I absolutely love me some Wilder. He was such an handsome asshole!
He and Violet was so good together, even though he was such an ass and Violet was a little annoying.

I did enjoy the book and it definitely wasn’t boring, a lot has happened. But overall I think it was a pretty predictable story with nothing that outstanding happening. I also think some more character development could’ve taken place, because I believe that everyone should be responsible for their own happiness and that they shouldn’t rely on someone else for that.

This was a decent read. It was a bit angsty at times, which I think I’m getting a bit old for, but it was still an enjoyable read. I recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

I'm sorry but this one wasn't for me at all. I made it to around the 70% mark, then skimmed the rest just so I could get to the end instead of dnfing.

The art class scene is what finally did this book in for me. There is a big difference between love and lust. I found nothing romantic about this book at all.

It is jam packed with toxic relationships, self pity, crying or talking about crying. And I simply cannot 'ship' Vi and Wilder. Their relationship is very unhealthy and I personally did not find them compatible.

The writing style is very simplistic which makes this book easy to speed read, but it was also a book that focused on the 'telling' but never showing, which makes it more difficult to connect with the world and characters.

This book brought me down, which doesn't mean it was a bad book, it's just not what I personally wanted from my reading experience - particularly from a romance. Pretty cover though!

Even Wilder is an interesting friends to lovers romance.

Wilder hides his anger, frustration, and fears behind alcohol and sex. His friend Violet suffers a lot as a result. They have a strong bong, are best friends, and are clearly meant to be together forever. But to get to their forever, they have to face a whole lot of stupidity, mistakes, growing up, danger, and tragic events.

Seriously, their story is a hot mess. It's emotional and a long ride for sure, full of pain and hurt.

The writing is good, with great dialogue and a decent storyline. The tone is serious and dark throughout, with a complex plot full of twists and turns. It is a tough read for sure.

Take note that there are some possible triggers of off page sexual abuse, as well as murder.

I definitely enjoyed Even Wilder but I had a personal problem with some of the events and their reactions. I'm not sure when I'd recommend this, but it kept my interest throughout.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this title.

3.5
Not because it was bad.. But not exactly my type of book. It was very emotional and heartbreaking at times. Great job to the author on their writing.

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC to read and give my honest opinion.

This is the story of two friends traversing to lovers with a lot of drama and instigation instead of just saying how they really feel.

What did I like? I like what the author was trying to convey it just seemed like a lot of work for two people to be together. I had a hard time finishing this because of the push and pull between Vi and Wilder.

Would I buy or recommend? Sadly no, I don’t feel like this book really helped pull Vi and Wilder together. The drama was childish and just drove me crazy

This book just was very weird for me, it felt like there was absolutely no plot and I didn’t connect with any of the characters. I felt like Wilder’s confession really just came out of the blue and that much of things that happened had absolutely no reason.
I dnf’d it at about 51%, It was literally just so boring

This was a rough read. It started strong and got me engaged but I’m sorry to say it went downhill from there. I found myself shaking my head at the ridiculous stuff happening in this book. Also it needs a ton of editing. Sorry but I do not recommend. Thank you to netgalley for the arc.

Even Wilder by Bria Leigh has left me a bit torn. I feel that this book could have been so good, and I liked the premise of it. The main characters Violet and Wilder are interesting and have a well established relationship. However, that did not outweigh the numerous problems I had while reading this. The situations that the main protagonists go through/are mentioned are not thoroughly addressed and the author skims over them. I felt that Violet went through something in her past that was never fully resolved and is a potential trigger to readers. I also felt that the focus of the novel shifted more from Violet to Wilder in a weird way. The secondary characters, Violet's mother, Violet's roommate, and Wilder's brother, were all great additions to the book and had their own development. But their stories were not complete or resolved by the end of the novel either. It makes me wonder if Leigh is planning on making this a series or if she will be writing more books in this world. There were a few grammatical errors throughout the novel, but nothing major. The story's pacing was extremely fast, but it kept me interested enough that I wanted to finish the novel. I definitely feel that there should've been more attention focused on Violet and Wilder's own struggles and less on their relationship and becoming a couple, simply because their struggles were so important and impactful. I also think the number of problems that arose in the novel without clear or more complete resolution/attention was an issue. There was not enough development, it was a lot of reporting that the characters went through a situation. The connection between Wilder and Violet was there, but it was not as descriptive and I felt that the author was telling and not showing me their connection enough. Even Wilder was a good romance, but there were too many holes and situations that were not fully fleshed out and dealt with by the characters.

I really enjoyed this story, for the most part.

This is a young adult, friends to lovers story. The relationship between Violet and Wilder is well fleshed out, neither of them have an easy life and they find solace in each other, but it takes a lot longer and a number of life lessons for either of them to admit their feelings for each other run deeper than friendship.

Violet's mother's a great character. Even though she'll never win mother of the year, her heart was in the right place.

As for Wilder's mother, yeah, let's not go there. Grr!

I get why Violet was so sad, but for the first half of the book, she cried so much, rather than empathize with her, it started to grate on my last nerve.

The pacing and plot are on point, except for one episode that left me scratching my head. I even backtracked to see if I’d missed something. I simply couldn’t imagine Violet's mother sitting at home relaxing with a drink after such a horrific event. In fact, the entire neighbourhood should've been reeling, but it was almost a non-event. Also, the Christmas Even timeline felt off t me.

My quibbles aside, this story is well-penned and I urge lovers of young adult, friends to lovers type stories to give it ago.

The writing was stilted. The book jumped over important scenes. The characters weren’t well developed. Not enough background history of the main characters. I couldn’t finish it. I read half way and then jumped to the last couple of chapters.

This book was a friends to lovers story between Violet and Wilder. It was written well and kept my interest but was not my favourite storyline.

Although Even Wilder is described as a romance, it also mentions some heavier topics including racism, domestic violence and sexual abuse, but disappointingly they were just kind of brushed off to the side. I think the author missed the opportunity to bring more depth to the characters and to the story. The pacing was also a little off for me, particularly the latter half of the book. It felt rushed. I still enjoyed the book though and read it in one sitting.
A solid 2.5 stars