Teddy: If there’s one thing I don’t do, it’s commitment. You don’t become an award-winning photographer by staying in one place. I’m always on the road, looking for the next shot, the next award, the next hot body. Which is how I end up on Dr. James Marian’s front porch in the middle-of-nowhere Alaska. He’s known as the Wildlife Whisperer, and I want to photograph him in action. He’s reluctant at … action. He’s reluctant at first, but I can be persuasive.
Soon enough I have him in bed saying yes over and over and over again, but my ability to shoot and scoot is frozen by a Denali snowstorm.
Jamie: I always thought of myself as the marrying type. Until I got left at the altar. Now I have a new motto: never commit and never fall in love. So when a cocky nature photographer decides I’m the key to his next masterpiece, it seems like the perfect arrangement: the hotshot’s only in town for a brief assignment and then he’ll be gone. No commitment, no strings, and no chance of getting my heart broken again.
There’s just one problem: I think I’m falling in love. Now I’m afraid that maybe I’m the marrying type after all. And he definitely is not.
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This is the second book in the Made Marian series. These two men had interesting careers and talents. Butted heads at the start but then realized how they missed each other and then fell in love. Did not take long. Good story.
Taming Teddy is book two in the Made Marian series by Lucy Lennox. This is Blue’s brother, Jamie’s book, and Teddy, the wildlife photographer that might have finally met his match. This can be read as a stand alone. The characters in the books are interconnected.
Dr. James (Jamie) Marian is known as the Wildlife Whisperer. He studies animals in their own habitat and is currently working in the Denali National Park near Fairbanks, Alaska. If you did read the first book, Borrowing Blue, then you already know that Jamie has been hurt, left at the alter, actually. So now he’s sworn off love. Maybe he’ll just be a one night stand, love em and leave em kind of guy. Only that’s not him either. So he’s out in the middle of nowhere, alone, which so far, has been just fine. A certain photographer has been hounding him relentlessly to allow him to come out and photograph him while working but Jamie wants no part of it. Until said photographer just shows up on his front porch.
Theodore (Teddy) Kodiak is an accomplished wildlife photographer. There is a major award that Teddy would like to be able to submit something for to be considered but it’s got to be just the perfect photograph. And Teddy knows that the perfect photo would be of the reclusive Jamie Marian with his animals. Only Jamie is not being cooperative. So it’s time for Teddy to step up his game.
“Jamie Marian was a study in contrasts. He was snarky and feisty but he also moved with a soft fluidity that begged to be admired.”
To say that these two got off to a rough start would be an understatement. But, there was also an immediate chemistry between them, one that they found impossible to ignore. And it didn’t take long for them to act on it.
Teddy is anti relationship. He lives on the road, going from one photo shoot to another. So he can’t let his heart get involved. Jamie is also anti relationship from his broken heart. So why can’t they just be friends with benefits? Only when Teddy leaves, he leaves a little bit of his heart behind. He can’t get Jamie off his mind. And Jamie is the same way. Each time they are together, separating becomes just a little bit harder.
This was a sexy, fun, banter filled story of two hearts coming together, finding that missing piece of themselves that they never even realized was there. I did love these two together. I do have to admit that I loved the first book so much, Borrowing Blue. I was so excited to get started on this one but that special something wasn’t there this time. So, while I did enjoy it, it didn’t pack that WOW factor for me that the first book did. But, I am very excited about going on to book three, Jumping Jude, which is Jude the rock star’s book. I am also reading the short stories that go with these first three books, Made Marian Shorts. It’s so much fun getting these little extra side stories that go along with these books.
I wouldn’t call this enemies to lovers, because although Jamie dislikes Teddy based on principal, they never were truly “enemies.” Instead, I’d call it more of a misunderstanding. This book is hilarious and sweet. Jamie is pretty much a Dr. Doolittle (but more realistic) and Teddy is relentless in his pursuit of Jamie – first as a way to get the perfect picture, and later as his perfect match. I love the banter between the two men and how well they fit together.
Michael Pauley was perfect as Teddy and Jamie. He performed them so well and injected emotional warmth and humor into their voices.
Overall Rating: 5 Stars. The second book in this series was just as wonderful as the first book. The writing was beautifully done and the plot was just so enjoyable. There was tenderness, excitement, angst, and the sweet reunion of true love.