Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Wildfire

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Wildfire by Hannah Grace

102 reviews

graceev's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

4.5

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kelly_e's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Title: Wildfire
Author: Hannah Grace
Series: Maple Hills #2
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rating: 3.25
Pub Date: October 3, 2023

I received a complimentary eARC from Simon & Schuster Canada via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #Gifted #Ad

T H R E E • W O R D S

Dissimilar • Sizzling • Juvenile

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Maple Hills students Russ Callaghan and Aurora Roberts cross paths at a party celebrating the end of the academic year, where a drinking game results in them having a passionate one-night stand. Never one to overstay her welcome (or expect much from a man), Aurora slips away before Russ even has the chance to ask for her full name.

Imagine their surprise when they bump into each other on the first day of the summer camp where they are both counselors, hoping to escape their complicated home lives by spending the summer working. Russ hopes if he gets far enough away from Maple Hills, he can avoid dealing with the repercussions of his father’s gambling addiction, while Aurora is tired of craving attention from everyone around her, and wants to go back to the last place she truly felt at home.

Russ knows breaking the camp’s strict “no staff fraternizing” rule will have him heading back to Maple Hills before the summer is over, but unfortunately for him, Aurora has never been very good at caring about the rules. Will the two learn to peacefully coexist? Or did their one night together start a fire they can’t put out?

💭 T H O U G H T S

I absolutely (somewhat surprisingly) adored Icebreaker earlier in the year, so I was eagerly anticipating Wildfire, book two of the Maple Hills series. Unfortunately, so many of the elements I loved about book one were missing from this second installment, which left me rather disappointed.

I will start off by saying the romance between Russ and Aurora was wholesome. There's definitely a bit of a miscommunication vibe going early on, but it never overrode the development of their relationship. Both main characters have family issues that are at the heart of the story, yet there is a great emphasis on working through things together and developing an open line of communication.

There is a different sense of found family with the staff of the summer camp that I liked. However, I really missed all of the characters I'd come to love from book one. Additionally, I missed Maple Hills and the hockey backdrop. In my opinion, its because so many of the things I loved from book one were missing that I really struggled to form a deep connection with Russ and Aurora's story. Even the spice level felt completely different.

Wildfire was a bit of a letdown after being so excited to pick it up. One of the complaints about Icebreaker was the length, and that's exactly how I felt about this one. The summer camp setting felt completely different and honestly, made it seem like a standalone. I will still continue with the series (book 3 is Henry's story!!), but I am really hoping for a return to the college setting and sports romance trope.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• fans of the ONS trope
• readers who like the summer camp romance

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"You don't turn your back on people because they're not perfect."

"It's incredible how shame fills the cracks other people create."

"It's no secret that I love books. I love stories about people I don't know, and place I haven't been to. I've lived a thousand lives between a thousand pages, but no story, no life, no page has ever made me as happy as you do, Russ Callaghan."

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michaelahoyman's review

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Incredible. 10/10. I think this might be one of my favorite books that I’ve ever read. I love it with all of my heart. The characters, where it takes place, the story line, all chef’s kiss. It all makes my heart burst. I honestly procrastinated on finishing the book because I’m emotionally attached to it and was dreading the book ending. I loved every second. Such lovable characters and incredible story. So cute and adorable. I highly recommend!

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bkc's review

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Initially, I strongly disliked this book.

It immediately started with Russ mentioning that he no longer had to worry about when he would "jerk off or get laid" and it put me off. I know it's a romance novel so maybe I should have expected it, but not in Chapter 1.

The writing style was simple once again, but felt a bit cringey in Wildfire compared to Icebreaker and I'm not sure why. Regardless, I enjoyed hearing about the Maple Hills gang again, except for one member.

Ryan. Aurora was friends-with-benefits with Ryan. Why Ryan again!? Seriously!? It felt so stupid to me that he was the Maple Hills harlot.

This was just the beginning, though. The majority of the story was boring for me, even though it unfolded at the perfect pace. I also didn't care for the main characters.

Firstly, Aurora was too needy. I usually like characters like her, but it just wasn't clicking for me here. The "clean room" comments were ridiculous too. Secondly, Russ was cool in Icebreaker but seemed like a mess in this book. I get that he was acting confident whilst not in reality, but it felt like too much. Finally, there were so many daddy issues between them both. However, I did like Emelia and Xander, and felt like they kept the story fun enough for me.

The mechanics of the relationship between Russ and Aurora were also quite similar to Nate and Anastasia in Icebreaker. It reminded me of books by Ali Hazelwood, where each relationship in each book is basically the same. Is this a romance thing? It may have contributed to my lack of interest in the book, since I know how it goes. Yet, I do like that we always get a happy ending with and love getting closure in the epilogues of Hannah's books.

The last third of the book was definitely more enjoyable than the previous two thirds in terms of pacing. I think I got used to the characters by then too. In the end, it was a solidly okay book.

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kb33's review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I loved this! So many real life funny moments and quips. And the characters were some of the most real I’ve read - they had flaws, big and small, and some they knew about and didn’t know how to fix, and they talked to their friends and each other about the flaws, and I loved it. Mmc is a college hockey player, but this book takes place over the summer, so there’s no hockey.

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vreyna20_2004's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The book was good in my opinion I loved the beginning and how Russ and Aurora talked it out and became friends who have strong feelings for each other but didn’t want to say anything but during the middle I kinda got bored of the book until the end where Russ’s dad confronts him at camp to tell him that he is going to get better at his gambling addiction after Russ told him off in his hospital bed to get better. I hate Ethan for what he had done to Russ not once but twice like dude what the fuck and he was high out of his mind during the third confrontation when Russ’ dad got better which yeah you want them to talk but that’s not way to do it. I loved seeing Rory stand up for herself as well I just loved seeing their issues being solved and her letting go trying to get her dad’s attention. The romance was ADORABLE. It’s rare to see a guy blushing near a confident girl in books (please recommend some thank you) and this was excellent for me. But the whole “no fraternization” rule makes no sense since Jenna didn’t even enforce it when the two got caught but it’s whatever I guess. Also the comedy in this book is top tier I loved it and laughed every time a toilet was mentioned and how Clay was shocked that Rory and Russ were together was so satisfying I laughed so hard.

Now onto the sex scenes. At the beginning I didn’t like the first scene since it was kinda awkward and cringe HOWEVER the rest were more steamy and a huge improvement. The first time they did it at summer camp I was giggling so hard I couldn’t put the book down. I’ve read stories where the man is obsessed with the girl but it’s so different when it’s a soft man obsessed with a confident girl. And plus Russ looking for Rory during the storm knowing she’s afraid. SCANDALOUS! I loved it!!

I would recommend it to people. There’s times the author wrote something that I had to reread five or more times and I still didn’t understand but it’s not a book to make you think it’s a book to make you feel good. And it did just that. Excellent read!!!

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audlittlebookshelf's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was such a fun read that had me giggling and internally kicking my feet!

Russ and Aurora were so delicious together. I liked that they have very different backgrounds, especially socioeconomically, but their lives still paralleled one another in ways that drew them together and allowed them to understand one another more deeply. After all, what’s more universal than having issues with one’s father? I’ve seen some reviews mention that they don’t like how those issues manifest in Aurora with her essentially hooking up with guys for validation and attention. I will just say that she’s only 20 and comes from a very privileged background so I think it’s pretty realistic.

My only real issue with this book is that I felt like they barely worked at the summer camp and there were moments of them sneaking around while they were supposed to be responsible for a group of 8-10 year olds.

I liked this one more than Icebreaker though the two are definitely different plots. A big thing that they do share is the entertaining and supportive cast of side characters! I can’t wait to see who else we get a book so I can be back with some of these characters.

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