Wildflowers

Familiar, dramatic, edgy

WILDFLOWERS by Kylie Scott is a contemporary, adult, apocalyptic, end of the world romance focusing on forty-two year old, former US Marine Dean Wallace, and thirty-three year old Astrid Hardy.

NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise, there may be triggers for more sensitive readers.

Told from first person perspective (Astrid) WILDFLOWERS focuses on the rapid fall-out of a world wide pandemic in which it is estimated ninety-nine percent of the world’s population will not survive but Astrid never expected to find herself a prisoner of the neighbor she never met but the man with whom Astrid will fall in love. With only a couple of weeks notice, the entire world begins to spiral out of control: the contagion is targeting everyone, everywhere, and Dean Wallace is determined to protect the woman he has admired from afar but as the number of death and dying continues to amass, our couple find themselves on the run, looking for a safe spot to begin anew. Travelling from town to town our couple will settle on a small neighborhood of ‘friendly looking’ homes, wherein their numbers begin to increase as the few survivors struggle to make it on their own but there are those who are demanding obedience and control, and in this, the small cluster of new found friends will have to fight to protect the people they have grown to love.

The world building covers but a couple of weeks as the pandemic gains hold, ravaging most of the world’s population. Similar to The Walking Dead ™ and The Last of Us ™, we are witness to the struggles to survive, not only the virus, but the psychos and madmen who are determined to use their new-found power to rule their little corners of the world. As our couple ventures into the unknown, they will make contact with a few struggling survivors, as well as the violent and oppressive wanna-be leaders of a new world order.

The relationship between Astrid and Dean begins as an abduction, one of which, Dean has planned to protect the woman with whom he will fall in love. Struggling to keep one -step ahead of both the virus and the marauding bands of thieves and killers, Dean and Astrid begin to see a future for themselves, as well as the small group of survivors who are willing to claim one another as family. The $ex scenes are limited but passionate.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful, determined and desperate secondary and supporting characters, all of whom Dean and Astrid meet along the way. The requisite evil has many faces including a charismatic madman aka Negan and The Walking Dead™

WILDFLOWERS is a story of power and control, madness and mayhem, acceptance and love. The character driven premise is familiar, entertaining, dramatic, edgy and thought-provoking; the romance is fated and seductive; the characters are energetic, lost but surviving. I am hoping the author has plans for more stories

But, I want to address the illustrated cover which lends itself to a lighter feel, an almost rom-com look but WILDFLOWERS is not a romantic comedy as it deals with death, disease, destruction and power.