This Tarzan-themed book suffers from weak writing and character development. It seemed like the story was merely a vehicle for the love scenes, but had very little substance of its own. The concept was interesting, but the delivery was not good. ( )

Reviewed for queuemyreview.com; book release Jan09

What is it about the ‘wild man’ that so calls to women? I’m sure there are probably as many answers as there are women but I think at least a few will admit to liking the idea of a man who doesn’t ‘hide’ behind a social face. If you’re his woman, he’ll do whatever is necessary to protect you because you mean so much to him. Is that it? Or is it the sheer unpredictability of what he’ll do…and when? Or maybe…heck I could do this all day. I just know that the untamed male has a draw and fascination that strikes some chord with many, many, many readers.

In Margo Maguire’s “Wild”, we have the story of a boy who somehow survived a horrible ‘accident’ in Africa which separated him from his father and fellow traveling companions. For the last twenty-two years, he has made his living alone through strength and cunning. The story opens as he is being forcibly returned to the only family he has left, a Countess, very much against his will. You see, he remembers the ‘accident’ and assumes he was left in Africa to die. His motto for living is to distance himself from real care and emotions.

Grace, on the other hand, is a woman who has already lived through pain and loss. Her almost-fiancé left her when her mother fell gravely ill. Then she lost her mother and father both which left her destitute. Luckily, the Dowager Countess had been friends with her own dead grandmother and offered Grace a position as her companion. But even so, Grace hasn’t given up on the idea of marriage and children and has done everything society demands to try and keep her ‘marriageability’ up to standard. She loves the Countess dearly and would do anything for her…even undertake the task of civilizing Anthony, the long lost Earl of Sutton, the grandson the Countess never lost hope would be found.

The hero and heroine are two polar opposites with strong characters who come together with what are originally differing motives and objectives. There were a couple of things that bugged me in the course of this book: Anthony’s refusal to give up his dreams of returning to Africa, and Grace’s seemingly rapid surrender to passion. One took too long, the other not long enough! But neither really impacted my reading enjoyment or caused me to put the book down. Everything else flowed with amazing ease in a story that revolved around the thoughts and emotions of the two main characters.

Margo Maguire’s choice of era did a good job of making the ‘wild boy’ story plausible. Africa was still mostly unexplored in the late Regency period and there was (and still is) a fascination with stories of children raised in the wild or by animals. One thing I must add is the author’s excellent love scenes, the attraction and heat just seem to jump from the page. And even with my minor gripes, “Wild” was a story that held my attention from start to finish. ( )

Hero (Anthony) returns to England after being lost in Africa for the last 20 years (since he was 11). Anthony is kidnapped and brought back to England to take up his title. His grandmother has her companion, Grace, teach Anthony English customs and manners so that he'll fit back into society. Anthony longs to return to Africa and plans to do so throughout the book but he and Grace fall in love. HEA

Unfortunately, this book had so many holes in it that it couldn't sustain the larger than life theme. Anthony keeps talking about how he loved his life in Africa but he never mentions an adopted family or friends (only one person is mentioned by name and its one time in the whole book). After living there 20 years he had to have some sort of life for himself but that whole part is ignored - glaringly! Also, Anthony relearns English customs way too quickly. Not only is he learning English manners and customs but he's also learning all English modern history (Waterloo, Corn laws, etc) and he picks it up in a matter of weeks. Given the complexity of English society, it is absurd that he picks this all up in 2 weeks and never has any social blunders during the book.

Grace is a rather bland heroine who is working as a companion due to the death of her parents. She's rather bland but given the complexity of Anthony's story I don't think the author had much time to devote to her backstory. She seemed more like a "normal person" character and I really could have liked her if more had been devoted to her development during the story.

I'm not a big fan of this theme because it requires a lot of background information to be given in the story and really requires a well thought out plot line. Unfortunately, this book left a lot of this information out and had a lot of plot holes. ( )