[NOVEL] Wild Love by Elsie Silver

Backlog #12

Because of the success of Chestnut Springs in terms of fast and entertaining reads I thought of picking up the "latest" series by Elsie Silver - Rose Hill. It is mentioned is CS and also the protagonist of the first book is none other than Willa's brother.

Sigh...

She's been driving him wild for years . . . the good kind of wild.

The kind of wild that comes with wanting your best friend's little sister and knowing you can't have her.

Forbes may have labeled Ford Grant the World's Hottest Billionaire, but all he cares about is escaping the press and opening a recording studio in gorgeous small town Rose Hill. Something that comes to a screeching halt when he ends up face-to-face with a young girl who claims he's her biological father. Now, he spends his days balancing business with parenting a sullen twelve-year-old, all while trying desperately to keep his hands the hell off his best friend's sister, Rosie Belmont.

After living in the city, Rosie came blasting back into town like a storm. Beautiful, messy, and chaotic. And one wide-eyed, desperate plea for a job is all it takes for Ford to hire her. He vows to keep her at arm's length. Tries to stick to scowls and grumpy one-liners. But with her, verbal sparring is a type of foreplay―friction that soon turns to blistering heat.

Ford knows damn well he shouldn't cross this line. But shouldn't and can't are two very different things.

And the only thing he truly can't do is resist her.

Rose Hill. Book 1

I had a feeling when reading that Elsie Silver just took a jar with random tropes, shook it, took several cut papers from it and built a story around what she got.

I'd say this story tries to be several things at once and I'm not sure I like it.

Chestnut Springs weren't a very deep read anyway, but the characters felt kinda shallow to me.

The story follows several lines.

1st - Ford Grant has a daughter. The story behind it is kinda rediculous. Since their parents are wealthy but they did not want to have spilt kids they did not support any excesses, so what Ford thought about was being a sperm donor for money. Then she meets his daughter, whose father recently passed away, her mother is in a bad state and she needs help. I mean quite wild to me. Ford actually brings it upon himself to help the girl even before confirming she is his daughter. Ford does not want to overwrite her family and become a new one, basically he simply helps and they live together while her mom is getting help. Of course they all like the girl, although she is like 12 or smth (already managed to forget her age) she acts more mature. I mean she is fun to follow, but I think behnd all that relationship trouble between Rosalie and Ford she gets lost a bit.

There were several moments when she is said to be a cool kid instead of being shows, this is what I always have troubles with.

2nd - Rosalie and Ford. Tbh Ford acts like he is simping after Rosalie for so long, but I honestly don't get what kept him away from her. It's not like all those reasons felt too big. He was always there for her and even now when she needed a new employment after getting fired. But actually he starts to act up from time to time when he had no right to, so why he can do it now but decided not to do it then I was wondering.

My problem with how Rosie was described is that she basically noticed Ford now because he grew up and manlied up and wasn't as thin and lanky like before, basically was swooned by the masculine galore. But this felt so shallow. If it wasn't for her later figuring things out from the past she might never even noticed the guy. Anyway she suddenly has hots for him. But he is also her new boss.

This is the dynamic that I didn't like. Rosie got fired but basically it was before she could push the complaint about harassment, even though she was just touched but t is still harassment by her boss.

Now she is under Ford who actually reminds himself about being the boss all the time but it does not stop Rosalie, eventually doesn't stop them both. Felt weird.

I still have no idea why the plotline with the daughter was included, like what was the purpose of it all. From another side Rosie's lost journal (the one she actually threw out but was picked up by Ford) and the memory lane were quite a good path to take, but again felt a bit "not enough". It was nice to see the connection between past and the present to at least see why Ford is so hung up. Because partially this book does not play into Rosie's favor and you kinda want to get it why characters feel the way they feel and it's not simply an empty fact on paper.

In the end I felt unsatisfied. Maybe it's because my brain just couldn't coprehend why the story should involve so many things and thread in shallow waters when it could be nice story of having a nostalgic love and a chance.

After all Rosie spent so much of her time being the perfect child for her family, while her brother was always getting into troubles. She went to uni and landed a good job. But she realized that this life is not for her, but what about her achievements? What is truly important? Even her relationship that felt so good at first lacks in something she seeks from her partner.

And although we have a chance to see the change in Ford from the past, but I dunno, I just wished there was more about them, like an in-depth walk down the memory lane. Past and present. The significance of it all intensified.

Sigh...

RATE: 3/5.