It was supposed to be simple. In Lora Leigh's Wild Card, 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?
"Awesome. Suspenseful. Explicit. Romantic. And definitely erotic. Finally, the story of Navy SEAL Nathan Malone, the poor soul who was captured during a rescue mission early in the Tempting SEALs series by evil drug lord Diego Fuentes, and was tortured as a guinea pig to test a potent aphrodisiac known as "whore's dust", in order to break him to reveal government secrets. Nathan was held captive for nearly two years, and given up for dead, and was tortured and beaten and tempted with women while high on "whore's dust", but was never broken. He managed to stay true to his beloved wife, Sabella, even though he was in an agonizing state of arousal every day. And when he was finally rescued, he was a shell of the man he once was. His wife already thought he was dead, and physically he nearly was. But after years and countless surgeries to repair broken bones throughout his body (including his face), he was finally in fighting shape physically, if not mentally. Six years had passed since he last saw his beloved wife, and Nathan thought it best that he remained dead to her. He was not the man he once was; he looked different, and he had a dark sexual side now, one he thought his wife would never be able to handle. (Boy was he ever wrong!) So he became a new man, named Noah Blake. Since he couldn't be a SEAL any more, he became the next best thing--a member of a secret quasi-government unit called the Elite Ops.
Well, coincidentally, the Elite Ops are needed on a mission in Nathan/Noah's hometown of Alpine, Texas. It seems that a white supremicist group called the Black Collar Militia have set up shop in town. The BCM like to "hunt" and kill what they believe are "undesirables", namely, illegal aliens (and a few FBI agents who were sent in to stop them, too). In order to fund their little militia, they need a good business to launder the money for their illegal activities. So they set their sights on acquiring the garage/gas station business the deceased Nathan left behind to his widow Sabella. Well, Nathan/Noah isn't about to let Sabella get caught in the middle of this militia's activities, so he goes undercover and gets himself hired to work at the garage with Sabella. What happens after that is one surprise after another for Nathan, as he finds out the sweet helpless little wife he thought he married is a lot stronger and not as helpless as he thought. Nathan/Noah and Sabella engage in a hot, hot, hot affair, and Noah actually becomes jealous of Sabella's dead husband (Nathan) figuring she's still in love with him and always will be. It doesn't take Sabella long to realize that Noah is really Nathan, but why won't he tell her?
Oh, this was a hot one! This was all about Nathan and Sabella, and their love story. We find out how they first met, their early, passionate married life, and how devastated Sabella was when Nathan was 'killed'. We find out that each of them held something back in their marriage--that neither spouse totally revealed their true self to the other. Later we see how each character has grown, and how each of them react to the changes they see in their spouse. The love scenes are many and explicit--probably the most erotic and numerous in the whole series so far. They have sex everywhere imaginable, including the table, the countertop, the stairs, and in Nathan's truck. But at times it got a little frustrating--I wanted Sabella to tell Noah she knew he was really Nathan, but her pride stood in the way. And I wanted Noah to tell Sabella he was really Nathan, but he was too chicken and thought Sabella would kick him to the curb for not telling her he was alive years ago. He thought since she had an affair with him (Noah), that she was finally over Nathan, and would be ready to move on with a more deserving man. Stupid alpha. He didn't realize that practically the whole time she was with him, she realized that he was her long deceased husband.
Anyway, it all comes to a suspenseful end when the Elite Ops team finds the "wild card" person who is providing the leaks to the militia so that they can stay one step ahead of the authorities. To say I was surprised is an understatement--I just didn't see this one coming until right before it was revealed. And we also see if Nathan/Noah will walk away from his beloved Bella one more time. What do you think?
This book was pretty fast paced, but would have been even better if about 50 pages were eliminated. I started to get a little bored with all the sex scenes, and that's not a good thing! Still, it picked up at the end, and thankfully Noah's secret was finally revealed, and there was still a few chapters left. All in all, I'd say it was the best of the series, although technically this is the first book in the new Elite Ops series, with more to follow. A solid 4 1/2 stars!"
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Auntee (5 out of 5 stars)