Sunday, March 23, 2014

REVIEW: GETTING WILD BY SARAH BARRIE

The Devil Wears Prada meets Man vs Wild in this fast-paced romantic comedy set in the no-holds-barred world of travel journalism.

When Ella Jameson steps into a room, people scramble to attention. She’s ruthless, terrifying, and untouchable — and very, very successful as Editor-in-Chief of Australia’s top travel magazine. Then Ryan Edwards, adventure traveller, walks into her office with an unexpected job proposal, and Ella just knows he’s going to be trouble. As far as she’s concerned, the man’s a self-indulgent, kamikaze, adrenaline-junkie with an authority complex — and he’s also infuriatingly sexy! The idea of them working together is ludicrous, but the opportunity to co-host a new travel show is just too good to refuse.

As she is swept from her world of inner-city glamour into a nightmare of camping, crocodiles, and outback adventures, Ella’s feelings for Ryan begin to heat up, and her walls start to come down. In the tropical beauty of Australia’s Top End, it’s not just the weather that’s going to sizzle...

ebook, 130 pages
Published August 1st 2013 by Escape Publishing
Source: received from publisher in exchange for review
Purchase the book: Goodreads | Amazon

Our Review---
This is another great find through Net Galley. Getting Wild is full of fun; it actually kind of reminds me of an Australian version of Kristen Ashley...there's a very sassy Ella and a very smirky, take no shit Ryan...and lots of sparks between the two. Yeah. *Happy sigh* The voice and life of the characters are defined very early, so I just sat back to enjoy the very fun ride through the Australian Outback! 

I loved Ella's strength and her stubbornness and her success and her ability to maintain her composure. She was so fierce and fun to read. She made the perfect protagonist to Ryan's alpha male, fun loving, adventurous spirit. Their fire and ice personalities came together to make some steamy scenes...when they weren't giving each other shit for one reason or another. I loved Ryan's persistence in his pursuit of Ella and I loved Ella's resistance and her begrudging acceptance...they made me smile a lot while reading.

I think for some people Ella could be very off putting. She is everything that Shelley said, but when it says in the blurb "The Devil Wears Prada" meets...it means it. Everything that is ice, ice cold about Ella is hard to enjoy...until we start to find out why. And the ice around her heart...and vagina started to thaw...and the story truly is a lot of fun and shenanigans. Ryan was an amazing character...and crikey...I loved him. (That was too much wasn't it? Australian fail.)

The one thing I found interesting..not bad or good..just interesting was the shift in the viewpoint about 60% in. The novel was told mostly through Ella's POV but Ryan (and others) would subtly have their voice added to the telling of the story. As I said, it wasn't really distracting, just an interesting choice. 

Right. I did notice it. And thought it was random, but luckily it didn't jar the story so much that I didn't know who was speaking...which surprised the heck out of me too! Usually that is not something I like...but certain scenes called for it here. 

I wish the ending could've been a little longer, but overall I was very satisfied with the pace and flow of the novel. RIGHT! We always want more, but a few scenes move pretty fast compared to how the beginning was paced. Again not bad, but we think you'll probably notice it and think "hhhmmm" a little bit. So try not to, because the story, writing and characters are very pleasing and I enjoyed this very much. 

Shelley: 4 Stars
Courtney: 4 Stars



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