Review: Wild For Me by Tam DeRudder Jackson

Dakota

Annabelle Stewart, all tight leather skirt and hot lace panties, thundered into my life for one night after a rock show and calmly drove away the next day. She should have been like any other one-night stand I’ve had over the last ten years touring with Balefire. But she wasn’t. At odd moments, I catch myself thinking about her, wondering if I made as big an impression on her as she did on me.

Then I walk into the rehearsal for our drummer’s wedding, and who’s standing with the bride? The hottie who keeps me awake with thoughts of our one night together. Beautiful, smart, and sassy as hell, Annabelle sets me on fire with her kisses and leaves me hanging. But I’ve got plans for her.

Annabelle

I never expected to see him again. Two years after hooking up with Dakota Perri after a Balefire concert, I’d convinced myself that night was a fantasy. But the way he looks at me during Jack and Clio’s wedding, like he remembers every second of our one-night stand, lights me up. Too bad I blew it.

Then I score a management internship with the band, an opportunity guaranteed to land me a scholarship with a top graduate program-if I don’t earn a reputation for sleeping my way to success. Which is a problem. I see Dakota every day. Every time we’re together, the sparks fly faster and hotter. If I want to achieve my goals, I have to resist him. But how can I resist a man as panty-meltingly hot as Dakota Perri when he says he’s wild for me?

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Dakota Perri is the epitome of the rock ‘n roll lifestyle and proud of it, so he’s confused when he can’t stop thinking about Annabelle. He’s had countless one-night stands, so why does this woman live rent-free in his head? Too bad they didn’t exchange contact info so he has no way to get in touch, until he meets her again at his bandmate’s wedding, then she gets hired to work for the band.

He’s the hottest man alive and gave her the best night of her life, but Annabelle isn’t stupid. She knows this fling has an expiration date but can’t resist Dakota. She’s all he wants and he’s not going to take no for an answer, but the band’s manager is dead-set on making life miserable for Annabelle and their relationship teeters on the brink of destruction. They have lots of dirty fun but never discuss how they really feel about one another, so it all blows up in their faces.

Annabelle is great, but Dakota isn’t nearly as likeable. He’s crude about his playboy past and isn’t willing to tell her how he feels. The band manager is making her life a living hell, but he barely stands up for her and acts like a total ass, playing right into the hands of the guy who’s trying to break them up. He redeems himself in some ways but not entirely in my opinion because his bandmates and crew seemed more intent on protecting Annabelle than Dakota. The manager is a complete tool and I wanted to see him suffer for his attempts to sabotage peoples’ lives but I wasn’t really satisfied with how that plot wrapped.

I enjoyed their story but wish there had been a bit less sex and a little conversation between Annabelle and Dakota. I’m fine with super steamy reads but these characters just didn’t ever seem to talk about anything except sex, they were practically strangers despite all the time they spent together and that doesn’t work for me. There’s a HFN ending, but I would have liked to see a little more growth from Dakota and a HEA because Annabelle is a great character.

I received an ARC from Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.