Wild at Heart
By: K.A. Tucker
Published Year: 2020
Publisher: K.A. Tucker
Pages: 400
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): From the internationally best-selling author of The Simple Wild comes the continuation of a woman’s journey to Alaska and a life she never imagined for herself.
Calla Fletcher returns to Toronto a different person, struggling to find direction and still very much in love with the rugged bush pilot she left behind. When Jonah arrives on her doorstep with a proposition she can’t dismiss, she takes the leap and rushes back to Alaska to begin their exciting future together.
But Calla soon learns that even the best intentions can lead to broken promises, and that compromise comes with a hefty price—a log cabin in interior rural Alaska that feels as isolating as the western tundra.
With Jonah gone more than he’s home, one neighbor who insists on transforming her into a true Alaskan, and another who seems more likely to shoot her than come to her aid, Calla grapples with forging her own path. In a world with roaming wildlife that has her constantly watching over her shoulder and harsh conditions that stretch far beyond the cold, dark, winter months, just stepping outside her front door can be daunting.
This is not the future Calla had in mind, leaving her to fear that perhaps she is doomed to follow in her mother’s fleeing footsteps after all.
First Impressions
Ugh this cover! It is so pretty! I love it even more than the first one and it makes me want to go back to Alaska like yesterday. I really liked the first book, so I knew I was going to read this one since I liked the characters so much.
What I thought
Call and Jonah are back in Alaska and moving in together in a home closer to Anchorage. Unfortunately, it ends up being more in the wilderness than Calla originally expected. Can she survive moving to Alaska to be with the love of her life and not turn into her mom?
While I did enjoy this book and seeing how their first year in Alaska played out, it didn’t have that same spark for me as the first one. Maybe it was because there wasn’t the driving force of her dad dying or maybe it was the lack of Agnes and Mabel. I’m not quite sure but it took me quite a while to get through this book. I enjoyed it every time I picked it up, but I had to convince myself to pick it up.
This book I very Calla heavy. It focuses a lot on her struggles. I did appreciate that there weren’t any Hallmark-esque romance tropes with lack of communication. Jonah and Calla talked a lot and handled things like adults when they had problems. I also did like watching the development of Calla’s relationships with new characters. But like I said, it was a very slow read.
I feel like the book needed a singular focal point to move towards. It was very much just reading a diary of their lives during their first year in Alaska. While it was interesting, it wasn’t the greatest story. I loved revisiting old characters and I wish there had been more of it. I feel like there were some untold stories with Agnes and Mabel and the airline company Aro that would’ve been good. Maybe the book is meant to make you feel as isolated as Calla feels? If so, it definitely accomplished that.
Like I said, it was fun to revisit old characters and the Alaskan wilderness. Is this sequel necessary? No. I think I would’ve been just as content to only know as far as where The Simple Wild ended. Is this book fan service? No. It’s a well written sequel and I know some people who enjoyed it more than me. I will make a disclaimer that I read this in the time of COVID-19 isolation, so that could’ve impacted my mood a bit. Overall, a good read with solid writing and lovable characters but not one that I couldn’t put down.