Review: WILD by Adrienne Wilder

Title: WILD

Author: Adrienne Wilder

Publisher: Self-Published/Kindle Unlimited

Length: 326 Pages

Category: Contemporary

At a Glance: WILD thrusts you into the harsh and brutal wilderness and then threatens to crush your heart with the most intensely beautiful love story I have ever read.

Reviewed By: Sammy

Blurb: August Vallory had it all. A modeling career, a man he loved, and the extended family he’d acquired in the business. Then the world he knew was torn away when the plane he was on crashed en route to a photo shoot

Lost in the Alaskan wilderness, August doesn’t stand a chance.

No sane man would choose to live in the Alaskan bush unless he had something to hide. And Keegan Brooks has secrets darker than night, more dangerous than wolves, more brutal than an Alaskan winter.

Every day was a fight for his life until he stumbled upon a downed plane with a lone survivor. Now it’s no longer just Keegan’s life teetering on the edge of survival.

It’s his heart.

Review: Honestly, I just do not know where to begin. This novel was amazing. Gutsy, raw, stunningly realistic and gripping—every single one of these epithets could be used again and again to describe Adrienne Wilder’s latest story, WILD. From the very first page to the end, this book rocketed into your imagination and took hold, never letting up, never giving you much more than a quick second to catch your breath before it dove right back into the relentlessly harsh reality that August and Keegan were living. Furthermore, when you realized that August was in this dire situation by a stroke of fate and pure bad luck, but Keegan chose to live on the edge of the wilderness with barely any hint of creature comforts and continually fighting for his life, it was just mind boggling. As the story unfolded, you began to dread what it was that haunted and hunted Keegan—both animal and human alike. To say that his past was horrific is to almost minimize his everyday struggle to survive the Alaskan frontier, which was brutal to say the least. But it was the love—the romance, the growing genuine attachment that August and Keegan had for one another, that was the real star of this novel and, in the end, it made every desperate, gut-wrenching moment worth it.

As one of the fashion world’s hottest models, August Vallory was on top. He was hot, famous and in love—unfortunately, his partner in the modeling industry and in life didn’t feel the same. Within moments of nearly proposing to his boyfriend, Dan, and finding out that Dan wanted nothing more than an open relationship and had already cheated on August, the plane they are on hits a random flock of birds which causes it to crash in the Alaskan wilderness. When August comes to, his leg is crushed under pieces of the fuselage, a massive grizzly is hunting food a mere few feet from him, and everyone around him is dead.

Then a man wrapped in animal fur saves him, takes him back to a remote cabin that barely fits that description, and nurses him back to health. Completely cut off from civilization and unable to make the journey into the nearest town due to the river not being completely frozen, the two are forced to wait it out through the long, brutal winter. As time passes most of August’s surface wounds heal, but something critical has happened to the mysterious man in fur—and August feels it as well. The two of them have fallen in love, but the dark secrets Keegan harbors will never allow for him and August to ever find their happy ever after.

You will have to forgive this incredibly bare bones synopsis but, honestly, to go any further into detail will not only spoil the story for you, but it will also diminish how incredibly well written this novel truly is. I was transfixed by this book. I could taste the snow, feel the physical pain August endured, and smell the hot, rancid breath of the insanely huge grizzly that tracked every movement Keegan made. To say this was the most visceral novel I have ever experienced is putting it lightly. Author Adrienne Wilder has done his research, and then some. We are immersed in the Alaskan wilderness and brought, through impeccable storytelling, into the very makeshift cabin to be an eyewitness to the trials and blossoming love of these two men. Keegan simply gutted me; my heart bled for this man and his past and how thoroughly his life was effectively cut off from anyone who could possibly save him. The love and devotion he developed for August was so incredibly self-less and pure it almost hurt to read about it.

August was just spot-on as a jaded, pampered trendsetter. His rude awakening when his boyfriend, Dan, tells him that he is not going to settle down and be monogamous, that he is bored with August, is just devastating, and it flavors every decision he initially makes regarding his growing interest in Keegan. He is deliberate in trying to keep his distance and shield his emotions not only because he has been recently burned by a lover he trusted but because he knows that eventually he will return to civilization, and Keegan will never be able to follow him. When he does finally realize the depth of his love for Keegan, it is really devastating to read.

WILD thrusts you into the harsh and brutal wilderness and then threatens to crush your heart with the most intensely beautiful love story I have ever read. Between the raw determination to survive the impossible and the desire to hold on to each other and the fragile thing that has built up between them, our two heroes leap off the page and become larger than life. I highly recommend this stunning novel to you.

You can buy WILD here:
[zilla_button url=”http://authl.it/B07518D2PZ?d” style=”blue” size=”large” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon/Kindle Unlimited [/zilla_button]