She’s taking a walk on HIS wild side!

CRAZY FOR YOU
A Risking It All Novel
Rachel Lacey
Releasing March 28, 2017
Forever

“Rachel Lacey is a sure-fire star.” — Lori Wilde, New York Times bestselling author

SHE’S TAKING A WALK ON HIS WILD SIDE…

Emma Rush can’t remember a time when she didn’t have a thing for Ryan Blake. Haven’s resident bad boy is just so freakin’ hot-with tattoos, a motorcycle, and enough rough-around-the-edges sexiness to melt all her self-control. Now that Emma’s over being a “good girl,” she needs a little help being naughty . . . and she knows just where to start.

Before Emma’s brother enlisted in the military, he made Ryan promise that he would protect her from everything–including himself. When her brother doesn’t come home, Ryan needs to turn his screwed-up life around to honor his pledge. But he knows he’s still not the right kind of guy for someone as sweet as Emma. Only he can’t stop wanting to be with her. Wanting her. Falling in love with a good girl may be the craziest risk this bad boy can take . . .

Whoa. Emma closed her eyes and let out a shriek as Ryan guided the motorcycle onto Main Street and picked up speed. The cold wind whipped her face, taking her breath away. Beneath her, the engine rumbled and roared like a wild thing. Holy sh*t. She was on the back of Ryan Blake’s bike, and it was amazing.

The wind bit through her thin, knit gloves, hitting her fingers with an icy blast. Actually, every part of her was freezing, but she didn’t care. She wrapped her arms more firmly around Ryan’s waist, anchoring herself to him so she didn’t tumble off the back of the bike, and somehow her hands slipped beneath his jacket. Ahh. That was better. Toasty warm, and also…her hands were on his T-shirt. Even through her gloves, she felt the hard contour of his abs, and nope, she wasn’t cold now.

And this was absolutely freaking amazing.

She hung on tight as he guided them over Haven’s twisting mountain roads, deserted at this hour. Overhead the moon shone like a beacon, illuminating the night in its soft, silvery glow. The roar of the engine and the slap of the wind against her face shocked her senses. It was thrilling, invigorating, so completely different from riding inside a car.

She’d never have done this if Mandy hadn’t dared her, and now she felt like her eyes were open for the first time in years. This was what she needed. Somewhere along the way, as she sat at the bar talking to Ryan, she’d realized she was having fun, really having fun. And she wanted more. She wanted it all, every last wild and crazy fantasy.

All too soon, her building came into view. Ryan cut the engine and guided them quietly into the driveway, coming to a stop behind her silver Toyota RAV4. He turned his head to look at her, so sexy in his helmet and riding glasses. “So how was it?”

“Even better than I thought it would be.” She gulped for air. His lips were way too close to hers, and she was still a little bit drunk on beer and a whole lot drunk on her first motorcycle ride. Mandy’s words echoed in her ears. Bonus points if you kiss him. Just stand up a bit, lean over his shoulder, and…

Emma leaned forward, her chest sliding up his back as she tipped her face to his. Holy hell, she had completely lost her mind, but she was going for it. Every nerve in her body went haywire.

Clunk. Her helmet smacked into his, drawing her up an inch short of his lips.

Crazy for You is a fun, sweet read–Emma and Ryan are easy characters to root for, and the best friend’s little sister troupe is one of my weaknesses. (Really, Mom and Dad, what were you thinking, not giving me an older brother? Very short sighted of you.) The secondary characters are great here too–Ethan and Gabby from book 1 ( Run to You ), Carly from the prequel novella ( Rock with You ), even poor Mark and Jess, who don’t get their chance at a second chance until the next book ( Can’t Forget You –but that’s at least better than Mandy, who doesn’t even have that…yet), plus Ryan’s long lost baby brother, Trent–interesting characters, all. If it’s your first trip to Haven, though, no worries–it’d work just fine as a standalone too.

There really aren’t a lot of surprises in this story, which is fine–Ryan hasn’t really been a “bad boy” since he moved back to town, and it’s clear from the start that he’s going to have no problem seeing Emma as a grown up instead of the little sister hanger-on that she used to be, once he gives himself permission to look. The promise-to-her-big-brother part was going to be trickier, but then again it always is. The solution to Emma’s future was honestly so easy to see from the beginning, I was surprised that it took so long for that part of it to be resolved, but it wasn’t any less satisfying for being obvious.

What makes the story stand out, though, is the writing. Ms Lacey manages to make rock climbing sound sexy when she writes scenes like this one:

“Watching you climb that rock is the biggest f-ing turn-on.”

Really? She must have looked ridiculous, failing around as she scrambled for the top. “It would be really bad if you took me right here.” She emphasized the word as fantasies of them having wild sex up here on top of the world exploded through her brain.

He groaned. “Bad in all the wrong ways. Bad in the ‘bruises and scrapes where the sun don’t shine’ and potentially fall to your death in the throes of passion kind of way.”

Well, when he put it that way…

Yeah. So maybe not…

Still. Fun to imagine in the abstract, while we wait for Mark’s book 🙂

Rating: 4 stars / B+

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

Rachel Lacey is a contemporary romance author and semi-reformed travel junkie. She’s been climbed by a monkey on a mountain in Japan, gone scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef, and camped out overnight in New York City for a chance to be an extra in a movie. These days, the majority of her adventures take place on the pages of the books she writes. She lives in warm and sunny North Carolina with her husband, son, and a variety of rescue pets.