her usual confident self. The same with Rusty. They are both such fun-loving characters that they can’t help but question everything when things get serious. 

I loved the forced celibacy the girls (Cami and Jenna) set up before the wedding which caused quite a bit of tension within both couples. The situations the guys and girls both orchestrate to challenge each other had me grinning with each attempt to add to the sexual tension. 

This was a classic case of lack of communication messing up a perfectly good relationship. It’s a quick read, with a lot of interaction from Trick and Cami. Because I read Some Like It Hot before Wild Child, this filled in some gaps in the overall series storyline, but not having that info didn’t leave me confused. Now that I’ve read the whole story, I can understand some of the more subtle references that I missed.

Thanks to M. Leighton and PENGUIN GROUP Berkley, NAL / Signet Romance, DAW for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. 
The Wild Ones (book 1)
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Passion as hot as midnight in the South and love as wild as the horses they tame.

The darling daughter of a champion Thoroughbred breeder, Camille "Cami” Hines has a pedigree that rivals some of her father’s best horses. Other than feeling a little suffocated at times, Cami thought she was happy with her boyfriend, her life and her future—until she met Patrick Henley.   "Trick” blurs the lines between what Cami wants and what is expected of her—and he just happens to be so sexy she can’t keep her hands off him. While they both know that Trick would lose his much needed job on the ranch if anyone finds out, they can’t resist the lure of their scorchingly hot encounters.   But when Trick stumbles upon a note from his father, it triggers a series of revelations that could ruin what he and Cami have worked so hard to overcome. It turns out there’s more to Trick’s presence at the ranch than either of them knew, and secrets with the power to tear them apart…  

Upcoming:

There's Wild, Then There's You (book 3)
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Expected June 3, 2014

He’s someone she can’t trust…

She’s someone he thinks he knows…

Violet Wilson is a wallflower. Shy, serious, and accident-prone, she’s got a bad habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The night she’s forced to pose with her friend might just be the worst time of all—that’s when she meets Jet Blevins. She knows better than to get involved with someone like him, but he touches her in ways she never expected, neverwanted before.

On the outside, Jet is a typical rocker, an arrogant lead guitarist who unapologetically lives a wild lifestyle. But on the inside, he’s battling demons and using the stage to escape the troubles of his past and the addictions of his present. Until the night he sees Violet standing at the back of the room. She brings his life into focus. She knows his secrets. She’s the girl he can’t forget, and the one thing he craves more than his addiction.

But can they ever hope to have a future when their very foundation is nothing but lies?


Michelle Leighton Blog | Facebook | Twitter Goodreads

M. Leighton is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Wild Ones and The Bad Boys romance trilogies. She is a native of Ohio, relocated to the warmer climates of the South, where she lets her mind wander to romantic settings with sexy Southern guys much like the one she married and the ones you'll find in her latest books. When her thoughts aren't roaming in that direction, she'll be riding horses, swimming in ponds and experiencing life on a ranch, all without leaving the cozy comfort of her office. 


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