THE WRONG MAN
Series: Alpha Men #3
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Natasha Anders
Release Date: September 4, 2018
No commitments. No expectations. No way this could possibly go wrong…right?
Former special-ops soldier Sam Brand is used to getting what he wants. What he wants is to unbutton the buttoned-down, sweet, and shy Dahlia McGregor. He’s hot to find her wild side. She’s eager to let him explore it. So he makes his proposition—no strings, no hurt feelings, and no promises—save for one: she’ll have the time of her life.
After a broken engagement, Lia’s looking to someday find the right man and settle down. That’s some day. Now it’s all about the night. A hot, meaningless fling with a magnificently weathered blue-eyed stud like Sam couldn’t hurt: he’s sexy, and sure he’s arrogant, but best of all, he’s here. In other words, he’s perfect…for now.
But when Sam is wounded in the line of duty and left in Lia’s tender loving care, all bets are off. Because the more time they spend together, the more it becomes clear: this “one night” deal is getting steamier and lasting longer than they counted on. It started as a fun little game. Is it possible they could be playing for keeps?
I was your rebound guy, now let me be your final fling guy. Let me be the last wild thing you do before you settle down.”.
I knew when Sam first graced the pages in The Best Man that he was going to be my favorite Alpha Man. After finishing this book, I can also tell you that it was my favorite in the series! I love a good unrepentant womanizing alphahole, and Sam definitely brought his A-game as the commitment phobic alpha with a sharp tongue and no small lack of insults. While I can see that he may not be a hero for everyone’s likes, he definitely did it for me and I couldn’t wait to see him fall for the sweet and proper Lia.
Dahlia was a heroine I wasn’t sure I’d like, but ended up absolutely loving. She’s sweet, thoughtful, innocent, but not overly naive. This was definitely a formula that worked for me. She’s the sweetest of the three McGregor sisters, and I was rooting for her from the very beginning.
After her engagement to an a-hole of epic proportions goes up in flames, Lia gives into something that’s completely out of character for her; a one-night fling with a womanizer that she never expects to see again. Sam makes no secret of his love-them-and-leave-them preferences, and he makes it crystal clear that he will never be Mr. Right. Lia is determined to find her forever man, and when a series of catastrophic (yet comedic) dates leave her disillusioned and giving up, seeing Sam again make her willing to pick right up where they left off.
Sam never expects to be back in the small town or to see Lia again. But when his job leaves him wounded and unable to fend for himself, what better way to heal that to hire the beautiful Lia to care for him and take the opportunity to try to lure her into his bed once more.
I loved the combination of Lia’s sweetness and Sam’s snark. These are two characters that don’t really make sense on paper, and yet their chemistry is off the charts. I loved seeing Lia slowly cave to Sam’s alluring nature and Sam slowly fall unwittingly for Lia’s sweet and endearing one. What starts off as a fling to scratch an itch soon begins to turn into something so much more for both of them. Natasha Anders crafted two incredibly well-developed characters with this book. As much as you want to hate Sam for the things he does and says, you simply can’t. You see just enough of his vulnerable side that he keeps cleverly hidden behind a smart-mouthed persona to know there’s a lot more to him than the initial playboy that meets the eye.
The Wrong Man had a little bit of everything; humor, steam, and plenty of emotion. It was incredibly satisfying. And even though I wanted Sam to work for it a little harder at the end, I couldn’t help but love their HEA. The epilogue was especially wonderful. It was the perfect conclusion to the series and it couldn’t have ended with a better book.