The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker: My Review of this Small Town Romance
Check out my book review of K.A. Tucker’s The Simple Wild to see if this is a small-town romance book worth reading.
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The Simple Wild
by K.A. Tucker
Series: The Simple Wild
Categories: Contemporary Romance
Tags: Enemies to Lovers, Opposites Attract, Found Family
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Rating: ★★★★★
This was my first K.A. Tucker book and I was immediately swept away. It’s a 5 star read for me because I loved the story and fell immersed into the Alaskan landscape. This book seriously gave me all the feels and I bawled my eyes out. It’s an enemies to lovers romance not to be missed.
Calla Fletcher is a 26 year old who lives with her mother and stepfather in Toronto. On the same day that she’s let go from her bank job, she receives a phone call when she learns that her father (whom she hasn’t seen since she was 2 and whom she hasn’t spoken to in 12 years) has lung cancer and may not have a lot of time left.
She makes the decision to fly to Alaska for a week to reconnect with the man who she believes chose Alaska and his charter plane business over his daughter.
Her reunion with her father is awkward at best plus she has to deal with the arrogant, rude, yeti of a man, Jonah – the charter pilot helping her father keep the business afloat who wants nothing to do with the city slicker he’s pegged her as.
As her eyes are opened to all the beauty and hardship of life in the Alaskan wild, her heart begins to open to the pilot who may not be so bad after all.
There is so much to love about The Simple Wild. I of course was drawn to the enemies to lovers story, but there is so much more to this book beyond the romance.
It showcases a community that supports one another, a company that literally saves lives and a piece of the world that is untouched and wild.
All of the characters bring this book to life with the relationships that bind them and with the emotions you can’t help but feel in a setting described so beautifully.
The Ties that Bind
The prologue sets the perfect stage for this novel. Twenty-four years ago, Calla’s mother packed her up and moved her across the country to Toronto because she could not take life in the wild of Alaska even though the love of her life was there. And Calla’s father, burdened with a family business to run, could not bear to leave his home even for his wife and child.
You could sense the heartbreak from these two lovers and how they couldn’t find a middle ground to make it work for love.
My heart hurt so much for Wren and Susan and the repercussions their decisions made for so many to come.
So many were influenced by the love of these two who were separated by miles for 24 years.
I adored Simon, Calla’s stepfather who might have had the biggest heart of them all. I loved his counsel, his blinding support and his undying understanding and love for his wife and Calla.
I adored Agnes, the woman who put this story into motion and who’s heart had endured so much as well. Her young daughter also provided some necessary levity.
Wren was a difficult man to peg as he was a man of few words. All I really needed to know was that his heart was lost to Susan and that never changed.
I would have liked a few more heart to heart scenes with Calla, but overall, I felt for this quiet man who loved in his own way.
Enemies to Lovers
Enemies to lovers stories are my catnip. I love the initial banter that’s filled with teasing and often backed by misconceptions.
Jonah certainly did not lay out the welcome mat for Calla when she arrived in Alaska and yet he was quick to help her when it was needed. Of course, his help came with sharp words that didn’t mix any niceties and which could be actually quite cutting I thought at times.
It was easy to fall for him though as you could see he was such a nice guy despite his initial behavior to Calla.
Calla was an interesting girl. I’m not sure how it would feel to have a father that never made the trip to visit me once in my life, but I can imagine not great at all.
I love how she put herself out there so she wouldn’t have any regrets. Beyond her struggles with her father, it was hard to peg her as a person.
She initially came off a bit immature to me, living with her parents and living off their credit cards. Though maybe it was because she was at an unsettled place in her life that she was able to open herself up to her experience in Alaska.
Her present story began to unfold like the story of her parent’s past, leaving you to wonder if Calla’s story would end the same as her mother’s.
The best authors make writing seem so effortless. K.A. Tucker swept me away in what became a great slow burn romance. She left me with a HFN ending so I cannot wait to read the next book in this series.
What romance book have you read where the setting was just as breathtaking as the romance? Share in the comments below.
Book Lists With This Book:
- July 2020 Romance Book Reading Challenge
- Best Enemies to Lovers Romance Books
- Best Slow Burn Romance Books
- Best Books with the Found Family Trope
- Romance Book Series that Should be Made into Romance TV Shows
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