The Wilde Bunch

Hilarious, marriage-of-convenience, romantic romp from 1995

Macauley (Mac) Wilde is a 35-year-old rancher from the (fictional) small town of Bear Creek, Montana. Eighteen months ago, Mac’s older brother, Reid, and his wife, Linda, died in a multi-car pileup. Immediately after the tragedy, their four orphaned offspring went to live with Mac’s other brother, James, and his wife, Eve. The overconfident pair haughtily assumed that they were much better qualified than Mac to be guardians to the children because, though they were as childless as Mac was, they were a “solid, marital unit” and Max was a divorced man. But James and Eve only managed to cling to their smug self-satisfaction for a year, before they decided they couldn’t stand another minute of parenting the constantly misbehaving children, and shipped them off, post haste, to their Uncle Mac.

Prior to the arrival of his troublesome charges, Mac had very much enjoyed his untrammeled, bachelor existence, but for the past six months, he’s forgotten what it’s like to go on a date. His nieces and nephews are holy terrors, not only because of grief and loss, but because their hippie parents did not believe in disciplining them. Lily is 17, dresses like a hooker, frequently sneaks out of the house and stays out all night, and sometimes sashays into dangerous biker bars. Brick is 14 and, among other misadventures, was expelled from school for fighting. Autumn is 10 and looks and acts like Wednesday from the Addams Family. Clay is 7 years old and he, too, managed to get suspended from school, after he and his buddies broke into the high school and liberated all the mice from the science lab.

Middle-aged Reverend Will Franklin is fully aware—as is everyone else in town—of Mac’s overwhelming responsibility as guardian to his unruly nieces and nephews. As Mac’s longtime friend, he advises Mac that what he needs is a wife. Mac says he’s already thought of that option, but none of the single, local women he’s dated over the years are remotely interested in harnessing themselves to a man who is saddled with four out-of-control, little monsters. Rev. Will mentions to Mac that he has a stepdaughter who lives back East who is unmarried and unattached. She is sweet-natured, honest, and dependable, and might possibly be interested in marrying Mac and becoming a mother figure to the orphans. Mac thinks the idea of a mail-order bride is a little out there, but the more he ponders the benefits of a partner in parenting the Wilde bunch, the more he warms to it. He asks Rev. Will to send for his stepdaughter and says he will pay for her plane ticket.

Kara Kirby’s father died when she was a baby, and Rev. Will was her stepfather from age 3 to age 8, when her mother divorced him. He is the only real father she’s ever known. Fifteen years ago, Rev. Will remarried, and he and his current wife, Ginny, have two daughters. Whenever, as a child, Kara would visit Rev. Will, his wife, who was very jealous of Kara’s mother as her husband’s former spouse, refused to allow Kara to refer to Rev. Will as, “Dad.” So since age 11, Kara has had to call him, “Uncle Will.” Kara’s mother remarried shortly after dumping Will, and she and her second husband are the love of each other’s life. Sadly for Kara, they have never had room within their magical circle for Kara. During her youth, she rarely saw her mother from age 8 to 18, because her mother and her new stepfather were constantly shipping her away, either to Will, to boarding school, or to summer camp. And as an adult, the pattern has continued. Her indifferent mother makes no effort to stay in touch with Kara.

At the current time, Kara is 26 years old, single, and lives alone in a small apartment, with only her beloved Siamese cat, Tai, for company. For the past five years, ever since graduating from college with a math degree, she has worked as a statistician with the Department of Commerce, in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, her government job has just been cut due to inadequate funding, and she isn’t sure what to do next with her life. As a shy introvert, with no friends, she is isolated, alienated, and filled with angst. Her dearest dream is to have a family of her own. But it seems more out of reach with every year that passes, and she envisions nothing but an empty, loveless life stretching endlessly ahead of her. In the midst of this downward, mental spiral, Kara is surprised and delighted to receive a call out of the blue from good old Uncle Will. He declares that he has a plane ticket for her, and that he and Ginny and his daughters want Kara to come visit them in Montana immediately, and they won’t take, no, for an answer. Kara is so delighted by this unprecedented overture from cold-hearted Ginny, she eagerly accepts.

When Kara arrives at the airport in Helena, Montana, she is expecting to be met by Uncle Will, but instead, a tall, handsome cowboy in jeans, a chambray shirt, and a pair of well-worn Western boots, calls her by name.

During Mac’s Meet Cute with Kara, he is under the mistaken impression that she is his willing bride-to-be. But unbeknownst to Mac, his good buddy, Rev. Will, lost his nerve when he called Kara, and failed to mention a word to her about Mac’s marital intentions.

Though this book is from 26 years ago, it holds up surprisingly well to contemporary expectations in its presentation of the following, ever-popular romance tropes: “cowboy and city gal,” “marriage of convenience,” “opposites attract,” “small-town romance,” and “unmarried, childless protagonist as guardian of the children of a dead sibling.” Mac and Kara are each highly sympathetic characters—I really liked them both. Each of the four children is vividly drawn, and it is very moving how Kara, who is naturally nurturing, finds the family she has always longed for by winning the trust and affection of these troubled kids.

There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments throughout this delightful romance, which is always a huge plus in a novel marketed as comedy. There are also sexy times, which are quite sensually exciting, because they evoke a lot of emotion, without ever being crude.

As is common in category romances from the Harlequin empire—both in the past and up until this very day—there is no foul language in this novel, which is much appreciated in a current-day sea of F-bomb-filled contemporary romances.

All in all, this is a delightful novel that has stood the test of time. It is well worth reading for fans of romantic comedy and of any of the romance tropes I’ve listed above.

I rate this novel as follows:

Heroine: 5 stars
Hero: 5 stars
Subcharacters: 5 stars
Romance Plot: 5 stars
Parenting Orphans Plot: 5 stars
Small Town Setting: 5 stars
Comedy: 5 stars
Writing: 5 stars
Overall: 5 stars