Title: Wild Hearts
Series: If Only . . .
Author: Jessica Burkhart
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Publication Date: May 5, 2015
Source: Printed ARC from Bloomsbury
Enjoy Wild Hearts and the other standalone titles in Bloomsbury's contemporary If Only romance line centered around an impossible problem: you always want what you can't have!
Brie Carter's father's land development business has taken her family all over the world,
but as soon as they arrive at their new home in Lost Springs, Wyoming, the town turns out to protest. They don't want a new hotel if the resident mustang population will be displaced or hurt as part of the deal. Then Brie meets Logan, a gorgeous local who has a special connection to the mustangs, and she is immediately drawn to him . . . and the horses. However, with Logan's father leading the protests and Brie's father refusing to budge, it's clear that their parents are heading towards an all-out war. Can Brie and Logan find a way to save the mustangs and be together? Or is their love doomed from the start?
This new title in the If Only line is the perfect summer read and proves that love flourishes in the wildest places!
Brie Carter's father's land development business has taken her family all over the world,
but as soon as they arrive at their new home in Lost Springs, Wyoming, the town turns out to protest. They don't want a new hotel if the resident mustang population will be displaced or hurt as part of the deal. Then Brie meets Logan, a gorgeous local who has a special connection to the mustangs, and she is immediately drawn to him . . . and the horses. However, with Logan's father leading the protests and Brie's father refusing to budge, it's clear that their parents are heading towards an all-out war. Can Brie and Logan find a way to save the mustangs and be together? Or is their love doomed from the start?
This new title in the If Only line is the perfect summer read and proves that love flourishes in the wildest places!
My Review
Wild Hearts is a standalone novel in the If Only . . . series, a series of novels about forbidden love. The cool thing about the series is that all of the titles are standalone novels, so they can be read in any order (or you could skip the ones that don't interest you). Wild Hearts by Jessica Burkhart is the first title that I've read in the series (and my first Jessica Burkhart book), and I'm sure it probably won't be the last as many of the released and upcoming titles look entertaining and adorable. Unfortunately, Wild Hearts wasn't a huge hit for me, but I did find some aspects of the book to be cute.
Wild Hearts is about Brie Carter and Logan McCoy's Romeo and Juliet romance. They are immediately attracted to one another, but their fathers hate each other. Their romance is pretty much instantaneous, and if I had to, I'd label it as instalove. It just seemed a bit unrealistic for the new girl in town to fall for the most gorgeous guy in town so quickly. Their romance is sickly sweet, and to be honest, it was a bit too much for me to handle. Sometimes I thought parts were outstanding and adorable, but other times, I was scratching my head because it was just so weird.
Brie is one of those characters that I could take or leave, and for me, it's kind of a problem if I don't connect with the protagonist. Here she is, a girl who is forced to move pretty much every year, and she's just kind of bland. She has a lot of stories, but they really don't make her as interesting as one would think they would. She complains a lot about not having "a thing" of her own. It was nice to see that she wanted to find something that made her unique in the world, but the complaining got annoying. By the middle of the book, she finds something that makes her happy, and I loved that part, but it was kind of upsetting that she just dropped her "no boyfriend until college" rule to find the thing that she wanted. Even so, I was proud of her by the end of the novel for all that she and Logan accomplished in such a short amount of time.
If you're looking for a YA romance that's set in the country, then Wild Hearts is definitely for you. I can see many readers devouring this book during a summer camping trip or at the beach. Burkhart does a great job at setting the scene and tone of life in Lost Springs, and her imagery is fantastic, even if some aspects of the book are a little corny. She writes about horses in a way that felt very realistic, and those parts held my interest, even if I didn't agree with some of the things that the characters do. I felt like I was able to picture the entire town of Lost Springs, and it was a fairly enjoyable ride.
Wild Hearts is about Brie Carter and Logan McCoy's Romeo and Juliet romance. They are immediately attracted to one another, but their fathers hate each other. Their romance is pretty much instantaneous, and if I had to, I'd label it as instalove. It just seemed a bit unrealistic for the new girl in town to fall for the most gorgeous guy in town so quickly. Their romance is sickly sweet, and to be honest, it was a bit too much for me to handle. Sometimes I thought parts were outstanding and adorable, but other times, I was scratching my head because it was just so weird.
Brie is one of those characters that I could take or leave, and for me, it's kind of a problem if I don't connect with the protagonist. Here she is, a girl who is forced to move pretty much every year, and she's just kind of bland. She has a lot of stories, but they really don't make her as interesting as one would think they would. She complains a lot about not having "a thing" of her own. It was nice to see that she wanted to find something that made her unique in the world, but the complaining got annoying. By the middle of the book, she finds something that makes her happy, and I loved that part, but it was kind of upsetting that she just dropped her "no boyfriend until college" rule to find the thing that she wanted. Even so, I was proud of her by the end of the novel for all that she and Logan accomplished in such a short amount of time.
If you're looking for a YA romance that's set in the country, then Wild Hearts is definitely for you. I can see many readers devouring this book during a summer camping trip or at the beach. Burkhart does a great job at setting the scene and tone of life in Lost Springs, and her imagery is fantastic, even if some aspects of the book are a little corny. She writes about horses in a way that felt very realistic, and those parts held my interest, even if I didn't agree with some of the things that the characters do. I felt like I was able to picture the entire town of Lost Springs, and it was a fairly enjoyable ride.
I feel like I would have a hard time connecting with this book because it isn't really something I am normally interested in.
ReplyDeleteMissie @ A Flurry of Ponderings
If you aren't interested in horses, I definitely wouldn't read it. I've read books about horses before, even though I'm not huge on them and enjoyed them, but this one just wasn't the greatest.
ReplyDeleteI've been a fan of Jessica Burkhart for a long time now, but your review is kind of making me hesitant in requesting for an ARC copy. The cover is gorgeous, I like the plot...but if I can't connect with the characters, that's an obvious downside for me. I'll probably end up giving this one a shot. Great review though, Erin! :)
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely worth a shot. I just think the romance (and an event that I don't want to spoil) was too much for me, which is weird because I normally love a good YA romance.
ReplyDeleteBut yes... I love the cover! The covers for all of the If Only . . . books are so stinking cute.
Thanks, Talina! :)
I've also read one book from this series (Not in the Script) and it totally wasn't my thing. :( I'm afraid that it'll be hard for me to connect with the main character, too. This sounds a bit too cheesy for my liking. I'm glad you at least enjoyed it, Erin! :)
ReplyDeleteNot in the Script was the first one I saw in the series, and it looked cute but I never read it. I still want to give it a try, but the newer ones look a lot better.
ReplyDeleteThis one is definitely cheesy, and there were a few times that I almost DNFed it, but I kept reading because I wanted it to be a four or five star rating for me, especially with all the negative reviews for it. Oh well. You live and you learn, right?
I already requested it for review. Let's hope I got the right e-mail address, haha! :) Aren't they?! I need all of them on my shelf just because of the covers! :)
ReplyDeleteFrom NetGalley? I know it's archived in the U.S., but I really hope you're able to snag a copy because it's definitely cute.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes! I love how they all have a similar cover theme going on but they are all still so unique. I'd display those with pride.
No, not from Netgalley. I contacted Bloomsbury Children USA. :) I hope so too! I really would love to have a copy of this. If I don't end up liking it, I'll probably give it to my sister, haha. :) Exactly! Cute and chick, but has their own uniqueness to them. Do you have all of them in print?
ReplyDeleteOkay! That's how I got it too. I sent in the request for it (and other books) a while ago, and when everyone was freaking out about getting ACOTAR, I got this one in the mail.
ReplyDeleteI give books I don't like to my sister all the time, and we share a lot of the Sarah Ockler books just because she's one of the only authors we can agree on.
I actually only have Wild Hearts in print. I know they released them all in hardcover and paperback simultaneously, and I'm thinking of getting them all in paperback. But... I really want to contact them about writing a book for the series because I have a really good idea for one.
Ah, that's cool! :) Fingers crossed that they send me a copy for review! :) I'm ashamed that I've never read any of Sarah Ockler's books before. I'll have to get to them ASAP! :) Wow, you're going to ask to write another book in the series? I hope they say yes! :) I'll definitely be picking up a copy if they do. ;D
ReplyDeleteI hope they send you one!
ReplyDeleteI love Sarah Ockler. She's amazing. My sister actually got me hooked on her, and it's funny because I won't share my ARC of The Summer of Chasing Mermaids with her just yet.
And I'd like to. I have an idea in my head that I might just write for NaNoWriMo, but I want to shop it around. I might submit it to Swoon Reads though because it's easier.