Lucy on the Wild Side by Kerry Rea

e-Audio, 10:13:29
Narrated by: Emily Lawrence 
Release Date: September 13, 2022
Published by: Books on Tape
Read from: September 22-23, 2022
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley (I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Animal Death (But done in a respectful way) 
For Readers Interested In: Animals, Contemporary Romance, Realistic Fiction, Reality TV, Adult

      A charming and wildly funny new romantic comedy by Kerry Rea, author of The Wedding Ringer.

     Lucy Rourke has two great loves in her life: the gorilla troop she cares for as a primatologist and the laundry list of reality TV shows she watches to escape the fact that her actual love life doesn’t exist. And like a reality contestant gunning for the final rose, Lucy’s laser-focused on one thing: getting promoted to head keeper. So when a wildlife docuseries hosted by hotshot TV personality Kai Bridges chooses her zoo as its summer filming location, she sees an opportunity to showcase her beloved gorillas to the world and land a starring role in her department.
     When Kai and his film crew arrive, however, it’s obvious to Lucy that Kai cares more about sky-high ratings than the gorillas, and he considers her a camera-averse know-it-all whose wardrobe consists entirely of khaki. But she’s surprised to discover there’s more to him than his rugged good looks and cheesy catchphrases…and that maybe a promotion isn’t the only thing she wants. But when secrets from their pasts threaten to complicate everything, Lucy discovers that happiness and success aren’t the same thing—and that finding joy just might mean getting a little wild.

*MY THOUGHTS*

If you go back a few pages in my Read shelf on Goodreads, you’ll see that I read Rea’s debut and loved it so much I gave it 5 stars. I was hoping for more of the same with this one, but unfortunately it missed the mark with me. I just didn’t like the main character.

Ok so first things first. I didn’t like Lucy. She was blaming everyone else for what was wrong with her. She didn’t want to go out with people and only liked gorillas, but it was because everyone else was terrible. She was very selfish and stayed thatr way for most of the book. In most books they allow for main characters to have some type of growth, but there was just nothing here. And THEN, there was the fact that she treated an innocent kid the way she did. I don’t care what your mother did to you, she did nothing and the way she treated her was not ok. I didn’t like that part at all. It absoluterly confirmed that she had no character development until the end, and by then it was too late for me to change my mind about her.

The love interest was too cute for her lol I LOVED Kai. He was definitely the reason I finished the book. He was very sweet and did so much for her, even when she didn’t deserve it. But he was also pretty boring. He was quiet until he had to be the person everyone expected him to be, so I never really felt like we knew the REAL him. Even when he was around his mom at the convention, he became quiet then and the person he wanted her to be. It was hella weird. I didn’t care for that part at all. I DID like the way he treated her tho. He taught her new things, he welcomed her even after she didn’t welcome him, etc. He had patience with her even when I felt like he shouldn’t have.

The two of them together was weirdly cute. The animal facts were weird, but cute for them. I don’t know how to explain that. I did wish they had chosen other animals. Like there’s absolutely nothing swoon worthy about roaches or spiders, etc lol Also, I also liked that animals were what they had in common, since it was such a big part of each other their lives. But that also made for it seeming like they had nothing else lol Because Lucy was just not great. Maybe that’s just my bias, but I didn’t like that. Like without the animals they had nothing. I don’t know how to explain it.

Rea’s writing style was still A+ though. I loved that she wrote a character that was unapologetic about not having kids and I loved that it stemmed from her own relationship with her mother. In all the romance novels I’ve read, I don’t think I’ve read one where the main character said she didn’t want kids and she was adamant about it, so she didn’t. There was always something that happened at the end or in an epilogue. But that didn’t happen in this one, and I was glad. There are those types of women in the world and they deserved to be seen too. AND mom relationships aren’t always good either. Some of them are toxic, and those relationships also deserve to be seen. I loved that Rae wrote something with them in mind because they’re not always given the spotlight.

I just don’t think I was the right audience for this one. I’m not a huge fan of animals other than dogs, I didn’t think the animal facts were swoon-worthy, just sciencey, and I just didn’t like her. I’ll still give Rea another try because I know what she can from her debut, but ultimately this one didn’t do it for me.

Overall, I give this