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justinkhchen's review against another edition
4.0
4.25 stars
Emotionally sophisticated, The Wolf and the Wildflower manages to squeeze everything out of its bonkers premise—a romance between a duke acclimating back to society after surviving in the wilderness for over a decade, and a scholarly woman who has been living as a man for her entire life. Stacy Reid paved a very relatable journey for both societal 'outcasts', who gradually became each other's emotional support, as they battled through personal trauma and insecurity. In many ways the emotion-first narrative reminds me of A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall, which people should consider picking up if they enjoyed this title.
It isn't quite a 5-stars for me as I felt many potential plot elements were teased but never fully utilized (such as the ordeal with the heroine's parents, and the ending... I was hoping for something a little more bold and outrageous, but it turned out to be very safe), and the novel's tendency to rush through key plot points, whereas the steamy scenes went on for pages and constant (they are beautifully written). Still, overall I was hooked and devoured this in mere days, and even with some shortcomings, there remained many memorable snippets (I never expect constantly smelling people can be presented as sexy...)
***Ravished by Romance Book Club | August 2023 Selection***
Emotionally sophisticated, The Wolf and the Wildflower manages to squeeze everything out of its bonkers premise—a romance between a duke acclimating back to society after surviving in the wilderness for over a decade, and a scholarly woman who has been living as a man for her entire life. Stacy Reid paved a very relatable journey for both societal 'outcasts', who gradually became each other's emotional support, as they battled through personal trauma and insecurity. In many ways the emotion-first narrative reminds me of A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall, which people should consider picking up if they enjoyed this title.
It isn't quite a 5-stars for me as I felt many potential plot elements were teased but never fully utilized (such as the ordeal with the heroine's parents, and the ending... I was hoping for something a little more bold and outrageous, but it turned out to be very safe), and the novel's tendency to rush through key plot points, whereas the steamy scenes went on for pages and constant (they are beautifully written). Still, overall I was hooked and devoured this in mere days, and even with some shortcomings, there remained many memorable snippets (I never expect constantly smelling people can be presented as sexy...)
***Ravished by Romance Book Club | August 2023 Selection***
illusie's review against another edition
3.0
I like that this book is very different than the average historical romance. Jules is a female, but hides it from the world. It's hard to imagine someone would do that and manages to get away with that for so long. The plot felt a bit rushed, but the interesting characters made up for that.
madeleinehelena's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-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
Interesting plot and main characters. One who has been living in the wilderness for ten years, struggling with adapting to his old circumstances and the role he had given up on. One who learned as a teenager that she was not born a man, but feels the need to continue with the disguise. The second is tasked with helping the first, who quickly discovers her secret.
I was hooked for two thirds, following the characters helping each other. However, the author seemed to struggle with resolving the story towards the end. And I would have liked the main characters' respective issues to have been even further explored, but it felt like they were too easily resolved and at the same time not resolved at all.
I was hooked for two thirds, following the characters helping each other. However, the author seemed to struggle with resolving the story towards the end. And I would have liked the main characters' respective issues to have been even further explored, but it felt like they were too easily resolved and at the same time not resolved at all.
milkybew's review against another edition
5.0
mwah! everything
Loved every minutes!!!! I can’t say how much I enjoyed reading this book
Loved every minutes!!!! I can’t say how much I enjoyed reading this book
webbsusa's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 stars rounded to three. I have read several of Stacy Reid’s books and liked them, but this one did not work for me at all. The suspension of disbelief required for this book was monumental, given that both characters had back stories that were bananas. I enjoy a wild plot, but this one was too over the top, even for me. My other issue is that once the sex scenes started, they took over the book. I felt the story and character building mostly ceased, as it just became sex scene after sex scene connected by thin strands of plot.
Ugh, I hate to leave this review, because this book had so much potential. Around the midpoint, it just really lost its way.
Ugh, I hate to leave this review, because this book had so much potential. Around the midpoint, it just really lost its way.
zoraisrising's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I was really excited to start this book. The premise was phenomenal and exciting to me to read about a character who is raised there in life to be to live as a boy, and I was excited to see how the book would play with questions of gender, familial expectations, and like the relationship between Jules and her father whose demand for a son would have cost his wife her life if she had not insisted upon the lie, I was also intrigued by the Duke I thought that the love interest was a great foil and mirror to our protagonist. We have a female lead who is deeply socially isolated due to having to hide her gender, and we have a male lead who is deeply socially isolated because he is perceived to be unwell after being rescued from the wilderness of after 10 years of isolation and survival , he recognizes her immediately to his height and sentence sentence senses as a woman, and it is because he is the only person to know the secret outside of her mother that they are able to engage freely with each other and I found that fascinating. However, this was also the first crack in the craft for me. By having the Duke recognize Jules immediately as a woman they’re also feels like there’s a denial of potential character, development, and internal character building for the Duke, given the fact that what he would find attractive about is her socialization as a man, despite recognizing her sex. Simetaneously I recognjze this was a fantastic opportunity to explore the way, physical desire manifest after being repressed due to trauma and how visceral and intense it can feel. , how it can feel nonsensical as our intellectual understanding of our feelings struggle to keep up . what prevents this from being a five star rating for me was the reluctance from the author to really engage within the questions of gender and the inherent queer narrative being presented in the plot. The book is mainly focused on the Dukes character development and getting him ready to re-enter into society at the expense of Jules’s character development. we hardly spend anyone time with Jules. We hardly engage with relationship with her family and the tension around the secret of her gender despite the fact that it’s the most interesting character derail and should be the driving force behind her internal motivations. She was raised to understand herself as a boy and did not know otherwise until she had her first period. She expresses multiple times that she has no desire to live as a woma. And yet she feels regret at not being able to form deep connections or to pursue romance the way ladies her age have. I wish we could have had more scenes where she teaches him how to be a man in society. And that we spent time with her internal feelings regarding wearing a dress beyond wanting to just dance with him. Why couldn’t they do that in private? If that scene was meant to express her desire to live as a woman there was no build up or hint of it. All I saw was a desire to be with him which she already had physically ! I felt like that opportunity was missed and I think that the ending really disappointed me because I think that like he was willing to live, let her live to live as a man and she discarded her dreams that she had built her entire life Just for him and it wasn’t believable. The character wasn’t done for me to believe that she would accept having to give up her physician dreams in order to live the life of a Duchess role that she was not socially prepared for. Nor was I convinced she really understood or craved womanhood beyond sexual desire which? Felt like not fully terf but adjacent. Why is conventional marriage a happy ending?