Series: The Wilder Brothers #5

Author: Carrie Ann Ryan

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Tropes: Enemies to Lovers/Rock Star/Tortured Hero

Release Date: August 14, 2023

The Wilder Brothers from NYT Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan continues with a secret romance that East and Lark never saw coming.

The world thinks I only write songs about my ex-boyfriends.

They study each lyric to point a finger at which man broke my heart—even if I’ve never met him.

Only the man I refuse to write about is the one who is so tangled in my mind that I know I can never be with him.

I had one night with East Wilder, and I know that’s all there will ever be.

He broke my heart without even trying.

Yet now I can’t seem to write a single verse and I need a place to hide while I figure out who I am. The Wilder Retreat will have to be my refuge as the Wilders prepare for my best friend’s wedding.

And when I’m there, I refuse to fall for East again.

Even if the dark shadows in his eyes draw me in. And the dangers of his past might be the one thing that forces us to finally give in.

East Wilder is the most locked tight of the entire Wilder family. He is a bit of a loner, preferring to avoid people, and though he’s carved a niche for himself on the vineyard and resort as a handyman, he often feels out of place. He keeps his PTSD hidden, and no one in his family knows what he left behind when he left the military.

Lark Thornbird is a musician often found in the tabloids linked with any number of the people around her and rumors fly about who each of her songs are written about. She uses the Wilder resort as a place to get away from the paparazzi and hide, as her best friend spends a lot of time there as well.

The build up between these two has been teased throughout this series (though this story does stand alone perfectly) and the enemies to lovers is evident. The banter and heat between them builds, even if neither is willing to admit there is anything beyond a night or two in bed between them. There is a shaky trust between them, and if they are ever going to be anything but enemies, they have to sort the lies and assumptions from the truths involved.

This was a great continuation of the Wilder story. I love the way this family has come together to build the resort. The teaser at the end for the final Wilder brother has me wishing it was already available. Though Elliott is the last single Wilder brother, there is a lot of room for expansion with the Wilder cousins in the future. I love the way Carrie Ann Ryan writes huge families, which means there is always something new for readers within a favorite world!

Carrie Ann Ryan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary, paranormal, and young adult romance. Her works include the Montgomery Ink, Redwood Pack, Fractured Connections, and Elements of Five series, which have sold over 3.0 million books worldwide. She started writing while in graduate school for her advanced degree in chemistry and hasn’t stopped since. Carrie Ann has written over seventy-five novels and novellas with more in the works. When she’s not losing herself in her emotional and action-packed worlds, she’s reading as much as she can while wrangling her clowder of cats who have more followers than she does.