Book Review: Wild One: Born Wild #1 (A Series Set in the Wilds) by Donna Augustine

Wild One: Born Wild #1 (A Series Set in the Wilds)

by Donna Augustine

May 27, 2018

310 pages

Death isn’t as black and white as they say, at least not for me. I can tell you when you’ll die and pull you back from the brink of death. In a world ravaged by plague, where survival might come down to the smallest misstep, I can help you cheat fate. If only I could save myself…

I’ve been abused and abandoned, bartered and paid for. The only reason I’m alive right now is a man named Callon, who I managed to trick into sticking by me. But things are looking up when my last purchaser calls for a truce, and I land a nice comfy place to live.

Except when something seems too good to be true, it usually is. There is a larger threat lurking that no one sees, and it’s about to wipe out the lodge in order to get to me. In a world torn apart by wars and sickness, a safe place to lay your head is hard to find, and I won’t go down without a fight.

Savage One, Donna Augustine’s follow-up to 2018’s Wild One, takes us back the dystopian world of Teddy and her protector née antagonist Callon. The story begins where book 1 left off, squirreled away at the lodge in the woods, with the immediate threat gone, there lies bigger and badder looming. Teddy struggles between what is right, what her heart wants, and how to protect those around her. As Callon tries to save Teddy, often times from herself, Teddy seeks to prove she is not a damsel in distress, but a force to be reckoned with. It would all be so much easier if they weren’t tethered to each other.

Donna Augustine is a world builder extraordinaire; one of the things I enjoy the most about her books is how fully committed she is to the fantasy world she’s developed, it leaves you no doubt that Newco, the Wilds, and everything in-between will be there after this world crashes. No doubts at all.

This is a tough book to review without spoilers, suffice it to say the book gave me highs and lows. I wanted to bonk both Teddy and Callon upside the heads more than once, but then it made my heart sing and my knees weak, it made me tear up a little and rejoice a lot. It was a great read, completely top of Ms. Augustine’s game.

Getting 5 sheep

JoDaws

About the Author:

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Donna Augustine was an odd child, had a brief moment of conformity in early adulthood and then decided to embrace her craziness as the years rolled by. It's her inner crazy that she credits with coming up with the ideas for her books. One part hypochondriac, a few dashes of paranoia, topped with a sliver of uptight and delivered with a relaxed flair, she kicked the proverbial box down the yellow brick road a couple years ago to embrace her true self.

She can be reached by a carrier pigeon, set free in a south by north direction, where she resides in Neverland with her two Siberian cats. Cats who, by the way, aren't as hypoallergenic as she believed they'd be.

For the conventional minded, and those of you without a pigeon on hand, she can be reached at donna@donnaaugustine.com. She responds to most emails within three dusk periods.

P.S. For those of you looking for the discarded box, it was sitting beside the road for a while but has since disappeared completely.

Book Review: Wild One: Born Wild #1 (A Series Set in the Wilds) by Donna Augustine

Wild One: Born Wild #1 (A Series Set in the Wilds)

by Donna Augustine

May 27, 2018

Pages: 308
Some think seeing into the future, even if it’s death, is a gift. For me it has always been a curse. Magic rules this new world and my form of it is no blessing. Neither are the walls around me that I’ve been told are for my protection. If there is anything more cruel or vicious in the Wilds than what I’ve experienced here, I can’t imagine it.

After being sold to the highest bidder, a more ruthless monster than the one who controls me is looming. My life is on the razor’s edge of disaster and about to get worse until I’m broken free, aided by one of the most unlikely allies that roams the Wilds.

I’m willing to do the unthinkable and imprison another to remain free. But now my new master is hunting me and the one I’ve trapped is all that stands between me and an existence more horrific than death.

Wild One takes place in the Wilds, (if you haven’t read The Wilds series, don’t worry it won’t detract from this story, but I highly recommend you read them because they are terrific!) where the world we live in no longer exists after being wiped out by the Bloody Death.

Teddy has a gift, or curse depending on how you look at it, she can see the deaths of those she is near or touches. This makes her an outcast by most standards and she is owned by a horrible man where she is continually tortured and ridiculed. She soon finds out that she has been sold to the highest bidder, but before this monster can take possession of her she is taken by a new monster. Knowing the only way to save her own life is to trap another, Teddy is left with no choice but to do whatever is necessary to stay safe and escape the horrible future that awaits her.

The tension between Teddy and Callon is so thick you can feel it. One minute you want to tell her to do whatever she can to get away from him, and in the next moment you are hoping they will get hot and heavy. Each of the characters are so well written that you feel like you have known them forever and are really a part of the story. Augustine’s writing is magic and I can’t wait for the next story!

Getting 5 sheep

Denise B

About the Author:
Website-FB-Twitter

Donna Augustine was an odd child, had a brief moment of conformity in early adulthood and then decided to embrace her craziness as the years rolled by. It's her inner crazy that she credits with coming up with the ideas for her books. One part hypochondriac, a few dashes of paranoia, topped with a sliver of uptight and delivered with a relaxed flair, she kicked the proverbial box down the yellow brick road a couple years ago to embrace her true self.

She can be reached by a carrier pigeon, set free in a south by north direction, where she resides in Neverland with her two Siberian cats. Cats who, by the way, aren't as hypoallergenic as she believed they'd be.

For the conventional minded, and those of you without a pigeon on hand, she can be reached at donna@donnaaugustine.com. She responds to most emails within three dusk periods.