"Riding Temptation", by Jaci Burton – Review

“Riding Temptation”, is the first inscribed copy of a book I ever won in a contest and I will treasure it. Regardless, of that I thoroughly enjoyed this, the second story in of Jaci’s ‘Wild Riders’ series, and the book would have found it’s way to my keeper shelf even without Jaci’s lovely inscription.

By the way, I absolutely love the cover art on this book.
Riding Temptation

This is a story of friends who become lovers, which is my favorite theme in a romance novel.

Jessie Matthew was a 15-year-old street kid when she was caught by Mac Canfield (the hero of Riding Wild) as she was about to hotwire and steal a car. Mac rescues her from the street and takes her to “Wild Rider” headquarters where she is brought under the wing of General Grange Lee, made to get an education, and groomed to become an agent. Jessie is basically considered a sister to the rest of the guys, Spence, AJ, Paxton, Rick and Diaz who are all introduced in “Riding Wild”. They all have criminal youth backgrounds and were chosen by General Lee because of their unique talents.

Jessie is now 23 years old and aching for her first assignment. She is well trained, a seasoned biker, and she is a virgin and half in love with Diaz Delgado.

Diaz is my favorite of the Wild Rider men. He is pensive, tends to be a loaner, extremely intelligent, drop dead gorgeous, and he has a tortured soul that needs the love of a good woman. (lol) Like the rest of the agents, he is totally committed to his career and the current mission whatever that may be.

The agent’s mission in this story is to infiltrate a biker gang, “The Devil’s Skulls”, because of information linking the gang to a group of gunrunning survivalists. Diaz is team leader working with Spence and Jessie, who is given her first assignment.

Diaz has watched Jessie grow into a beautiful, independent woman who can hold her own training with the guys and is passionate about riding her motorcycle. He has more that brotherly feelings toward her but refuses to act or acknowledge them because of personal issues, and she is ‘Jessie’ and has always been protected by the guys on the team. He therefore avoids her like a plague.

Jessie has been harboring feelings for Diaz for a long time and wants to be his lover. She also wants to prove herself worthy as a Wild Rider. Over the course of the mission she uses every feminine wile in the book to seduce Diaz until he can no longer resist ‘temptation’. The sensual encounters between these two lovers are at times raw and wicked but also tender and beautiful. Diaz is very experienced sexually and Jessie is an extremely willing participant. As I mentioned in my review of Riding Wild, Jaci Buton has a gift for writing and weaving beautiful erotic love scenes into her romance stories.

I will say there are sequences involving an orgy, voyeurism and exhibitionism in this novel. However, no matter what the situation, Jaci has penned even some of the kinkier sex in such a way that it never offends or lacks tenderness.

The action subplot is exciting and suspenseful. Jaci delves into the ‘code’ that bikers live by and how riding is a passion, a way of life really. She also makes readers aware that bikers come from all walks of life. She dispels the belief that all bikers that join gangs are ‘criminals’. There is however the underlying investigation of the survivalists gunrunners that is tense and thrilling. This book is full of some exciting, action sequences and the agents find themselves involved in near death experiences on more than one occasion.

The road to Jessie and Diaz’s HEA is a rocky one, as he refuses to acknowledge his feelings or commit to a relationship. This hero really pushes our heroine to the edge, but I found the conclusion to their love story very gratifying.

“Riding Temptation”, also give readers a more insight into Spence, who is the hero of “Riding On Instinct”. Spence is quite the ladies man, he prides himself on loving them and leaving them! (lol) Well, I guess time will tell.

If you are interested in reading my thoughts I will be posting a review of “Riding On Instinct”, (to be released April 7, 2009) at the beginning of the third week of March.

Jaci is launching her “Riding on Instinct” blog contest tomorrow (Monday, March 9, 2009) with awesome prizes so be sure to watch for the announcement and head over to enter.