TEST
The first book in Serena Bell’s new Wilder Adventures series is rife with romance tropes. Big city East Coast girl comes to a small town in the Pacific Northwest to work with a family with five brawny, gorgeous brothers (and one married sister) who run a failing outdoor adventure company. All five are single and will, one assumes, in five books, find true love. This book’s hero was burned by a city girl in the past and will never love again. The marketing savvy heroine hates small towns and trusts no one due to a tragic past. Throw in a severe case of insta-lust, a meet cute involving ducklings, and way too many jokes about the heroine’s inappropriate footwear–this is rural Oregon for heaven’s sake!–and you have Make Me Wilder.
Now Dabney, you say, you say this like it’s a bad thing!
OK, OK, it’s not a bad thing. I enjoyed this book. Bell is a terrific witty writer and her characters, despite being tropey types, are interesting and have just enough quirks that they’re kinda adorable. The sex is hot and the family dynamics–I especially like the Wilder women–are well-done and believable. And given that Jill Shalvis, Sarah Morgan, and Kristan Higgins have all moved to women’s fiction, Bell is a good replacement for those looking for sexy, fun, contemporary romance.
Our high heeled wearing heroine, Lucy, is temporarily escaping Manhattan after a highly mortifying business meeting at which it became clear to all her colleagues that Lucy had inadvertently slept with her boss’s fiance. Lucy hightails it to Rush Creek, Oregon where her mom is currently shacked up with a new love. Rush Creek has struggled economically and Barb Wilder, the widowed matriarch of the Wilder clan, has hired Lucy to convince the Wilder brothers that Wilder Adventurers needs a more female–think bridesmaids parties and connect with your kids outings–makeover.
This is not an easy task. The Wilder brothers are all, to a man, disdainful of selling out, compromising their old-school vision of outdoor experiences, and pretty sure Lucy, whom they all agree is smokin’ hot, has nothing professional to offer them. No one feels this more strongly than Gabe, the oldest Wilder brother who is its de facto CEO.
Unfortunately for Gabe, since he first spotted Lucy–she was trying to save some stranded ducklings and he, deeply competent in all things in nature, steps in to help–their chemistry is off the charts. Within an hour of their first encounter, they’ve met in the lobby of Lucy’s hotel and are about to head upstairs when Gabe figures out who Lucy is in town to work for. (His mother neglected to mention to her sons that she’d hired a marketing consultant.) Sex is–at least at first–off the table and Gabe and Lucy go from almost torrid trysters to ticked off co-workers.
Nothing that happens next will surprise anyone who’s ever read a romance novel. Gabe freaks out everytime any of his brothers flirt with Lucy. Lucy needs a place to stay and ends up in the Wilder guesthouse. Gabe and Lucy–he has to come because he doesn’t trust any of his bros to be alone with Lucy–go on a series of Wilder adventures, each led by a different brother, and Lucy has no idea how to do anything other than ogle Gabe’s gorgeous bod as he makes fires, builds shelters, hikes up mountains, and casts his rod.
The reader knows Lucy will come to appreciate the joys found in small town connections, Gabe will see the wisdom in Lucy’s work advice–she really is very good at her job–and the two will, in less than three weeks, realize that love is better than mistrustful solitude.
Again, that’s fine. It’s not startling, but who cares? I didn’t. And I’m now invested in the other Wilders and plan to read their stories too. If you like light hearted contemporary romance, grab this book, a glass of your favorite bad for you beverage, and blow off your to do list. You’ll be glad you did.
Buy it at: Amazon or Shop your local indie bookstore
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Grade: B
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 26/05/21
Publication Date: 05/2021
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.
Impenitent social media enthusiast. Relational trend spotter. Enjoys both carpe diem and the fish of the day.
Related Reviews
“If you like light hearted contemporary romance, grab this book, a glass of your favorite bad for you beverage, and blow off your to do list. You’ll be glad you did.”
I do! I did! And both of things, too! I was!
B+
Right now, a good time is a gift.
Great review Dabney – I enjoyed this one also. Serena Bell’s books are routinely rated anywhere from a B on up on my goodreads page.
Oy, that cartoon cover!
I can confirm that this series is fun, though! Bell is a true talent.
Have you read this one?
Yep! Bought and devoured it quickly this morning. I’d put it around a B+, to go just a little bit higher.
I have to admit I’m a little surprised the author would choose to have the name of the family be Wilder and the business called Wilder Adventures. You mentioned Jill Shalvis, and she has a popular series called Wilder, with three sexy men and a Mom with the last name Wilder. Bell had to know these exist and it just seems lazy to use the same name. This may be a better series, etc., I haven’t read it, but that makes me scratch my head.
And the business was the same and called Wilder Adventures as well in Shalvis’ book.
I had to look up this series by Jill Shalvis (I hadn’t heard of it) and I see it was published in 2009 and 2010. I only know her more recent series.
Serena Bell is one of my favorite romance writers and I’m always happy to see a new book from her (although I’m kinda bummed that we’re going to have to wait for the rest of the books in her Tierney Bay series), but when it comes “city-girl/country-guy, opposites-attract, antagonists-to-lovers tropes in a story about a PR consultant who is helping a family business transform their profile while being blocked at every turn by the stubborn hero who likes things precisely as they are thank-you-very-much,” I have a very high bar because that is the exact plot of one of my all-time favorite romances, Melanie Harlow’s AFTER WE FALL; so I went into MAKE ME WILDER with high expectations because, in terms of tropes & set-up, MAKE ME WILDER and AFTER WE FALL are remarkably similar. But, for all their trope and premise similarities, AFTER WE FALL and MAKE ME WILDER could not be more different in style, tone, and execution. I loved Bell’s rom-com-with-a-serious-center just as much as I love Harlow’s angstier and far more melancholy romance. An interesting comparison-contrast between the two books could be made—and it would show that two good writers can each take the same premise and create vastly different but equally good and readable books.
I love Bell’s writing–and she’s so lovely in person, by the way. Sleepover is one of my favorite contemporary romances.
This one is light and fun, unlike Sleepover which is that rare thing–heavy and fun.