Wild Thing by Robin Kaye

I’m not a huge contemporary romance fan, but every once in a while I want to read a cute, funny, sexy book that doesn’t deal with the paranormal. This time I decided to branch out and try a new-to-me author, Robin Kaye, and her new release, Wild Thing. Unfortunately, I found Wild Thing to be none of those things.

White-water rafting guide Hunter Kincaid is psyched to lead a group of fashion models into the Idaho wilderness for a photoshoot. But it’s Toni, the feisty manager of Action Models, who creates enough sparks to start a forest fire…

When rugged outdoorsman meets the original city girl, worlds will definitely collide in Robin Kaye’s fresh new series.

I’m pretty sure I have a vastly different sense of humor than Robin Kaye, because I found the being of Wild Thing to be slow and dull even though I’m pretty sure it was supposed to be funny. That lack of humor for me made the plot really slow. There was no burning reason for me to tear through the pages, trying to get to the ending.

Nor did I really care about the characters. I thought Hunter was a bit of a jerk. He pushed and bullied he way into Toni’s personal space and wouldn’t leave her alone. Take for example the very first scene of Wild Thing when, just after meeting each other for the first time, Toni has a panic attack and runs off into her cabin. Hunter followed her in, quietly waited for her to calm down, wouldn’t leave when she realized he was in there and told him to leave, and finally told her that she needed to change because she was going to the barbecue with him. I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t want anyone I just met telling me what to do and how to do it. Though that might just be his “technique,” as his brothers explained on the previous page how Hunter can fix everyone from skittish horses to abused kids. Either way, he still came off like a pretentious jerk.

Toni on the other hand didn’t have enough depth to her at all. She wasn’t in touch with her emotions, except maybe fear. She was deathly afraid of the great outdoors, but that seemed to be a very over exaggerated fear. Not only that, but she never really seemed to actually want/like Hunter. It was a very one-sided relationship; so when they finally had sex it was about the same level of intensity that I found their relationship to have.

The dialogue felt empty and kind of stilted, never giving the full emotional scale of what was being said. A perfect example of that was when Toni finally admitted to Hunter why she had a panic attack every time someone suggested she go out into nature.

“I’m afraid of the woods.”
“Why?”
“I got lost.”
“When?”
“I was six.”
“Where?”
“The New Jersey Pine Barrens.”
“For how long?”
“Three days?”
“Alone?”
“Yeah, just me and my vivid imagination.”

That should have been a very emotional scene, yet because of the way the dialogue was presented (in those short sentences with nothing else supporting it) I couldn’t connect with the characters at all. That lack of a connection ultimately killed Wild Thing for me because a big aspect of the plot was Hunter helping Toni with getting over her fear.

Like I said before, I read Wild Thing because I wanted a funny, sexy, cute story. While I didn’t get that impression of it when I read it, I’m sure there are people out there who would love reading Wild Thing.

Also reviewed by: Reader, I created him, Books Like Breathing, Caught in a FAB romance, Jen’s Bookshelf, Lush Book Reviews