Lucy on the Wild Side by Kerry Rea
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Heat Level: 🔥🔥
Release Date: September 13, 2022
Publisher: Berkley
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.
SYNOPSIS
A charming and wildly funny new romantic comedy by Kerry Rea, author of The Wedding Ringer.
Lucy Rourke has two great loves in her life: the gorilla troop she cares for as a primatologist and the laundry list of reality TV shows she watches to escape the fact that her actual love life doesn’t exist. And like a reality contestant gunning for the final rose, Lucy’s laser-focused on one thing: getting promoted to head keeper. So when a wildlife docuseries hosted by hotshot TV personality Kai Bridges chooses her zoo as its summer filming location, she sees an opportunity to showcase her beloved gorillas to the world and land a starring role in her department.
When Kai and his film crew arrive, however, it’s obvious to Lucy that Kai cares more about sky-high ratings than the gorillas, and he considers her a camera-averse know-it-all whose wardrobe consists entirely of khaki. But she’s surprised to discover there’s more to him than his rugged good looks and cheesy catchphrases…and that maybe a promotion isn’t the only thing she wants. But when secrets from their pasts threaten to complicate everything, Lucy discovers that happiness and success aren’t the same thing—and that finding joy just might mean getting a little wild.
REVIEW
Lucy Rourke is a junior zoo keeper and loves her job taking care of her gorilla troop. If she could have it her way she’d change nothing about her job, except for getting that promotion she’s been aiming at. Soon she has an opportunity to show her boss that she is up for the promotion when TV hot shot Kai Bridges wants to film Lucy and her crew with the gorilla habitat.
Lucy and Kai start off on the wrong foot and it only gets worse from there. Lucy doesn’t have the best time public speaking and she abhors the camera. Kai and Lucy get on each others last nerves, until they realize they have a lot of similarities. Will they try to make a relationship work between them, knowing full well that Kai is set to leave at the end of filming?
After reading the synopsis of Lucy on the Wild Side I knew to expect an enemies-to-lovers rom-com, but I didn’t expect to also feel so much for these characters. I loved every secondary character in this book from Lucy’s grandmother to her half-sister. I was invested in this story and wanted these characters to end up happier than when we first met them.
Kai and Lucy had such great chemistry. And wowza (see what I did there 😉 did Kerry bring the heat in this book 🔥🔥. I loved this delicious slow burn. These two characters were so funny and likable and yet they each had so much trauma to get past. They were so patient, kind and understanding of each others feelings and that made me root for them even more!
I loved Kerry’s debut The Wedding Ringer when I read it last year and was really anticipating Lucy on the Wild Side and I have to say – if you haven’t read Kerry’s writing yet – please change that.
I had an opportunity to listen to the audiobook of Lucy on the Wild Side and overall enjoyed moving back and forth from the audio to the physical copy of the book. I will say that I didn’t enjoy the accent for Kai as much. Perhaps a South African accent is trickier to pull off? I’m not sure – but it was not my favorite audiobook.
If you’re looking for a rom-com filled with a lot of heart, I highly recommend adding Lucy on the Wild Side to your tbr!
CW: parental neglect, anxiety (public speaking), death of a beloved animal
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