Surrendering to Hunt: A Wyoming Wilde Novel (Wyoming Wilde, 2)

Hunt is a local police officer for the town of Willow Fork; he plays everything by the book. Cyn lives her life to the fullest, as if everyday could be her last. Too many times Hunt has pulled Cyn over for speeding and issued her a ticket. The two couldn't be any different than night and day. At some point in their interactions Cyn has gotten under Hunts skin, in a good way. Cyn has begged her sister Angela to leave her abusive boyfriend Rad so many times. Where others would have eventually given up, Cyn refuses to lose hope that she can save her sister. Hunt and Rad were the best of friends growing up but over the years Hunt has seen a change in Rad. When Rad takes Cyn hostage Hunt is called out to diffuse the tense situation. Rad finds himself arrested and sees this as betrayal from his long time friend. A few weeks later, Ang and her new born daughter Lana come up missing. Cyn and Hunt work together to discover what has happened to them. During the investigation, Cyn and Hunt cannot deny the attraction between the two of them. Can Cyn help Hunt to loosen up and learn to live life a little? Can Hunt tame Cyn? The real question is, does he really want to? Jennifer Ryan tackles some tough social issues in her stories and always manages to do so in a manner that is realistic, sensitive, and educational. Domestic abuse is an unfortunate reality for many men and women. In Surrendering to Hunt, Ryan manages to give a true and honest perspective of what the family of an abused individual experiences when a loved one refuses to leave the relationship. I loved the strength and independence of Cyn. Ryan's writing made me feel the struggle such a strong woman endures when she is unable to save someone she loves. Hunt is our sexy hero who understands that no matter how much he wants to he can never hold Cyn back, he must allow her to be who she is, it's his responsibility to be her just be her partner. I am really excited to see what story Ryan develops in the next chapter of the Wilde men for brother Max.

Surrendering to Hunt is the second novel in Jennifer Ryan's Wyoming Wilde series, and the Wilde brother in this novel is Hunt Wilde, a police officer in Willow Fork. I found that I liked this novel just a tad less than the first book in the series, and for several reasons I'm giving it a 4.5-star rating. First, the triggers, and there a quite a few of them, the main one being domestic violence. Cyn, the heroine in this novel has a sister, Angela, who believes herself in love with and lives with her physically, verbally, and emotionally abusive boyfriend, Rad. When we first meet her, she's on Rad's front lawn, having called the police in an attempt to get her sister to leave, and Hunt is the officer who shows up. As is common in domestic abuse situations, Angela refuses to leave, believing herself in love with her abuser. If domestic violence, graphic violence, kidnapping and murder are triggers for you, this is definitely not the book you should be reading. Cyn and Hunt have had several run-ins in the past, due to the fact that he's caught her speeding on numerous occasions. Cyn, who owns the local beauty salon, has purple hair and lots of tattoos, is a wild child, with quite a reputation in town--a lot of it from men saying they slept with her, whether they did or not. That was a trigger issue for this reader, but, thankfully, it wasn't overdone. Hunt is attracted to the beautiful and fiery Cyn, and a large part of this novel is about their growing relationship after Rad hits Cyn in front of Hunt, is arrested, and swears vengeance. When he gets out of jail, Cyn's sister and her sister's newborn, Lana, suddenly go missing, the day before Angela and finallly planned to take her baby and leave Rad for good. As if that wasn't enough, there's also been a series of local burglaries, some violent, and one ending in murder, and Hunt believes that Rad is behind them, but finding him is a major problem--and will they ever manage to find Angela and baby Lana, unharmed? As always, you'll just have to read this novel to find out. Although this was a very good romantic suspense read, there was certainly no mystery about who the perpetrator was, and for some reason I just didn't feel as emotionally connected to these characters as I did with the characters in the first novel, which was Hunt's brother, Chase's story. Nevertheless, this was as well-written as have been all of the Jennifer Ryan novels I've read thus far, and if you can get past the trigger issues, I'm happy to recommend it. I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions stated are my own.