Synopsis:
When Russ and Aurora cross paths at a university party, a drinking game ends with them spending the night together. The next day, Aurora slips away before Russ learns her full name.
This anonymity ends when they both turn up to their first day of work as camp counsellors. A job they had both chosen to escape Maple Hills for the summer.
Given their history, there’s still an obvious tension between the two but the camp has a strict “no staff fraternizing” rule. Russ doesn’t want to risk heading home early but Aurora has never been one for rules.
As things heat up, they’ll have to resist or risk starting something they just can’t stop.
Review:
Wildfire was my first Hannah Grace book and it definitely won’t be my last. I really enjoyed this, and honestly, it wasn’t as spicy as I was expecting. After all of the drama around Icebreaker I thought they’d be getting it on every other page. Speaking of Icebreaker, I think not reading it first was a bit of a mistake. The first two chapters throw so many characters at you I’m still not sure who half the people were.
What I did love about Wildfire was the camp setting. I’m usually reading horror books set at summer camps so this was a nice change of pace. The forced proximity, especially when they were trying to fight their feelings for each other, made this such an angsty read – which is great for me, but I understand why some people may not like it.
I don’t have much to say about this quote other than saying never has a truer word been spoken “Emilia thinks liking men is a poor choice to begin with, and I have to remind her that, unfortunately, you can be attracted to men and not actually like them as a species.”.
Aurora may have had a lot of flaws but she was very self aware. At no point did I find myself thinking she was a “pick me” (which I’ve seen a few people call her) or selfish. There’s nothing I love more in a romance book than the character actually communicating and being aware of when they haven’t done this but should have:
“Miscommunication. Russ, we did the miscommunication thing. You made me a miscommunicator!”
This conversation is too much to process. “A what?”
“We could have just had a conversation. This is not the kind of main character moment I’m looking for in my life!”
Another moment between Aurora and Russ I loved was:
“I feel like the rat.” She tugs on my hair gently. “Should we see if I can make you cook?”
“Excuse you.” I squeeze her thighs playfully and her hand tightens in my hair. “His name is Remy.”
“My apologies, I didn’t realize I was in the presence of a Ratatouille expert. Okay, I think we’re done up here.”
Their chemistry was off the charts from the get go. I loved how Russ tried to act like a more confident version of himself to impress her but it turns out she actually likes how shy he is. Aurora was so used to walking red flag, cocky basketball players that sweet, shy hockey player Russ was a welcome change. Honestly, I loved them a lot.
Say what you want about the daddy issues in Wildfire, but it was something that Aurora and Russ could bond over. They both had complex relationships with their dads but for very different reasons. “It’s a day. I know it’s just a day, but it’s one that feels extra loud and extra in your face when you don’t have a good relationship with your dad.” We’ve just had Father’s Day in the UK (is it the same day everywhere?) and this couldn’t have felt more relevant. I don’t by any means have “daddy issues” , you’d have to care for that to be the case, but god is it annoying to open social media on that specific day – to be honest I find social media annoying most days.
This review is all over the place, and as I finished Wildfire a couple of weeks ago, my brain is filled with thoughts other than this book so I’m not forming very coherent opinions. Just know this, I adored this book. It won’t be for everyone but this was exactly what I needed.
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