Lovely Wild (Thorndike Press Large Print Romance Series), by Megan Hart
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Lovely Wild (Thorndike Press Large Print Romance Series), by Megan Hart
Best Ebook Lovely Wild (Thorndike Press Large Print Romance Series), by Megan Hart
A New York Times Bestselling AuthorBrought up in her unstable grandmother’s rural Pennsylvania home, Mari Calder once yearned for rescue. Now she struggles daily to function in normal society, to be a dutiful wife to her husband and mother to their two children. But an unexpected twist of events returns her to that long-forgotten house, and clarified memories enter her fragile world. To protect her family, Mari must find the beautiful, powerful strength hidden in her inner chaos.
Lovely Wild (Thorndike Press Large Print Romance Series), by Megan Hart- Amazon Sales Rank: #6729394 in Books
- Brand: Hart, Megan
- Published on: 2015-05-20
- Format: Large Print
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: .90" h x 5.80" w x 8.80" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 485 pages
Review "Hart's beautiful use of language and discerning eye toward human experience elevate the book to a poignant reflection on the deepest yearnings of the human heart and the seductive temptation of passion in its many forms."-Kirkus Reviews on Tear You Apart"Naked is a great story, steeped in emotion. Hart has a wonderful way with her characters....She conveys their thoughts and actions in a manner that brings them to life. And the erotic scenes provide a sizzling read."-RT Book Reviews"Stranger, like Megan Hart's previous novels, is an action-packed, sexy, emotional romance that tears up the pages with heat while also telling a touching love story....Stranger has a unique, hot premise that Hart delivers on fully."-Bestselling author Rachel Kramer Bussel"[Broken] is not a traditional romance but the story of a real and complex woman caught in a difficult situation with no easy answers. Well-developed secondary characters and a compelling plot add depth to this absorbing and enticing novel."-Library Journal"An exceptional story and honest characters make Dirty a must-read."-Romance Reviews Today
About the Author
Megan Hart is the award-winning and multi-published author of more than thirty novels, novellas and short stories. Her work has been published in almost every genre, including contemporary women’s fiction, historical romance, romantic suspense and erotica. Megan lives in the deep, dark woods of Pennsylvania with her husband and children, and is currently working on her next novel for MIRA Books. You can contact Megan through her website at www.MeganHart.com.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. In her dreams, she is still wild.But she's not dreaming now. At the moment, Mari Calder stands at her kitchen sink rinsing out a pot in which macaroni and cheese is still stubbornly clinging. She takes the sponge, rough on one side but not so much that it will scratch the expensive, shiny pot, and she scrubs. Macaroni softens under the stream of hot water that turns her fingers red. White suds cover her hands, and noodles stripped of their cheesy orange coating swirl into the drain where they catch and swell.They look like maggots.Tenderly, Mari scoops them into her palm. She leaves the water running, the rush and roar of it nothing like the sound of a waterfall. She dumps the sodden, bloated macaroni into a trash pail overflowing with the similar dregs of meals left unfinished. She stands over the trash for some long moments, staring at the waste.She's never hungry anymore, at least not the way she used to be. Here in this house she has a pantry full of cans, jars, bottles and boxes. Waxy containers of chicken broth snuggle next to bags of exotic rice in multiple colors and boxes of instant mashed potatoes. Cookies, crackers and potato chips in crumpled bags shut tight against the air with plastic clips, or sometimes dumped without ceremony into tight-lidded plastic containers. Clear, so she can see what's inside. So she can run her fingertips over the contents without actually touching them.And always, always, snack cakes. They come wrapped in plastic, two to a package, in flimsy cardboard boxes. She likes the chocolate kind best, though she'll eat any flavor, really. Her very favorites are the special ones that come out for holidays. Spongy cakes shaped like Christmas trees or hearts or pumpkins, covered in stiff icing she can peel away with her teeth. Mari buys them a box at a time, casually, like they don't matter to her at all, but she never puts them in the pantry or in the special drawer where all the other snacks go. She hides them. She hoards them.She doesn't have to. Her fridge is always full. The freezers, too, both of them, the small one in the refrigerator here in the kitchen and the full-sized chest freezer in the garage. Sometimes, mostly at night when everyone else is asleep, Mari likes to stand in front of the freezer and peer inside at all the wealth she has collected.Ryan never seems to notice or care how much food there is in the house. He comes home from work and expects—and finds—dinner waiting for him. No matter what kind of effort Mari has to make to provide it, she makes sure there's always a full meal. Takeout or homemade, there's always a meat, a vegetable, salad, a grain, a bread. Fresh bread. She can't get enough. Mari usually makes it herself. She uses a bread machine to help her, but she's still the one who fills the pan with carefully measured amounts of water, flour, sugar, salt, yeast. Every morning she bakes a fresh loaf, and every night they eat it.Sometimes, Ethan helps her with the preparation. Kendra used to, but now she's too busy with her cell phone or iPad, texting and tweeting and whatever it is teenage girls do. But Ethan is still young enough to like cracking the eggs and measuring the flour.At eight, Ethan is still young enough for Mari to relate to. Oh, she loves Kendra, her firstborn, her daughter. They do girly things like shop for shoes, paint their nails, hit the chick flicks in the theater while Ryan and Ethan stay home. Mari loves her daughter, sometimes with a fierceness that takes her breath away…but she doesn't really understand her.It's not that Kendra is unknowable. Even at fifteen, she still talks to her mom. Unlike her friends, whom Kendra has revealed barely speak to their parents unless it's to complain. Sure, there have been some bumps along the way. Temper tantrums, pouty faces, arguments about curfews or grades. Mari supposes this is normal and is grateful it's never been worse.Kendra is knowable, she hasn't grown away from them, hasn't taken to painting her nails and lips and eyelids black or disappearing into her room to burn incense and listen to music with bad lyrics. It's Mari who cannot quite seem to bridge the distance between the toddler with curly white-blond hair who liked to serve tea in plastic cups while wearing only a half-shredded pink tutu, and this tall, lanky and gangly teenager with iron-straightened hair the color of sand. Kendra might still sleep with an array of stuffed animals at the foot of her bed, but she's already talking about college and moving to California to live on her own, about getting her driver's license and access to a credit card. About growing up and growing away.But Ethan, the boy who favors her. Him, Mari still understands. Because he's only eight, not yet nine, though that birthday will sneak up on her before she knows it, and then he, too, will start to grow away from her. But for now she understands him because Ethan, like all children under the age of ten, is still mostly wild.At the sink, Mari uses the sprayer to rinse the stainless steel clean. She turns off the water. Dries her hands. She looks out the window, over the tips of basil, rosemary and thyme she's growing in her container garden on the sill. Out into the grass, which for the first time in as long as she can remember is getting too long. Ryan usually trims the grass so tight to the ground nothing living could ever possibly hide in it. In the spring, summer and fall he rides his mower every weekend, beer in hand. He might not be able to find the laundry basket, but the yard is somehow tied up in his manly pride. It's not like him to leave the yard untended, but over the past few months he's been working long hours. Coming home late. The weather has been rainy for the past three weekends, leaving him to sit inside on the couch watching a series of whatever random programs he finds when he taps the keys of the remote.Now the grass would tickle her shins if she were to walk outside into it. So she does. Barefooted, step-stepping carefully from the wide wooden deck onto the slate patio and finally, at last, into spring-soft grass that bends beneath her toes and does, indeed, tickle her shins. Mari sighs. She closes her eyes. She tips her face to the late-afternoon light and breathes in deep.She listens.A bird chirps softly. A dog barks, far off. She hears the murmur of voices, a television or radio, from the neighbor's house on the other side of the yard. A passing car. The squeak of bicycle wheels. There is sometimes the rustle of squirrels in the trees or rabbits hopping into the brush, but most of the wildlife in this neighborhood has been eradicated by family pets, loud children or exterminators.These are the sounds of her life. She misses the sound of running water that had been the constant backdrop of her childhood. Two houses down, the Smithsons have a plastic waterfall set up in their backyard, but it's too far away for her to hear. Mari used to have a container fountain on her deck, just big enough to grow a single water lily, but last winter she forgot to bring it in before the first freeze and the pump burned out. Ryan tossed the entire thing in the trash, and she hasn't yet replaced it.Her feet swish in the grass as she steps forward again. A twig crackles and snaps. Mari pauses. She breathes in deeply again, lashes fluttering on her cheeks, but none of this is the same as what she's missing. This is not what she's hoping to feel.That she only gets in dreams.She opens her eyes and looks at her yard. Ryan mows the lawn but won't bother with weeding. They have a service for that. Mari hates to pull up what the Home Owner's Association calls weeds and she calls wildflowers. She despises pulling up plants only to put down the chopped-up bits of dead trees. Mulching seems like the utmost waste to her. Ridiculous and expensive. She and Ryan fought about it when they moved into this neighborhood, but the HOA had rules about "curb appeal." She notes the carefully pruned beds that should be beautiful and yet leave her cold, still wanting. Still suddenly desperate for something lovely. Something wild.The only beauty Mari sees is in the far back corner of the yard, the one that butts up to the tree line and beyond that, the last farmer's field that will be another subdivision by the end of the year. Tall oaks, weather-worn, defend her emerald-green and perfectly manicured lawn from the tangled, reckless patches of clover that edge the soybean field. Here's where the gardening crew tosses the cuttings, the scrap, the leftovers. It's where Ryan dumps the grass from his mower bag. It's a shady place, a haven for small, running creatures. It's hardly overgrown, but it's the closest she can get to the forest. There's a word to describe it that she once read in a book. Verdant. That's what this place is.There's a fairy ring of mushrooms here, too, in the small, chilly bit of shade. They're edible, though Mari knows better than to pluck them, rinse them and sauté them in butter. Her children won't eat mushrooms no matter how they're prepared, and Ryan will only eat the kind that comes in a can if they're on top of pizza. Besides, nobody she knows eats mushrooms they find in their yard. As with many of her long-standing habits, it would be considered…strange. Mari touches the velvety cap of one and leaves it to survive in its small patch of soil.This is where Ryan finds her, sitting on an old lawn chair he's tried three or four times to toss into the trash. The plastic woven strips are frayed and sagging, molded to her butt, and the metal legs have rusted. Mari keeps it because it doesn't seem like such a sin to sit on a chair like this one in this forgotten bit of backyard, while taking one of the newer, fancier deck chairs would. Ryan says nothing about the chair now. In fact, he says nothing at all.Mari stands. "What's wrong?"She's alarmed when Ryan's mouth works but no words come out. Ryan is never without words. It's one of the better reasons she fell so hard in love with him, his ability to always find a way to communicate with speech what she could only say with silence. She's more alarmed when he gets on his knees to bury his face in her lap. Her hands come down to stroke the short, clipped ends of his pale hair. When she ruffles it, glints of silver shine in the gold. Ryan sighs, shoulders rising and falling, and his face is hot against her bare thigh."What's wrong?" she asks again, neither of them moving until Ryan lifts his head to look at her."I have bad news," her husband tells her, and not for the first time, her entire life changes.* * *Besoide him, Mari slept. The peaceful in-out of her breathing normally soothed Ryan into sleep himself, but tonight he lay wide-eyed and wakeful. Unable to relax enough for dreams.He could wake her. A kiss or two would do it. He turned his head to look at her. She lay facing away from him, the smooth slope of her shoulders and hips clearly outlined because she slept, as she almost always did, with only a sheet to cover her. She went to bed naked even in the winter. Hell, Mari would be naked all the time if she could get away with it.He could push up behind her. Inside her. They'd move together the way they always did, and it would be good for both of them with hardly any effort on his part. It was one of the things he loved so much about her, her easy and effortless response. He knew it had nothing to do with his skill or his prowess, but that it was something innately sensual inside her. He was the only man she'd ever been with—Ryan knew this. But would she respond that way to any man? Or was he somehow special? Thinking of this depressed him so that he couldn't even feel the twitch of an erection, couldn't even lose himself in that small and simple distraction.Too bad his dick hadn't felt that way a year ago, when Annette Somers had strutted her way into his office with half the DSM-IV listed in her file as diagnoses. All the classic symptoms, traits and characteristics of at least three different mental illnesses, along with hints of half a dozen others. Knowing she knew how to play the game hadn't kept him from being played.It was too much of a cliché, but here he found himself in the awkward, not to mention financially disruptive situation of having been placed on probation at reduced salary by his practice. Worse was the very real possibility that not only could he lose his license, but Annette's husband, Gerry, had been making noise about malpractice.Even if eventually it all worked out and he didn't lose his job, money was going to be tight for a while, no question. They'd have to cut back. Way back. The kids wouldn't be happy, especially Kendra, but they'd just have to understand that this summer there couldn't be a pool membership or that expensive sleepaway camp. No horseback riding lessons. They could cancel their cable TV if they had to, he thought. Cut back on dinners out. It could work. It would have to work.In the dark, Ryan swallowed against a surge of sourness. For a moment he thought about shaking Mari awake to see if she'd bring him an antacid, but he stopped himself with the barest brush of his fingers along her shoulder. She would get up, if he asked her to, but it wasn't going to make him feel better.Maybe he could get a teaching position. Maybe he could go back to school for a new career, something like software engineering or website design. Maybe he could run away to Europe and become a heroin addict.Maybe he could finally write that book he'd been thinking of writing for years.The idea wiggled, a worm on a hook, in his brain. He had his dad's notes. All the files, the hours of film and video. Just because the old man had never taken advantage of the gold mine didn't mean Ryan couldn't. Or shouldn't. In fact, wouldn't it be something his dad would want Ryan to do? And who better to put it all together, to make something out of his dad's life's work, than Ryan? After all, the only man who knew Mari's story better than his father was, of course, Ryan himself.Eased a little, he sat back in the dark, scarcely realizing he'd sat up in the first place. Yeah. The book. Even if all the rest of this turned out okay, if he got reinstated, kept his license, dodged the malpractice suit…even if all of that worked itself out, now still might be the time to write the book. What had his father always said about a door closing while a window opened?
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful. A lovely tale about a woman with a tragic childhood By B. Case “Lovely Wild,” by Megan Hart, is a lovely, slow, haunting, and suspense-filled psychological mystery that will tear at your heartstrings. It kept my interest from beginning to end. I was fairly sure I’d figured out the mystery long before the big reveal, but that didn’t matter in the end. The story was still thoroughly engaging and emotionally satisfying…and the details were well worth reading it fully through to the book’s emotionally satisfying conclusion.The book focuses on the life of Mariposa Calder, Mari for short. When we first meet her, she is a loving, stay-at-home mom in her early thirties, with two children—Kendra, a 15-year-old daughter, and Ethan, an eight-year-old son. She’s a very good mother, but the children have always realized that there was something quiet different about their mother…something rooted in the mystery of her childhood. But Mari’s children are too young and interested in their own lives to want to know more.But Mari’s husband is just the opposite. Ryan is a man who makes his living as a clinical psychiatrist and has always known about Mari’s past…at least the outlines of it. It was Ryan’s father who made Mari the focal point of his psychiatric research up until his untimely death. Ryan’s father started studying Mari soon after she was rescued as a small child living under almost feral conditions in the backwoods of Pennsylvania with her grandmother. Now, Ryan desperately needs to know more about his wife’s early childhood. Using his father’s clinical notes, Ryan hopes to write a bestselling popular medical book about Mari. He needs to write that book to save his career and rescue the family’s finances.Because of the book, Ryan decides to move the family temporarily back into the home that Mari was rescued from as a child. The home has long since been transformed into a modern rental, but he and his wife have never visited it before. He wants to move there to gain the peace he requires to write his book. In addition, he hopes that being there will jog his wife’s memory about her childhood. As it is, she remembers precious little about those years.All this information sets the stage for the mystery of Mari’s past to unfold throughout the rest of the book. The plot reveals itself in a dramatic, slow, and haunting fashion. And there are lots of suspenseful moments. What we learn is heart-wrenching and at times, completely unexpected.If I there was one major problem that disturbed me about this novel, it was that I had a hard time believing the science behind the plot. This is not something that should bother most people. I am very unusual in the amount of knowledge I have in this area: I just plain know too much about feral children, psychiatry, psychiatric research, clinical psychiatrists, and other related topics. It was hard for me with all that knowledge to believe parts of his story.In summary, this is a very good novel by a writer who excels at inviting her readers into the emotional depths of her characters. I enjoyed it quiet a lot. I certainly recommend it to any reader who might be captivated by this unique plot.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful. 4.5 stars By K. Branfield Lovely Wild is an absolutely riveting and occasionally heart wrenching novel about a woman fully coming to terms with her long forgotten past. Once again, Megan Hart has crafted another unique and creative story about some of life’s darker moments that beautifully demonstrates how remarkably resilient a person can be despite a traumatic and neglectful childhood.Mari Calder is a devoted wife and stay at home mother who has a seemingly perfect life. She has an excellent relationship with her two children and a happy marriage. Mari is serene, placid and unflinchingly honest but she also has a few idiosyncrasies that stem from her very unorthodox early childhood. Her memories from that time in her life are quite hazy and Mari does not waste time trying to recapture those long ago moments. She instead focuses on the life she has now but unfortunately, current events will soon bring Mari face to face with the secrets of her past.While Mari is an extremely likable and sympathetic heroine, her husband Ryan is not exactly hero material. A horrible lapse in judgment has jeopardized his career and his marriage, and his reaction to these problems is self-serving, selfish and exploitative. It soon becomes clear that Mari’s past has left her blind to his faults, but as she becomes more self-aware, she also begins to recognize his less than desirable traits as well. Of course, Ryan is not all bad, but will Mari be able to overlook, and ultimately forgive, his betrayals?The couple’s children, fifteen year old Kendra and eight year old Ethan, are absolutely delightful. Ethan is blissfully self-involved with an endearing innocence that allows him to see what others sometimes overlook. Kendra is a typical teen in many ways, but she is also surprisingly mature. She is old enough to recognize that Mari is different than her friends’ mothers and although some of her mom’s behavior is a little bizarre, Kendra is very protective of her.Lovely Wild is written in third person from alternating points of view. Mari’s perspective is the most poignant and while watching her come face to face with her childhood is heartbreaking, she is strengthened by what she learns. Ryan’s viewpoint shows him in a less than flattering light and it is very difficult to see him justify his reprehensible decisions. Kendra’s view of the unfolding events is refreshing and realistic and she plays a vital role in the story’s conclusion.Lovely Wild is a mesmerizing psychological drama that is incredibly captivating and infinitely fascinating. Megan Hart has again created an incredible cast of characters that is flawed but likable and for the most part, redeemable. The storyline is thought-provoking and insightful with unexpected twists and turns. This extremely well-written novel slowly builds to a dramatic ending that will stay with readers long after the last page is turned.I received a complimentary copy for review.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Into The Woods? By PattyLouise Lovely WildByMegan HartThe main and most important characters in this book...Ryan and Mari...married with children...Kendra and Ethan...are the central figures in this book...of course there are other players...both present and not present.My very brief story summary that includes bits and bobs from the beginning, middle and end of this book...This novel was a bit confusing...if I am going to be perfectly honest...at its beginning. There are mysteries from its onset that were totally confusing. It starts off with Ryan...a psychologist...dealing with something called a DSM-IV...which I had to google to discover that it is manual of mental disorders. Something has happened to one of his patients and he is in serious trouble because of it. His wife...Mari...has had a troubled and dysfunctional childhood...one that has left her not normal...she goes through the motions...and hoards snack cakes...she is the wild thing...beautiful...barefoot...unusual...hates anything ordered outside...loves a wild and wooly natural atmosphere. Her past has much to do with Ryan's father...also a psychologist...there are vast notes on her that Ryan wants to put into a book.To avoid what is happening at work...Ryan takes his family to a house...a house that belongs to Mari's past...a house in the wild woods...where things begin to unravel...And this is where I leave you...My actual most favorite part of this book...This entire book is a mystery...one little secret after another is opened up. Mari is odd...but circumstances in her past life with her grandmother have made her that way...her motions, her manner, her dress, her food hoarding...her craving for sweet things...there are twists, turns, revelations and an ending that surprised me.My actual true feelings about this book and whether or not other potential readers will enjoy it...The book is good and will hold the reader's interest. This family seems typical until their life begins to crack open. Ryan...was the character that I loved to dislike...selfish, adulterous, almost mean...his mother? Well...she was even worse than he was.I think readers who love this kind of psychological suspense stuff...should love this book.
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