A review by inkdrinkers
Pucking Wild by Emily Rath

emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"Life is beautiful and short, and you only get one. Live it on purpose."

Tess Owens has been trying, in vain, to extract herself from her abusive ex-husband for three years. They're separated in every way, except for on paper, but somehow she still feels twisted up and enmeshed with him. When he crosses a line and threatens her, she does what she does best and runs. Straight to Jacksonville, straight to the people she knows she can trust - and a man she feels a magnetic pull to.

I AM A W R E C K. I'll never recover from this book. Emily put her entire heart and soul into telling a story that has so much hope and joy and hardship in it and I'm a total disaster. I can't even tell you how many times this brought brought me to tears. Or the sheer amount of times I highlighted swaths of quotes. Tess's story hit different for so many reasons, but at the end of the day it made me ache in the best of ways.

I'll try to be as non-spoilery as possible, but I cannot write this review without saying that the ending? Best ending Emily could have written. Hands down. It made me want to curl up in a ball and sob. I'm SO glad that she chose the route she did for it, and it wrapped up the heavy plotline in a beautiful way that felt realistic and wonderful. I already know I'll be revisiting this, not only for Ryan Puppy Langley, but also when I need to remind myself that life is short.

Ily Emily Rath, I can't wait to cry about Tess and Ryan in Pucking Ever After Vol. 2.

Content warnings: Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Infidelity (in past, not from main characters), Emotional abuse, Stalking, Ableism (in regards to dyslexia), Death of parent (in past), Abandonment

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