Scroll down to see my 4.5 Star review and the Giveaway!
Walk on the Wilder Side
Serena Bell
(Wilder Adventures, #2)
Publication date: September 23rd 2021
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance
His best friend’s sister is rocking his boat. In the best way possible.
Brody: What’s a bad boy doing hosting a book club? Excellent question. All I can tell you is, it’s not going well. I forgot the bug wipes, the extra TP, and the hand sanitizer, we’re out of wine, and… well, I may have made some people angry, if the reviews are any indication. The only way to dig myself out of this hole is to redeem myself by offering the best girls’ nights out in town.
Enter my best friend’s sister. I’ve gone out of my way to avoid Rachel, since despite her good-girl rep, I can’t seem to get her out of my head. Now she’s in my boat… and if I don’t watch myself, soon she’ll be in my bed. Things are going surprisingly well between us… but I know myself, and I’m not this guy. I’m the guy you want for fantasy fulfillment, not the guy you want for forever.
But what if I need this time to be different?
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EXCERPT:
Connor paces back and forth a few times along the side of the boat, then slaps a hand on his thigh. ”I have an idea.”
“What’s that?”
“My mom’s got this new business. One of those sell-out-of-your home things. Beauty stuff, like body wash and perfume and shit. She does these girls’ night parties. Women love them. My mom can’t keep up with all the requests. I bet that would work for your boat. And my mom coordinates the food and wine and everything. You could redeem yourself without having to personally kiss a lot of ass. They do the party, you just supply the location.”
Huh. I don’t hate the idea.
“You’d still have to buy TP,” he says, always practical. “And not forget the bug wipes.”
“I can totally handle that much. Jesus, that sounds like a fucking dream. I’m all over that.”
“The only thing is, my mom broke her foot, so I don’t know about the whole boat thing.”
“Well, shit,” I say. “How’d she do that?”
“Stepped off the curb wrong in town, twisted it in the storm grate.”
I wince. “That sucks.”
“Yeah. But she said she was maybe going to ask Rachel to help her out, so I guess Rachel could do it.”
You know the buzzer sound that signals the end of, well, anything? That’s the sound that just zapped through my brain.
“Wait, Rachel’s home?”
I try to make it sound like, “The Ducks have the early game?” or “You up for grabbing a pizza and a couple of beers?” but it still comes out sounding more like my sixteen-year-old self than I’d like.
Luckily Connor doesn’t pick up on the fact that I just insta-reverted to my teenage years. “Yeah. Some shit hit the fan for her and she’s regrouping.”
Rachel is Connor’s younger sister. Her hair is long and thick and not-quite-black. Her skin is a warm, light brown. She has dark brown eyes and a mouth that, in recent years, has made me think about blow jobs.
Okay, who am I kidding? Her mouth has made me think about blow jobs for way longer than I want to admit.
It’s the lower lip. It’s full and sulky and she licks it when she’s nervous. I’m not sure whether it’s the peek of tongue or the glossy sheen left behind that drives me so wild, but there you have it.
My life plan, since late high school, has been to avoid Rachel Perez at all costs, because that lip—her whole mouth, in fact—no, make that everything about her, inside and out—feels like a clear and present danger.
It is a threat to my sanity and, more urgently, to my friendship with Connor.
However, because life is what happens when you’re busy making plans, Rachel is everywhere.
She saw me last month when Len Dix taunted me in Oscar’s Saloon & Grill and I punched his lights out. She doesn’t even live here; she just happened to be in town from the East Coast to visit her mother. They were taking a family ski trip for her mom’s birthday.
And now she is, possibly, the only thing standing between me and a simple solution to my business problem.
Because I don’t think my sanity would survive being alone on a boat with Rachel.
“Do you really think Gabe would kick you out of the family business?” Connor asks.
Right. In corner one, we have the threat to my sanity from Rachel Perez. And in corner two, we have the threat to my livelihood and family life from Gabe Wilder.
My Review:
Four Stars and a half ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭒.
Walk on the Wilder Side by Serena Bell is the second book in Serena Bell’s popular Wilder Adventures series. This book can be read as a stand-alone book too. I enjoyed this steamy, funny, and heartwarming story about a bad boy and a good-girl librarian.
Rachel Perez has a plan for her life, and she’s almost checked off every step in her plan. All she needs now is her boyfriend to propose, and then they can have 2.5 children (she can’t decide between 2 or 3 children) and live happily ever after in the suburbs. When she arrives at her job as a librarian in Boston, she is told that her job has been downsized and she is no longer needed. When she arrives home after this devastating news, she finds her boyfriend, in bed with another woman. Devastated, she decides to return to her hometown of Rush Creek and help her mother who has recently injured her ankle.
Brody Wilder is the screw-up of his family, and he’s working to remedy that by working hard in his family’s outdoor adventure firm. But, when he hosts a book club on the family boat, everything goes wrong. The poor reviews for the book boat tour anger his family and making Brody feel like the family screw-up again.
Rachel helps her mother with her business of hosting hostess parties, selling self-enhancement products, and decides to host a party on Brody’s boat. Rachel has had a crush on Brody since they were kids. Brody was her brother’s best friend, and she knew he would never want to date a quiet good girl like her.
This sexy, steam romance is also heartwarming and fun. The family dynamics of both Rachel’s family and Brodie’s family are so much fun. Both Brody and Rachel are wary of relationships due to their past relationships failing so miserably. Brody doesn’t feel like he’s good enough for the good girl, and Rachel doesn’t think she’s bad enough to catch Brodie’s eye.
Author Bio:
USA Today bestselling author Serena Bell writes contemporary romance with heat, heart, and humor. A former journalist, Serena has always believed that everyone has an amazing story to tell if you listen carefully, and you can often find her scribbling in her tiny garret office, mainlining chocolate and bringing to life the tales in her head.
Serena’s books have earned many honors, including an RT Reviewers’ Choice Award, Apple Books Best Book of the Month, and Amazon Best Book of the Year for Romance.
When not writing, Serena loves to spend time with her college-sweetheart husband and two hilarious kiddos—all of whom are incredibly tolerant not just of Serena’s imaginary friends but also of how often she changes her hobbies and how passionately she embraces the new ones. These days, it’s stand-up paddle boarding, board-gaming, meditation, and long walks with good friends.
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Great post, Wendy. I like the sound of this one, until you got to steamy. How steamy? It sounds like a lot of fun.
Thank you Carla. It’s not too steamy, it’s a bit of a slow burn romance.