The Opposite of Wild

The Opposite of Wild by Kylie Gilmore is the first book in her Clover Park series. A fun, light-hearted read, filled with small town familiarity, some very relatable OCD, and some sweet romance.

Liz had a weight problem in school, and has, in the years since, taken FULL control of her life. Organizing her home and her diet with the best of the meticulously organized in the world. Well organized until her 7-month pregnant sister shows up on her doorstep and she has to get a summer job to help said sister. This leads to "watching" over the grandmother of the guy she crushed on in high school, the object of the biggest "Humiliation" in her life, Ryan O'Hare.

Ryan O'Hare is an ex-cop turned private investigator and he has just made it his goal to ruffle as many of Liz's feathers as he can as often as he can.

How can Liz retain her controlled and organized life with everyone around her throwing everything out of whack? Will she let her OCD tendencies keep her from letting loose and chasing love with Ryan?

I am eager to read the next book in this series if it is anything like this first book. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

The Opposite of Wild from debut author Kylie Gilmore is the opposite of dull. It’s a delightful, fun, fast-paced read that will have you literally LOL-ing in many places. When her flighty sister shows up on her doorstep and announces she’s pregnant, schoolteacher Liz Garner is reminded of the loud ticking of her own biological clock. Seizing the opportunity to have a baby in her life, Liz puts all of her control-freak efforts into helping her sister, including taking an extra job as a companion to uber-sexy Ryan O’Hare’s somewhat…unconventional grandmother. Keeping her eyes off Ryan while struggling to keep up with the irascible Gran, Liz finds her neatly scheduled life spinning out of control.

Ryan is intrigued by the buttoned-up schoolteacher, and the hints of reckless passion simmering just below her surface present him with a challenge he can’t pass up. But for him, that’s where it ends. After raising his brothers almost single-handedly, settling down with a family of his own is not on his agenda.

The author has a gift for writing both humor (think Kristan Higgins) and passion (think Jill Shalvis). Home and family are major themes throughout the story and in this first book from the Clover Park series, Gilmore has created a charming small town backdrop for Liz and Ryan’s whacky and rocky road to romance. The secondary characters are well-developed and witty (especially the sometimes scene-stealing Gran!) and I’m looking forward to seeing them all in the next story in the series.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am already a big Kylie Gilmore fan.

Great summer read! Warm, funny, sexy, and sometimes frustrating!