Review: Love to Tempt You by J Saman
Rating: 5/5
Steam: 4/5
Angst: 3/5
Tropes: Meet cute, virgin trope, rock star romance, age gap, damaged hero, grumpy sunshine, close proximity, rescue romance, co-workers, slow burn
Series: Book 4 in the Wild to Love Series
CW/TW: past suicide, off page drug use,
I have been binge reading this whole series. So far this might be the most raw, emotional, and steamy of the Wild to Love Series. Keith is an enigma in the band. We don’t know much about his story going in just that he has a bit of a love affair with Jack Daniels. But once we learn it, we find this gruff and protective hero was more broken than we ever imagined. But more than that he needs someone to love and to love him. To give as much of themselves as he was giving.
Keith is ill-equipped for the whirlwind that is Maia, and that makes for an intense, engaging couple who wasted no time falling for each other.
The story follows Keith, the drummer for Wild Minds, the rock band we’ve gotten to know throughout the series. Prior to this, we’ve only caught a few glimpses of his personality, and there’s a very good reason for that – he closed off a large part of himself after the death of his high school sweetheart (some triggers in that storyline). Maia comes crashing into his life – literally – she catches Keith off-guard. Forcing Keith to question his contentment in his life and what he wants his future to look like. Keith finds himself falling for the too young, too innocent, too sassy girl. But he hasn’t let go of his past – and that’s a problem.
Maia is barely surviving. Try to rise above her past. She is trying to get her life in her control after her father does some super crappy things. She is one of the most strong and self-reliant heroines I have read in a while. While her life is far from easy, she is getting by. Working hard until a car crash makes her life almost impossible. Her luck has been in the gutter but that is about to change by hitting the drummer of the super famous band Wild Minds.
In some ways, this feels like your typical rock star romance – Keith is older (27 to Maia’s 20), experienced, jaded, and broken – but there is so much more to this story. The complexity of their personalities and this romance makes for one of my favorite reads of 2021. They are perfect complements to each other, and they’re both just damaged enough to understand what makes their partner tick. They both have some heavy baggage in their past, but their connection is electrifying. The chemistry between Keith and Maia crackles off the page. Their intimacy is more than sexual. It’s angsty, emotional, tense, and SEXY, with the kind of storyline that keeps you turning the pages.
