"The Wild" By: K. Webster - Book Review

Well my goodness... Okay, so I obviously wanted to read this because I love K. Webster and with all the drama around it, I just wanted to read it even more. I thought that maybe the taboo factor was blown out of proportion and exaggerated....It was not. That being said, I feel that she did her best to warn readers what they were in for so I don't exactly see why so many were upset, but I digress. I really liked this book quite a lot even with a couple of cringe-worthy parts (and for me, believe that's saying something). Be prepared that even though I will do my best to leave out spoilers, even reading this review might make some readers uncomfortable.

Reed has been through a parent's biggest fear. Losing a child. His wife, Sabrina has had miscarriages and struggles with depression. When they lost their son Drew, the twin to their daughter Devon, she completely lost it and shut down. He was left to not only mourn his son alone, but also left take care of their ten year old daughter. She grew up thinking her mother loved her brother more because once he died, she no didn't seem to matter to her. For six years, Sabrina remained in her depressed state. Reed decides he's going to make one last try to fix his family. He liquidates his business, sells their home, and moves them all out to the middle of nowhere in Alaska.

Devon and I had to keep on living while Sabrina got to live in the past. With him. Obsessed over the memories they shared. Suspended in a time that doesn't exist anymore.

This move is my last-ditch effort to bring her back to us.

A Hail Mary.

My last hope for a miracle.

After a long drive and a few frustrating moments with his wife who is always tired and has “headaches”, they finally arrive at their destination. There is clear weirdness in the relationship between Sabrina and Reed because while she lets him use her body for sex, she won't allow him to give her any real pleasure and she never returns affection. It hurts and angers him and he tries to make things seem alright to Devon. Devon has clear affections for her father that aren't seen as normal. She allows herself to give into those desires in her mind, but when she's awaken by a storm and crawls into bed with her parents, a line sort of accidentally gets crossed.

I start to move away but he lets out a big snore like me might wake soon. His palm slides under my shirt. Skin against skin. Heat burns through me at a rate I can't compute. I know he'd have a conniption fit if he woke up right now and found us this way. And yet I can't bring myself to move away. His touch comforts me like no other person can. When his palm slides up to cup my small breast, my breathing stops all together.

Needless to say, things go a little further before Reed wakes up and freaks out and leaves. Honestly what I found most messed up about this part was that Devon rolled over and cuddled up to her sleeping mother right after this incident. The storm gets worse and ends up getting so bad, it washes out the RV, sending them and their things off a cliff. This strands them out there, with no way to get back to town for help, they are left to tend for themselves and learn how to survive in the Alaskan wilderness. As time goes on, especially at night when they lie together nude for body heat, Reed and Devon's relationship begins to become less father/daughter.

“Rinse,” she orders.

I smile and lean back. Her breasts press against me as she leans forward to help me get the soap out. It's easy to confuse who we are in this moment. With the sun baking down on us and the water rushing by, it's easy to pretend we're just a man and woman in the wilderness.

She's sixteen.

And your daughter.

Personally, her age didn't really bother me as I know it did others. She turned seventeen shortly after this scene, so I hardly see her as a “child”. She was definitely old enough to know what she was doing and was the one instigating the encounters, especially in the beginning. Reed actually fought it, considering how bad he wants her too. The way I see it, the mother had kind of pushed them together for years. Not sexually of course, but their relationship was on a heavier level than most father/daughter relationship. They only had each other to lean on when it came to the loss of Drew and the emotional abandonment of her mother.

Nothing else exists in this moment except us. He flows through my veins hotter and more fervent than the alcohol I just consumed. With him, it isn't one sensation, it's all of them.

Love. Lust. Darkness. Light. Right. Wrong. Sadness. Happiness. Anger. Everything.

Even though this was definitely a messed up book, it's also not exactly what you may be assuming either. K. Webster always has a little twist up her sleeve and I just really loved this book. It kept me entertained and in my opinion, it worked. To be completely honest , even if you are cool with taboo reads, (unless you are okay with the father/daughter trope) I would just stay away from this one. If however, you're not bothered by the idea of this and don't mind your reads making you feel a little dirty, you might enjoy this as much as I did.