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Wild Card | 
 enlarge | Author: Lora Leigh
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Category: Book
Buy New: $7.99
New (40) Used (45) Collectible (1) from $1.99
Rating:  46 reviews
Sales Rank: 8712
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 432
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 0312945795
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780312945794
ASIN: 0312945795
Publication Date: August 26, 2008
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Product Description
It was supposed to be simple. All Navy SEAL Nathan Malone had to do was rescue three young girls from a Colombia drug cartel, then allow himself to be captured just long enough to draw out a government spy. That was before his mission went disastrously wrong…and before his wife, Bella, was told that Nathan was never coming home. Bella’s mourned her husband’s death for three long years. But she has no idea he’s still alive. Forced to assume a new identity, the man Nathan was is now dead. If he can get back to his wife, can he keep the secret of who he really is…even as desire threatens to consume them? And as danger threatens to tear Bella from Nathan’s arms once more?
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| Customer Reviews: Read 41 more reviews...
 Love that withstands all trials August 26, 2008
Jennifer Ray (Nashville, TN United States)
22 out of 24 found this review helpful
Nathan Malone lived a nightmare in prolonged captivity at the hands of a Colombian drug cartel. Pumped full of an experimental drug designed to stimulate the victim's libido to an uncontrollable level, he never broke his commitment to his beloved wife Bella, although the pain was torturous.
Once rescued, he knew he could never return to Bella, else he would put her in danger from the villains that nearly destroyed him once before. Her only chance is if they believe him dead.
And so Noah Blake was born. With a new face and a new name, he can operate under the radar as part of an Elite Ops unit to bring the cartel down.
Now danger threatens Bella regardless of Nathan's absence from her life. To save her, he must go undercover as Noah Blake, sticking close to her side even while trying to keep his emotional distance, knowing they can never be together again. Easier said than done...
Lora Leigh launches her brand new book series, ELITE OPS, with lead character Nathan Malone/Noah Blake, best known for his appearances in the TEMPTING SEALS stories she has published. ELITE OPS is the start of a new saga, but is very much connected to the SEALs books Leigh's fans know and love. They even share a mission similar to the Durango team from those previous books, but with a different team of special agents, all of whom have left their previous lives for an existence based on complete anonymity.
The men of ELITE OPS have lost everything - family, lovers, anything to do with their previous lives. All of them have assumed new names, and none of them form emotional attachments.
Yeah, right. *grin* This wouldn't be a Lora Leigh romance if they didn't have emotional attachments, now would it? LOL
OK, so they aren't supposed to have relationships. That doesn't stop them, though, it only provides delicious obstacles to the happy ending we all know will be at the end of these tales. And so readers enjoy watching men who have steeled themselves against love fight a losing battle as they come face to face with the women who not only complete them, but challenge them, meeting them as equals in this battle of hearts.
The romance between Bella and Nathan/Noah in WILD CARD is all at once heartbreaking and uplifting. Nathan is a man who loves so absolutely that he can never be with a woman other than his Bella, no matter that her love is forever lost to him. He'll do anything, sacrifice everything, just to keep her safe and happy, no matter the cost to himself. His heart and soul yearn for the woman he loves, until what little resistance he had mustered crumbles beneath the weight of their mutual desire.
Bella is just a beautiful character. I'm not talking about looks, although obviously she is lovely, judging by the description of her in the book. Her personality is what really makes us believe that a man like Nathan could not only fall in love with her but forsake all other women in favor of Bella. Of course, she has done the same thing for her Nathan. No matter that she has been told he is dead, somehow her heart never quite believes it, and she cannot move on - until Noah Blake appears on her doorstep.
What ensues when these two are finally reunited are some emotionally charged, scintillating love scenes that will have you squirming in your seat even while you are reaching for tissues to dry your eyes.
Over the years, Lora Leigh has developed into an author adept at playing readers' emotions as easily as she might a musical instrument, and never has this been more evident than in the heart-stopping romance in WILD CARD.
**Courtesy of Wild on Books**
Connected Stories:
Honk If You Love Real Men
Dangerous Games (Tempting SEALs)
Real Men Do It Better
Hidden Agendas (Tempting SEALs)
Killer Secrets (Tempting SEALs)
Rescue Me
 Sex with a small side of plot September 29, 2008
Tracy Vest (Northern California)
16 out of 19 found this review helpful
Readers familiar with Leigh's "tempting seals" series will remember the character of Nathan Malone, who remained true to his wife while enduring the most horrific conditions imaginable when held captive by a drug lord who had him so doped up on an aphrodisiac (think PCP mixed with Spanish Fly) that he opts to remain dead to his family rather than return half a man with sexual issues brought on by the many months of captivity and restraint.
It's been six years since Nathan "died" and he now works for a clandestine group knows as the Elite Ops, going by the name of Noah Blake. When a white supremacy militia group in his hometown has engaged in murderous "hunts" and now is targeting his former business as a place to launder their ill gotten gains (thus endangering his wife Sabella), he is reluctant at first to take the case. But in the end he does and comes face to face with the independent woman that his wife has become (or was she always like that and he just didn't see it?) He discovers that she has never really gotten over the loss of her husband, and has dated infrequently, while her home is still a shrine to Nathan. He suddenly finds that he is jealous of ... himself? Working undercover at his garage, he's in a position to investigate and protect. But just how deep is the organization in the small town that he loves? As much as Bella fights her attraction to yet another alpha man, she notices some similarities between her new lover and her husband.
Leigh had me hooked and hungering for a story about tortured SEAL Nathan. But unfortunately, this story just did not do the character of Nathan justice. When is too much sex too much? Well, in Leigh's case, it's when the sexual passages outnumber the rest of the plot to the point where they detract from the story. While I usually love Leigh's passionate storylines, this one was just ridiculous - I finally started to skip them altogether because they were so numerous and redundant. I felt like I was reading a horrible Shannon McKenna novel which are virtually plotless. And all that dirty talk just made me want to tell them to hush already and get it over with. The plot itself was pretty interesting (what little there was of it), but all the licking, sucking, talking, nipping, tugging, petting, talking, growling, mewling, talking, spanking, and other assorted verbs just subtract from the flow of the story.
Tracy Vest, September 2008
Five Blue Ribbons! July 25, 2008
Natalie S (Nashville)
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
Dead men stay dead. At least that is the motto of the six `dead' men of the Elite Ops. WILD CARD is the first book of this new series and features Nathan Malone, who readers first met in Lora Leigh's HIDDEN AGENDAS.
Nathan Malone died at the hands of the sadistic drug lord Diego Fuentes. It is in the files and it is public knowledge. The funeral was planned and held and his widow grieved. Six years later Noah Blake roars into Alpine, TX on the back of a Harley. Bearded, blue eyed, and alpha to the bone, Noah is on a mission - to find the murderous faction of a white supremacist group hunting illegal aliens, and to connect with one Sabella Malone. Not necessarily in that order.
Sabella Malone loved her husband Nathan with every single beat of her heart and every breath she ever breathed. When he died six years ago on a mission she thought she would die with him so great was the pain she felt. For years nothing mattered; but when her world didn't end, Sabella slowly learned to live again. Dating men but not allowing them close to her heart, Sabella is stunned at the heated attraction she instantly experiences with the new mechanic her brother in law hired behind her back - Noah Blake; blue-eyed Noah Blake.
Noah rides into town under the deep cover of his mission. His eyes are looking for the only woman he has ever loved and when he finds her under the engine of an automobile, he recognizes that Sabella has changed. What he doesn't realize is that the Bella he knew is not the Sabella of today. Intrigued and unable to contain his desire, Noah sets out to insinuate himself in Sabella's life - at least for a little while - because once the Elite Ops' mission is complete, Noah Blake will have to disappear.
While reading HIDDEN AGENDAS, also by Lora Leigh, my heart hurt for the Navy SEAL so abused but still so steadfast in his wedding vows to his wife. I yearned for his book and for his happy ending. Not one word of this highly emotional and addicting novel, WILD CARD, has disappointed me. Noah Blake, while a changed man, continued to be true to his wife and though six years had passed, almost three of them spent recovering; Noah still honored his wedding vows. A more perfect character I have yet to meet.
WILD CARD is an intoxicating first installment of a brand new series. The words flow, the emotions are raw, and love is in the air. Add in the danger of Noah's mission and I could not have asked for a better book. I can't recommend WILD CARD enough. It is ultimately one of the most satisfying books I have ever read penned by this prolific and talented author. ***Natasha Smith for Romance Junkies***
Fine Line Between Violence and Passion.... September 8, 2008
C. Farley (Bakersfield, CA USA)
9 out of 17 found this review helpful
This novel is ceaselessly intense and not at all relaxing or enjoyable. Although the characters are well written and the story engrossing, the constant undercurrent of simmering violence totally creeped me out. It's not loving or romantic to be stalked, spied upon, pushed around and tormented until you scream in frustration and anger. Then trying to make everything better with a love-making scene that, once again, utilizes all the same emotions. Only now we're supposed to believe it comes from a passionate heart? Sorry, guess I'm too vanilla for all this stuff. Worth reading? I liked all the other books in the series, but this one left me guarded and filled with dread.
An intense, sexy and thrilling ride! September 14, 2008
Holly R (Las Vegas, NV)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Wild Card starts out with the love between Nathan and Sabella just blossoming. She's eighteen and he's about twenty seven so there is definitely an age gap between them. She hasn't had time to mature into the woman she's destined to be yet so when Nathan's job as a Navy Seal goes horribly wrong, he doesn't believe his soft, Southern Bella can handle the repercussions. He turns his back on the man he used to be and throws himself into healing his mind and body. After countless surgeries and numerous suicidal missions, Nathan, now known as Noah Blake, has to return home to the life he left and the wife he refused to see. Sabella is smack in the middle of a growing militia in his hometown who is targeting illegal immigrants and killing them. They might have gotten away with their activities, but the militia killed four FBI agents who were undercover. Their heinous actions brings about the attention of the organization that Noah sold his soul to. The Elite Ops. An organization of dead men who signed their lives away for the chance for vengeance. Noah has been with the group for six long years and during that time both he and Bella have gone through hell and back. Seeing Bella again is wreaking havoc on his control. He doesn't know how to handle seeing his formerly soft and deferential wife stand up to him as Noah Blake with a spine forged in steel and an attitude that leaves him spinning. During the years Noah was healing, Sabella grew up and took charge of her life. She's still very much in love with her deceased husband and hasn't been able to handle much in the way of day to day life, much less men, until Noah Blake roars into her shop on a the back of a Harley and suddenly she's come alive again. She's responding to him just as if he were her husband and at first it horrifies her, but soon she's helpless not to accept the comfort he gives her. With the timetable closing in, the Elite Ops need to uncover the mole who is leaking information and bring down the heads of the militia. The men and women Nathan Malone had trusted to take care of his wife if anything were to happen to him have not fulfilled their oaths. Sabella is practically alone and has no one to help her. Noah is desperate to do his job and protect the woman he regrets leaving. Too late he realizes the core of strength his Southern Bella held within her and wishes more than anything that he could turn back time and be the man she deserves. Bella doesn't want her fairy tale any longer though. She's grown up and been forced to stand on her own two feet and only wants the man who's in her life and who has always been in her heart.
Anyone expecting a raunchy read is going to be in for a shock with Wild Card. This was a beautifully written, emotionally loaded read with plentiful twists and turns. Lora Leigh did a fabulous job in bringing everything about slowly and carefully. Noah Blake is a dangerous wild card who has been in the Elite Ops for so long that he's practically ice. He shows no cracks in his exterior until he finds out the danger surrounding the wife he refuses to acknowledge. He roars back into town and after seeing her, can barely keep his hands off her, much less the men who dared to touch what was his. Be it old friends or his brother, his possessiveness towards Sabella reaches a breaking point and the cracks in his exterior show more and more. Noah is stunned to see that Sabella hid her true nature behind a facade of southern sweetness. When he sees the real her, he's aroused beyond all belief and as Noah Blake, he demands she give him everything she denied her husband. Their firestorm of passion awakens Sabella back to life, and also sparks remembrance in her heart. Noah Blake might not look like her deceased husband, but he sure does feel like it. Realizing though whoever he is inside doesn't change the fact that as soon as the mission is complete he's going to leave her again, and this time Sabella is not going to lose any more years to him. He's either going to stay or he's going to leave but she is not going to build any more shrines. She's going to have to fight for him though, fight against his own pride of not being the man he thought she needed and somehow convince him that she wants only him.
I really liked Sabella. It's rare that I sympathize or connect so wholly with a heroine. I found her extremely likable and her personality completely authentic for someone who had married someone older and much more forceful. I also understand her change in personality during the years, knowing it would have happened the same way with time if they had stayed married. I found her to be woman I could respect and would wish to befriend. Her long standing love for Nathan Malone was heartbreaking to read about as well as her confusion and sense of betrayal. Noah didn't trust her enough to tell her the truth and I empathize completely with her hurt. Noah was also a good character and I liked his whole bad boy persona. He had a little bit of a pity party going on in his head though, but he snaps out of it eventually. One thing I didn't like however was that one of his reasons for staying away from Sabella was the fear she couldn't accept what a dominant sexual being he was now. After reading so much about his new dark passions and the hungry beast that was awoken during his captivity, I was expecting a much hotter explosion when it finally came. Instead it seemed all talk, no follow through. This didn't deter from the excellence of the story however, just a minor irritation. They also elevate the act of anal sex to something spiritual that I thought was a little eye rolling, but, hey, whatever.
Lora Leigh has completely surprised me with how gripping and taut a tale this was. It wasn't a mindless romp in the sack, nor was it all suspense and no romance. She balanced everything out perfectly and it only goes to show how she's grown as an author and I can't wait to see what else she has in store for her new Elite Ops series. Enjoy!!
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