The Wild Side, by Isabel Sharpe

Time to post about a book I read during my vacation: The Wild Side, by Isabel Sharpe, a Harlequin Blaze.

Melissa Rogers, restless good girl, longs to indulge her sexual fantasies before she meets Mr. Right and settles down. But instead she gets a walk on the really wild side, thanks to the uninhibited neighbor who skips town, leaving Melissa to take her place.

Riley Anderson, brilliant private investigator and every woman's fantasy, is assigned to seduce a female suspect. But Melissa Rogers doesn't fit the profile of the woman he's after. This woman makes him long for things he didn't even know he wanted.

Will it be pure eroticism, or forever-after commitment?

You decide.

The Wild Side managed to keep me turning the pages like crazy, really interested in what was going on and wanting to know what was next. That's nothing to sneeze at. Also, I loved the secondary storyline. Slate and Rose were perfect for each other, and it was great to have a female character who had been really promiscuous not be punished for it, and see her find true love.

Unfortunately, for all that I liked the story in a general way, the main protagonists were pretty yuck, especially that stupid Riley. He lost me right at the beginning, with his attitude towards Melissa when he thought she was Rose. Acting so judgemental and disgusted when he was perfectly willing to sleep with her. Reeks of double standards! And Melissa, hmmm. She saw that, even thought about how everything clicked (his attitude, etc.) when she found out he'd been thinking she was Rose, and she had no problem with it! Basically, she's saying it's perfectly acceptable for him to be that way. Blech!

To summarize, a great storyline and secondary love story, a bad main couple. I graded it a B- when I first read it, but thinking back on it, Riley really did bother me, so I grade it a C+. Without Rose and Slate, this goes into D territory.