So Tough to Tame by Victoria Dahl

 

Grade: B
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Mild Kink
Genre: Contemporary, cowboy

Series: Jackson #3

Published: 9/24/13
Reviewed by Anne

376 pages

 

Charlie and Walker were friends in high school when geeky Charlie tutored the very popular Walker.  They went their separate ways, but now they have apartments across the hall from each other and they are both recovering from awful on the job experiences that ended with being fired.  Neither has troubles starting a new job, and neither is admitting to anyone that anything bad happened.  It's like a high school reunion.  I'm great!  I'm so happy!  I just moved on to a wonderful job!

 

The attraction that had simmered between them in high school flares up again and now they are adults free to act on that attraction.  Neither is looking for anything long term, so it all should be great, right?

 

This was a good story.  I thought the characters were unique and more flawed than I'm used to reading.  They were each hiding the truth of themselves from the other, which bordered on annoying.  However, this set up worked for me.  They were both so embarrassed about their pasts because they were responsible for the poor choices they'd made.  This made for more angst than I usually like to read, but, again, it really worked in this story.

 

Walker is a really refreshing hero in a genre that seems full of billionaire CEOs and over achievers.  His life is simple, in part because he doesn't think he can achieve more, and in part because that's how he likes it.  Walker does make some changes over the course of the book, but the changes are motivated by his own happiness, not out of a desire to impress someone else.

 

Charlie was interesting, too.  A security expert who wasn't a strong physical force.  She specializes in out-thinking criminals and setting up monitoring systems.  The situation she finds herself in on her new job - feeling like she's being watched every moment of the day - was really creepy!  (Although I should point out that I'm not a huge suspense fan, so even a little bit of it is creepy to me!)

 

I think one of my favorite parts of the book was that their personal growth was in parallel, and not caused by the other person being in their life.  Even when Charlie tries to interfere with Walker, he's not going to move on things until he's ready.  I enjoyed that as opposed to magic sex that heals all wounds!

I thought the ending was a little too hearts and sunshine with respect to their careers, but I REALLY appreciated that the wedding in the epilogue wasn't theirs.  They still have issues to work through, in my opinion, but you leave the story sure that they will work things out.  This was an enjoyable and funny contemporary romance!