Wild Love | Elsie Silver
"because as much as i don’t need a knight in shining armor to defend my honor, i’m relieved i have one who feels compelled to do so."
The first book in Elsie’s new Rose Hill series, ‘Wild Love’
takes us on a journey with Rosie and Ford, childhood frenemies who may have
been something more all along.
Ford Grant, the world's grumpiest and hottest billionaire (the
second one according to Forbes) is actually a nerd. He is ambitious, thoughtful
and has held a candle for his best friend's sister for years. He is
soft-hearted but hides it all behind the untouchable façade in order to protect
himself. He moved to Rose Hill, where he spent summers as a teenager, to get
his recording studio off the ground and escape the spotlight. This all comes to
a halt when a young girl shows up on his doorstep, claiming that she is his
daughter. A test soon confirms that Cora is indeed biologically his, conceived using
sperm he donated as a student. While he's trying to balance this new life with the
new business and parenting, his best friend’s sister comes barreling back into
town. Unable to say no to her, Ford soon has a new assistant when she asks for
a job.
Rosalie Belmont has always been a people pleaser and
tried to be the good kid with her scholarly and bright personality, in order to
contrast her older brother who was nothing but trouble. She never wanted people
to feel burdened by her, and thus became what they expected her to be but she
lost herself in the process. Rosie went through some rough times in the big
city, with her boss undermining and sexually harassing – then promptly firing –
her. Realizing it's time to recreate herself with grace and kindness, she
leaves her spineless boyfriend and goes back to the town where she grew up. Rosie
is an imperfect character and at times she can be annoying with her antics but
I found her funny and charming and I loved how she's been driving Ford wild to
the point of insanity. The relationship with her and Cora was so sweet as they
were very similar in some instances and just bonded so well.
Rosie and Ford have pretended to hate each other for years because being
frenemies was easier than giving in to their feelings. Hating and exchanging
verbal jabs is their kind of foreplay. Their romance was a result of years of
hate-love friendship, animosity, yearning and longing for each other and
tantalising sexual tension and desire that was simmering between them. It was a
beautiful transition from Ford and Rosie finally realising that they were
always more than just frenemies. The diary segments from her teenage years gave
an insight into Rosie's feelings for Ford and just how smitten she was with him
and his nerdy and introvert personality. The sentimentality of the diary key he’s
been keeping as a pendant around his neck just killed me.
The grumpy man and sunshine girl dynamic is always a win,
and Rosie and Ford pull it off perfectly. The way she teases him at work, gets
him all flustered, and brings out his jealous side is a fun read. Rosie
definitely has Ford wrapped around her finger, and his protectiveness over her
and his daughter, Cora, made my heart melt.
Ford’s humble and down-to-earth nature added so much depth to his character,
but despite all the fun with Cora and his attempts to be a good guardian, I
didn’t really feel like his role as a father landed for me. Cora was sweet but
felt more like a background character, and I never fully connected with how
Ford became a dad—it just didn’t sit right and was unnecessarily convoluted. I
actually felt Rosie had a stronger connection with Cora than Ford did (thought
their bond through music was very sweet), which left me wanting more from their
relationship.
All in all, it was a cute story and, since I never expect
too much depth from novels like this, I was overall left satisfied with it and
am looking forward to more books from this series.
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