⭐️ rating: 4
🔥 steam: 4
📚 genre: romance
📖 pages: 219
🍾 pub date: September 23, 2021

I’d been looking forward to this book since I read MAKE ME WILDER and WALK ON THE WILDER SIDE did not disappoint. In fact it was even hotter 🔥 (if that’s even possible?!😆)

Rachel Perez has a carefully crafted life-plan that is almost complete - except she loses *everything* in one single day. Needing to regroup, Rachel goes to her hometown of Rush Creek to assist her recently injured mother. Enter Brody, her brother’s best friend & longtime crush, who needs a little help with his boat tours - and who himself has been harbouring a secret crush on Rachel…

What I loved most in this book is how it deals the idea that life happens while we’re busy making other plans, and that’s okay, just enjoy the ride! Rachel’s journey starts with admitting to herself that she deserves better and that leads her to changing completely as a person. I also looooved how her liberation is also a sexual awakening - from missionary at home to selling sex toys on a boat, to taking charge in the bedroom?! Get it, girl 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Though I missed a bit of “tension” between the MCs, because their mutual attraction is established very early on in the book, WALK ON THE WILDER SIDE was a fun, sexy and heartwarming read! Definitely recommend this series if you are into family-driven, small-town romances!

Thank you to @netgalley and the author for gifting me an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

PS: Also, kudos to Rachel’s mom for introducing her to Korean dramas👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼

If you want to read my review of the first Wilder Adventures book check it out here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CSZz3y4Ldgk/

Walk on the Wilder Side, the second Wilder Adventures book.
⭐⭐⭐

I adored the first book in this series, but I did not enjoy this one as much. I loved Brody, he was such a great lead for this book and I love getting to know the Wilder family more but I just didn't connect with this story as much. However, I am so excited to keep reading and meeting each sibling in more detail in their own books.

Brody is a bad boy, everyone knows he is the bad egg of the Wilder clan but, there is so much more to Brody than meets the eye (though he is easy on the eyes as well, think classic bad boy look: tattoos, leather jacket, motorbike... ) Rachel has had a thing for Brody as long as she can remember, he is best friends with her older brother and she has always been invisible to him, or so she thought.

Rachel comes back to Rush Creek after her job, relationship, and apartment all get swoop out from under her. Brody wants to prove he can help his family's business, support his son, and make his brother proud, he just needs to start making some money with his boat, enter Rachel who is all grown up. She is helping her mum's new business venture and she wants to host her a selling party on Brody's boat... what could go wrong?

These books are spicey for your normal small-town romance which I'm so HERE for... The family has great banter.

please note: I was given a copy of this book directly by the Author but also wanted to review on here as well.

Dear Serena Bell,

I’ve enjoyed your books before so when I saw Walk on the Wilder Side at NetGalley I took a closer look. I want to say that the book is light-hearted – and for the most part I certainly experienced it that way – but there are some heavier topics canvassed, namely cheating and job loss and Brody’s arc includes finding his place as a non-screw-up adult within his family, within himself. Perhaps it’s more that there are plenty of lighter moments and that Rachel and Brody’s relationship includes a lot of fun and laughter. Mostly the tone of the book felt optimistic and upbeat.

At the start however, Rachel Perez is having a no-good, very bad day. She loses her dream job (through no fault of her own) and comes home to find her “perfect” boyfriend is cheating on her. In one fell swoop she loses her job, her man and her apartment. So she relocates from Boston to Rush Creek, Oregon, where her Cuban-American family is, to regroup and make a new plan. Rachel is a planner. I relate. I’m a big fan of plans myself actually. Recent events were most definitely NOT in Rachel’s plan.

As it happens, her mother has recently broken her foot and is on crutches for a few weeks and asks for Rachel’s help with her new business while her mobility is not ideal. As Rachel puts it:

The doctor said five weeks to heal the foot, and almost a week has already passed. I can start the job-hunting process just as well here as in Boston. I won’t have to look for an apartment, because Louisa is letting me sublet a room in hers.

I bet in another four weeks, I’ll have stopped crying at unpredictable intervals, which will make me a much stronger candidate in job interviews.

Brody Wilder is the motorcycle-riding, tattooed bad boy of the Wilder family, a family which contains five (very hot) brothers and a sister. Brody is the second-eldest (the oldest brother, Gabe got his HEA in the first book in the series Make Me Wilder – a book which is definitely in my reading future) Wilder brother. Their dad died when he was only 14. Gabe took the caretaker role for the family. Brody had been the prankster and school troublemaker and that continued. There has been tension between Brody and Gabe for the intervening 15 years. Gabe is too bossy and seems to expect Brody to mess things up. Brody, angry at the prejudgment, tends to do just what Gabe expects almost out of spite. But Brody is 29 now and he’s tired of being the “bad boy”. He doesn’t like the way he’s viewed by his family and the town and he wants things to be different. He’s just not sure how to make it happen.

When the Rush Creek Rodeo shut down and a natural springs in the town became the main tourism draw, Wilder Adventures, had to pivot. Brody’s Boat is his part of the business and his first idea is a Boat Book Club. Sounds easy right? Only things don’t go so well on that first occasion and Gabe is angry with Brody for the bad reviews Wilder Adventures gets as a result.

Brody and Rachel team up with her mother’s new direct sales “self-indulgence and self-care” business and his boat to revamp the business idea.

Brody has tried hard not to notice Rachel for years. She’s his best friend’s little sister and off limits. Rachel, for her part, has had a crush on Brody for most of her life.

When she comes home to Rush Creek she’s thinking that maybe it’s time to ease up on “the plan”. Brody is hot and ripped and it looks like he’s finally noticed she’s all grown up.

Brody had been engaged to Zoe but they split up when he found out that the son he thought was his was actually the product of a relationship Zoe had been having with a married man in town at the same time she was dating Brody. He’s crushed by the fact that he’s not Justin’s dad. He loves that little guy. Brody wants to keep Justin in his life somehow but he’s not sure what that is going to look like. And he’s worried how his family will react when they find out the real reason behind his and Zoe’s breakup.

Rachel’s default setting is to see Brody as capable and grown up and not a screw-up. And, through her eyes, Brody begins to see himself that way too. Over the course of the book he starts to back himself and his abilities, leaning into his strengths and finding ways to work around any weaknesses. He realises he doesn’t have to stop being Justin’s dad if he wants to be a father to the little boy – biology is only one factor after all and not the most important one. And he falls deeply in love with Rachel.

He’s not convinced he’s “plan material” for her and she’s going back to Boston, probably, but he finds himself beginning to hope.

Rachel loosens up around Brody in a way she has been unable to with anyone else. What she thinks might be a “bad boy fling” quickly becomes far more. Brody encourages her to be spontaneous and take a leap here and there (sometimes literally) and she sees the world doesn’t end when she does – in fact, things are pretty great.

There’s quite a bit of sexy humour as a result of the “self-care” in Rachel’s mother’s business being sex toys. Poor Brody thought Rachel was selling candles and bath bombs so when the dildoes and fleshlights came out he was… surprised to say the least. And Rachel’s own reaction when she first realised what her mother was selling was pretty funny too. The book is overtly sex positive and there are a number of little anecdotes from (mainly women) who attend the parties which I expect are based on real experiences.

The sex Rachel and Brody have is super hot, creative and fun. There’s no rush to PIV sex – Brody enjoys a good make-out session.

But Brody and Rachel’s connection is more than physical. They’re not entirely opposites either – they have plenty in common. Rachel is entirely on board with baby Justin being in Brody’s life and actively encourages it. I liked the found family aspect of the story a lot.

I wouldn’t have minded if the genre-convention of the third act break up was skipped over but at least it didn’t last very long.

I really liked that the growth both characters experienced was only partly because of the inspiration and encouragement of the other. Brody didn’t rely on Rachel or the sex-toy parties completely to boost his business – he had other creative ideas and he made them happen. Rachel didn’t just host parties on Brody’s Boat. She found a new confidence in helping people with intimacy aids and that inspired some changes too. It made me more assured in them as a couple, that they could be successful separately too.

There’s something about the writing style and the story that in spite of the heavier aspects left me thinking of Walk on the Wilder Side as “feel-good romance”. That’s what the cover says to me and what the book delivered. I liked spending time with the Wilder and Perez clans very much. I’m looking forward to reading about the other Wilder siblings and spending more time in Rush Creek.

Grade: B

Regards,
Kaetrin

This book is the second in the series about the Wilder family. I actually really like this family and like reading about them. This story has the best friend’s sister situation going on and that’s always a fun one. I really wanted to like this book but I just didn’t. The relationship between Rachel and Brody was too rushed. I needed more build up. The story also tried to focus on the relationships between the oldest brothers but it wasn’t super believable to me. Just kind of thrown in there. I felt like there were random things dropped into the story that added no value. And sadly on top of that the open door romance was too much. It was 75% of the story. That’s probably why there wasn’t enough room to slow other parts down and add more details.

Thank you Jelsba Media Group for the ARC.

"How does a bad boy end up hosting a book club on his boat?"

Whoever thought putting rough around the edges bad boy Brody in charge of TP, handwipes and keeping a bunch of ladies happy was sadly mistaken but with his place in the family business at stake Brody is willing to do just about anything to get his ratings up and keep his family happy, even if that means hosting adult toys parties with his best friends sister! The only thing Brody did not account for was how hot under the collar he would get seeing Rachel handle all kinds big vibrating objects!

••

"My life plan, since late high school, has been to avoid Rachel Perez at all costs, because that lip— her whole mouth, in fact— no, make that everything about her, inside and out—feels like a clear and present danger. It is a threat to my sanity and, more urgently, to my friendship with Connor."

Rachel has always had a plan for her life, the one thing she didn't plan was it to all go up in smoke, but with no job and finding her boyfriend cheating on her, Rachel heads home to regroup. The last thing she expected when she agreed to help her mum was to be hosting the adult toy version of Tupperware parties, or for them to be on her childhood crushes boat! Somewhere between the sway of the boat and some very erotic creams things begin to change between her and Brody, the question is can they make this work or were the destined to fail from the start?

••

"Whew. If I’m going to walk on the Wilder side, I should probably do it a little more stealthily."

Serena Bell has gone and done it again! Walk On The Wilder Side was THE MOST perfect romcom that I have read in awhile! Brody instantly stole my heart and I don't even want it back anymore! Gosh these Wilder boys are just to swoony, I can not wait to get my hands on more of their stories!

••

"I have the ridiculous thought that Brody limits his eye contact because it’s a controlled substance. And he doesn’t talk because he doesn’t need to. His body is eloquent."

Rachel and Brody had chemistry for days and did they heat things up! These two could not have been more perfectly suited! I loved that we got to see the real Brody not the bad boy that everyone thinks he is! Gosh did my heart break for him but I loved the way he connected and handled the entire Justin thing. As for our girl Rachel, she was such a trooper! I loved that she couldn't help but fall in love with her hometown and the boy she has been crushing on for ages!

••

“Maybe it’s not that you broke me, Maybe it’s that you put me back together.”

It was such a treat getting to see the rest of the Wilder clan and seeing Brody step up with Gabe. I absolutely love escaping to Wilder Adventures, this book is an absolute must read! You will find yourself falling hard for his couple and their zany boat tours!

Walk on the Wilder Side is the second book in the Wilder Adventures series and I now need to read book one! This is fun, sexy, and heartwarming with good pacing. I was cackling when each character had their realizations about the "self-enhancement" tool selling. Brody watching his childhood crush talk to a bunch of women about self-pleasure while holding onto a toy killed me. Oooof the tension is perfection and be prepared for open door spice!

I connected well with Rachel’s life planner ways and love to see a woman who takes charge of her needs in the bedroom. Brody’s bad boy nature has created this illusion of himself that he isn’t good enough for his family or for Rachel which is just heartbreaking. The Perez and Wilder families added in great dynamics that felt authentic and added to the story. I look forward to reading more from Serena Bell!

4.5 stars rounded up

I have read number of hooks from Serena Bell and this is my favorite series from her!

Brody and Rachel had a lot of chemistry and it was fun seeing how their relationship developed. The story moves at a good pace and it's a fun, quick read with a lot of humor and heat.

I can't wait for more in this series!

Rachel Perez is convinced that her live in boyfriend, Werner is ready to pop the question. When Rachel unexpectantly loses her job and heads home, she is shocked to find Werner in their bed with another woman. After losing her job and dumping Werner, Rachel heads back to her parent's house in Oregon.

Brody Wilder is the bad boy of the Wilder family that runs Wilder Adventures in Oregon and he handles all of the boating adventures. While trying to improve business, Brody decides to host a ladies book club on his boat. Too bad it ends up in a disaster and the on-line reviews make things worse. When Brody's best friend, Connor tells him how his mom sells beauty type products and that she could hold a meeting on his boat, Brody is unconvinced until he finds out that Connor's little sister Rachel is in town and is helping her mom out. Now Brody is very interested.....but too bad there is the Bro's Code of NOT dating your best friend's sister.

Brody is shocked when he finds out what Rachel is actually selling! Of course this peaks his interest but it doesn't help in the "avoiding Rachel" situation. At the same time Rachel is determined to to catch Brody's attention. When these two finally give in to their desires, things are explosive and Rachel and Brody both realize that there is more to this attraction than they first thought. Just when Rachel and Brody thought they were going to have their happy ending, different opportunities come up and their life changes. When both of them start to deal with certain things in their lives, they both come to the same conclusion that they belong together and it happens in the best way!

I freaking loved this steamy, sexy best friend's little sister story! Brody and Rachel had such perfect chemistry. I loved Brody. He was such a bad boy with a huge heart of gold. He really deserved someone as sweet as Rachel. It was fun watching Rachel, who preferred her life to be all planned out, just go for it without a plan. It certainly makes for a more entertaining life. Overall I loved this book and now I want to go back and read Gabe's story!

A fun and hot story about a bad boy and good girl who are more than their labels and perfect together. This is part of a series but can easily be read as a stand alone.

Themes

* Best Friend’s sister
* A really refreshing story
* Mutual pining
* Sex positivity

Trigger Warnings

18+ Sexual Content

Ratings

Overall: 4/5
Shock: N/A
Angst: 3/5
Tears: N/A
Spice: 3/5

Feelings

Rachel has had a plan all her life that consists of getting a boyfriend, moving into an apartment, getting married, and having 2.5 kids. Everything changes when she loses her job and comes home to her boyfriend sleeping with another woman. After going back home to reevaluate what she wants, Rachel runs into Brody, her secret crush and brother’s best friend. Brody has struggled with trying to get away from his “bad boy” reputation and wants to be taken more seriously when it comes to running his part in the Wilder family business. After a book club on the Wilder’s boat turns into a disaster consisting of clogged toilets and puppies thrown overboard, Brody is determined to enlist some help, even if it involves Rachel, his secret crush and someone he vowed to never touch. That becomes more difficult than he thought when the events that Rachel helps with involve selling sex toys and demonstrating them.
 
Walk on the Wilder Side was such a positive, refreshing story of two characters bonding as they try to find themselves after life events turn them upside down. I love the brother’s best friend trope and this was so well done. The story and characters feel so real and their thoughts and choices feel so realistic to the situations that are thrown at them. Walk on the Wilder Side feels mature where there is no pettiness or misunderstandings that don’t make sense and I loved that!
 
All the scenes that talk so openly about sex in regards to an individual or a relationship was incredibly refreshing and eye-opening. The ways that these women discuss situations that can seriously affect their sex life was so great and I loved reading those scenes. There were so many laugh out loud and “aha” moments that I will always remember.
 
The relationship between Rachel and Brody was so freaking cute. There was lots of tension in the beginning and the book definitely gave the spice! I am a sucker for books with discreet covers and spicy content. All of the side characters were so good where it makes me want to check out the first book and other books that will continue in the series!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. A Walk on the Wilder Side by Serena Bell releases 09/23!

Ok, so I went into this not realizing that this was book two in the series. Turns out, it was quite alright. We follow Brody and Rachel in this story and man was it hot and steamy! Woo.... spicy scenes... yes please. Forbidden romance... yup all here for it! Sound like your type of book... pick it up! Trust me! Now I need to read the first book while I wait for the next one in the series to come out!

Best friend's sibling or sibling's best friend is always a God tier trope. I had high hopes for this coming in but sadly it wasn't my favorite. Don't get me wrong I really liked the characters, I like the steam, I LOVED the nautical theme and our main man Brody but for some reason it just didn't hit me in the way I had hoped for.

This book is sprinkled with romance cliches and normally I LOVE that so like bring it on. I'll happily accept. Sadly, I just couldn't connect to it this time around. The characters are likable enough and I enjoyed the writing style and pacing so I'm chalking this up to a case of "it's not you, it's me".

3.5/5 stars

"perfect" , always has a plan girl meets broody bad boy who also happens to be her brothers best friend?
mutual secret crushes from when they were little?
forced to work together hosting *self care* parties?
small town romance?
YES PLEASE!
Rachel and Brody are wrangled expertly by their families into working together to host self care parties on Brody's boat, they just didn't realize what kind of self care they were going to be talking about! Personally, I loved these parts of the book, not only were Brody and Rachel cranking up the heat with there across the rooms stares, but the openness that was described and how all of the women at the parties interacted was so much fun.
The banter between Brody and Rachel themselves was cute, though I was constantly nervous they would run into Conner!
The Brody/Zoe/Justin storyline felt a little bit rushed to me, but I have yet to have a chance to read the first in the series so I am not sure if that is a running plot line throughout the other books as well?
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was cute, sweet, funny, low angst, a little spicy and a lot of fun!!

Walk on the Wilder Side by Serena Bell is book 2 of the Wilder Adventures series!!

Ever since I read Make Me Wilder back in May, I knew this was going to be a great romance series!! ❤️

I love how Bell delivers a fun, steamy love story without it being over the top but also how you start to care about the characters and how their lives will turn out.

I’ll confess that when I was reading Make Me Wilder, I wasn’t a big fan of Brody, but this one totally changed my mind and I was rooting for him and Rachel.

I love that apart from the romance, there were topics like knowing your self worth/valuing your strengths and letting go of unrealistic expectations and plans - for me it gave this story an extra touch!

I’d recommend this one to all the romance readers out there! It is out on 9/23

✨Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Author Collective 20 for an eARC of this book in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.✨

This review will be posted on my Instagram account (@bm.bookish.girl) closer to publication day.

The second one in the series and I was so excited since I loved the first one so much. You need to read the first one so you can completely fall in love with the family and fully understand the family dynamic.

Brody and Rachel had amazing chemistry throughout the book, and the amount of family drama was just the right amount that it didn't stress me out. The growth / development of the characters, main and side, were done very well. I am so excited to read the third book in the series.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this book.
I really enjoyed reading this. If you’re looking for something light, fun, and hot, then I have a feeling this series is for you! It was my first encounter with the Wilder boys but I found it was easy to understand who everyone was.
Rachel and Brody have great chemistry and I’m curious about the rest of the boys and their happy ending.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 “You, Brody. It was you. It was always you.”

What You’ll Find:
✔️Steamy Romance
✔️Best Friends Sister
✔️Broody Hero
✔️Secret Crush
✔️Dual POV

Walk On The Wilder Side is a fantastic fun and steamy addition to this sibling series that kept me turning the pages long into the night!

Brody is known as the ‘bad boy’ Wilder. And he does well to keep up the image. Now he needs to step things up to help Wilder Adventures, the family business. And that includes adding girls nights out excursions on his boat. Enter Rachel, his best friends librarian ‘good girl’ sister, who certainly rocks his boat with her parties. And when feelings come to light, they don’t waste time. But Brody’s not known to be the forever type. And Rachel’s not in town to stay.

I dived right into the one after reading Walk on Wilder Side and was not disappointed. I hate to compare books but while this one had some similar themes, it also had a little more of what I was looking for in that first book... more of an emotional connection.

These two had chemistry for days and it had the same similar signature heat. But I liked how they were straightforward in what they felt early on. I’ve seen this type of storyline dragged on in books and it was so refreshing that it wasn’t in this case. Though they were pretty full steam ahead, with their history it worked for me.

Overall a fun, light angst, sexy and heartwarming story that I really enjoyed. The emphasis on speaking up and the power of apology and forgiveness was a great touch. I am really loving this family and can’t wait for more! The sneak peek of Clark’s story sounds exactly like my cup of tea! Oh, and be sure to download the bonus epilogue! Who knew Brody could be so darn romantic? Swoon.

*I received an ARC from Author Collective 20, Jelsba Media Group via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own and given freely.

Another hot Wilder finds his happy ending with his BF sister. A very emotionally, hot love story full of family drama that makes you laugh while it warms your heart. The characters are amazing, a little bit crazy, and make a wonderful read in this amazing series. Can't wait to see Clark.
I volunteered to review an ARC of this book for NetGalley

Thank you to Author Collective 20 and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so cute! After first meeting Brody and Rachel in book one, I was dying to read about their relationship. Brody is a secret cinnamon roll bad boy, and Rachel is your typical “good girl” who wants her life to live a little after her perfect life gets derailed.

I loved the banter and the chemistry between Brody and Rachel. I also really loved the way that Brody handled the Justin situation, and that he was really dedicated to being there for him no matter what. Overall this was a super cute and light read!

BOOK REVIEW: Walk on the Wilder Side by @serenabellbooks

4.5 stars

Smut level: 4/5

What an absolute joy of a read! I adored the first book in this series and Walk on the Wilder side was just as good! I have also read Serena Bell's Tierney Bay series which I loved. Her books definitely deserve more recognition and hype!

This series surrounds the Wilder family, whose siblings comprise of 5 brothers and their sister. The first book focused on the eldest brother Gabe and this book was on the "bad boy" of the family, Brody.
Brody is such a wonderful character to get to know. He is definitely more than meets the eye and beneath all his leather, tattoos and muscles is the kindest heart and the want to be involved and loved. Brody's love interest is his best friend's sister called Rachel. I loved Rachel! At the start she finds herself in the day from hell when she gets let go from her librarian job and then finds her boyfriend cheating on her it their own bed. I definitely connected with Rachel who, like me, is a planner and who found it hard to lose so much of her life plan in one day. Seeing Rachel open up and tap into her spontaneous side was great to see.
The side characters of the rest of the Wilders were great and I am excited to get to know each of them even more in future books!

The romance was well done and well paced. There is obvious chemistry between Brody and Rachel and they seemed so comfortable with each other. The smut is great, the perfect amount and well written. There are many sexy scenes!

The writing was brilliant, easy to read and really engaging. I loved the humour mixed with a few more serious themes and the story had the perfect level of depth and fun.
I loved this book and I cannot recommend this series more!

Please note that I was #gifted this ebook in exchange for an honest review.