The Wildest One

📖✨ 13Pages Review

🧠 Opening Chaos

I’m back with the wildest one.

Literally.

Welcome to The Wildest One, Book 2 in the Weston Group series by Marni Mann.

Which means it is once again time to ask the most important question in the Marni Mann universe:

Where are these professionally employed millionaires going to have sex this time?

We’ve already been in a back alley.

We’ve already been under a bridge.

Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, we will not end up in a homeless encampment, a restaurant freezer, or behind somebody’s valet stand.

One thing about Marni Mann?

She knows how to start a book.

Because when the word pussy is in the opening sentence, baby, you know we are not here for subtlety.

Let me get my snacks, my fluffy blanket, and a can of Coke.

I’m seated.

📚 Plot + Vibe Dump

Book 1 in this series, The Arrogant One, gave us Hart and Sadie.

And like a Quentin Tarantino movie, we apparently started in the middle because Hart is actually the middle brother.

Sadie was the food critic with the online persona Dear Foodie, and if you want more details, go find that review because we have new business to discuss.

This book belongs to Beck Weston and Jolie.

Beck is an NHL player for the LA Whales.

Jolie is a student at Boston University.

They meet at a bar.

He sees her across the room and immediately wants her.

She has red hair and — you guessed it — blue eyes.

Because apparently blue eyes are spreading across romance novels like pollen in April.

Jolie notices Beck’s lips and says they looked thin from far away, but up close they were… girthier.

Girthier.

That is a strange way to describe lips.

The ones on your face, anyway.

📍 The Mann Method

Just like Heard Law, I am officially establishing a new modus operandi.

It is called:

The Mann Method.

The Mann Method is simple.

Two attractive adults meet.

They exchange names.

Maybe.

They make eye contact.

Approximately five business minutes pass.

Panties are off.

Nobody knows anybody’s last name, but everybody is getting to know each other biblically.

That is the formula.

Because Beck buys Jolie one drink, and the ice in the glass has not even melted before this man is telling her he wants her to stay in his hotel room for three days so he can “fuck the Boston” out of her.

Sir.

The coaster is still dry.

The bartender is still within earshot.

The elevator hasn’t even cooled down from the last Marni Mann book, and here you are creating a new HR incident.

💀 Character Crimes Section

🏒 Beck Weston

Beck is an NHL player.

Rich.

Attractive.

Successful.

Professional.

And apparently allergic to pacing.

This man sees Jolie, decides he wants her, and immediately moves like the Stanley Cup is being awarded in her panties.

Now listen.

I don’t mind instant attraction.

I don’t mind lust.

I don’t even mind a one-night stand if the chemistry is written well.

But baby, I need something.

A spark.

A reason.

A conversation.

A piece of banter.

A hint of emotional depth.

Something.

Instead, Beck felt like a very attractive man running on lust, confidence, and hotel access.

🔥 Jolie

Jolie was fine.

That’s really the problem.

She was fine.

Not terrible.

Not annoying.

Not unforgettable.

Just… there.

She is a student at Boston University, and eventually we find out her father buys the team Beck plays for.

Which means now we have a forbidden/professional complication.

But even that did not hit the way it should have.

Because I was not connected to her.

I did not dislike her.

I did not love her.

I was just sitting there like:

“Okay, girl. You’re here.”

And that is not enough to carry a romance.

📉 Chaos Corner

Two years and nine months go by before Beck and Jolie fully reconnect.

There was a text Beck sent inviting her to Africa, but she never received it, which causes them not to speak for six months.

Then he sees her at his club the following year, after finding out the text was never delivered, takes her home for one night, and she sneaks out early the next morning.

Then comes the twist.

And when I say twist, I mean a blind man in a cave could have seen this coming.

Jolie’s father buys the team Beck plays for.

So now Beck and Jolie have to stay away from each other and keep things professional.

Sure.

Good luck with that.

Because if The Mann Method has taught us anything, it is that professionalism in these books is merely a rumor with a LinkedIn profile.

😒 Side-Eye Section

I did not care about either one of these people.

I do not give a flying Fig Newton in space about Beck or Jolie.

There was no emotional connection for me.

They felt filled with more lust than a jelly donut.

And the problem is not the spice.

The problem is that the spice was carrying the whole book on its back with no proper story support.

There was no nuance.

No real buildup.

No emotional payoff.

And you cannot have an emotional payoff if you did not build the emotion first.

That is not how romance works.

That is just sex with chapter breaks.

🧊 Location Crimes

Now I will give Marni Mann this.

She did not put them in a back alley this time.

She did not put them under a bridge.

No.

She said:

“What if they had sex while ice skating?”

And yes.

You read that right.

While Beck was on ice skates.

Holding Jolie.

At the Whales’ rink.

I do not know whether to be impressed, alarmed, or call OSHA.

Because that is not romance.

That is a liability waiver with thrusting.

👑 MVP Section

🏆 Ginger

Ginger, Jolie’s best friend, was one of the highlights.

She was supportive.

Ride or die.

Moved to LA with Jolie.

Approved Beck first.

She was the kind of best friend every girl should have.

Honestly, I liked her more than I liked half the main romance.

🏆 Landon

Landon, the goalie, was also a real one.

Practical.

Smart.

Gave Beck solid advice about Jolie and how to handle things.

Between Ginger and Landon, I don’t know who wins the best friend department, but it is a close finish.

And honestly?

They saved the book.

They were not on the page that much, but every time they showed up, the story got better.

That says a lot.

Maybe too much.

💔 What Didn’t Work

I had to wait until page 288 for these two to have their first actual date.

Page 288.

And by then we are already years into whatever this is supposed to be.

That is wild.

They had sex.

They texted.

They circled each other.

They had drama.

They had tension, allegedly.

But the emotional relationship?

I do not know where it started.

I do not know when they fell in love.

Maybe somewhere between the Vegas pool party disaster and telling Jolie’s dad about their relationship.

I don’t know.

The book didn’t show me enough.

And that is the problem.

I need to feel the shift.

I need to see the moment.

I need to understand why these two are it for each other beyond attraction and dirty talk.

Instead, this felt like it was put together with a hot glue gun and wishes.

😏 What Worked

The book did have spice.

Plenty of it.

If you came for heat, Marni delivered.

There were about six or seven spicy scenes, and they were definitely doing the most.

But the banter?

Missing.

The quick wit?

Missing.

The fun?

Child, they must have kept it in the hockey locker room because it was not having a good time on the Zamboni.

I have read other Marni Mann books that were more fun than this.

This one just felt flatter.

🔥 Spice Rating

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Four chili peppers.

There was plenty of spice.

Probably too much spice for the amount of story available.

Optional tag:

“More spice than story.”

📊 Damage Report

⭐⭐

Two stars.

The Mann Method was activated.

The plot was not.

🧨 Final Verdict

This was a two-star read for me.

Not because Marni Mann cannot write.

She can.

Not because the premise had no potential.

It did.

But this book did not give me enough emotional buildup to make the relationship feel earned.

Beck and Jolie had attraction.

They had lust.

They had dirty talk.

They had distance.

They had a forbidden-ish professional complication once her father bought the team.

But they did not have enough story.

And without the story, all the spice in the world cannot save it.

I needed banter.

I needed emotional development.

I needed connection.

I needed something to make me care about these two beyond wondering where Marni was going to have them hook up next.

Instead, Ginger and Landon ended up being the most interesting parts of the book.

And baby, when the side characters are carrying the emotional weight, we have a problem.

💬 Signature Outro

This book needed:

• more plot,

• better banter,

• one actual date before page 288,

• fewer business-minute-to-bedroom transitions,

• Ginger with more page time,

• Landon promoted to emotional support goalie,

• and somebody to explain to Marni Mann that spice is not a substitute for story.

The Mann Method remains undefeated.

Unfortunately, this book did not.