Love in the Wild: A Tarzan Retelling by Emma Castle
Blurb:
A Sensual, Powerful, And Thought Provoking Tarzan Retelling
Eden Matthews stumbled upon the discovery of a lifetime while photographing wildlife deep in the heart of Africa…
A gorgeous god of a man living in the wilds of the African jungle among a family of gorillas…
When he saves her life she’s compelled to uncover the man’s tragic past and the fate which led him to grow up in the wild.
But Eden soon learns she can take man from the wild, but she can’t take the wild out of the man…
When her savage savior soon shows her just want he wants of her…her sensual surrender, she finds she can’t resist him teaching her how to love…in the wild.
My thoughts:
I had high hopes for this book because I’ve never read a Tarzan retelling before. Every now and then I like to read a romance to switch things up. Unfortunately, this one didn’t work out well for me.
Thorn is a young boy on an African trip with his mom and dad when their plane crashes, and he’s left to survive amongst gorillas. Fast forward 20 years…Eden Matthews is visiting the African jungle (Uganda) photographing wildlife when she and a handful of others are taken. While the others are killed, Eden is saved by a mysterious man (Thorn) from the wild. She soon discovers that this man has been living in the forest since he was a little boy.
What I liked:
-The author prefaces the book writing about the importance of conservation and her love for gorillas.
-The book is written in two perspectives, so you get Thorn’s and Eden’s perspective alternately with quite a bit of Thorn’s history too.
– The story doesn’t follow the original Tarzan narrative to a T. In this version, Thorn is a very young child deserted after a plane crash. Thorn does save Eden’s life, which is similar to how Tarzan and Jane meet for the first time. This retelling is definitely unique.
– The book is written well with good pacing. It’s descriptive, thought-provoking, and even atmospheric at times.
What I didn’t like:
– I had to suspend disbelief multiple times, and it made me question too much. It was hard for me to accept Thorn the way the author portrayed him. He’s been isolated all these years in the jungle, raised amongst gorillas, but once he meets Eden bada bing! Perfect lover? It just seemed too far-fetched how fast these two fell in love. It also seemed crazy the way he adapts to civilization so well and so quickly.
-The romance was too cheesy for me and cringey at times.
This book didn’t exactly work out for me. I came close to tossing it, but I was able to finish it. Skimming over the romance parts that were too cheesy was easy to do. What pushed me to finish this story was that it’s part of my Reading Retelling Challenge for 2021. I’m not going to bash this book because it wasn’t horrible. For me this came down to believability and content issues and the insta-love that just didn’t feel right. I’ll still read other books by this author in the future because I did like her writing.
If you enjoy retellings and romance, this might be a good book for you. Don’t let my review deter you! This book is highly praised by many readers.
2.5-3***
Find this book on Amazon and Goodreads:
- Publisher : Emma Castle (August 20, 2020)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 378 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1952063175
- ISBN-13 : 978-1952063176
This is book #9 for my Retelling Reading Challenge. If you’d like to see my progress, click the image below.
Thanks for reading my review of Love in the Wild. Have you read this book or any other retellings lately? Feel free to leave your thoughts below in the comment section.
❤️ Mischenko
ReadRantRock&Roll 
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I don’t like the sound of this. I hope your next read turns out better. Fair review!
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Thanks, Yesha. It won’t be a book for everyone, although it does receive high ratings. 😉
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I don’t read much romance but every now and then, like you, I make an exception. Too bad this one didn’t work out for you. A Tarzan retelling would have been interesting!
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When I first saw the book and read the ratings, I thought for sure it would be a winner. It’s probably just me because the book gets great ratings. Guess I’m not a romance person anymore. 🤷🏻♀️ I DNFed another romance right after finishing this one. It was just too cheesy for me. Thanks, Mae.
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Dang, I got excited when I saw this was a Tarzan retelling. Those are hard to come by! I did read one of Collette Gale’s Jane in the Jungle which is an erotic retelling of Tarzan. It leans heavily towards erotica so if that’s not your thing, best avoid it. I read a book called Uncivilized by Sawyer Bennet which isn’t exactly a Tarzan retelling but the male MC was lost in the jungle as a child and raised by natives. He’s just a bit wild.
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Elaine, don’t let my review deter you. There are a ton of positive reviews praising this book. In truth, I’m not a big romance person, but I do read it occasionally.
Thank you so much for the recommendations. I will definitely check those out. 😉
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Hmm, that’s a shame, Tarzan was one of my favourite TV shows when I was a kid and a good retelling would have been interesting. Onwards and upwards, hope the next one is better 🙂
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I’m just not a big fan of descriptive romance anymore, Cathy. Tarzan was fun to watch when I was younger too; in fact, I sometimes see it come on the local channels once in a while. Thanks for your comment. 😉
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I know what you mean, it’s like TV, nothing is left to the imagination any more whether it’s romance or violence. It’s all very graphic.
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Huh, a Tarzan retelling. I’ve never come across one of those before. I would be put off by cheesy and cringey romance too. But I could see where a Tarzan retelling could be a good read – maybe not this one but in general.
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I was hopeful, Tessa. Leaving negative-ish reviews is something I hate doing. The author deserves good ratings because the book is written well, but it just wasn’t for me, and the rating reflects that. Maybe I’ll be able to find a different Tarzan retelling down the road. I appreciate your comment! 😀
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Quite the cover isn’t it! 😆 very honest review. I’m glad you were able to finish it for your challenge.
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🙄 Yeah, I fell for it. 😂 I’m glad I finished it too. It’s not like it was a horrible read, just not for me.
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That’s always a bummer when you read something with high hopes and it ends up disappointing you. But fortunately there are so many other books in the world! I’m sure you’ll find something else worthwhile. 🙂
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So true, Vanessa. Had this not been on my retelling challenge, I likely would’ve moved on with something else. We are so lucky to have all the choices we do when it comes to books and other entertainment. 😉
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I admire people who can finish a book they don’t like. I made the choice years ago to not finish books that I didn’t enjoy, because life is much too short and because there are so many other wonderful novels out there! I love your reviews and am so glad you’re back in the blogging world!
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Aw, thank you! I’ve become much more lenient with DNF’s, and I don’t feel guilty quitting anymore. Believe it or not, I used to make myself suffer through it strictly because there are those times when a book starts to pick up and you’re happy that you stuck with it. Anymore, I want to be hooked right away so that when I put that book down, I can’t wait to pick it back up. You are so right about life being too short. My sentiments exactly. ❤️
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Too bad this one didn’t work for you, I’m sure it won’t be the last one. We can’t love them all. Nice, fair and honest review Jen.
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This one was content issues. Yep, it happens. I’m not into the graphic romance anymore either. Many people have and will love this book, but it’s not for me. Thanks, Carla. 😉
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Ah, well, at least you were able to enjoy some parts of the book. I like how you reviewed this, talking honestly about the things you didn’t like, but not bashing the book. That can be hard to do. I don’t think I’ve ever read a re-telling!
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I didn’t want to review it at all, but because it’s for the retelling challenge, I felt it was necessary. It’s still a well-written book that I’m sure others will enjoy. I hope you find a good retelling to read! Thanks, Barbara.
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Nice
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