Title: Wild
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Book Beautiful 4/30/15
Length:  150 pages
Series: Chicago Underground #4

Overview

Once upon a time I was the girl who had everything, the clothes, the car. The rich dad who spoiled me. But the truth was, the only thing I had was my body. I used it to buy my way out. I took a bite of the apple knowing full well what would happen.

That’s how I became a call girl. That’s the story of how I ended up in hell.

My Thoughts

We had met Shelly in the first trilogy within the series and we got a sense for the kind of friend she was – the lengths that she was willing to go in order to provide stability for her best friend Allie as well as for herself. She had lost the sense of attachment to herself a long time ago – she knew that there was a need sometimes to disconnect because she knew the effect that she had on men and used that to her own ability.

We pick up the story after the shooting from the first few books – so we know what got her to the point that she’s at. Maybe not the history in it’s entirety but we started to understand some of the dynamics that she had in her life with the men she surrounded herself with. There was Luke, the cop that she was providing information to, and he was protecting her, building some type of bond, but what we learned is that the bond that she thought they had was potentially founded on his need to search for and save someone else. there was a pattern and a history that he didn’t quite share and when she learned some of the information, it made him both more of a challenge and yet someone that she grew even more emotions for.

On the other side of things, we start to see her dynamic with Phillip – Colin’s brother and we see what brought them together and what kept them together, but we watch how fragile things have become to see what they are now. It’s sad to watch the way that things were and what they have become now, but I have faith that we will see something resolve in a way that’s deserving of them.

Then there’s Henri – a man that has a lot of power in the city – especially over women of a certain profession and the dark underbelly of Chicago. We see how he some how tracks Shelly down, lures her in with the promise of a job to keep her safe (sort of) and the way that turns out is what takes us on the crazy and wild ride of this first installment of her trilogy.

There’s a private party and a girl that needs saving because she’s far too innocent for the life that she’s found herself in. We see that Shelly wants to save those that could still use something better in their lives probably because she wasn’t able to have someone do that for her.

What happens though at this party is debauchery, pain, and inevitably, a few murders. Shelly and the girl she was trying to save are now the ones that are being hunted as the murders and we watch Shelly try to sort out what the connection is with the girl – Ella and how she can help clear both their names and give them their lives back.

We watch how Luke wants to help her but keeps her at arms length.

We watch how Phillip protects her but wants her to make a trade that she’s not willing to make

and we wonder when Henri is going to strike and what the price will be.

So, all in all a roller coaster of sorts and I can’t wait to jump into the 2nd book now to see what’s going to happen next. Enjoy!