Running Wild

Simple Wild, Book 4

By: K. A. Tucker

Narrated by: Callie Dalton

Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

From the internationally bestselling author of The Simple Wild comes the story of a woman at a crossroads in her life, struggling between the safe route and the one that will only lead to more heartbreak.

Veterinarian Marie Lehr knows unrequited love all too well after pining for her best friend, only to watch him marry another woman. It's a mistake she will never make again, especially not when she can practically hear the clock ticking on her childbearing years.

The trouble is, she can't seem to find anyone who appeals to her even a fraction as much as that burly bush pilot did. Competitive musher Tyler Brady certainly doesn't, especially not after the heated altercation with the handsome but arrogant, spiteful man.

Or so she thinks.

While volunteering at the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, Marie discovers that first impressions may have been false, and her attraction to Tyler is very real. But his heart belongs to someone else, leaving him with nothing to offer but friendship. Marie's been down this road before and knows how that ends. Yet, no matter how hard she works to keep from falling for Tyler, it seems she's doomed to follow her own trail once again.

Contains mature themes.

©2022 Kathleen Tucker (P)2022 Tantor

Need more of all 4 main characters of the series!

I found myself reading this book to catch glimpses of Jonah and Calla’s post-wedded bliss. And there certainly are those. But the book centered around Marie (who had pined away for Jonah for years) moving on and finding her own way and someone that would fit into her life the way that Calla fits into Jonah’s.

The story of Tyler, a heartbreaking one, is really good and the enemies-to-lover trope of how he finds himself attracted to Marie is fabulous. It is a typical trope and one that was briefly touched on in the first book with Calla and Jonah themselves being an “opposites attract” storyline so that may be where people think it’s unoriginal. But ya know most stories are!!! People have been writing books and stories for over a millennia!

Overall, it’s a great book 4 BUT I’d say Jonah and Calla’s story over the first three books was slightly better. And if the author wants to continue with the series, I’d very much add more Jonah and Calla to them with sprinkles of Marie and Tyler.

Marriage has so many trials and tribulations that a series could continue for decades and Jonah and Calla are opposite enough to give us the best of them. And there are so many lessons to learn from such a story.

I am a director/writer/producer. I have written a bit for AAA video games like the JEDI series and The Last of Us and many more that I’ve had a very small hand in. So, I’d very much love to turn this series into a trilogy of movies. And as such I wonder who we’d love to see play Jonah and Calla???

This book in the series was the best!

Okay, I HATED Marie when I started this book and struggled to root for her. But as I went along, I started to understand her and even like her. Marie and Tyler’s story was filled with chemistry and I cried not once, but twice during this book!

Solid book

Storyline wasn’t lagging and didn’t feel drawn out. A solid K A Tucker book. Good author.

Running Wild

I did not like Marie at first, but this book changed my perspective of her. I am glad she got her happy ending.
In case you are wondering, there are several appearances from Jonah and Calla.
The narrator almost made me return the book, but I stuck it out.

Love the ending.

I almost didn’t finish because I felt like there was a lot of unnecessary info dump. However, I quickly realize that this information build on my knowledge and I’m grateful for the information. It took the ending for Tyler to get it together. I wish we saw more like a wedding, raising their family but I guess if there’s another book, we will get an update. Not my favorite book from the author but I enjoyed the ending.

Love this Series!

KA Tucker does a great job sucking you into Marie’s story while weaving in past characters like Jonah and Calla. This is a story that I think a lot of women can relate to. Will I or won’t I find love!?

Love the story

KA NEVER DISAPPOINTS. I love Marie’s love story. I’m glad she was able to find her love.

Loved it!

I loved getting to know Marie and really liked her! The story was realistic and kept my attention throughout.
This book really needed an epilogue though! I hope we get more books from K A Tucker set in this Alaskan world.

Loved it

I loved all of this series. I’m sad it’s come to an end. I wasn’t sure I was going to like the switch in the main character, but I really came to love Marie’s story.

A favorite series

𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡. 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚, 𝙡𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙝, 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙩.
𝙄𝙩 𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙨. 𝙄’𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙖𝙩 𝙅𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘾𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙖.
𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙩𝙤𝙤.

This is Marie’s story. We know Marie from the previous books as Jonah’s best friend, and also the woman that was in unrequited love with him.

Now we get her story: working to get over Jonah and trying to figure out where her life goes from here. As a 38yo Veterinarian working out of her family’s clinic, she still has so much more that she wants out of life.

We also meet Tyler, who has his own baggage, and a whole team of sled dogs! I really loved all the sled dog parts of this book, especially our little peek into the iconic Iditarod.

We get family drama, more time with this fun community, and of course little bits with Calla & Jonah.

I do wish that we had gotten more time with Marie & Tyler. Honestly I was shocked with how quickly the ending snuck up on me! I just felt like we didn’t really get all the closure I would have liked from Marie’s story, but maybe there’s a chance for another book? 🥺 (A girl can dream!)

This series has just been the ultimate feel good series for me, so much so that I definitely got a bit of the blues when this final book ended. Definitely looking forward to adding these books to my trophy shelf soon.

Audiobook notes: There was a different narrator than the previous books. I did not love her quite as much, but I thought she did just fine.

What this book is giving:
✅ Contemporary Romance
✅ Single POV
✅ Veterinarian
✅ Musher
✅ Sled Dogs
✅ Alaska

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½ / 5
🌶️🌶️ / 5