Wild Card by Lora Leigh

Wild Card by Lora Leigh
Why I read this: I wanted to get the horror that was Nauti Dreams out of my head. I also thought this was the most recent Tempting Seals book, but it is not. Players from the Temping Seals series are in this book, but Wild Card is in fact book one in the new Elite Ops series.

It was supposed to be simple. All Navy SEAL Nathan Malone had to
do was rescue three young girls from a Colombia drug cartel, then allow himself to be captured just long enough to draw out a government spy. That was before his mission went disastrously wrong…and before his wife, Bella, was told that Nathan was never coming home.
Bella’s mourned her husband’s death for three long years. But she has no idea he’s still alive. Forced to assume a new identity, the man Nathan was is now dead. If he can get back to his wife, can he keep the secret of who he really is…even as desire threatens to consume them? And as danger threatens to tear Bella from Nathan’s arms once more?

I'm glad I read this. After Nauti Dreams and a few other LL books lately, I was ready to give up on this author. Wild Card was a save. Whew.

Next to amnesia, hidden identity is my favourite cliche storyline, so this was a real treat.

Bella is devastated when her husband, Nathan, dies on a mission. For three years she stays hidden away, putting her life on hold. When she finds out that Nathan's shop is about to go under, she comes out of her depression and works her ass off to keep it afloat.

Another 3 years pass by, and Noah comes to town. Noah is really Nathan, but due to some major plastic surgery to repair damage done to him while he was held by enemies, he is unrecognizable.

At first, I thought that this was going to be an eye roller. Even after 6 years, and some operations, who is not going to recognize her husband as soon as she first kisses him?

Lora Leigh made it work though. She delved into the psyschy of each character and I believed it.

There is a time when Bella figures it all out, and she has a bit of fun messing with Noah. Saying things that only Nathan would get, etc.

Noah goes through a bit of a roller coaster with his emotions. He loves Bella, never stopped loving her, but for reasons explained in the book, he can't let her know who he is, and he almost feels jealous at both sides of himself. The Nathan part of him feels jealous that Bella seems to be moving on with Noah, and the Noah part of him is jealous that Bella wont totally let go of her dead husband.

Like I said, the psychological aspect of it is written very well. It was interesting.

B+. Because even though the sex scenes all started off damn good, by the last few, they were starting to get repetitive.