'The Wild Ones' by M. Leighton

Official Summary:
The darling daughter of a champion Thoroughbred breeder, Camille “Cami” Hines has a pedigree that rivals some of her father’s best horses. Other than feeling a little suffocated at times, Cami thought she was happy with her boyfriend, her life and her future—until she met Patrick Henley.  “Trick” blurs the lines between what Cami wants and what is expected of her—and he just happens to be so sexy she can’t keep her hands off him. While they both know that Trick would lose his much needed job on the ranch if anyone finds out, they can’t resist the lure of their scorchingly hot encounters. But when Trick stumbles upon a note from his father, it triggers a series of revelations that could ruin what he and Cami have worked so hard to overcome. It turns out there’s more to Trick’s presence at the ranch than either of them knew, and secrets with the power to tear them apart…  


Review:
Author M. Leighton comes up as a recommended writer fairly often in the reading circles I frequent. I even reviewed Madly, another title of her's, here on TTP a number of months ago. That title was actually pretty good (if anything it was too short), and even though I've never had the chance to read further in the series it's something I do plan on getting to when I have a slightly shorter stack on the TBR pile.*

That said, The Wild Ones didn't leave me inspired to read any more of this series. You see, this book was filled with characters that I just wanted to throttle for their lack of courage, commitment or general intelligence - Cami in particular needed a big slap in the face for being an indecisive, cheating idiot who calls her father 'Daddy' (gag). A weak female character that let's him, and for that matter every other man in her life, make all the decisions for her. Let's put it this way - if she were a real person I'd get annoyed just talking to her for five minutes at a bus stop. Trick on the other hand was only slightly less obnoxious - at least he has goals and seems to have some level of morals (that he's constantly breaking with just about every interaction he has with Cami) even if he's basically thrown out his initial goal of completing vet school by the end of the novel.

Bottom Line: Why are books like this so popular? I guess if all you're looking for in your next read is a trite and contrived love story than go ahead and pick this one up. If you're more like me, and you like the characters in the books you read to grow and have bigger obstacles than a girl caught in the throws of a "but my Daddy doesn't like him as much as this other guy" whinefest, than don't go near it with a ten foot pole. 

*Not that it ever manages to shrink to anything smaller than sky scraper proportions...  and with a re-reading of the Southern Vampire novels first and foremost on my mind in prep for the final book coming out in less than a month (sqeeee!) it's probably not happening for awhile yet - but I will get there. At least that's what I keep telling myself.