Monday, February 22, 2016

Review: Wild Aces by Marni Mann

Book coverWild Aces by Marni Mann
Purchase link: Amazon

My rating: star starstar

Heat rating: Flame  Flame  Flame  Flame


Trapper Montgomery
His darkness drew me in.
A mystery with a past I wanted to solve.
He was cold, like ice, but set me on fire.
A heat I hadn't felt in ages.
But when I saw his face, I burned...
In mourning
Again.

Brea Bradley
She melted from my voice--shuddered from my touch.
But trembled from the memories
That my face brought back.
She wanted more...
Maybe even him.
I wasn't the hand she counted on.
But I was what she was dealt...
A Wild Ace with no way to win.


Marni Mann writes another drama filled contemporary romance. This one not so heavy on the sexy times but still sensual and tension filled, and with some mystery thrown in.

Trapper as a hero was very interesting. He's had a terrible childhood which you will discover in the prologue and has become a man who survived against terrible odds. As a result, he makes his way in the world as a professional poker player and he's very good at that. He also has a little side business going which provides a lot of mystery and tension to the story (though I did guess what it was within the first few chapters of the book). He is a man filled with pain, secrets and a determination to put his past far, far behind him. While his business was possibly a touch on the shady side, I could understand his intentions and his desire to make things better. That's all I'm going to say on the topic since any more and I would be giving things away.

Brea is a survivor. She has suffered a terrible loss which we learn in Unblocked. It has taken her a long time to heal and move forward with her life again. In Wild Aces, we see her make a decision to start living again and that's when she meets Trapper. I admire her for getting on with her life and making the effort to live again. If I were in her position, I may not be as brave or as determined as her to overcome the loss and find new love. Still, there were some moments in the book where I really did not like Brea. At. All. I wanted to shake her and smack her in the head. It particularly got to me when something happened and she automatically assumed the worst of Trapper then refused to let him explain.
"I hadn’t even considered that. I had immediately assumed he was doing something wrong. ... 'And you wouldn’t allow Trapper to defend himself,” she (Frankie) said. “I’m just trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.'" 
Not cool, Brea! Not cool at all!

I did like the relationship Brea had with Frankie (the heroine from Unblocked) as best friends. They shared a lot of their lives with each other. Some might even say there was a lot of oversharing since I certainly would not go into as much detail as they did with some of the more private information they confided in one another.

For the most part, this book is well written. Ms Mann is a good writer and her Unblocked series is a good indication of a good story. This story, sadly, was not entirely for me.

One main thing which really bothered me was the coincidences. Some of the things which happened were just a little too coincidental and convenient, and one was just downright weird. I'm not going to point them out because it may spoil the story for the next reader but for me, those coincidences were aggravating.

The language was probably a lot cruder and a lot more crass than I was able to handle at the time. Perhaps I was going through a prudish phase? I don't know. I like some good dirty talk as much as the next person, in fact, I loved Derek's filthy mouth when he was with Frankie in Unblocked, but for some reason, some of the things said in this book bothered me.

I think it was also a timing thing since I have had a lot of contemporary reads recently filled with drama llamas and I was just kinda over the whole thing. As a result, I skimmed the latter part of the book but I did enjoy the epilogue. Ms Mann writes a great epilogue.

View all my reviews


About the author

auBest-selling Author Marni Mann knew she was going to be a writer since middle school. While other girls her age were daydreaming about teenage pop stars, Mann was fantasizing about penning her first novel. She crafts sexy, titillating stories that weave together her love of darkness, mystery, passion, and human emotion. A New Englander at heart, she now lives in Sarasota, Florida with her husband and their two dogs who subsequently have been characters in her books. When she's not nose deep in her laptop working on her next novel, she's scouring for chocolate, sipping wine, traveling to new locations, and devouring fabulous books.

Author links: Website - Facebook - Twitter - Instagram


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