City girl Calla Fletcher attempts to reconnect with her estranged father, and unwittingly finds herself torn between her desire to return to the bustle of Toronto and a budding relationship with a rugged Alaskan pilot in this masterful new romance from acclaimed author K.A. Tucker. Calla Fletcher was two when her mother took her and fled the Alaskan wild, unable to handle the isolation of the … isolation of the extreme, rural lifestyle, leaving behind Calla’s father, Wren Fletcher, in the process. Calla never looked back, and at twenty-six, a busy life in Toronto is all she knows. But when her father reaches out to inform her that his days are numbered, Calla knows that it’s time to make the long trip back to the remote frontier town where she was born.
She braves the roaming wildlife, the odd daylight hours, the exorbitant prices, and even the occasional–dear God–outhouse, all for the chance to connect with her father: a man who, despite his many faults, she can’t help but care for. While she struggles to adjust to this new subarctic environment, Jonah–the quiet, brooding, and proud Alaskan pilot who keeps her father’s charter plane company operational–can’t imagine calling anywhere else home. And he’s clearly waiting with one hand on the throttle to fly this city girl back to where she belongs, convinced that she’s too pampered to handle the wild.
Jonah is probably right, but Calla is determined to prove him wrong. As time passes, she unexpectedly finds herself forming a bond with the burly pilot. As his undercurrent of disapproval dwindles, it’s replaced by friendship–or perhaps something deeper? But Calla is not in Alaska to stay and Jonah will never leave. It would be foolish of her to kindle a romance, to take the same path her parents tried–and failed at–years ago.
It’s a simple truth that turns out to be not so simple after all.
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Wow. I was not expecting this book. I loved it. Loved every minute of it. I can’t even remember the last time a book brought me to tears. I loved Jonah, and I loved their banter. I loved the setting, and how the author painted it so vividly but only in ways that pushed the story forward and created conflict. And I *loved* the last scenes with her parents.
I’m in love with this author. How she writes, explore and develop characters and their story. The Simple Wild is my first book by K.A. Tucker and with this book she’s got a new fan.
I really liked how the characters evolved throughout this story. It was beautifully explored through dialogue and their actions.
The topic is something everyone can relate to. A sick family member. Then throw in the absence of a father for twenty some years.
I was sucked in and completely invested in every character. Not just Calla and her father Wrenn but also the hot angry yeti Viking Jonah, his and Wrenn’s friend Aggie and her daughter Mable.
Alaska is another character in this gorgeous story. Beautiful depicted. While reading The Simple Wild I was in Alaska with these people.
K.A.Tucker has a fabulous skill. She evokes so much emotion in the characters dialogue and their actions that I found myself tearing up over duck wallpaper. Her writing comes off as effortless and again it’s meticulous down to every word.
This author has swept me off my feet with The Simple Wild. I totally get the hype and it’s so well deserved.
5 Sky Cowboy Stars
We all think we have time. When Calla got the message that her estranged Father was dying from Lung Cancer she found out that time isn’t always on our side. Calla not only got to repair her broken relationship with her Father but she also found Love. This story was sad, funny, and sexy! I’m hoping that there’s a part two to this whirlwind romance in the works! Jonah and Calla need a HEA! In case Ms. Tucker is reading her reviews! Please & Thank You!
READ IT NOW!!!! <3
This book was so good!
A city girl who was angry at her father for choosing the simple Alaskan life over her changes her tune when she gets the news he has cancer.
It’s been 12 years since Calla has talked to her dad she has resented him and Alaska for that long but one email and phone call from a stranger changes everything.
A quick trip to meet her dad again after 22 years changes her whole life and her out look on everything. She realizes how much she has taken for granted.
Will a “air cowboy” steal her heart and will history repeat itself like with her parents?
I loved this whole book it was just perfect I laughed and cried. It’s a must read K. A. Tucker weaves such a great tale and her descriptions make you feel like you are right there and takes you into Alaska and the wild bush.
I am so leery of contemporary books lately, but this book just my heart start to glow. the characters are wonderful, the storyline is incredible, and every inch of the story had me on the edge of my seat.
I was tearing up in the airport while reading this. Embarrassed myself well and truly in front of a very handsome gentleman and his children haha.
Read the book!
Phenomenal. Loved everything about this book and it’s great characters. Can’t recommend it enough!
The Simple Wild snuck up on me and forced me to fall in love with it. I honestly was not prepared for the emotions that it stirred in me.
Calla hasn’t known her father for most of her life but when she gets a call telling her that he has lung cancer and it’s time to come home, she makes the long trip to rediscover who her father is. All she has known about Alaska is her mother’s description and it doesn’t seem like her cup of tea.
From the moment she lands in Alaska, it’s one thing after another. The most irritating? The surprisingly rugged Jonah who grates on her nerves from the start. Not only is she in the tinniest plane known, he’s made sure to keep the digs coming.
When the dust settles and Calla becomes familiar with her new surroundings, she actually enjoys the set up around her father’s home town. Everyone knows everyone and they are like family but the biggest surprise is just how giving her father and his company are.
As she takes the time to get to know her father, she finds herself getting closer and closer to Jonah. It will never work. Her life is in Toronto and he won’t leave Alaska but they find themselves falling for each other anyway. Problem is, they are falling into the same pattern that her parents did and she’s not OK with that.
So my absolute favorite thing about this book is the the banter between Calla and Jonah. It’s witty and sarcastic and I just couldn’t get enough of it. Tucker built the tension between them so well that I was hanging on to every word.
I also enjoyed the sense of family that everyone is and or becomes. Every single person had this undying love for one another, including Calla’s mother and stepfather.
I honestly can’t express to you how much I loved The Simple Wild. It’s heartbreaking, uplifting and emotional. At first I felt like it was a really good book that I was enjoying and couldn’t put down and then it morphed into a book that made me feel. Made me cry. Made me remember. You don’t want to miss out on this gem!
4.5/5
Really enjoyed this one! New author for me, but I’ll definitely be checking out her backlist.
A story about all the emotions of re-connecting to an ill parent that you’ve been estranged from since you were a toddler. A story about finding love in the least likely place. And a story about both forgiving and loving even when it may not turn out all rosy. Humorous, sad and ultimately hopeful. Well done!
K.A. Tucker has written another great book. She creates wonderful characters. This book made me laugh and tear up.
The Simple Wild was an exceptionally readable story that had me alternately laughing and crying, oohing and ahhing. It also featured what I consider the most integral part of a relationship: COMPROMISE!
Calla Fletcher was born in Alaska but her mother moved them back to Toronto when she was two-years old, leaving her bush pilot father, Wren Fletcher, and the rugged life behind. Calla is now 26-years old and has not seen him since and hasn’t talked to him in years. When she receives a phone call from one of his close friends asking her to come see him, she decides to make the trip after learning he’s been diagnosed with lung cancer. Calla is met at the airport by Jonah, one of Wren’s pilots, and to say the reception was less than welcoming is an understatement.
Life in Alaska was as much a part of the story as the characters, which made this a much richer reading experience. Calla lived a more pampered lifestyle in Toronto with access to the plethora of services and amenities associated with an urban environment. It was a tough adjustment but she quickly adapted, despite Jonah’s ill temper. I loved how her relationship with her father developed slowly, allowing time for both to create a new one. And, she frequently relied on her stepfather’s advice in making the best choices in the process.
And then there was Jonah. The long thaw between these two provided lots of humor and interesting situations. It was also through Jonah that we learned about the realities of life in the wildness of the state. Their relationship developed so naturally that when it took a romantic turn, it just seemed right. Other characters added even more flavor to the story as they were important people in Wren’s world.
I also enjoyed the narrator’s performance as she really captured Calla’s personality and the essence of the story. This one really worked for me even though there wasn’t a lot of drama. It is a deep exploration of the dynamics of a father-daughter relationship that wasn’t nurtured but given a second chance. It confirmed why this author is an auto read for me.
(I received a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review)
Be right back. On my way to Alaska to find me a bush pilot named Jonah…
Not really, but I wish. Now on to my review:
I wanted to do a reread of this book, the minute I put it down. It is officially one of my top favorite reads of the year. This story was such a wonderful mix of humor and emotion. I actually found it much more emotional than I was expecting. The banter was seriously off the charts. It’s honestly the best banter between characters I’ve read all year, maybe ever. And the banter between the hero and the heroine in a book is one of my favorite things.
I’ll admit that it took me a few chapters to warm up to our heroine Calla. She is extremely privileged, living at her mom’s and stepdad’s extremely lovely home rent free, her mother gets food and meals delivered, and a maid comes multiple times a week. With all those living expenses paid for, she’s able to spend all that extra money on luxuries like clothes and beauty products. She has grown up accustomed to certain luxuries and doesn’t really give them a second thought nor realizes that they’re luxuries, not necessities.
Callas has an estranged relationship with her father. When she was just a toddler, her mother left Alaska while her father stayed behind. They tried to stay in touch, but when Calla is in middle school, her father cancels plans to come to see her effectively severing what little was left of their relationship. Years past, and when Calla learns that he has cancer, she decides she’ll regret it if she doesn’t fly out to Alaska and see him. It’s only supposed to be for a week, but of course, well-laid plans never seem to go unchanged.
While in Bangor (the almost-middle-of-nowhere town where her father lives and works) we meet a cast of characters. From Agnes to Mabel, Ethel to Bandit the raccoon, Calla slowly realizes that family doesn’t always mean you share the same blood.
We also meet Jonah. Who I honestly loved right from the start. His quick quips were literally the best and his unabashed caring heart, even if sometimes he went about it the wrong way, leaped off the page. He is 100% swoon-worthy even with his faults.
Calla learns a lot about herself and what she’s capable of during her time in Alaska. The book is about much more than her and Jonah falling for each other. It’s about love, loyalty, community, and above all family.
Tucker’s writing pulls you in from the first page. If you are looking to dip your toe into the romance genre, this would be a great book to do that with. I’d call it a mix between romance and women’s fiction. Yes, there’s a central love story, but it is also about Calla’s journey. If you’re curious about the more intimate scenes between our hero and heroine, they’re what I’d classify as mildly steamy; somewhere between open and closed door.
This book is a great summer read, as well as fall, winter, or spring. Read it on a plane, on a beach, at home, or on the subway. However or whenever, it is a worthy and must-read story. And be sure to let me know if you want to plan a trip to Alaska with me. We can search for our very own bush pilots.
I received a free ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
This was such a great read. So well written. Prepare to get very emotional.
What a phenomenal book! The story of Calla and Jonah blew me away and K.A. Tucker’s writing was brilliant. This is why I read. I was swept away to another place, transported to Alaska, and lived life with these characters throughout the beauty of The Simple Wild. It has absolutely landed in my top reads of 2018. Incredible!!!
I absolutely loved everything about this book. From the writing and the description of the incredible Alaska landscape and the bush Pilots, to the incredible blossoming love story. It doesn’t matter what genre you like to read you the love this.
Wow. I LOVED this book. I think it might be my favourite of 2018. The characters were believable, the story line was riveting, and the writing was so, so good. I finished the Kindle version and immediately bought the paperback so I could read it again. Highly recommend!
This was a really emotional read, this is the story about a young woman named Calla that is the daughter of pilot that lives in Alaska and a woman that lives in Toronto, actually her mother couldn’t get used to Alaska and left Calla’s father, so in this scenario Calla doesn’t really know her father and hasn’t seen him in decades.
When Calla receives a call from a woman that tells her that her father is very ill, she decides to go to Alaska and meet her father even when she has a lot of resentment for his abandonment.
In Alaska Calla finds a different way of living, good people that will do anything for each other and an annoying pilot that has a heart of gold.
This is a great read, although I didn’t like the end….
I knew, according to other reviews, that this book was something special. Since I never read anything by this author before, I didn’t know how this book would affect me. Suffice to say it affected me a great deal.
And ultimately it was a great deal more than a romance.
It had everything from loss to love, regret and heartache, to forgiveness. The Simple Wild was an emotional and tender story that perfectly blended all of these emotions into a brilliantly written story.
Throughout the first third of the story, the author slowly introduced the reader to the characters, their relationships, and the reality that was Bangor, Alaska. The way the author described this at times desolate and for many people depressing place felt utterly authentic and real. Alaska is by no means an easy place to live in, but the author researched the area so well that the way of living came across as authentic and as true as possible, which was greatly appreciated.
While reading The Simple Wild, I fell in love with Calla, her parents at home in Toronto, with her biological dad in Alaska, and with the annoyingly but handsome bush pilot Jonah. Everyone of these characters was endearing, smart and genuinely likable. Each was fleshed out with personalities that were charming, relatable, and unique.
The dialogues, which were funny, heartfelt, and genuine, literally jumped off the pages. Each character had a distinctive voice, and I must admit, one of my most favorite characters of all was Calla’s stepdad Simon. Any child should be lucky to have a dad like him, and any woman blessed to call him hers. He was AMAZING!!! But that’s beside the point.:D
Calla and Jonah’s story was beautiful, touching but also a lot of fun. Enemies to lovers, their animosity was hilarious and their back and forth exceptionally well done. They didn’t change just because they slept together, they kept true to themselves and I adored them even more because of it. There were some incredibly tender moments in this book that took my breath away, especially between Calla and Jonah.
This book worked!!!
There was nothing I didn’t like about this story. The story flowed, and made me smile, laugh and in the end tear up. The author took an idea and wove it beautifully into a story that carried a message that is important to all of us. Life is short!! Don’t wait too long. Love, forgive, appreciate family, and enjoy the short life we were given.
What a fabulous read! Great characters, impressive story development, witty, poignant, and so romantic. I’m in love with a Yeti. This is a fish out of water tale that is at times heartbreaking, but tempered with witty banter and crazy antics. I wouldn’t say that it’s an angsty read; more like secondary angst. All around, it was a wonderfully written and unputdownable story that in turns made me smile and then shed a few tears.