Review: Wildflowers by Kylie Scott
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Note: An advance reader copy (ARC) was provided by the author.
This is one of the more entertaining reads I've come across so far this year, and that's saying something considering the number of books that have made their way on my "read" shelf. Wildflowers is, as the book's subtitle aptly puts it, an end of the world romance, and if you're familiar with Kylie Scott's work, particularly her earlier books, this is not the first time she's ventured into this sort of trope, albeit her Flesh series was more post-apocalyptic stuff involving zombies. In the case of this new standalone, the world is forced to come to the realization that a flu-like virus has left devastation in its wake. Oh, and did I mention that the male main character has a bit of stalker in him and the female main character is a force to be reckoned with as well? I told you this was entertaining, and I had a satisfied smile at the end.
Wildflowers is headlined by Dean Wallace and Astrid Hardy. He's a forty-two-year-old Marine who was honorably discharged and currently works as a contractor, and she's thirty-three and works remotely (I honestly can't remember what her job was). They happen to be neighbors who have noticed each other in the past, but only meet for the first time at the beginning of the book. However, it seems that Dean has been paying much closer attention to Astrid--just one of the tidbits she discovers when she wakes up in his basement. He says it's to protect her from the aftermath of the virus that almost everyone else is dismissing as nothing more than the flu. Dean hopes Astrid will eventually trust him and maybe even bring a bit of sunshine to his life. And Astrid? She wants it all to make sense...and to ultimately survive.
I've liked Kylie Scott's more recent releases, and by recent, I'm talking about the last two or three years, but the bar that was set by Famous in a Small Town in 2022 had yet to be met. Welp, Dean and Astrid's story has come the closest, and it's certainly my favorite from Scott since then. Now, I'm not condoning Dean's stalking, but I guess he did what he had to in order to ensure that the woman he was smitten with--and if Dean is to be believed, it was way beyond him crushing on her from afar--didn't just avoid getting the virus but lived past survival. I commend Astrid and her being someone who learned to go with the flow while also speaking her mind and taking a stand when the situation called for it. There was also a host of notable supporting characters who made this unexpected romance a noteworthy five-star read.
Release Date: 08 July 2025
Date Read: 05 July 2025
Learn more about Kylie Scott.
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