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A review by amym84
Primal Instinct by Tara Wyatt
4.0
4.5
The first book in Tara Wyatt's Bodyguard series, [b:Necessary Risk|25711877|Necessary Risk (Bodyguard, #1)|Tara Wyatt|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1434070437s/25711877.jpg|45544538], was a great surprise for me when I read it a few months ago. In Primal Instinct, Tara Wyatt continues to show her skill at writing great searing romance with elements of suspense mixed in.
Taylor Ross takes center stage in this book. As a recap, Taylor is Sierra Blake's best friend and was romantically involved with one of the Virtus team in Necessary Risk. Fast forward about a year after events in the first book, and Taylor has found herself dealing with a broken heart as well as an aeful case of writer's block. Going through this rough patch has caused Taylor to make some not-too-great decisions and she's been getting some bad press lately.
Trying to keep her focused on working on a new album, Taylor's label decides to hire bodyguards to keep the singer out of trouble. No one is more surprised than Taylor when her former one night stand Colt Priestley shows up as one of her bodyguards.
Colt felt a connection with Taylor the moment they met. He would have been more than happy to make their one night into multiple nights, but Taylor ran away. When his job in freelance security offers him the opportunity to reconnect with Taylor he takes it. Not only will Taylor and Colt have to deal with their undeniable attraction to each other, but also the threat to Taylor's life as a deranged stalker sets his sights on the star.
I immediately warmed to Taylor and Colt quicker than I did to Sierra and Sean. I loved the playfulness in their characters towards one another. There was a lot of humor and camaraderie between them as they navigate the early stages of their attraction. I laughed quite a few times at the antics they pull on one another.
At first, I had assumed Tara Wyatt would have our hero be another member of the Vitrus team. Colt is connected in the way that he was fired from Vitrus after he made some bad decisions on a job that resulted in Sean getting severely injured. It took a second for me to remember the incident and make the connection, but once I did, I liked that Tara Wyatt didn't do the typical thing and automatically make this second book about another member of the team right off the bat.
As with the first book, Primal Instinct is filled with particularly nasty bad guys. I almost felt like Taylor found herself entwined in too much. Besides the stalker, Taylor find herself in the cross-hairs of a biker gang who are in trouble themselves with a major bigwig in the crime business. I don't want to give too much away so I'm being a little vague about it. Suffice it to say, I can clearly understand that certain things / people are brought into the story as part of the bigger picture of the series as a whole so I can forgive the almost bombardment of baddies. I just felt like some things were too coincidental.
None of my reservations, however, ruined anything for me about the story. The growing relationship between Colt and Taylor kept me turning the pages. They both have a lot of bad things in their pasts that they need to work through in order to move on in the future and in order to have a relationship. That human connection was what really drew me in to this book and these characters.
This has been another really strong book from Tara Wyatt. There's some things hinted towards the end as to what we might be able to expect from the next book. Whatever comes in to play, I'm looking forward to it.
*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The first book in Tara Wyatt's Bodyguard series, [b:Necessary Risk|25711877|Necessary Risk (Bodyguard, #1)|Tara Wyatt|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1434070437s/25711877.jpg|45544538], was a great surprise for me when I read it a few months ago. In Primal Instinct, Tara Wyatt continues to show her skill at writing great searing romance with elements of suspense mixed in.
Taylor Ross takes center stage in this book. As a recap, Taylor is Sierra Blake's best friend and was romantically involved with one of the Virtus team in Necessary Risk. Fast forward about a year after events in the first book, and Taylor has found herself dealing with a broken heart as well as an aeful case of writer's block. Going through this rough patch has caused Taylor to make some not-too-great decisions and she's been getting some bad press lately.
Trying to keep her focused on working on a new album, Taylor's label decides to hire bodyguards to keep the singer out of trouble. No one is more surprised than Taylor when her former one night stand Colt Priestley shows up as one of her bodyguards.
Colt felt a connection with Taylor the moment they met. He would have been more than happy to make their one night into multiple nights, but Taylor ran away. When his job in freelance security offers him the opportunity to reconnect with Taylor he takes it. Not only will Taylor and Colt have to deal with their undeniable attraction to each other, but also the threat to Taylor's life as a deranged stalker sets his sights on the star.
I immediately warmed to Taylor and Colt quicker than I did to Sierra and Sean. I loved the playfulness in their characters towards one another. There was a lot of humor and camaraderie between them as they navigate the early stages of their attraction. I laughed quite a few times at the antics they pull on one another.
At first, I had assumed Tara Wyatt would have our hero be another member of the Vitrus team. Colt is connected in the way that he was fired from Vitrus after he made some bad decisions on a job that resulted in Sean getting severely injured. It took a second for me to remember the incident and make the connection, but once I did, I liked that Tara Wyatt didn't do the typical thing and automatically make this second book about another member of the team right off the bat.
As with the first book, Primal Instinct is filled with particularly nasty bad guys. I almost felt like Taylor found herself entwined in too much. Besides the stalker, Taylor find herself in the cross-hairs of a biker gang who are in trouble themselves with a major bigwig in the crime business. I don't want to give too much away so I'm being a little vague about it. Suffice it to say, I can clearly understand that certain things / people are brought into the story as part of the bigger picture of the series as a whole so I can forgive the almost bombardment of baddies. I just felt like some things were too coincidental.
None of my reservations, however, ruined anything for me about the story. The growing relationship between Colt and Taylor kept me turning the pages. They both have a lot of bad things in their pasts that they need to work through in order to move on in the future and in order to have a relationship. That human connection was what really drew me in to this book and these characters.
This has been another really strong book from Tara Wyatt. There's some things hinted towards the end as to what we might be able to expect from the next book. Whatever comes in to play, I'm looking forward to it.
*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.