The hot baseball player Iām forced to stay with for my best friendās wedding is off limits.
Remy Winfield has more muscles than manners, and heās on a mission to get me into bed by way of the filthiest mouth Iāve ever wanted to kiss. He doesnāt care about my long time crush or my certainty that weāre finally about to happen.
Remy’s sure Iāll break first and kiss him, and heāll tease me to the limit to make sure I do. I might be a Lady, but I can still play his dirty little game. Itās perfectly safe, totally harmless.
Until I fall for him.
Suddenly, Mr. Long-Time Crush doesnāt matter at all.
And my best friend can never know.
Title: | Wild Card |
Author: | Staci Hart |
Series: | Roseville Ramblers (Book 1) |
Pages: | 360 |
Category / Genre(s): | Contemporary |
Trope(s): | Enemies to Lovers Opposites Attract Small Town Romance |
Point of View: | First Person, Past Tense, Dual Viewpoint (H & h) |
Location: | Roseville, Tennessee, US |
HEA: | āļø |
Release Date: | 5 April 2024 |
The best romance of 2024 so far
Itās been a few days since I finished this book and already in my mind Iām seeing this book through those lovely, soft hazy filters of movies of old. Itās become almost dream-like and Iām still basking in its wonder which is why this is my first ābest of 2024ā read of the year.
This is the first book in what will hopefully turn into a new series and also the first book from Staci Hart in a while. And it was so worth the wait. What you get is an opposites attract, fish-out-of-water, small town romance that was both simple and sublime.
Jessa is in the small Tennessee town for her best friendās wedding. Sheās looking forward to spending time with her friend, having a relaxing break and hopefully finally getting her long-term crush to take that next step. What sheās not looking forward to is spending time with her best friendās cousin, Remy, who, due to an accommodation mix-up, is now her roommate for the duration of the wedding.
Our Jessa is a British lady and I admit, I was expecting not to like her for a myriad of reasons. But from the moment she appeared on Remyās doorstep, I was rooting for her. I donāt even know how to describe her other than to tell you sheās not hoity toity like I thought sheād be. She doesnāt turn her nose up when it shouldnāt be up. Sheās not a bitch. There was something about her that I both could relate to and also admire. She was a strong woman and yet there was a vulnerability about her that caught at my heart. And fear not, fellow Brits – Jessa does not ājolly good, olā chapā all over the place. Itās all very well done and I only counted 2 phrases a Brit wouldnāt say – and it was towards the end of the book when Jessa had been in Tennessee long enough to have picked up some of the lingo – so itās all good.
Equally, Remy is quite hard to describe. Almost from the first second of meeting Jessa, he hits on her and proclaims that she will eventually give in and sleep with him. And yet I found him ridiculously charming and liked him from the first. As the story continues and we get to know him more, his appeal only increases. Heās still the roguish, boyish charmer but we, and Jessa, see the deeper side to him. He was one of those heroes that you donāt want for yourself – only because he was so perfect for Jessa that he couldnāt be anyone elseās.
Thereās obviously the chemistry between Jessa and Remy that is hotter than the summers in Tennessee. Phew – this pair heated up the pages and that was when they werenāt doing anything but simply trying to make the other lose the bet they had going. When the gloves – and everything else – came off – wowza! And who knew that sex on a rooftop would become a fantasy?!
Thereās a colourful cast of supporting characters who never take over but all add something to the story. As soon as we were introduced to Wilder and found a little bit more about him, I wanted to read his story (which is why Iāve got my fingers crossed for this to become a series) but I definitely didnāt expect everything to hit the fan the way it did. It played out almost like a farce and I was here for the drama. Pass me the popcorn.
There was just something about this book that pulled me in and made me fall in love. Jessa and Remy couldnāt have been from more different worlds or more different characters – but they brought something out in the other that really was magical. They realised they were happiest – more themselves – when they were with each other. Itās this kind of story that is why I fell in love with romance in the first place. The idea that someone will love you exactly as you are and for who you are and you will get your happily ever after – and your strawberry farm – well, it left me with a happy glow that I felt for days. I absolutely adored this book and will give it 5 stars all day long.
* I received this book in exchange for my honest review. *
Staci has been a lot of things up to this point in her life: a graphic designer, an entrepreneur, a seamstress, a clothing and handbag designer, a waitress. Canāt forget that. Sheās also been a mom to three little girls who are sure to grow up to break a number of hearts. Sheās been a wife, even though sheās certainly not the cleanest, nor is she the best cook. Sheās also super, duper fun at a party–especially if sheās been drinking whiskey–and her favorite word starts with f and ends with k.
ā©From roots in Houston to a seven year stint in Southern California, Staci and her family ended up settling somewhere in between and equally north in Denver, where snow is magic and the mountains have become home. When sheās not writing, sheās reading, gaming, or designing graphics.
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