Wilder by Rebecca Yarros

Dish me up a scenario I haven’t encountered before and there wasn’t a hope that I wasn’t going to be completely engrossed. Rebecca Yarros, this was a little stroke of genius and no, I don’t mean Wilder because there is absolutely nothing little about this guy!

X games gold medallist Paxton Wilder…wow! There is nothing that this guy touches that doesn’t turn to gold or so it would have appeared but that was before the bright lights of the games seamed to overshadow everything else and with career longevity not exactly likely to last into old age, and a movie deal hanging in the balance the one thing that he could afford to let slide was his education, after all he has others that rely on him for much more than he lets on. But Paxton was enjoying living for the moment and keeping up with his studies isn’t always easy but he has to make sure he can balance the games and hitting the books or everything may just fall apart around him and that is a thought he isn’t willing to contemplate but is he willing to accept the solution provided?

Well, the fact that the solution came in the beautiful shape of Leah Baxter, his interest was certainly piqued but was that her or the subject matter …what do you think?

Leah is appointed as Paxton’s tutor and is tasked with spending the next 9 months with him, now I doubt I would have lasted 9 minutes but she is obviously made of stronger stuff because the battle of wills that ensued between the two of them was epic, they tried, honestly I think they really did to try and keep things platonic, professional but there was never a chance that the two of them were going to succeed in that endeavour, it was just a case of who was going to give in first!

Paxton had a gloriously flirty nature, he was a winner in every sense of the word and enjoyed life to the absolute max but Leah didn’t fall into that mould, she hid secrets, demons that plagued her, demons that refuse to cut her loose.  But would a little bit of time with Paxton be enough to show her that stepping outside her comfort zone, taking control of her demons was worth the risk.

I loved the connection between the two of them, she brought out the best in him a side that others didn’t get to see. He was the catalyst to her heart healing almost, her soul finally understanding that it was ok to trust others and that she could let him in, she might even allow herself to love him.

The author ensured that while the two of them were providing the focus of the story, but there was so much more going on under the surface, I loved the fact that the story was able to encourage my mind to wander, not from Leah and Paxton more from their relationship, there was a smidge of suspense that was played out to absolute perfection and when that little bombshell finally falls into place I was like WTF, totally did not see that coming!

You will be drawn into the team, you’ll fall in love with not only the main characters but also the other in the crew, they were an eclectic bunch and fascinating to read. The author brought their friendship to life and made it totally believable.

As the first book in a new series, I would say that the author pitched this one just about right, she gave me story with modern characters that I want to get to know. She brought secondary characters into the limelight and provided enough insinuation and mystery to this story that I can’t help but start to imagine what she has in store for the next book.