TEST
Who knew pretending could be so hot?
Clark: It started as a joke. After all, I’d never pretend to date a woman just to get my mom and sister off my back.
I would, however, pretend to date her to get her ex-husband off hers.
Now the two of us, the wilderness warrior and the wedding planner, are stuck sharing a very small tent. I had no idea how fast things would heat up in here, or how hard it would be to keep my hands—among other things—to myself.
I also didn’t guess how quickly the news of our “relationship” would spread to my big, nosy family.
We can’t “break up” yet, because she’s planning my brother’s wedding and I’m his best man. Through venue visits, DIY disasters, and Vegas trips, we’re thrown together, and the chemistry’s off-the-charts. But the kicker is, I feel like she gets me.
Maybe that’s what scares me the most. I’m still reeling from the loss of my wife, and she’s still hurting from her ex’s betrayal. There’s no way this can ever be real.
But what if I’m starting to hope it is?
Maria Rose and Dabney are here to discuss the third book in Serena Bell’s popular Wilder series, Wilder with You.
Dabney: I’ve read all the books in the Wilder series and have enjoyed them. How about you?
Maria Rose: I’ve read them all too. I have to say I enjoyed this one the best of the three so far, but I think that’s because I’m in a better reading frame of mind this year than I was in 2021. I found it difficult to enjoy reading in general at certain points of the year (for pandemic and other reasons) so authors that I normally look forward to reading (such as Serena Bell) didn’t hold the same luster that they usually do. But I’m happy to say that my reading mojo is back and as a result, this ‘fake relationship turns real’ romance kept me quite entertained. I think I’m also a sucker for heroes like Clark who show their protective side (without doing it in a alpha-hole way).
Dabney: Interesting. This is actually my least favorite of the three! I enjoyed it–Bell is one of the best contemporary romance writers around and she’s always genuinely funny–but Jessa and Clark’s fake dating/real f*cking thing made no sense to me. I also think–and this is a somewhat unfair criticism–that Clark’s dedication to his dead wife is uncomfortably close to to Sawyer’s, the hero of my favorite Bell book Sleepover. I think she did that trope better in Sleepover so this book’s barrier to love felt wan to me.
Maria Rose: I’m terrible at remembering characters from other books so I had to check Goodreads to see if I’d read Sleepover (I haven’t) so I don’t have a comparison with it. I think the concept of pretending to be in a relationship but having real sex gives the characters the chance to act on their attraction to each other without having to think of what that really means in the long term – it’s sex without emotional consequences. And since neither Jessa nor Clark is ready to consider having another committed relationship (Jessa because her marriage has recently broken up and Clark having lost his wife), it’s an easy way out for them. Of course, the sex scenes are always fun to read in a Bell book too
Dabney: Agree–Bell does love scenes really well. And don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed this book. It just didn’t wow me. If you think of it as a romantic comedy, I felt the comedy was stellar and the romance was just fine. And while I always like checking in with the other Wilders, there was a bit much of them in this book–I found them almost overwhelming.
I also had two other small issues with the book. One was the reveal about Barb seemed to me to be a bit odd–it sort of felt like checking a box than something that was intrinsic to what we know about the character. I also really didn’t, as someone who works in medicine, understand the thing that killed Clark’s wife. It wasn’t well explained and didn’t hold up to scrutiny. I just don’t get why authors don’t do a better job of vetting medical things!
Maria Rose: I agree with you about Barb, I didn’t think the clues were really there to come up with that reveal (no spoilers!). As for Clark’s wife Emma’s death, it made his overreaction to events later with Jessa make more sense but it was a somewhat vague way to remove the character. In the end though, the reasons for her death don’t matter as much as how Clark has dealt with it (or not dealt with it in this case). It was good to see him reach a catharsis and those scenes with him and Emma’s mom made me tearful. I definitely noticed that this series in general is more lighthearted and funny than her Returning Home series which deals with a lot of trauma (though they are some of my favourites by her).
I was fine with all the family interaction (and as you said there is a lot of it). The Wilders are a big family of siblings and with some of the earlier series characters getting married in this one, I’d expect a lot of interaction with them. It’s given us an interesting heads up into Kane’s book too!
Dabney: I’m hopeful for Kane given that Easton’s love story has been staring us in the face since day one. I hope there’s more to it than just enemies who secretly love each other! Kane’s book looks like a secret baby book– it will be fun to see what Bell does with that trope!
I really do love reading about the Wilders – they’re such a loving, funny family. This book isn’t my favorite of the series but it was still a fun, sexy read. What grade would you give it?
Maria Rose: I’m going with a B+ for this one. I liked all aspects of the book and was really happy to see Clark overcome his grief and realize it was okay to be happy again. I too am looking forward to seeing what happens with Kane and Easton’s stories! What did you decide on for a grade?
Dabney: This is a B for me. It’s a fun, strong story, just not quite into DIK territory for me. Thanks for chatting with me!
Buy it at: Amazon
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Grade: B+
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 14/02/22
Publication Date: 02/2022
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
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I'm a biochemist and a married mother of two. Reading has been my hobby since grade school, and I've been a fan of the romance genre since I was a teenager. Sharing my love of good books by writing reviews is a recent passion of mine, but one which is richly rewarding.
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I really enjoyed the first two books in this series, so downloaded all the extras and Amanda’s story, but had quite a few issues with this one.
I liked both MCs and really liked how Clark’s grief was written, but found Jessa much too similar to Rachel from Brody’s story.
I thought the start was great, especially the camping trip, but I thought it lost its way after that and used the family and some of the sex scenes to fill the gaps.
I found the details about Emma’s death really strange, particularly what her mother said.
Like others, I found the Barb reveal and the nonbinary sibling rather tokenistic. I also felt that the previous books, and the early part of this one, had tropey hints that Kane was gay, but then he said that…………
I’ve also felt uncomfortable about how the author writes about race on a couple of occasions in the earlier books. Added to what I’ve written above, IMO she does not come over as very secure on race or gender.
I read the book yesterday and really enjoyed it. It’s nice to see a storyline about a widower where the dead wife was a good person and he spent a reasonable amount of time mourning. I’ve read too many books where it turns out there is some bad revelation about the dead wife and thus the current love interest is the hero’s one true love. I feel that if a person’s spouse dies, it is totally possible to fall in love again and the loves to be equally encompassing! In this book it felt like a natural time for Clark to not just notice another woman but be ready to take action on his feelings.
I do agree that the Barb’s revelation seemed out of left field and forgotten as quickly as it was mentioned. And I’m not sure what was the point of one of Jessa’s siblings being nonbinary. It didn’t affect the story at all. However, just the storyline of Clark and Jessa was lovely.
Have you read Sleepover? It’s one of the best dead wife stories ever.
I read it a long time ago. I remember liking it but can’t recall much of the story now. I will have to re-read it!
One of the reason to have a nonbinary character in a story is simply to reflect the world around us. It also wouldn’t affect the story if there was a friend who was Asian, or gay, or whatever. Maybe because of my kids and because I worked retail with lots of exposure to the public, but I personally know at least a half dozen nonbinary people, and representation matters.
I agree. I just wish Bell had flushed out that character a bit more. It’s just a mention of a character, not really a character. So it feels somehow less than it could have.
I’m sorry I wasn’t more clear. What Dabney said is more what I meant. I agree that representation matters but Jessa and Clark didn’t have any real interaction with her sibling, making it feel more like a token character. I think it was a missed opportunity.
Dabney and Manjari: Got it! Thanks for explaining. I’m still glad to see a nonbinary side character, but it’s too bad their not fleshed out.
I totally agree that representation counts, but in WILDER WITH YOU the non-binary sibling doesn’t even appear on page! In fact, the whole purpose of the sibling’s role in the book is to give the heroine a reason for needing to move—the sibling and their partner are about to have a baby and the heroine was going to move closer to them to help; which, now that I think about it, brings up another question: what if the sibling & their partner had made their future daycare plans based on knowing the heroine was going to be around to help with babysitting—and then suddenly she’s no longer part of the picture? Regardless of the gender status of the sibling, the character was merely a plot device.
Finished the book today and agree overall with your assessments. I enjoyed the love story and liked how the whole “fake but real” theme worked its way through the storyline. But I agree that the subplot involving Barb could easily have been jettisoned without disturbing the book at all (along with the fact that one of Jessa’s siblings is non-binary—a fact that plays no meaningful role in the story). I did like that Jessa’s Korean heritage—in the form of delicious food and entertaining K-dramas—was part of the story (although I defy anyone to look at that illustrated cover and discern that Jessa is half-Asian and is described as dark-haired and slim). Overall, a fun read. I do have high hopes for Kane’s story, but I agree Easton’s story seems rather predictable: I hope Bell surprises us with that one.
Another hit (if not a perfect one) from Bell!
I’ve been enjoying the Wilder Adventure series, although I’m bummed that Bell appears to have put her Tierney Bay books on the back-burner to write them. I’m looking forward to reading WILDER WITH YOU: I’m showing tomorrow is the release date; I’ll be downloading it first thing. I like the “person falls for late friend’s widow(er)” trope because there’s usually some angst dealing with grief, loss, and moving on, making the HEA sweet with a tinge of melancholy. I generally prefer the genders to be swapped (hero falls for late best friend’s widow), but Bell always does interesting things with tropes. Also for Bell fans: Selena is rereleasing the three books in her Under One Roof series in March: SLEEPOVER, DO OVER, and HEAD OVER HEELS. I’ll be grabbing all three books as soon as they drop.