Review by koistyfishy - Freeing the Wild

koistyfishy 's review for:

Freeing the Wild by Paisley Hope

3.5

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad 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

3.5 Caramel Corn Stars ⭐️
Spicy Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

“I love you with everything I am, Cass …” His voice is a whisper against my skin. “Every goddamn beat of my heart is for you. You’re my every moment, Princess. Always.”

I wasn’t really sure what to expect coming from Wolf.e, which was one of the spiciest and dirtiest books ever, into a more rom-com-y cowboy contemporary romance. But I’m in my cowboy era, so I thought I’d give it a chance. This is the first book in the Wild series that I’ve read, and I think that might have impacted my reading experience a bit, because there are a lot of characters in this book from the previous books in the series, and at times, I struggled to work out how they all fit into the story.

I always wish authors who have these interconnected stories would include a family tree or a simple diagram at the beginning to help readers figure out whose book is whose. I wasn’t sure who were brothers, who were friends, and who were just people in the background. The more I read, the easier it became to understand, and by the end of the book, I knew exactly who was who. But right at the start, as that development wasn’t really there, I WAS CONFUSED... BUT that’s on me. If you’ve read all the other books in the series, you’ll probably already be in love with this world and these people, so you won't have this problem...

𝙎𝙮𝙣𝙤𝙥𝙨𝙞𝙨:
The story starts chaotically with a wild meet-cute. Cassie is visiting her sister’s ranch after her sister has had a baby, where she stops by for the night. While on the ranch, she tries to get some content for social media. She persuades one of the ranch hands to let her ride a particularly wild horse, and after very quickly getting thrown off, Haden comes running to the rescue. Later that night, they run into each other again at a local bar and share a steamy little encounter in his truck. After which Cassie ghosts him and he’s left wondering who the mysterious woman was, only to find out it’s his boss’s wife’s little sister. A few months later, while Cassie is on tour, a horrific, tragic event takes place that leaves her with performance anxiety, grief, and PTSD. She’s unable to perform and chooses to take a break to spend time with family and figure out what she wants out of life. That means she ends up back at the ranch, back where Haden is... and he’s less than thrilled.

𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙁𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨:
What I loved about this was how deeply character-driven it was. There’s a lot that happens internally for Cassie from the very beginning. She’s a wild child, but she’s also heavily restricted by her career and her manager, who basically dictates what she says, does, and wears. She’s lost touch with what she wants. After the accident, she’s forced to hit a massive reset button, and she’s completely lost about how to find herself again. I just loved her overall growth and how she found herself by eventually freeing her wild again!

Haden, for all his grumpiness, is actually a sweetheart. He’s kind, generous with his time, thoughtful, sincere, and while he’s got his own family issues (mainly around his father’s disapproval) he knows exactly what he wants. He wants a ranch. He wants to be a cowboy. And now, whether he admits it or not, he wants Cassie. His mind might fight it, but his heart is already set.

I love that Haden is Cassie’s biggest cheerleader. He wants what’s best for her, and he supports her even when it means putting his own feelings on the back burner. He makes sure she puts herself first, something she hasn’t done in a long time. And yes, the sexual tension between them is real. Their encounters are seriously steamy.

I also really enjoyed the found family element. Once I figured out who everyone was, I could see how deep the bonds ran. This group goes beyond surface-level connections, and you feel it.

And I adored how mental health-positive this book was. Cassie knows she can’t get through everything on her own, so she gets help. She sees a therapist. The story doesn’t stigmatise it. In fact, it celebrates the fact that she’s brave enough to ask for help and pursue it.

𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨:
▶ Celebrity Romance
▶ Forced Proximity
▶ Cowboy Romance
▶ One Night Stand
▶ Neighbours
▶ Cinamon Roll MMC who is sometimes grumpy
▶ Stalking (IYKYK)
▶ Mental Health Rep

and 𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙧𝙤 𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨:
▷ "Greedy Girl" and "Good Girl"
▷ "You Taste Like"
▷ Washes Her Hair
▷ He Brings Her Food
▷ Takes Care of Her
▷ Steamy/Spicy Water Scene
▷ "Beg Me"

Overall, yes, this is a cliché story about a cowboy and a famous country music star falling for each other. But that’s kind of the point. We watch Hallmark movies for the same reason. It’s not about the what, it’s about the how. And this one stands out because of the way it shows Cassie’s journey.. It shows how she finds her way back after the trauma. And the fact that Haden helps her do that was just BEAUTIFUL!

Thank you to Random House UK, Netgalley and Paisley Hope for the gifted copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own

Content Warnings