Into the Wild by Beth Ciotta
Paperback, Pages
2010, Publisher
ISBN:
Series: Book 2 of The McGraws
Synopsis
When River Kane's fiancé abandons her at the altar for being too conventional, she's heartbroken. But everything changes when her estranged archaeologist father sends her his journal—filled with cryptic maps and a note indicating he's in mortal danger. Worried, River faces her greatest fears and flies to the Amazon to find him. But she needs a guide. Someone completely unlike danger-seeker Spenser McGraw.
A charismatic treasure hunter who thrives on risk, Spenser hosts the popular TV show Into the Wild, dedicated to locating lost treasures and mythical icons. But River's father's life depends on discretion, and too-sexy Spenser is all about publicity. Forced to team up, they embark on a jungle adventure ripe with temptation and danger…ultimately discovering a hidden treasure that could alter history—and a steamy love neither expected.
Review
Into the Wild is more of a companion novel to Out of Eden than a sequel. Although we occasionally see or hear about Kylie and Jack, it would be a stretch to even consider them secondary characters. Into the Wild is about River and Spenser's romance. Or to be more exact, the book is about River and Spenser's adventure in the jungle with romance making an appearance every now and then.
River is neurotic about germs and bugs. Her need to control her life and her future is what caused her fiance to leave her at the alter. She has abandonment issues due to a less than perfect childhood and the public loss of her fiance and planned future drives her neurotic tendencies into overdrive. When it seems her long estranged father needs rescuing, River embarks on a crazy journey in the name of closure. The entire premise seems a little unbelievable, but Ciotta manages to make the adventure seem plausible even in the face of neurosis.
Spenser has baggage of his own and the couple clearly fight against their growing attraction. While this was obviously going to be a happily-ever-after story, the mental and physical obstacles the two face often seem insurmountable. At times the romance seemed out of place in the story and distracted from the life-or-death situations the couple often faced. It worked on the whole, but the budding relationship felt like poor timing much of the time.
I enjoyed Out of Eden much more than Into the Wild, but I prefer my contemporary romances to be in more conventional settings and my adventures to have lusty encounters rather than romances with potential for life-long love. The book is able to straddle the genre line in a workable fashion, but didn't appeal to me as much as it would have if it leaned more heavily in either direction.
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