Genre: Military Romance/Romance Suspense
It’s taken a lot of therapy, some tears, and a few beers for Antony Ramos to get to a good place after a disaster in Afghanistan wrecked his world. He’s content with his job as a CID agent, investigating crime and keeping up a good play boy façade, but retirement is a few short years away, and he needs to look ahead.
Lesley Prosser is a quiet sort, which suits her well as an analyst in the Army, where she makes sense out of disparate bits of information. She’s had less luck with her personal life, and after a disaster of a relationship, she opts for safe and steady. Even if it’s boring.
A close dance ignites the flames between them, but work calls when Antony’s friend and coworker has been drugged. A chance meeting on post brings them back together, and they navigate an investigation, their jobs, and the attraction that consumes them both.
Their worlds collide when his past and her present threaten their future. Antony has to battle old memories to find peace within himself from the one person that destroyed it years ago, and trust that Lesley can help him tame those demons.
And when Lesley comes face to face with danger, she has to accept that she doesn’t know everything, and trust that Antony will find those missing pieces.
Untamed, an apt title for the second book in A Soldier’s Heart series, follows Antony who is very much untamed. I enjoyed reconnecting to characters I fell in love with in Wayward, while also getting to know new characters. It was a delightful read in every sense of the word.
Because I’ve read the first book, I was pleasantly surprised to have no boring rehashing or info dumps that weren’t needed. Kimber glided over the retelling in such a way I wasn’t bored and it acted as a kind of refresher from what we learned about Simon and there was a firm middle ground and improvement as characters.
The stark differences in our lead, Antony, from the first book in Wayward to this book left me in awe. What you see in the first book, which Kimber played very well to, is our own character judgements that you realize is unfair to Antony overall. The saying don’t judge a book by its cover very much applies to Antony which leaves you more in love with him than you ever thought you’d be in the first book.
Lesley, the second lead came off strong and put together. It was an odd feeling coming off Wayward to have one of the leads well put together in life for the most part. Sure, Lesley had her past experiences that haunt her but the focus with this piece wasn’t her. It was Antony and Kimber did a great job shining the light on her just enough to have a connection but not too much that it detracts from Antony’s story.
We are introduced to a new side character, Stina, who is the complete opposite of Lesley in just about every way and this unabashedly outspoken best friend is very much what Lesley needs to bring her out of her shell. Kimber gives glimpses at the other characters you meet in Wayward to let you know those connections are still there and are important, much like your friend circle is to your life. Simon and Audrey are doing their thing while Charlie hers. Kimber writes her villains in a way that either makes you want to stab them or makes you want to take a shower to wash the skeez off.
Untamed is a solid story based in realism, with well rounded and developed characters. She is a master at what she does. If you would like to check out this must read second book, you can find it below.
#Crazy Swayze 