Running Wild by K.A. Tucker

I didn’t expect to like Running Wild out of loyalty to Calla and Jonah forever, but damn I really enjoyed this! Marie and Tyler are just cute. Super cute couple. It takes a bit for them to figure it out but Tyler’s complicated background was really tragic. I also appreciated that Marie was older and worried about her biological clock. It’s so often romance is centered on couples in their early 20s so it was refreshing to have the perspective of someone who has been successful in her career, wants children, but just hasn’t found the right person yet.

This whole book is a plethora of Taylor Swift songs: Teardrops on My Guitar, You Belong with Me, August, Cardigan, Enchanted, etc. I also picture Marie to look like Taylor Swift. They describe her as a beautiful, ‘girl next door’, tall blonde with blue eyes. And her whole vibe is so TSwift.

The prologue starts off as basically:

I was happy with Marie realizing that the way Jonah looks at Calla is not a way he’s ever looked at her before. I don’t typically have patience for a love triangle so was happy that she realized that they are better suited as friends and lets go of trying to win him over. She and Calla had nice moments in this book!

Then the book becomes a really cute story about a lonely woman that doesn’t feel confident or at ease with herself or her life outside of loving animals. I loved the background and behind the scenes of the Iditarod. As a fellow dog lover, I loved how much they were in this book. Like Marie, I also have mixed feelings about the Iditarod and basically forcing dogs to run hundreds of miles in freezing temperatures while pulling their human on a sled. Animals don’t get a choice in that and it feels like exploiting their physique and athleticism to make money. Tyler obviously loves his dogs but I still just don’t love that it’s considered a sport. Let animals run around and play and chase squirrels and not have to condition for a mega marathon in the icy tundra. But, I digress.

I said to myself multiple times throughout this book: TYLER, GET IT TOGETHER OMG! I get that he is dealing with something complicated but I really felt bad for Marie after he had dinner with her family and then they decided WHILE hooking up (Marie! You’re a DOCTOR!) that they wouldn’t use birth control and called YOLO for him to change his mind the next day. He was so flakey. I love that she busted his gate multiple times. Especially because he deserved it every time.

The Calla and Jonah crumbs were EVERYTHING! The scene where Jonah finds out Calla is pregnant was so sweet! I missed them in this book. They’re just so much fun. I also felt better about Calla finding her place in Alaska in this book. She’s basically everyone’s event planner/ graphic designer/ interior designer/ marketing person.

Marie’s family.. WTF?! Liz was SO RUDE?! And Jim is a douche?! Why is he even allowed over?!

Marie and Tyler are a really sweet couple. One of my favorite quotes was Jonah saying “Go get your dog man!” I was cheering the same thing!

I would love more books in this series to meet Tyler and Marie’s little girl and Jonah and Calla’s family! It would be fun to have a book where Agnes meets someone or Mabel and Reed falling in love!

Side note: You can get super cute The Simple Wild merch here and here! I got the Alaska Wild sweatshirt and love it. I plan on getting more of the merch eventually.