Review Post: Wilder (Renegades #1) by Rebecca Yarros

Wilder

Rebecca Yarros

He’s Paxton Wilder.

Twenty-two-year-old, tattooed, smoking-hot leader of the Renegades.

Five time X Games medalist.

The world is his playground—especially this year—and for the next nine months I’m stuck as his tutor on the Study at Sea program.

He’s too busy staging worldwide stunts for his documentary to get to class.

But if I can’t get him to take academics seriously, I’ll lose my scholarship…if I don’t lose my heart first.

Six unlikely friends on a nine-month cruise with the Study at Sea program will learn that chemistry is more than a subject and the best lessons aren’t taught in the classroom…but in the heart.

Goodreads

Five Completely Unforgettable Stars

There is something to be said about a book that completely takes you within its grasp in every way possible way from the very first word until the very last. Those are the kinds of books you feel every ounce of. Those are the kinds of books that you LOVE whole heartedly with every breath in your body. Those are the kinds of books that give you experiences and characters and moments you’ve never met before, yet know from the very first time you live and experience their world with them, that you NEED more of them all in your life.

Books like that give me life. Books like that are why I am a reader. Books like that are unforgettable in every way, shape and form.

Wilder by Rebecca Yarros is a book like that. It’s a book like that and more.

When I tell you that this book is everything, I mean it. It’s everything. And then some. It’s swoony, it’s emotional, it’s full of feels and spark and adrenaline that will have you feeling and breathing and just in awe of it all. It’ll take your breath away, give you life with every turn of that page, while simultaneously having you fall in fierce, all out love with two extraordinary characters.

This story will make you, it will bring you to places you never thought you’d get to go, and along the way it’ll give you one helluva story that will turn your world, and your heart, upside down in the best possible way.

Now if there’s one thing I know in life, it’s that Rebecca Yarros knows how to write a darn good book. I have read everything she’s written, and let me tell you, this author knows how to write. She knows how to thrust you into it all in the most all-consuming way to the point that you will literally not be able to put the book down. She knows how to connect you in every way possible to the authentic and completely realistic world she creates, and more than that she allows you to understand what it’s like to live the lives her characters do. She also knows how to create some wonderfully distinctive characters that will steal your heart from the very first time you meet them.

Bottom line: Rebecca Yarros puts you in her books, heart first, and lets you get, feel, and understand it all through every turn of the page, and that is just part of what makes reading a book with her so exceptional.

Wilder is the start of a new series from this author, and I have to say that the premise of this book had me intrigued from the very start. The thought of getting to experience characters travelling the world, while also getting to see them complete the most extreme and adventurous stunts had me knowing that this was a book I didn’t want to miss. Throw in the fact that this story involves two seemingly opposite characters falling hard and fast for one another, and I was beyond sold on what this book had to offer.

From the very first page of Wilder, I was hooked, lined, and sinkered into everything Rebecca Yarros so exceptionally crafted with these two. From those first moments of getting to know Leah and seeing her firecracker self burst off of the page, to getting to experience the literal spark that is Paxton Wilder, to getting to be there as these two got to know one another and then being there as it all started to change between them…I was beyond smitten with everything I was getting in this story.

Through every new chapter in this book, Paxton and Leah become closer and closer, and I just continued to fall harder and deeper for the two of them, and the possibilities of what could be. There truly is something undeniable about the two of them. There is a tangible spark between those two that fires off the page like the most brilliant and mesmerizing fireworks show you’ve ever see and experienced in your life. You FEEL that spark in your bones while reading Wilder because that’s how real and authentic and visceral it feels.

Rebecca Yarros allows you to be in every single second of this book with Paxton and Leah as they realize more and more what’s happening between them, and getting the emotional, raw, and intense connection you do with them will bring that all to life in the most spectacular way.

When I tell you that their story took my breath away, I am not exaggerating. Not one little bit. Their story, their backgrounds, their own personal struggles and fears and heartbreak, coupled with what they were trying to create together literally stole my breath on more than one occasion. All of that also made my heart feel like it was racing out of my chest at times, or melting into a puddle of emotion the deeper and riskier things got for these two, and through it all they just kept stealing my breath.

Their level of real connection and all-feeling spark that lit me on fire, stole my breath.

Their level of honesty, vulnerability with themselves and with one another, and the depth of what they were willing to share, even though it scared them out of their minds, stole my breath.

Their level of emotion that literally hurt my heart at times, while simultaneously deepening my love for them and what could be, stole my breath.

Everything with Pax and Leah as they tried to wade through what they were really feeling, what could be between them, and what they could handle when they met the one person who could turn their entire world upside down, stole my breath.

And I’ve never been happier to not breathe in my entire life.

Pax and Leah are two characters that are permanently seared to my heart for the rest of time, and it is all because of what Rebecca Yarros so spectacularly gave me with them. She made them two of the most real, easy to love, honest and endearing characters I have ever read, and the more I got with them, the more I just willingly gave my heart to them both. Whether it was learning each of their backstories that explained so much about their presents, or whether it was what started to happen between these two as they got closer to one another, or whether it was seeing the effect they both had on each other, I was beyond enamored with them both.

Rebecca Yarros has a phenomenal talent with making her characters so easy to understand, love, and root for through everything that she gives with them, and Pax and Leah were no exception.

Getting to know the real Paxton, getting to see him and not just the Wilder persona he put out to the world, and getting to understand what was really driving him through it all, sent my heart right to that man a million times over in this book. It also didn’t hurt that he is one of the most charming and vibrant characters I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Paxton never failed to bring a smile to my face or make my heart beat just a bit faster, and getting to know the real him, getting to see him fall for someone and what that was actually like for him, and getting to be there as he put it all out on the line when it really mattered was nothing short of everything. It was sweet, it was heart meltingly good, and it was so him in the most distinctive way that will have you loving this renegade man in no time flat.

Now Leah’s character is one that my heart went to right from the start. That girl was so beyond easy to love and connect to, and the more I got of her, and the more I realized that there was so much that she had been through, the more that my heart connected with her. That girl is a fighter, through and through, and the tenacity and strength she has knows no bounds. She is the definition of a firecracker, and getting to be there as she discovered that spark within her once again, and as she realized what could be if she just kept fighting and took that leap of faith, was one of the most exhilarating, emotional, and unforgettable experiences I’ve had when reading a book. Simply put, Leah is a gem of a character, and her goodness will warm your heart and remind you of the literal amazingness that emanates from her.

Paxton and Leah’s story in Wilder is so many things. It’s full of exciting moments that will have you feeling like you’re right there with them, right in the thick of it, experiencing all of the magic and spark and adrenaline in the same breath they are. It’s emotional and raw and so full of intense feels at times that you will practically be bursting with so much for them, while these two try to see what could be. It’s also full of adventure and meaning and so much glorious fight. It exemplifies what it means to fight for yourself, to fight for what you want and crave and so desperately need, and what it really means fight with your entire being, to put it all on the line for the world to see, and what it means to pour your soul into a fight that will change everything.

Wilder was phenomenally written, exhilarating to read, and hands down one of the best books I have ever read. I also don’t think I’ve had as much fun reading a book in quite a bit of time, and the adventure and feelings and spark that Pax and Leah find themselves in in this book will have you rooting for those two with all that you have in no time flat. Trust me on that! I’m already itching for more from all of these characters, and I am beyond excited to see what Rebecca Yarros has in store for us as this series continues.

Whatever may come as this dynamic world continues, I have no doubt that it will be oh so real, oh so intense, and oh so unforgettable.

Wilder by Rebecca Yarros is the true definition of a good book. This book showed me again and again why I love this author, her words, and everything she so brilliantly crafts. This story and its characters reminded me again and again why I LOVE a good love story, and they exemplified what it means to read a love story that touches your very soul. The emotions and feelings and moments I got to live within this book reminded me again and again why this will be a top read of the year for me, and why I will never forget what it was like to read this book.

I said it before, and I’ll say it again…Wilder is everything. And then some. That is just a fraction of what makes it such an exceptional read that will light your heart on fire, melt and squeeze it again and again, while having you fall oh so hopelessly for what Paxton and Leah share. And it truly doesn’t get better than that.