2 stars

Steam, yes. Romance, not really, overall Wild Land, Wild Love is a serviceable, if basic historical romance romp, aiming for soap opera level plotting and overly hysterical characters. Unfortunately, the obnoxious heroine/hero and the lack of meaningful narrative progression kind of eradicated what could've been at least a silly fun time.

The heroine got off on the wrong foot immediately, coming across extremely entitled and judgemental; I was anticipating a forthcoming character growth, alas none came to fruition. The hero was tolerable at first, until the author repeatedly having him sexed-up the heroine to terminate a fight or disagreement. This lust-first interaction would've made for a decent 'guilty pleasure' read, if the chemistry was convincing—but at no point did I understand their mutual attraction, and the heroine's perpetual bitterness towards the hero was so surface-level and stagnant, it became very pointless when at page 300+ we were still arguing over the same thing as in page 100+.

For me, the best part of Wild Land, Wild Love is its cover art. Between the dull romance, blatantly obvious villains (I'll admit the outcome for one of the villains did surprise me!), and the dated depiction of the Indigenous Peoples, the only redeeming values are the Australian setting, and the countless steam; but none of these would elevate the novel to an unmissable title. Also, where are the kangaroos?

***Historical Hellions Book Club | June 2023 Selection***