Wild Heart - Book Review

By Beth Ehemann

Synopsis

For Lawrence “Viper” Finkle, hockey isn’t just a sport, it’s a way of life. Since the first time he stepped onto the ice at just eight years old, he knew what he was meant to do, and he does it well. When his career takes an unexpected hit, and his relationship is pushed to the breaking point, he’s left sidelined and wondering what his future holds.

Just when he’s sure things can’t get any worse…they do.

Can Viper pull himself together in time to save his career, his girl, and his sanity? Or will he be permanently benched?

Review

WILD HEART is another winner from Beth Ehemann. If you’ve read CEMENT HEART (and the Cranberry Inn series), you know that Viper is easy going, carefree and the life of the party, but when things get real, he can’t cope and usually handles tough situations in the worst possible way, and that’s still the case here. His future in the NHL is at stake, which sends him to a dark place, and while trying to cope with that, he gets some more news that he wasn’t expecting, which takes right him over the edge. Instead of leaning on those that love him for support, he shuts down and shuts everyone out. He becomes angry and who does he punish most? Michelle, of course. It’s been a long time since I wanted to reach into my Kindle and slap the shit out of a character, and Viper’s actions certainly brought that desire out of me. Thankfully, after some reflection, wise words and tough love, he redeems himself and becomes the Viper we all know and love.

“No man ever lay on his death bed pissed off that he apologised too may times throughout his life, but plenty wish they’d apologised more.”

I loved Michelle, who once again went through the emotional wringer. When Viper broke her heart, my heart broke for her. When he came back ready to admit his mistakes, I liked that she stood up for herself and her kids, showing that she wasn’t a pushover and wouldn’t tolerate that sort of behaviour again.

“You weren’t here when I needed you most. You rejected me⎯and my kids. How are you gonna fix that?”

WILD HEART is told in dual POVs and is part of a duet, so it can’t be read as a stand-alone. Well, maybe it can be, but you’ll love CEMENT HEART (book 1), so why not read them both? This book had me feeling a whole lot of things, such as sadness, happiness, fear, frustration, anger and humour, and those are just the emotions I can think of at the top of my head. I love it when a book grabs me, when I feel like the characters are real and I feel real emotions for them. After being taken by surprise by the direction of Viper’s story in CEMENT HEART, I made sure to mentally prepare myself for WILD HEART before I started reading it. As with all of Beth’s books, I couldn’t put it down and I when I got to the end, I had a smile on my face. While I found it was nowhere near as emotional as CEMENT HEART was, there were times where tissues were a must. I loved the characters, both primary and secondary. I loved the story. I loved the humour. I loved the beautiful HEA. In short, I loved it. I can’t wait for Andy’s story in EVEN THE SCORE.