Wildfire by Hannah Grace (ARC Review)

Title: Wildfire
Author: Hannah Grace
Type: Fiction
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Atria Books
Date published: October 3, 2023

A complimentary physical copy of this book was kindly provided by Simon & Schuster Canada in exchange for an honest review.

Maple Hills students Russ Callaghan and Aurora Roberts cross paths at a party celebrating the end of the academic year, where a drinking game results in them having a passionate one-night stand. Never one to overstay her welcome (or expect much from a man), Aurora slips away before Russ even has the chance to ask for her full name.

Imagine their surprise when they bump into each other on the first day of the summer camp where they are both counselors, hoping to escape their complicated home lives by spending the summer working. Russ hopes if he gets far enough away from Maple Hills, he can avoid dealing with the repercussions of his father’s gambling addiction, while Aurora is tired of craving attention from everyone around her, and wants to go back to the last place she truly felt at home.

Russ knows breaking the camp’s strict “no staff fraternizing” rule will have him heading back to Maple Hills before the summer is over, but unfortunately for him, Aurora has never been very good at caring about the rules. Will the two learn to peacefully coexist? Or did their one night together start a fire they can’t put out?

⤖ My Review ⬻

Before requesting Hannah Grace’s Wildfire for review, I had heard about Icebreaker quite a bit. I hadn’t read Icebreaker and I didn’t have time to before Wildfire arrived, but I figured I’d just read Wildfire first and pick up Icebreaker after, since I had a copy waiting on my nightstand and I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to read and review Wildfire for the publisher.

Full disclaimer…I don’t typically read books where the main couple gets together physically at the beginning of the story, but since Icebreaker was so popular, I wanted to give Wildfire a shot. And don’t get me wrong, there was definitely chemistry in the main characters’, Aurora and Russ’s, first meeting. Their immediate connection was electric and well-written, setting up high expectations for the rest of the book.

Unfortunately, I did struggle with Wildfire after that. Nothing was pulling me back in and I had to force myself to continue reading. Despite the strong start, I found it challenging to stay engaged with the story as it progressed. The initial spark between Aurora and Russ seemed to fizzle out for me personally, and I found myself disconnecting… It could be that I just prefer for the characters to become intimate after about 50-75% of the book focusing on courting and/or pining first. I guess I’m a slow burn fan? Or it could be the pacing, the characters, the setting. I can’t really put my finger on it.

All I know is that I struggled. I will definitely still read Icebreaker because it’s been so popular, and I’ll even read the next book in the series Daydream when it comes out since my struggle here might have been purely due to the plot and/or characters. I do also still recommend Wildfire to those who like the plot laid out by the synopsis!