Rating: 3.75 stars
Buy Links: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
Hayden is in trouble. After walking out on a fight with his boyfriend, Hayden got himself lost in the woods, injured himself badly, and has no cell signal. He is in danger of dying from the elements in a remote area of Michigan. Fortunately, Hayden is rescued by a local named Kurt who is out hunting in the woods. With the road impassible, Kurt instead brings Hayden to his cabin where he can recuperate until he is able to travel home.
Hayden can’t help but be drawn to Kurt immediately; his Norse god-like looks, combined with his lumberjack appeal and his sweet innocence, are just too much for him. Hayden assumes Kurt is straight, and though he can’t resist flirting, he figures nothing will come of it. But to Hayden’s surprise, Kurt is responsive to his overtures. While Kurt is totally inexperienced with men and never before recognized his own interest in other guys, he is shyly interested in learning more with Hayden as his guide. To Hayden’s delight, Kurt even seems into exploring Daddy kink, and the pair find they are magic in bed.
As much as the men are enjoying their time together, both know it will soon come to an end. Hayden has a life he needs to return to, though he is still trying to extricate himself from his home with his now ex-boyfriend. But there is something real between the men that neither want to lose. Now Hayden and Kurt have to figure out if there is way to take their short-term fling and make it a long-term love.
Wild By Nature is a fun, sweet, and super sexy story. Despite the rather dire circumstances at the beginning with Hayden’s injuries, the book is overall light and easy as Kurt and Hayden fall for each other and have lots of sex in Kurt’s cozy cabin. Kurt has a sweet innocence that is a nice contrast with his super competence in pretty much everything. I liked the bit of role reversal in that Hayden, as the younger partner, was far more experienced with sex and with Daddy kink, and Kurt was the one who was learning what he wanted and what it all meant to him. Like I said, super sexy, sweet, and easy.
In some ways it’s a bit too easy though. The men know each other for what seems like maybe a week at most before they are declaring their endless love and making plans to spend their future together. So things happen fast, and without a lot of discussion as to just how their very different lives will blend. I also found myself thrown out of the story at times with regard to Hayden’s injuries. We know he had a head wound bad enough to bleed, and he has both a severely sprained ankle that is wrapped up, as well as a jammed finger in a splint. Yet after we get a toll of his injuries, they are barely addressed again. Yes, he hobbles at times within the house (I’m not clear why he doesn’t have crutches), but other than that, his injuries are barely mentioned, even when they would logically be hampering him in some way, like when he is standing in the shower on both feet. Or when he is fingering Kurt with one hand and jacking him with the other and I couldn’t help thinking, “what about the splint on his finger?” It is a small thing, but it just took away some of the realism of the story and placed it in more of a fantasy zone.
We also get very little backstory on either man, and in Kurt’s case in particular, I felt it was a little lacking. He currently lives in his grandparents’ old cabin, and it is implied he grew up in the town (in that house?), but we don’t know if his grandparents raised him or why. We also know his siblings have moved away, as do most people, and I would have loved a little more backstory to understand what makes Kurt different and what kept him in the small town and the remote life. I think it would have added some nice depth of character.
However, there is enough here in this story to still make it fun and engaging. It is a light easy read, with some fun Daddy kink, and a particularly enjoyable character in Kurt. If you are looking for light, and sexy, and easy, this is a great story to pick up.
Note: Wild By Nature was originally released as a freebie and has now been expanded into short novel (just over 100 pages) for sale.
