Gone Wild

Dakota
Madison
Genre: 
Contemporary

ROMANTIC COMEDY:  After a fender bender leads to being sentenced to thirty days' community service work with troubled teens at a wilderness camp, Bly Daniels isn’t convinced that she shouldn't have taken the 15 months of jail time instead. Her idea of roughing it is being forced to interact in social situations instead of reading quietly at home. When she meets the man in charge of the wilderness program, she feels like she has died and gone to hell. He’s the antithesis of everything she’s familiar with; brawny, gruff, and unrefined. To make matters worse, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to him.  While she may feel completely unprepared to tackle the next 30 days, Bly will soon learn that there is no “try,” there is only “do.”

 

Written for the over-40 crowd, “Gone Wild” is a sweet and touching tale that has a slow and understated build towards a relationship. Bly Daniels is the epitome of book-smart with little common sense. Readers may initially have a hard time connecting to her cold and standoffish manner. On the other hand Turner's homespun colloquialisms oftentimes seem overused which is at odds with Bly’s succinct and droll way of speaking. However, by the end of the book Bly’s metamorphosis into someone who is capable of openness and love is quite beautiful. Witty, self-deprecating and completely naive to the ways of the world, her time at the camp brings about a self awareness that reminds her that life is more than books; it's meant to be lived.

 
Chantel Hardge