Tex A hurricane’s rolling in fast when I see a stranded biker. Small. Soaked. Terrified. Like the road finally ran out on him and he’s got nowhere left to go. The first thing I notice about him is his eyes, the color of the Gulf before a storm. He won’t speak. He won’t look at me. Just watches my hands like they might hurt him. When I move too fast, he flinches. That tells me everything I need to know. So I load up his bike and take him back to my bar. He’s clearly running from something. Or someone. Whoever he’s running from… they just ran into the wrong man.
Stormy He’s the biggest man I’ve ever been this close to. Six-five. Maybe taller. Built like he could break me in half without trying. Men that big usually hurt you. My hand drifts toward the knife in my pocket just in case. I don’t give him my name. I don’t give him anything. I keep my eyes down. That’s the safest way to survive. But he doesn’t get angry. He doesn’t push. Instead he gives me a name like it’s a gift he wrapped himself. Stormy. For the first time in years, I want to stay. But the past doesn’t let people like me go that easily.
Stormy is an emotional M/M hurt/comfort romance about survival, healing, and finding safety in the last place you expect.
Not going to finish this book, not because I didn’t enjoy the story (I actually mostly did) but because a few things bothered me, and I’m a detail oriented petty person. This author who doesn’t have a bio here or on Amazon already published two books this year (it’s a lot) and both books are available in other languages. There is no credit for the cover (so it’s AI), no credit for anyone working on the book, no acknowledgment page (which is weird) and again no bio. I checked the French version (my native language) and I can say this was translated with AI, like it’s very very obvious. Now was the actual book written with AI? I can’t tell, but I can’t read an author I don’t trust. To each their own but I want to read books actually written by real people.
I hope no one reads the French version by the way, because that would be stealing your money. « Avertissements de contenu et déclencheurs » 😂 Hi I used Google Translate and I’m not ashamed of it
Edit
Adding some receipts for people who are curious about how bad the French is. Honestly this is insulting to anyone who spent money on this book. This was translated by bad AI and they didn't even get a native speaker to look over the result and maybe correct a few things
"Mon téléphone vibre contre le comptoir du bar comme une guêpe en colère, et je sais déjà que c'est mauvais signe. Rien de bon n'arrive jamais un mercredi après-midi en pleine saison des ouragans quand, dehors, le ciel semble nourrir une rancune divine. Je le ramasse et lis l'alerte deux fois. Puis une troisième, parce que parfois il faut laisser les mauvaises nouvelles bien s'imprégner avant de commencer à les insulter." "Elle est barmaid ici depuis avant que je ne reprenne l'affaire, et elle a le don de me laisser me vider comme un jouet mécanique qui s'épuise." "L'humour s'écoule de moi comme l'eau d'une baignoire."
I picked this book up to see what it was like to knowingly read a book that was almost definitely written by AI. I've read some where I figured it out as I was reading, and others where I was told after the fact that the author was sketchy. But I've never read a book to see if I could pick out the hallmarks of AI right from the beginning. I'm sorry if that offends people but this is my process and how I'm choosing to learn more about AI.
Short of the author coming out and announcing their AI use, I don't know how it could be any more clearly AI. The book itself wasn't bad- but even someone like me who isn't an AI expert at all could spot some dead giveaways. I picked this book in particular because the tropes are some that I go feral for, but even that couldn't take away from the unease as I read. I think its use should always be disclosed so readers don't have to be detectives or avoid new authors because they don't want to inadvertently support a creator who uses AI. I think it's unfair to authors who may be called out for using AI when they don't, and it puts everyone in an awkward position. With that said, the reason I picked Stormy was because of some short AI clips on instagram, so I'd say this author is really leaning in to the whole AI thing. Given the high ratings this series has, it's certainly not hurting them to be so blatant.
I am expected to use AI for work, and I think it's overly simplistic to say all AI is always bad. I think the way it's been built (by stealing the work of others) and the environmental impacts are absolutely terrible. I also hate how it's being used to seal the livelihoods of writers and artists. But it's not going away, no matter how much some people wish it would. My hope is that we work towards a properly legislated and monitored system with safeguards in place. Yesterday my phone- unprompted- reminded me to turn off my regularly scheduled alarm because today is Canadian Thanksgiving and maybe I don't want to be woken up at the crack of dawn on the holiday. I found that very helpful! It's also handy when it helps me rewrite work emails that make me sound less bitchy or aggravated than I feel. Whether you love it or hate it, it's something we have to deal with now. There's pros and cons just like any other technology, and I think we'll all figure things out as we go along.
My ratings for books have always been based on whether or not I enjoyed the book itself, and so I've decided to continue with that. If I could give the book a separate rating from the author I would, but we only get one set of stars.
Another day, another new author with no cover credit in 2026.
Wilds put out two books between January and March, 2026. Both books are missing cover credit.
🚩 Wilds also released (Jan-March 2026) both of these books in German, French and Italian. Human translators were not credited. Check out the review by Jessica, a native French speaker who looked through the French version.
There may be more languages available but I got tired of checking different Amazon regions websites.
Excerpts so you can sample the "writing" style:
The humor drains out of me like bathwater.
He was the kind of man who'd give you the shirt off his back and then apologize that it smelled like cigarette smoke. The cigarettes killed him two years ago. Lung cancer. Aggressive, fast, the way he did everything.
Sudden walls of rain that blow sideways for ten minutes, then stop, then start again, like the storm is clearing its throat.
A biker. He's small. That's what I notice first. Not small like short necessarily, just compact. Lean. He's standing next to a motorcycle under the overhang of a closed-up souvenir shop. One of those places that sells airbrushed t-shirts and pink flamingo floats. The shop's been shuttered and boarded.
The biker hasn't been. He's got a helmet on with the visor down and a light jacket that's soaked through to the skin. The jacket isn't rain gear. It's a regular jacket, the kind you'd throw on for a cool morning ride, not for the leading edge of a Category 4 hurricane. THE BIKER HASN'T BEEN. 🤣🙄
I stop breathing. My fingers close around the knife handle so hard my knuckles ache. The footsteps are heavy. Everything about him is heavy and they're in the hallway. Moving. Getting closer. They pass my door. The door to the bathroom opens. Closes.
He doesn't speak. His mouth opens but nothing comes out. He just shakes his head, quick, automatic, and grips the broom handle with both hands like it's the only thing keeping him upright. His eyes drop to the floor. The apology is written across his whole body even though his voice won't carry it.
Fucking awful.
We shouldn't have to spend this much time looking for an author's socials, checking to see if they have used AI narration, AI translation, sell AI merch, use AI ads, etc.
No cover credit in 2026 = I will not read it.
When an author chooses to not credit the cover, they are showing us they don't care about human artists.
When an author uses AI translation, they are showing us they don't care about human translators.
SUPPORT HUMAN ARTISTS.
There are so many books out there to read by authors who support human artists, why waste time on those that don't?
I'm not gonna throw any accusations around how this book was written since I have no proof but something is off about this book. This was top tier repetitiveness and I was skimming so much to not reread the same thing over and over. And when I say repetitive, Tex says the exact same thing as he did on another page. Each POV change is a repeat and it's the same convos over and over but with a different topic. It was also so boring because of this repetitive writing. I would say it's the worse case of repeating and very little story I've ever read.
I was really enjoying how this book started. Hurt/comfort is my catnip, I was so here for it. We have Stormy the wounded stray and we have Tex the gentle giant who takes him in.
I loved that Tex was this big man with big hands and needed to fill the silence with his chatter. I loved that the bar was his pride and joy. He was thoughtful,observant, patient and had such a big heart. I loved that we didn't get details on his past relationships other than he's been celibate for years. I love that he didn't start thinking about finding a hook up when he was having feelings towards Stormy. And that's the crux of it, I was fully drawn in because it felt like there were feelings building before any lustful thoughts happened.
I loved Sheila and Mickey and although this didn't turn out to be the 5star read I was hoping for I still signed up for the newsletter to find out when Mickey's book is coming out. 😂 Mickey seems to really want a boyfriend so I hope he gets a loving one. 🥺
Now, unfortunately I have no idea how to explain this type of writing style. " My body has already identified him the way a rabbit identifies a hawk by the shadow it casts" Like, describing something by comparing it to something else? But that was SO OVERUSED I was getting so annoyed, here and there is fine but it was so constant.
There were also some chapters where the characters were just too self aware and it was like breaking the 4th wall.
Random thoughts;
~Ugh, with using 'clean' to describe the test results, it made sense if it just came from Stormy while he was describing something that brought him shame given the context but Tex should've totally stuck with "negative" instead of "clean". I don't think i'll ever be able to see it used like that without feeling weird about it ever since a friend on here mentioned how harmful that wording could be.
~I didn't like how Tex thought of Stormy as 'kid'at the beginning.
~I hated how we learned about all of Stormy's trauma through a hand written letter to Tex, it just felt like information dump more than anything else. Like, " here's my background info"..
~Tex is seriously chatting away while treading water after swimming out to the open sea???
~ Remember what I said about loving how it felt like feelings were building before all the lust came in? Well apparently that went out the window with Tex admitting that he jerked off to thoughts of Stormy everyday... which really doesn't paint a good picture considering Stormy was locking himself in a different room holding onto a knife terrified he'd come into his room...
~As much as I love near death experiences to get those emotions going, I didnt love how that immediately causes a shift into the sexual stuff. It felt a bit jarring since the beginning was so slow moving I expected a smoother transition, maybe some cuddling, holding hands, kisses spread throughout the days before the ' I love you' and dick gobbling. 🤔 tho i do prefer the dick gobblings to be love infused instead of lust driven so i cant complain, i guess. 🤷♀️
~ How did they manage the bar and to feed so many customers with just the three of them?!
~ That " my house,bitch" was sorta cringey. 🤦♀️
~ When did Tex turn into a lunatic encouraging the beat down like that..?
~ Why did we replace the cheesy-smoozy love with comedy? D;
There's so many more things that made this book go downhill from the high it started on but I think i'll always be a sucker for the abused MCs finding a protector 😭
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Without making any accusations, there is something going wrong in the writing style. Different styles are being mixed, metaphors are being used every three sentences, and I don't think it's necessary to have the same conversation in one chapter twice.
The book was about 200 pages too long. There was a lot of repeated information and it just seemed to drag. Not sure if it is AI or not, but parts of it seemed like it.
My first read by this author and it was wonderful.
It grabbed me from the beginning, when Tex, a big man who has lived on the Florida coast all his life and has lived through some bad hurricanes is gearing up for another one, and to and from the story, he sees a man on the smaller side standing under an overhang with a bike and a helmet on who isn't moving from that spot, and who it turns out has no idea a hurricane is coming.
Not only does Tex save Stormy's life the day he decides to turn back around and help the man he sees standing there in a coming storm,, he fills it with it with love too, when Stormy has hardly known anything but pain and trauma and torment.
Tex is a big man at 6'5", and looks a bit like very man who has ever hurt Stormy, and yet he is a giant teddy bear. Who doesn't love a giant teddy bear character? Tex is huge, but he's sweet and kinda and silly and lovely.
Stormy - which isn't his real name, and we get to learn his real name in this too, but he eventually decides to be Stormy, to take that name - is very scared and skittish and wary of everything and everyone, especially Tex at first.
But when Tex tells him a huge hurricane is coming and he had no idea - as he ran away from Alabama, and he's never been to that town or Florida - he kind of doesn't have a choice but to go with the largest man he's ever seen so he can have some shelter from the literal storm coming.
What starts is a beautiful love story.
They make it through the hurricane, and in the aftermath of rebuilding what got fucked up in the storm and keeping the business going via the parking lot on weekends, these two fall in love, and fairly fast.
But Tex only ever once touches Stormy without permission, and it was to make sure he didn't fall from a ladder during the storm. Otherwise, he never once touches Stormy without his permission, or does anything without his permission, even as Stormy expects it all the time, every day and night, even not getting any sleep the two or so days up to the hurricane and during because he keeps expecting Tex to come into the spare room Tex gave him at night and hurt him, sexually or otherwise.
It's clear Stormy has been through a lot, and we learn later on just how much and it's miracle he's able to smile and be happy and trust a relationship and sex with Tex after all he's been through.
But that's what happens when you actually meet someone loving and respectful and not a predator. They respect your boundaries and don't push and let you come to them.
Tex does all that and then some, and for the first time in his life, Stormy finds himself wanting a man, all on his own. With no force or coercion to be found. It's beautiful and wonderful to see the healing journey Stormy goes on, with Tex by his side.
Of course, it's not all about the healing journey, as the man who has been abusing Stormy for the past 4 years is still out there, and he's coming to get what he considers "his" which is Stormy.
But Tex is a huge man, and fiercely protective and head over heels in love and he's not going to let anyone or anything hurt Stormy ever again.
Who doesn't love a good hurt/comfort story? This was the ultimate hurt/comfort story and I love Tex becoming Stormy's exception - although he's able to loosen up a bit with others he trusts, like Shiela who has been at the bar a long time, later on, Tex is his everything and becomes the exception to all his rules. - and the who could touch him in that way, because he earned it and he always got consent.
Sometimes you read a mafia book where the character is a walking red flag who treats their love like the only good thing in their life and only treats them well....and then you read the flip side in the next book, where the only exception for a walking green flag is another green flag who treats them wonderfully.
Obviously in real life always shoot for the second scenario. But all that to say, it's always nice to read stories like this, where the connection is amazing and the MC's are sweet and adorable and passionate together, and they're so healthy together as well, and become what anyone would strive to want in a relationship of their own.
After only ever knowing pain and abuse for 25 years, Stormy gets to know love and happiness for the rest of his life, and it was a beautiful journey to see him go on.
I absolutely recomment this, it was beautiful and comforting, like a warm hug. And just a beautiful, beautiful relatinship between Tex and Stormy.
I'm excited for more from this author, and I look forward to Mickey's story next.
This morning my sister send me a text to tell me I needed to get this book because she was sure I’d love it. I agreed because I was already halfway through 😄 And I totally got why she messaged me because this book is right in the middle of all my favorite tropes.
Lots of angst but not in the relationship between the mc’s, great (? sorry that’s not nice of me but true though) backstories with lots of trauma, an mc with a heart of gold, who gets treated right by the world and who is a caretaker, a traumatic meet cute (apologies once more, I promise I’m a nice person, but I just really love an mc with a horrible background). And then a story with lots of growth, redemption, and a lovely warm ending. There was just enough excitement in this story to make it a page turner.
And Tex is just the best ever. I wish i know him for real. The way he talks 😍 And the way he describes Stormy 😍 both when talking to him and when talking about him to the reader. It’s the best! And Stormy himself is wonderful too.
Very happy I read this. And I’m pretty sure I’m going to reread this within a month. And read the other book by this author too. Go read it if you love angst and the best revenge stories!
update: Well.. this could very well be AI. The cover is AI, that much I know.
Why is it always so boring when the MCs get together? I've noticed that's a theme- I either tune out or dnf when they get together.
The first half was a 5 star read. Literally. There was hurt/comfort, the stakes were high, and I absolutely loved Stormy's character.
But after they got together, I just... didn't care. It got boring.
⚠️SPOILERS AHEAD:
There's a lot of emphasis on small town love but some of the stuff I found cringe. You'd have to read it to know what I mean but there's a lot of that "bro" macho attitude going on. I honestly think I just hate books with southern charm. I can't relate to them and they just remind me of republicans... oops.😬
The third act conflict is where it really lost me. Stormy beats the living shit out of his abuser - we're talkin broken ribs, nose, hands, knocked out teeth, punctured eye - while Tex smiles and urges him on. I am all for abusers getting what's coming for them but this was just gross and not in line with Stormy's character. What pushed it over the edge was the scene immediately after, where they're in bed reminiscing about hurting Ron like it was a great day. EEEEEK.
I am confused why none of them went to trial. Did the police/paramedics not see that Ron's face was bashed in?
I would still recommend it. I'm just too pedantic and I need realism.
I'm also so glad the author didn't shove Mickey & his love interest in our faces.. phew. They're getting their own book and I will def be reading that.
DNF at 55%. This book is so repetitive I cannot stand it. I don’t know if this is written by AI or not but I would almost bet a year’s paycheck it is. Horribly written. It’s written just well enough to kind of get your interest up but by the 50% Mark they’re already saying they’re in love with each other and this is supposed to be a slow burn. He didn’t even know the boys name. This is awful! I at least found out the kids over the age of 21. But this is just I don’t even know what the word is. Awful. I really had high hopes for this book. Like I really wanted to love this book and I tried my hardest to get past this point. But I just can’t. The book just goes on and on and it has no point.
4+ Przeczytanie tej książki zajęło mi 40 gdz. - w tym były dwa dni robocze i nocka (bez względu na to, że nie sypiam jakoś dużo i to zazwyczaj na raty - ale jednak śpię 😜). I książka nie miała 100 stron, tylko dużo więcej. Już samo to zasługuje u mnie w tym roku na 5 gwiazdek 😂
Zatem tak, podobało mi się, naprawdę. Pomimo tego, iż w drugiej połowie było momentami zbyt ckliwie i powtarzalnie (zwłaszcza, jeżeli chodzi o Texa, właściciela baru), że jak już się zaczął seks, to było go trochę za dużo (ale okoliczności go usprawiedliwiały, zatem pozwalam, żeby mi to przeleciało przez palce) i pomimo tego, iż są oskarżenia, że to AI (być może, gdybym była native speakerem angielskiego, byłoby mi łatwiej to wyłapać, ale jakby na to nie patrzeć, to jestem Polką, która chyba całkiem przyzwoicie posługuje się swoim ojczystym językiem, ale jeżeli chodzi o angielski, to jestem samoukiem 👀 - poza tym, z tego, co czytałam, to większość oparła to o jedną recenzję, w dodatku Francuzki. Nie mówię, że nie ma racji, bo być może ma w 100%, mówię, że po prostu nie odniosłam takiego wrażenia).
W dodatku po raz kolejny okazało się, że jestem jednak krwiożerczą i mściwą suką, bo miałam naprawdę dużą satysfakcję podczas czytania ostatnich rozdziałów ().
Mogę śmiało powiedzieć, że darowanemu koniowi w zęby się nie zagląda - w tegorocznej zapaści czytelniczej nie wstrzymuję ręki i zaokrąglam do pięciu gwiazdek, choć może w innych latach bym się czepiała, bardziej analizowała i dała niższą ocenę. Może tym razem nawet nieświadomie nie zwracałam uwagi na niektóre niedociągnięcia, bo mi się dobrze czytało. Albo pomimo, iż część widziałam na pewno, to i tak postanowiłam je zignorować. Ale ten rok mam słaby czytelniczo, zatem jak jestem w stanie skończyć długa książkę w 40 gdz., bo tak przykuje moją uwagę, to dla mnie super i jest wszystko dobrze w moim książkowym świecie.
This book was everything. EVERYTHING! So healing I loved every second of it. Stormy. I am so freaking proud of you!!! Of how far you came, how hard you fought. Y’all stormy worked and healed and it was absolutely the most beautiful thing to watch. All while surviving Florida’s Mother Nature. And Tex. I wish everyone finds their Tex, but even more so I want, hope and wish everyone who’s like stormy finds their Tex. He is the most patient most gentle man I think I’ve ever read about.
And let’s not forget the writing. I felt every emotion in this book. Ever high every low the author did an amazing job with this topic. I could picture everything perfectly. I could read about this couple forever. That being said Sweet beautiful Mickey needs his book, and don’t think I didn’t notice a certain pair of bikers that were eying each other. I may not be the mama of the bar that title was perfectly taken, I could be the auntie though. This was a great read, one that will be housed in my favorites.
In the know: Dual POV No smexy before relationship No cheating/sharing Yes for Diversity even in Florida
I was really excited about this book, had heard great things. But then I started noticing how it seemed like word for word I literally had just read this sentence, paragraph, whatever. Then everyone was saying it was written by AI. Wtf, literally ruined my entire mood.
And honestly, I was already starting to get the ick because of how Tex was treating him in his dialogue. Listen, I’m all for an age gap to a certain extent, but he literally kept calling him ‘son’ and ‘kid’ idk gave me the creeps.
This book is pretty popular but a lot of accusations of AI are flying around. I sampled it, I thought the writing seemed off: just saying I put a 1200+ word of a chapter towards the end of the book (not a sex scene, those are more likely to be human rewritten) on pangram 4.0 and it said 97% AI (and 44 words human written but it might be just over a couple contractions in a few lines). It is worth what it is worth, but I have been impressed by how reliable pangram is at IDing dodgy things or getting right things I know and it can not know.
Right so. As I got further into this the inconsistency in writing style and the repetitiveness in conversations just turned all the yellow flags to red. This is definitely AI. I had to come check other reviews to make sure I wasn’t overreacting, but I’m not the only person. I found even more red flags I hadn’t seen. Such as no credits given for translations (of which there are multiple FOR A BOOK THAT JUST CAME OUT) or the cover obviously being AI (that’s on me, I honestly just didn’t pay too much attention to the cover). The author having no bio on here or Amazon (which could mean nothing but also still sus) So no. I won’t be finishing and you shouldn’t either.
DNF around page 450. I don't usually put DNF's on my read shelf, but that's damn near 90 percent of the book so I'm doin it.
There is, potentially, a really good book within this book. It hooked me right off the bat and the characters were well developed and easy to like. I loved that Tex was such a chatty sweetheart, and I loved reading about Stormy learning to trust that. The side character of Sheila the protective mama was also well done.
The setting was also well done. I've been through a few hurricanes so reading about that was interesting. I don't think I've ever come across that in a book I've read before. Good stuff.
My issue is the writing. The further I got into the book the more annoyed I got with it. There is way too much introspection in the narrative that might make more sense if it was third person instead of first, but it was nonetheless overdone and got extremely repetitive, both in narration and writing style.
Examples:
"He's telling me, this is what I'm worth. Please let it be enough to let me stay in the middle of a damn hurricane. This is the best thing he has to offer, and he needs me to accept it or he's got nothing."
"He steps into the bathroom and closes the door, and I hear the lock click. Not the soft click of habit. The deliberate, firm click of someone who needs a locked door between himself and me."
"The wind eventually starts to drop. It's not sudden. It's a slow retreat, the roar declining by degrees..."
"Stormy is standing behind me, near the stairs, looking at the destruction with an expression I haven't seen on his face before. It's not fear. It's not that careful, calculated blankness he wears like armor. It's softer. Sadder. Like he understands what this place means to me and he's sorry it's hurt. He's hurting for me."
"He talks more. Not a lot. Not like me. But more than yesterday."
"He says it like it's nothing. But I hear what's under it and it's not nothing. It's a kid who has been hungry and shown up to empty tables. He's learned to make things stretch because nobody was going to stretch them for him."
I really wanted to like this book, but the repetitiveness of the prose is so grating to me. Once I noticed this pattern in the writing it was all I could focus on when it popped up and it just got to the point where I could not continue.
Dnf @ 40% this is so incredibly boring they have the same conversations 20 times over.. after reading some of the reviews I’m pretty sure it’s because the book was written with AI
Tex was an amazing person. So grounded and real. The hurt/comfort here was...top notch. The caretaker in Tex was beautifully told, his insightfulness gave Stormy room to heal, recover and blossom.
I highlighted the heck out of this book. Tex is a talker and in real life I hate when people fill the silence with constant inane chatter, but Tex had me smiling and laughing. He's a great character.
So too Stormy. What a shit life he had prior to meeting Tex in the middle of a hurricane. This book is about living with and dealing with trauma. And how the love of a good man, found family and the safe space to be, rather than controlled can make all the difference.
I'm looking forward to Mickey's story and maybe a cameo from these two
Have you ever read a book and thought "When will this guy shut the fuck up? " I get it. Tex is chatty. But OH MY GOODNESS his babbling was never ending. This book deals with some serious and heavy topics, I wanted to take it seriously. I couldn't. I couldn't stop rolling my eyes while reading this book. The hot pink "property of big tex" shirt... was a choice. If this book was 200 pages long and didn't waste so much of my time, maybe I'd hate it less. Reading this was a pain in my ass. Maybe I hate books with southern charm. Maybe I hate books set in Florida. Or maybe I just hate reading.
Wow, just, wow! This book was amazing! Reading about the relationship with Stormy and Tex and watching it unfold had me in the edge of my seat. The tension was beautiful, the hell Stormy went through was heartbreaking and the revenge he took was satisfying. I highly recommend this book.
Good plot. And I really wanted to LOVE the whole thing but didn't. The writing needed alot of work. The start was good but it went downhill fast... There was alot of repeating facts over and over where it was not really necessary to do so. Also - did not like how Tex called Stormy 'kid' for the first like 50% of the book - a bit ick for a romance.
Extremely repetitive and should’ve been 200 pages less. Idk why we’re re-writing things that already happened in one MMC POV chapter into the next MMC POV chapter. Yikes. It could’ve been a good plot/book, but the repetitiveness, the yapper MMC, and constant jokes made it almost a DNF.
Hoooooly cow. With my reading slump as bad as it's ever been, I was wondering which books from my TBR could begin the slow, steady work of reeling me back in from sea. Turns out, the one to do it was a book I had only seen advertised twice on TikTok and nowhere else...which is criminal.
I am new to Wren Wilds, so this was a leap of faith for me, just being hooked from the synopsis. I'm over the moon about how beautiful this book is and how comforting it was to read. There's very heavy content, but the way that Tex and Stormy openly navigate it together and inspire the most glorious change in Stormy...it made me tear up. Tex's use of honest communication and consistent checking for consent is touching and so damn hot.
This should probably be adapted into a movie? Please?
10/10.
**I hope the author has plans to rework the cover to avoid use of what seems to be AI art.
I have officially adopted Stormy—no one argue with me. I wanted to reach into this book and hug that man immediately. The emotional grip he had on me? Rude. Unacceptable. 10/10.
And TEX?! Gah! The patience. The care. The way he shows up?? I am unwell. Someone give that man a medal…or at the very least, also a hug (after me).
And Sheila??? That’s my sister now. No explanation. Just facts.
I felt things I did NOT sign up for, and I would absolutely do it all over again. 10/10 would recommend if you enjoy screaming into a pillow and falling in love with characters who will emotionally wreck you in the best way!
First time reading this author. I really enjoyed it. The book was a bit long but Stormy’s trauma was very big.
Tex was a funny, caring and way too talkative kind of person. Stormy was his opposite in every way.
The layers of trauma the Stormy had to endure and survive was remarkable. Tex was the perfect partner for him. This plot had a very “Sleeping with the Enemy” vibe. Stormy was the Julia Robert’s character and you kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. It was very intense.
The end was just how you wanted it and I’m glad Mickey gets a book. I want to know more about him.