Wild Life Review

By Opal Wei

Star rating: ★★★★★

Blurb

They're walking on the wild side…

The Plan was simple: find a cure for the cancer that nearly took her sister’s life. But for Zoey Fong, something about The Plan isn’t working anymore. Maybe it’s her unsuccessful research, maybe it’s burnout. But when a crucial tissue sample accidentally winds up in the hands of a very distracting—and disarmingly handsome—visitor, Zoey jumps at the chance to follow him home to retrieve it.

Davy Hsieh’s rugged island estate is no manicured suburban park. His plan is simple: establish a legitimate animal sanctuary and embrace life as a hermit to make up for a sketchy past. Zoey invading his fortress of solitude should not, under any circumstances, be a romantic development.

And yet it’s the single most invigorating week of their lives…when they're able to set their many differences aside and embrace it. Stranded amid all manner of flora and fauna—including a semi-domesticated cougar called Baby—Davy and Zoey first have to survive the island. Then they'll need to take a leap of faith, maybe even trusting in each other, to save it.

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Read if you Like:

🐆 Romcom

🐆 Anxiety Rep

🐆 He owns an island

🐆 She's a grad student

🐆 He has a cougar

My Thoughts:

Wild Life is utter chaos in the best way possible. It is funny, a bit unpredictable, and highly relatable (assuming you are a type A person who realized at some point burnout exists).

I related to Zoey ALOT. I am currently a graduate student and while I ultimately decided to stick with my program there were a lot of moments where I doubted myself. I also made my plan when I was very young and didn't completely realize that being in school for that many years is exhausting. I had a moment reading this where I thought she's being crazy who would do that to avoid work and then I thought about all the things I did over the years and was like oh well maybe in that situation I would have done that too.

I also liked Davy and how his character was handled. He struggles with anxiety and makes some extreme decisions (like living on an island alone) to avoid things that trigger his anxiety. While most people don't have these types of resources, I think most people might make that decision if they had anxiety and an island.

I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a romcom, particularly to my fellow academic overachievers with anxiety. This book is for us!

🌶️🌶️ - This book has one or two open-door steamy scenes. They aren't hugely descriptive.

🎧🎧🎧🎧 - I listened to the audiobook version of this title and really enjoyed it. I thought Natalie Naudus did a great job! Romance readers may recognize her from One Last Stop. I will note that this story is dual POV and single narrator.