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What's Welsh for Wild?: A steamy small-town romance.
Dahlia, a globe-trotting language teacher, inherits an enormous old house in Wales. She’s never had any interest in putting down roots or being a landlord. And walking in on her new tenant naked changes nothing, right?
Thomas Omari loves his adopted home town and fully intends to raise a family and stay forever. Then his generous landlady dies and his girlfriend leaves him, all in the same week.
Desperate to keep his student boarding house afloat, he offers to help Dahlia fix the place up. A rebound is one thing, but soon it’s like playing happy cozy domesticity and stolen kisses, quirky teenagers and the undeniable satisfaction of freshly painted window sills. One minute Dahlia’s loving it, the next she wants to do what she always does—move on before anyone expects too much of her.
How do you leave when staying might be the real adventure?
Thomas Omari loves his adopted home town and fully intends to raise a family and stay forever. Then his generous landlady dies and his girlfriend leaves him, all in the same week.
Desperate to keep his student boarding house afloat, he offers to help Dahlia fix the place up. A rebound is one thing, but soon it’s like playing happy cozy domesticity and stolen kisses, quirky teenagers and the undeniable satisfaction of freshly painted window sills. One minute Dahlia’s loving it, the next she wants to do what she always does—move on before anyone expects too much of her.
How do you leave when staying might be the real adventure?
346 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 31, 2023
9 people want to read
About the author
Amy Blythe
18 books21 followersAmy Blythe lives in Christchurch, New Zealand, with her husband, two kids, and one enormous fluffy cat. She’s a High School English teacher by day (and sometimes night), and writes whenever she gets the chance.
Jane Austen was her first love, closely followed by Marian Keyes, and rather than pick one flavour of fiction, she’s gone ahead and written both historical and contemporary novels.
If you like earls and viscounts, elaborate gowns and unspoken passions, manners and morality, secrets and swordplay, then the regency romances are for you!
If you prefer a more modern jaunt to Paris or London, a sexy stranger, misunderstandings and mishaps, terrible timing and tantalising near-misses, the romantic comedies are going to be more your jam.
If you love to read both, well, talk about kindred spirits! It’d be a crime not to be friends! Amy would love to hear from you.
A big believer in creative communities, Amy often reads at local open-mics, loves her chapter of Romance Writers of New Zealand, and used to chair the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors. Every school holidays, a highlight is going along to the weekly write-in she started over three years ago.
Jane Austen was her first love, closely followed by Marian Keyes, and rather than pick one flavour of fiction, she’s gone ahead and written both historical and contemporary novels.
If you like earls and viscounts, elaborate gowns and unspoken passions, manners and morality, secrets and swordplay, then the regency romances are for you!
If you prefer a more modern jaunt to Paris or London, a sexy stranger, misunderstandings and mishaps, terrible timing and tantalising near-misses, the romantic comedies are going to be more your jam.
If you love to read both, well, talk about kindred spirits! It’d be a crime not to be friends! Amy would love to hear from you.
A big believer in creative communities, Amy often reads at local open-mics, loves her chapter of Romance Writers of New Zealand, and used to chair the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors. Every school holidays, a highlight is going along to the weekly write-in she started over three years ago.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 29, 2024
Globetrotter Dahlia inherits a student boarding house in a small Welsh town from her grandmother. Thomas, the teacher in charge of the boarding house, would gladly not set a foot outside the town he has made his home. There is instant attraction between the two but can they have anything meaningful when Dahlia has one foot out the door from the start? But then things start happening that make them both reevaluate their lives and feelings…
When I started reading the book, I was convinced it was a regular romcom set in a small town and I loved it. Dahlia and Thomas were loveable and relatable, their chemistry was fiery, the side-characters were well-developed, the whole setup was fun and cozy without being cliched or sticky sweet. I especially loved the writer’s way with words, the imagery she used to make the feelings of the protagonists beautiful and real at the same time. You feel their budding emotions, their hesitation, passion.
But then things started changing. Self-doubts and soul-searching surfaced. The cozy village revealed a nasty undercurrent of gossip, bigotry, even some racism. There were potentially earthshattering secrets to be uncovered. At some point, I felt like I just didn’t want to read anymore. Gimme back my picture-perfect fairytale! But then I realised that my reluctance was due to the fact that, being from a small town myself, certain parts of the setup and conflict felt too painfully real. As did the characters, Dahlia with her indecisiveness about her future and Thomas with his constant concern about what the village thought since he was an outsider. So, I persevered and I am happy I did!
Highly recommend if you like small towns, found family, a hero and heroine who are not perfect but are good and strong people, if you want your romance to be spicy, have real people thinking and acting in realistic ways and a bit of mystery to go with it all. Also, it is a standalone, I had not read any other books in the series but that was not a problem at all.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
When I started reading the book, I was convinced it was a regular romcom set in a small town and I loved it. Dahlia and Thomas were loveable and relatable, their chemistry was fiery, the side-characters were well-developed, the whole setup was fun and cozy without being cliched or sticky sweet. I especially loved the writer’s way with words, the imagery she used to make the feelings of the protagonists beautiful and real at the same time. You feel their budding emotions, their hesitation, passion.
But then things started changing. Self-doubts and soul-searching surfaced. The cozy village revealed a nasty undercurrent of gossip, bigotry, even some racism. There were potentially earthshattering secrets to be uncovered. At some point, I felt like I just didn’t want to read anymore. Gimme back my picture-perfect fairytale! But then I realised that my reluctance was due to the fact that, being from a small town myself, certain parts of the setup and conflict felt too painfully real. As did the characters, Dahlia with her indecisiveness about her future and Thomas with his constant concern about what the village thought since he was an outsider. So, I persevered and I am happy I did!
Highly recommend if you like small towns, found family, a hero and heroine who are not perfect but are good and strong people, if you want your romance to be spicy, have real people thinking and acting in realistic ways and a bit of mystery to go with it all. Also, it is a standalone, I had not read any other books in the series but that was not a problem at all.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
September 25, 2025
The Good:
There is a lot of witty banter.
When the MCs are “on” and getting along, they have so much chemistry.
The author does a good job of “setting a scene” and being descriptive.
The Bad:
Weird pacing, missing details, and poor editing.
So, you need to be careful with keeping it a secret, yet! You do stuff in front of open windows, at night, in a lit room? (Like seriously, not being discrete at all)
One of my biggest pet peeves is when the MCs don’t talk to each other. It doesn’t make for a good story; it just makes for frustration on the reader's end. I seriously, at 53% almost DNF’d this book due to “miscommunication.” And then continued to feel this way until the end of the book.
Her uncle's name changed at 60% and Tom/Thom's name changes at 80%
The ending of the book is rushed and the epilogue is weird/doesn't fit with the theming of the book.
Tropes:
Insta-love, forbidden love, spice, cinnamon roll MMC
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
There is a lot of witty banter.
When the MCs are “on” and getting along, they have so much chemistry.
The author does a good job of “setting a scene” and being descriptive.
The Bad:
Weird pacing, missing details, and poor editing.
So, you need to be careful with keeping it a secret, yet! You do stuff in front of open windows, at night, in a lit room? (Like seriously, not being discrete at all)
One of my biggest pet peeves is when the MCs don’t talk to each other. It doesn’t make for a good story; it just makes for frustration on the reader's end. I seriously, at 53% almost DNF’d this book due to “miscommunication.” And then continued to feel this way until the end of the book.
Her uncle's name changed at 60% and Tom/Thom's name changes at 80%
The ending of the book is rushed and the epilogue is weird/doesn't fit with the theming of the book.
Tropes:
Insta-love, forbidden love, spice, cinnamon roll MMC
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
July 2, 2025
I love the found family trope and small town, old house and a touch of mystery are all favourite story elements too. This little Welsh town felt like a real place, especially when the under layers of bigotry, homophobia, and racism start to show below the happy locals altogether in the pub.
Our hero is Thomas, a music teacher at the school (and he's black). Dahlia, who's grandmother and cousins live in the town is used to breezing in for a holiday and moving on again. But then her grandmother dies and leaves her her big old house, the house that Thomas is renting and using as a boarding house for students who live out of town.
The meet cute is one of the best I've ever read, but I'm not going to say what happens, you'll have to read it yourself.
Thoroughly enjoyable. The book stands alone, but does have a sweet cameo of all the previous couples in the series at the end,
Our hero is Thomas, a music teacher at the school (and he's black). Dahlia, who's grandmother and cousins live in the town is used to breezing in for a holiday and moving on again. But then her grandmother dies and leaves her her big old house, the house that Thomas is renting and using as a boarding house for students who live out of town.
The meet cute is one of the best I've ever read, but I'm not going to say what happens, you'll have to read it yourself.
Thoroughly enjoyable. The book stands alone, but does have a sweet cameo of all the previous couples in the series at the end,
January 28, 2024
This is a cute romance with believable characters and small town ambiance. The book is well-written, both from a plot/character standpoint and from a typo/grammar standpoint. The question that arose from her grandmother's diaries was a nice way to have them working together.
Having said all that, I can't give this five stars because I found it too easy to put down. I was reading over the holidays, which are hectic, so it could have been that, but that's also a time that I read a lot, if for no other reason than to get away from the craziness of the holidays. Yet I found myself putting this down for days at a time.
I received a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Having said all that, I can't give this five stars because I found it too easy to put down. I was reading over the holidays, which are hectic, so it could have been that, but that's also a time that I read a lot, if for no other reason than to get away from the craziness of the holidays. Yet I found myself putting this down for days at a time.
I received a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
January 26, 2024
This is book 5 in Blythe's Have Heart, Will Travel series and I found it to be a wonderful addition to the series but can easily be read as a standalone. Our main characters are world traveler and teacher Dahlia and down on his luck tenant Thomas. I loved these characters and their dynamic. Great balance in the sweet and steam as well as providing some great humor. Captivating characters and storyline that flows smoothly. Very much enjoyed this read and definitely looking forward to more in this travel adventure series!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
January 27, 2024
This is a cute book overall, but it can feel a little slow at moments. The MMC is adorable and the FMC is a bit evasive, but they make a nice pairing. It’s sweet forced proximity.
I think the book would’ve gotten 4 stars from me if it had moved a bit quicker.
I received an ARC for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I think the book would’ve gotten 4 stars from me if it had moved a bit quicker.
I received an ARC for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
November 9, 2025
The only thing "wrong" with this book is that it's the last one in this fabulous series. I don't want it to end! Once again this is a really different setting and the characters were working through unique challenges while escaping for some sexy times. I could not put this one down. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
September 5, 2025
Very enjoyable!
Nicely written and I definitely read the relevant voices in Welsh accents!
(In-laws are Welsh so plenty of exposure to language & attitudes!)
(I was fortunate to receive an ARC however the above is, as ever, my own opinion.)
Nicely written and I definitely read the relevant voices in Welsh accents!
(In-laws are Welsh so plenty of exposure to language & attitudes!)
(I was fortunate to receive an ARC however the above is, as ever, my own opinion.)
January 31, 2024
This book was sweet and sexy and now I want to read the rest of the series! I love multicultural romances and this one was absolutely up my alley!
February 15, 2024
I’m always down for stories that reel you in, are easy to follow, get you invested and wanting more, yet leave enough room for your own imagination to continue the story on your own (should you wish to) once the author has “placed the pen down.”
Amy makes writing seem effortless. The characters feel akin to those you let into your home weekly on TV, but the story is also written in a way that it could be a sweet romcom with enough “meat” to keep your social consciousness awake, yet subtly remind you, it’s fiction – a nice escape from the real world. This won’t be my last Amy Blythe read :-)
Amy makes writing seem effortless. The characters feel akin to those you let into your home weekly on TV, but the story is also written in a way that it could be a sweet romcom with enough “meat” to keep your social consciousness awake, yet subtly remind you, it’s fiction – a nice escape from the real world. This won’t be my last Amy Blythe read :-)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews