Wild Like Us

Like Us, Book 8

By: Krista Ritchie, Becca Ritchie

Narrated by: Carly Robins, Aaron Shedlock, Vikas Adam

One is new to love.
One is bad at love.
One denies love.

Twenty-one-year-old, foul-mouthed Olympian Sullivan Meadows just made a huge mistake. She told her bodyguards - her buddies, her pals - they could take her virginity. Words forever engrained in her brain.

And theirs.

Akara Kitsuwon and Banks Moretti are best friends, sworn to protect each other and their client Sullivan. But upon hearing her confession, their reactions aren’t what Sulli expects.

They’re all friends anyway.

Just friends.

Solid, good friends.

Right?

As the three embark on the road to Yellowstone, tension builds and close quarters leave no secrets behind. Feelings for her childhood friendship with Akara - that teasing, flirty leader - grow hotter, but so do her feelings for Banks, the rugged, heart-melting Marine.

While Sulli is out west to free-solo her dad’s old climbing routes, the only true destination the three of them are certain of is Yellowstone.

Love and romance are totally up in the air.

©2020 K.B. Ritchie (P)2021 Audible, Inc.

Great ...but reservations

4.5 stars!
Obviously, since this is book no. 8 in a series and I’m still here for it, I’m a dedicated fan.
And the narration was overall very good. The narrator that did Akara had a tendency to sound overly dramatic at times, but is was still ok.

However, I have reservations. So, so, so many reservations.
But first, the good things.

Apart from high-quality everything (writing, story-telling, world-building, characters and yada yada), what I most adore about the series and this book, is the way fame is depicted. It’s not glitz and glamour, private jets and extravagant living which is pretty much standard in every other “millionaire story”. Although – obviously – the famous ones are financially independent. No, instead it’s all the negative aspects of fame. The lack of privacy. The media and paparazzi. The inability to go out in public without being faced with strangers who act like jerks, thinking they have the right to Sully in this case. A right to say whatever to her as if she wasn’t a person. That because she’s famous, basic human decency is forgotten and they have the right to heckle and assault.
It’s bloody brilliant.

But, now to the main two sources of my conflicted feelings about Wild Like Us.

First, the issue of Sully’s virginity. The entire book is totally obsessed about the fact that she hasn’t yet had penetrative s*x. With a person that is. It’s something she talks about, not only with her bodyguards – before they’ve started dating – but her family as well. Even her parents. I mean, really, she’s an adult. That topic of conversation shouldn’t ever come up. And the way they’re talking about it. She’s talking about someone “taking her virginity” this and “taking her virginity” that. It’s like it’s the 17th century or something. I found it embarrassingly antiquated and sexist to be honest.

And then, even though it’s revealed early on that she had used toys in the past, she still bleeds when they finally get it on. I mean, come on! It just made me even more angry. Because of course she has a virginity seal that only a real, live D can penetrate. So antiquated indeed.

Then, the budding relationship between Sully and both Akara and Banks. It’s just so unbalanced. Everything is about Sully. All three of them have their own POVs, but the focus is still entirely on her, and she seems okay with that. Like Akara and Banks are there to serve her, even in the situations that are clearly private and separate from their duties as bodyguards. Sure, those lines are blurry considering they’re her 24-7 security. But still. It makes Sully appear extremely selfish.

Also, since Banks and Akara aren’t interested in each other romantically, the imbalance gets even more pronounced. Because there’s no way around the fact that both of them would have preferred having Sully for themselves if only they could do so without hurting the other. So they compromise in order to have her. Only Sully gets everything. It’s disconcerting in its inequality.
Meaning, in my opinion, the story would have been waaay better if all three of them were actually involved with the other two in a romantic capacity.

When I’m re-reading what I’ve just wrote it’s kind of difficult to understand why I even liked this story. Because I did- I was completely swept away, and I’ve already started on the sequel Fearless Like Us. Guess I’m just complex like that. 😉

Because despite everything, I can only say: Highly recommend!

Chefs kiss 🤌🏼❣️

Fantastic narrators 10/10 !!

I’m just going to say this; your judgment of the “spice scenes” is not needed. Like.. if you came her thinking this was going to be a dark romance then you lied to yourself because this is not that kind of book and you should have read up on it. Especially if your have particular likes in books.

Second- it was not boring.

This book is what it is advertised as -

The story we were waiting for...

Krista and Becca continue to weave magic on pages/audible. I love the Like Us world. Silly’s story is amazing and very much reminiscent of her mother and father’s story, yet completely different. I can’t wait for the next part of this family saga.

Great continuation of KBR books!

I throughly enjoyed this book and the series! Love getting into story with Banks and Akara

Love this whole series

This book was every bit as good as the others. can't wait for the next one.