Book 1 in the Rose Hill series
Reviewed by CJ | Rating: 4/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥 📖

⚠️ This is a full spoiler review. If you haven’t read Wild Love yet — go read it first. We’ll be here when you’re done.

OPENING HOOK

Ford Grant has been in love with Rosie Belmont since they were teenagers, and he has spent every year since trying not to think about it. Rosie, on the other hand, has crashed back into his life and is doing everything she can to make that impossible.

THE FULL STORY — SPOILERS INCLUDED

Ford is the son of a rock star, which sounds glamorous unless you’re a quiet, reserved, introvert in a world that wants a piece of you. Rosie is his best friend West’s little sister, and she’s the opposite of Ford in every way: wild, loud, and wants all the attention in the room. Teenage Ford did what any sensible boy does with a crush he can’t act on does, he buried it, crushed it down deep and hoped it would stay buried.

It did not stay buried. Years later Ford has become the world’s hottest billionaire (according to one magazine), which mostly just means more press he doesn’t want. He wants to get away from things and has the money to do it, so he buys land in Rose Hill right next to West’s place and starts converting an old barn into a recording studio, the kind where he can work with musicians to create music they actually care about instead of what the big labels want.

Meanwhile Rosie’s in the city, working a job she hates, when her boss makes a pass at her. She shuts it down, but gets fired for it, Well not for that, obviously, but very conveniently fired immediately after. She goes home to a long-term boyfriend who’s pretty much her roommate at this point, and he doesn’t even have the decency to be mad on her behalf, he’s more like confused about why she couldn’t just deal with it. That’s Rosie’s breaking point, so she picks up and heads back to Rose Hill for a reset.

Instead of moving in with West (single dad, two wild but awesome kids), she takes a little bunkhouses down by the lake near the old dock that is her favourite place in the world. It’s small and dusty, but she manages to make a friend of the mouse living there.

This is where things get fun because she talks her way into a job with Ford. This is a lot for a man who has spent years building walls specifically to keep her out, and he does his best to keep his distance. It’s especially tough because they end up at desks across from each other, and Rosie makes it her personal mission to break Ford’s calm. She is petulant, she is a brat, and she even dumps paint on the floor at one point for reasons I still don’t fully understand. I mean, it’s funny and you can tell it’s their own brand of foreplay, but as an adult with a mortgage it made me wince a little. I don’t know how Ford survives her, honestly.

Ford’s world is shaken up even more when a twelve-year-old named Cora shows up on his doorstep claiming to be his kid. Surprise! it turns out there could be consequences to a sperm donation made in your college years. Anyway, she has found her way to Ford because her dad has just died, and her mom is completely wrecked with grief. She’s very bright and completely aware that this situation is not his problem, but Cora needs someone to step up and is hoping he may be interested. Ford drives her home, meets her mom, and something about that meeting convinces him he can actually do this. Cora gets folded into Rose Hill life while her mom takes time to grieve, and she is an absolute delight. She’s dark, witty, and more than a little sarcastic. She is sunshine through a storm cloud – Rosie even calls her “her little storm cloud” and it fits perfectly. Helping connect with and support Cora is a big part of what pulls Rosie and Ford together — she pitches in with logistics, on how to connect with her, and somewhere in there Ford stops pretending that he doesn’t want this.

There’s a moment that sums up their entire relationship: Rosie remembers one night as a teen when she called Ford for a ride, upset and hurt, and how fast he got to her, thinking he must’ve just been close by. He tells her no, that wasn’t it. He just broke every speed limit to get to her, and that is Ford in one sentence.

Once they finally give in, it’s messy and real in the best way. They are two people trying to move past who they were as teenagers and figure out who they are now, and how they best fit together. They build a really great life for themselves and Cora, who started out as a kid they could help without obligation or pressure, but who quickly becomes a daughter.

BEST PART OF THIS BOOK

Everybody working through their own stuff without it feeling forced. Ford’s stubborn refusal to act on a love he assumed was one-sided, even after he finds out it isn’t because he thinks there is some line he can’t cross with his best friend’s sister. Rosie being a hot mess and slowly figuring out who she is through her time with Ford, Rose Hill, and Cora as they get the studio up and running. It all threads together in a real but beautiful way.

WORST PART OF THIS BOOK

Ford and West using Ford’s unlimited resources to go after Rosie’s slimy ex-boss behind Rosie’s back. The intention was good, but they should have known Rosie would lose her mind when she found out. What pissed her off the most was that West got dragged into it. He’s a single dad and a fight could have landed him in jail where he would be taken from his kids. It causes a rift between her and Ford for a while, but it was worth it story-wise to see them stand up for her.

THE STEAM RATING BREAKDOWN

Three flames — warm. There’s spice and it’s good. The romance is central but it’s not the only thing carrying the story — Cora and the studio get just as much focus. No major content warnings beyond grief (Cora’s dad) and workplace harassment (Rosie’s ex-boss).

THE CHARACTER WE LOVED TO HATE

The ex-boss. Easy pick because made a pass at Rosie, fired her for saying no, and earns every bit of scheming Ford throws at him later. Rosie’s ex-boyfriend, by contrast, doesn’t even rate on the hate scale because he’s so indifferent that there’s nothing to really hold a grudge against.

THE ENDING — SATISFIED OR DISAPPOINTED?

Satisfied. Ford and Rosie find their way back to each other after the West/ex-boss debacle, and the family they build with Cora feels right in the way a slow burn should, not rushed, and this case, not too neat.

WOULD WE REREAD IT?

Yes, and I already have. Second time around I went with the audiobook featuring Zachary Webber and Vanessa Edwin as Ford and Rosie. Since Zachary Webber is one of my favourite narrators, it was as good as I hoped it would be. Audio is often my choice for a reread so I can listen to while I work.

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