The Wild One (Choc Lit)

A good well-balanced story. Enjoyed it.

With sweeping descriptions that have you tasting the red earth of an Australian national park, and complex characters that bring the story to life, this is definitely a love story with substance.

Four lost individuals - a soldier with PTSD, a photographer running away from her memories, a jockey that hasn't recovered from a terrible fall, and a struggling horse breeder trying to live up to his father's legacy - come together to save some wild horses.

While two love stories at its heart, there is plenty of meat and substance to keep the reader entertained and turning the pages to find out what happens next. One for those that love their romance with some bite. Or their horses. Or both.

I really want to visit Coorah Creek! The people there are wonderful and the characters in this book are prime examples. I love the way Janet always features two love stories which move at different speeds. Dan and Quinn have unresolved histories which threaten their happiness and Carrie has a real fear of the beautiful horses that she once loved so dearly. How these are resolved is the basis of the book and some of the history is explained early on, other tales are left until almost the end. But the real stars of this novel are the brumbies. "What's a brumbie?" I hear you ask. No spoilers here - you'll have to read the book to find out 😉. I always finish one of Janet's novels wondering if I can afford a plane ticket to Australia - regrettably not yet. Maybe after the next one?

Horses, photography and the great outdoors – this book certainly ticks all my boxes. Throw in a couple of cute romances and it was always going to be a winner for me. Dan is a troubled man, discharged from the army for PTSD he’s escaped to the outback to work in a national park and has since found solace in the lonely quiet. However, when an order comes through to rid his little paradise of the destructive wild horses, all kinds of bad memories are stirred up.

Torn between obeying an order from his superior and doing what he feels to be right, Dan struggles over whether or not to shoot the horses – until Quinn arrives in a flurry of righteous indignation determined to find another way. From then on it’s a race not only to save the brumbies but to heal a few hearts along the way.

I really enjoyed this book. The scenery is spectacular and beautiful, helping to transport me half a world away, and the characters are alive and vibrant. Poor Dan is definitely suffering at the start of the story, but he’s a good man, one who’s taken better care of the park than anyone before and he’s all too happy to find another way. He’s hard working too and really quite sweet. Quinn is more of a go-getter, out to conquer the world, if only to hide from what she sees as the failures in her past. She’s every bit as torn up inside as Dan, she just hides it better.

Then we have Carrie, the ex-jockey, who’s struggling to adjust to a life without racing now that she can no longer stand to be around horses. Though probably the quietest of the four main characters, I really felt for her and admired her courage as she tries to deal with her fears. Lastly there’s Justin the horse breeder, who unlike everyone else doesn’t have a dark past or any painful secrets. He’s sweet and unshadowed and adorably understanding when it comes to Carrie’s fear.

Building at a steady pace, this is a lovely, enjoyable read that definitely swept me up in the landscape and the drama of saving the horses. It also introduced me to Coorah Creek, which is filled with characters and has a supportive small town community that I couldn’t help but love. I really enjoyed my first trip to this place, and one thing’s for certain, it won’t be my last.

Book Review ~ ‘The Wild One’ by Janet Gover.

If you are looking for a wonderful feel-good book which will capture your heart, then this is definitely the book for you. Janet Gover has created a wonderful set of characters, both primary and secondary and a beautiful community in ‘Coorah Creek’ which made the story feel real and relatable.

There are two things that I find difficult to read about, and they are anything to do with the holocaust, and animals dying or being killed, so straight away I felt a really strong connection to the trials that our main characters faced, and I fell in love with Quinn. She was feisty, confident and such a likeable heroine. The pain of her past was something that haunted her, and I really enjoyed seeing how she began to move on from her demons, and accept love into her life again. To see how she and Dan healed each other in their fight to save the Brumbies was so beautiful, and as the animal lover I am, I really liked seeing how the animals brought all the characters together.

Carrie and Justin’s story was no less beautiful, and I really enjoyed how the story split between the four characters, yet still gave us the same depth of emotion and story development for each of them. I have to say I laughed quite a lot at Justin, particularly at his thoughts about the horses in his care seemed to focus on their breeding, and it just showed how well Janet Gover created such multi-dimensional characters who were all so different, but brought together to fight for the same cause.

Beautifully written, this is a strong, character driven novel which brings us back to Coorah Creek and its inhabitants. Although this is the second book in the Coorah Creek series, it can still be read as a standalone, as it focuses on separate characters to those in the previous book.

5 Stars!

Book Blurb

Can four wounded souls find love?

Iraq war veteran Dan Mitchell once disobeyed an order – and it nearly destroyed him. Now a national park ranger in the Australian outback, he’s faced with another order he is unwilling to obey ...

Photographer Rachel Quinn seeks out beauty in unlikely places. Her work comforted Dan in his darkest days. But Quinn knows darkness too – and Dan soon realises she needs his help as much as he needs hers.

Carrie Bryant was a talented jockey until a racing accident broke her nerve. Now Dan and Quinn need her expertise, but can she face her fear? And could horse breeder, Justin Fraser, a man fighting to save his own heritage, be the man to help put that fear to rest?

The wounds you can’t see are the hardest to heal...

My Review

I loved that with vivid descriptions Janet took me right into small town Coorah Creek and the Australian Outback in The Wild One. I could easily picture the brumbies and the park in my mind.
I really enjoyed the mix of characters in The Wild One! The main characters, Dan and Quinn both lead fairly isolated existences by choice, and are brought together unexpectedly. They find themselves working together for a common purpose, and at the same time an attraction sparks between them. A romance between them is not the main focus of The Wild One, but rather how they both grow so much due to various happenings in the Wild One. They both have so much to offer each other, but to accept will mean stepping out of where they've become comfortable...letting the past go and moving into the future. With both of their heart breaking pasts, it was touching to go through this journey with them and see where it would lead.
Carrie and Justin are strong secondary characters who have a secondary plot of their own that weaves perfectly into the main plot, is relevant, and just as touching. This worked well in the plot, giving a lot more dimension to The Wild one.
The wild horses, the park and the story involving them was so believable and I could picture the horses easily.
I liked the pace Janet wrote with and how she made me feel enveloped in the story. She explores different kinds of grief and the aftermath of tragedy and hurt, and how it is easier to heal with someone to lean on rather than struggle through alone.
The Wild One is a great, all encompassing love story I'd recommend to romance readers.

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Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Thank you to Net Galley & Choc Lit for allowing me to read in exchange for an honest review. The author draws the reader in to the story any Dan Quinn Carrie & Jason, and their quest to save the wild horses. Each of them have troubled hearts and minds. Working together and learning to trust each other sees New relationships growing. Can they find love and let go of the hurts?