Karina Halle's Wild Card was one of my top favorite reads of 2017, which was why I was so freaking anxious to get more of the Nelson brothers. But Maverick, the second standalone novel in the North Ridge series, is not at all like the first... And that's not at all a bad thing. Maverick is just as addictive, just as sexy, just as romantic but it's got a completely different mood. It's lighter in many ways, a quick read that you can easily devour in one sitting. It's HOTTER, the chemistry between Maverick and Riley is SMOKING. It's not quite as deep as the second chance romance from Wild Card but it's no slouch in its romanticism by any means. It's emotional and angsty in its own right, completely refreshing and it gave me all the heart tugs I love so much, those deliciously brutal chest pangs that hurt so damn good. It's a total 180 from Wild Card and yet I loved it just as much. The North Ridge series has been a complete surprise for me. I never expected to love this series so much but I do. I so so so do. So far, both Wild Card and Maverick have The North Ridge series going down as one of my absolute favorite storylines from Karina Halle. I can't get enough.
I enjoyed every delicious second of Maverick. I don't know what I was expecting in John "Maverick" Nelson's story after having loved Shane's book so much, but it wasn't this. I wasn't expecting to feel so much, to feel just as consumed by the forces of nature in this book as I was by the forces of attraction. But isn't that just how Karina Halle operates, pulling her reader in with a lush romance full of steam and heat and fierce attraction but doing it in a way that's unlike anything she's written before? It is indeed. And that's Maverick... fresh, HOT, sweet and addictive and completely unlike anything that came before it.
Riley is a heroine unlike most. She's the aggressor in this dynamic, the fiercely independent beauty who's unafraid to go after what she wants even when it's completely off limits. She's strong and so unlike most fictional heroines. While she shows brief glimpses of vulnerability and insecurity at times, she rebels against them instead of wallowing in them. She's the kind of woman we all wish we were, if we could just allow ourselves not to be so critical of our own flaws, if we were brave enough to just take what we want. She's tough and fun and sexy and fearless but she's also very relatable. I just adored her. It was easy to see why she makes Mav want to break all the rules. I'm a sucker for a good romance where the hero feels unattainable to the heroine, a heroine who secretly wants to crumble his emotional walls. In Maverick, it's Riley who's a bit closed off and it's Mav who longs to see her rough edges soften even though he'll never admit it. It's addictive and refreshing, what Halle does here with Maverick and Riley and this role reversal of sorts, and there's no words for how much I loved it.
Maverick is the full package. This book is full of adventure and steamy sex, loaded with romance and sexual tension, sharp witty banter and well timed humor, and it's rounded out with a good dose of emotion and angst that hit me right in the feels when I was least expecting it. I loved the pacing in this book. The push and pull, the slow burn, the building sexual tension, it evolves so exquisitely that you'll swear you're going to die just waiting for everything to finally explode. The chemistry between Riley and Maverick is FIERY and you'll burn and melt right along with them. I found myself giggling at times, swooning often, and despite the levity and decadent sensuality in much of this story, the heartache and heaviness really balanced it all out. It was just perfect! Fox was already going to have big shoes to fill after how much I loved Shane in Wild Card. But after how much I thoroughly enjoyed Maverick, I'm now more excited than ever to see what's in store for the oldest Nelson brother!
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Ethical decision making goes out the window
Reviewed in Australia on November 29, 2021