Representation: N/A
Trigger warnings: Alcohol use, alcoholic father, gambling addiction, bullying, physical assault and injury in the past
Score: Two out of ten.
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Wildfire was as awful, if not worse, than Icebreaker. Perhaps I should stop reading from Hannah Grace, as all her books have been overhyped. I wanted to read this one for a while, hoping it would be much better than Icebreaker, but unfortunately, it was at the same level as Icebreaker. The ratings were low, the blurb didn't seem intriguing and I was underwhelmed.

It starts with Russ Callaghan and Aurora Roberts meeting and briefly interacting with each other in a college party, but Aurora escapes before Russ asks for her surname, then it cuts to a summer camp, where Russ and Aurora meet again. Everything looks typical except for one rule, the camp staff can't develop relationships, much to their dismay, but I know what's going to happen. They develop a relationship anyway. There is little plot other than that, and all the issues I saw in Icebreaker reappear in Wildfire. First the characters are difficult to connect or relate with, making me disconnect from the central storyline. While the length of Wildfire is less than Grace's debut creation, Icebreaker, clocking in at less than 400 pages, the pacing is still slow and continues to be this way, which made me enjoy it less.

I didn't feel like Russ and Aurora had any chemistry or character development, since they lacked depth and never changed from the beginning to the end. Adding more depth and development would've improved the reading experience. Wildfire has no literary value, as it is nothing more than a mere contemporary romance, meaning those looking for diversity or literary value should look elsewhere. At least the setting of the camp was interesting, but I would've liked to see more of the side characters, like Anastasia, of which there aren't many. The writing style is enough to keep the plot going, since it's accessible and there's nothing too literary. I don't think Grace will improve based on this one. I'm done with her now. The climax is heartwarming though, as the couple is together. ( )

The personal growth of the MCs was well-paced and credible. The romance was lively and spicy. The secondary characters were fun (or gross, as expected). I do NOT understand the complaints about this book not having a plot. I think these people must have Hallmark card families and do not understand how dysfunctional families can fuck you up for YEARS. It takes a lot to find your strength and believe in yourself. ( )

I heard about this book so much you could say it was spreading like “wildfire”. Sorry, I couldn’t resist a good pun! So, after seeing so much hype – and the very cute cover! – I was most eager to dive in and give it a read.

I get the feeling that those who have read Icebreaker will probably enjoy this 2nd book in the Maple Hills series. I haven’t read Icebreaker first and perhaps should’ve as, from my understanding, it is considered better. Well, by proportional comparison, it has more 5 star reviews than this one. Conveniently, the word “icebreaker” occurs 5 times in this story, serving as a gentle reminder of her other story.

Bearing in mind Hannah Grace is self-labelled as a “fluffy comfort book” author, this story does tick those boxes. Her writing style feels a little too immature for my liking though amusing in places. But I liked the overall plot, and I really liked how realistic both Russ and Aurora are with their family problems, low self-esteem, eventual vulnerability in opening up about this and the way they both help each other through all this. This was done exceptionally well, and it was nice to see these matters get resolved, or as good as. There were maybe too many parallels between them, but I don’t mind it overall.

This is like the sorts of Wattpad stories I used to read (which I hear is where Icebreaker first debuted). Perhaps if I was around the same ages as the characters, I’d like this more. Or perhaps I need to give another one of her books a chance.

I would agree with the general opinion that the pacing is off: there was somehow a lot happening but at the same time not at all. It was a quick read (the type where I wasn’t checking what page I was on) but felt long, with some that felt like filler chapters. Overall, I came out of this... somewhat disappointed. I didn’t ease into this as well as I would’ve liked as I could not connect to any element of the story, certainly not the characters and certainly not to begin with. I will make an exception for “Muffin” Russ, he was always rather sweet. ( )

Russ is hot and a good candidate for the ultimate book bf. However the book was a bit slow and did feel like it dragged on. ( )

Summer romance, college age, similar characters to Ice Breaker (but you don’t have to read it first) ( )