Minor spoilers ahead!
I originally checked out Wildblood from the library because of its pretty cover. I looked at its premise and I was intrigued. I read it and was severely disappointed. Wildblood suffered from many things, mainly the poor writing by the author, Lauren Blackwood.
Wildblood is based in Jamaica, specifically the jungles of Jamaica. Our protagonist, Victoria, is a Wildblood. What does this mean specifically? It’s vague. All we know is that Victoria is the most powerful one. She works for a touring company that caters to the rich tourists of Jamaica looking for an “authentic experience”. She is repeatedly done dirty by her boss, and when a premier client comes along, she is not picked to be the team leader, a position she is heavily overqualified for, and instead sets her backstabbing ex, Dean, in charge. On the trek through the jungle, sparks fly, blood is shed, and fights made. Will Victoria be able to make it back home?
Since I want some light at the end of my tunnel review, I will start with my dislikes first and then my likes.
MY DISLIKES: A lot was left up in the air- what about the rest of the world, the rest of the island, what’s this power of the jungle (in detail) are just some of the questions I had that were left unanswered. So much world building was left undone to the point that it felt that the jungle and the adjacent village of guides were the only place. That was frustrating as I was expecting a much more detailed setting– I was super excited to learn about Jamaica and the culture there. But here I am, Jamaica knowledge-less and sad. A lot of the romance felt unintentional to the story. I’m all for a good meet-cute or insta love, but this all felt so rushed. I was expecting lush storytelling to match the lush rainforest vibes, even excusing the poorly written romance, at times the storytelling was lackluster at best. The plot felt SO rushed, almost like the author was trying to get under 300 pages with this book. Slow down a second, I feel like a lot more could’ve been done with the book this way. (i.e., it left almost 0 time for the character development and actual plot some time to shine. It felt like a race to finish instead of a book with thought put into it.)
MY LIKES: For what was explained in the book, it seemed like a good starting point for some good storytelling. I really enjoyed hearing more about the jungle. I felt like the trauma from the SA and distrust of her friend is well written and was made a semi-major plot point without it being *too* romanticized or made too weird. The character of the “mother” of the jungle needed to be explored more, but she was amazing. I needed to see more of her. The cover was excellent. Occasionally, the storytelling was quite good, and I very much liked it. Bottom line: Great idea, not so great execution.