A review by theladysparks
Wild Love by Elsie Silver

4.5

 

Rosie Belmont has been igniting a fire in Ford Grant for as long as he can remember. But that fire is a forbidden longing — because Rosie is his best friend’s younger sister, and off-limits in every conceivable way.

When Rosie makes a dramatic return to Rose Hill, she brings with her the force of a storm: stunning, disordered, and completely irresistible. When she pitches herself for a job at Ford’s company as his business manager, it’s a no-brainer despite the complications that might come along with it.

Ford, dubbed the World’s Hottest Billionaire by Forbes, is more focused on launching his new music studio than on accolades. However, his plans hit a roadblock when he's confronted by a young girl claiming to be his daughter, thrusting him into the dual roles of businessman and father, all while struggling to maintain a professional distance from Rosie. Despite his best efforts to keep her at bay with curt words and brooding glances, their verbal back and forths only fan the flames of a deeper attraction — one that could burn them both.

Ford has pledged to himself that he would stay away from Rosie and maintain a boundary he deems necessary. But as tension morphs into undeniable chemistry, he finds the line between “shouldn’t” and “can't” blurring. And despite every rule in the book, there’s one thing Ford finds impossible: resisting Rosie.

"There's nothing funny about the way I want you."

Elsie Silver is the queen of small-town romances I think and Wild Love is literally no exception. Thank you so much Elsie Silver for providing me a digital ARC of Wild Love this was a 4.5 star read for me (rounded up here on Goodreads) and I am already so excited for the next installment in this new series! Before I dive into my full review, I also just want to take a moment for both of the covers because they are iconic and gorgeous and PINK!!!!!! SO CUTE and perfect for this book.

I am a sucker for the brother's best friend trope, especially when it's a dynamic like this one where they both go to bat for each other and the pining has been happening secretly for years and years. When you combine that with a wonderful cast of supporting characters, gorgeous scenery that you just want to jump right into and two super solid and likeable characters falling for each other, it's set up for a success in my opinion.

Rosie is a girl after my own heart. I found her very relatable with how she reacts and handles things and I adored the growth that she has as a person from the beginning to the end of the book. Essentially the girl who wanted to be the "easy" child and who didn't want to ruffle feathers really grows into herself and takes what she wants without apology and I for one am all about that. I think that her relationship with Cora was one of my favorite dynamics throughout the entire book (aside from Rosie and Ford together) and I loved the vibe that was each and every single interaction that they had throughout this book.

I think Ford is going to really shake up a lot of people's rankings of Elsie Silver male characters. He is so likeable it hurts and I think getting not only his point of view, but also being able to see how Rosie sees him is going to have people swooning really hard because I sure did. He is one of those characters that is just so good and even when he makes mistakes and messes up, you can see where he was coming from all while he takes accountability for his actions and actively tries to do better.

I loved the storyline between Ford and Cora probably the most in this entire book. It was a unique and surprising twist on the single dad front and I really enjoyed the way that it was introduced and handled throughout the entire story. Cora really stole the show honestly. I loved that girl's personality and how she shook things up, not just with how she showed up but just by being herself and being the little spitfire that she is.

This book was wonderful and I adored it so much! Whether or not you're already a fan of Elsie's books, I think you'll enjoy this book!

- brother's best friend
- single dad
- he falls first
- banter and tension for days
- childhood frenemies to lovers
- forced proximity
- small town romance
- they are protective of each other
- workplace romance
- he falls first / he's always loved her
- billionaire romance
- diary entries and emails
- dual pov
- open door