A review by ajcousins
Wild Child by Molly O'Keefe

Apologies for the double post. :) I'm taking a break from starring my GR reviews, because that's the stressful part, but I still want to talk about books I loved!

I picked up Wild Child at the Chicago Spring Fling conference and, because Molly had me laughing within the first few pages at the dude energy flowing between the male friends whose scene opens the book, I was expecting a humorous story. But this book is so much more than that. It’s intensely sensual in several amazing scenes, but also brutally honest about the awkwardness or even the awfulness of sex for the wrong reasons. The fucked-up family relationships Molly depicts are believable and felt like a preparatory class for how to handle my kid’s teen years. And I love that a big chunk of the conflict is not someone committing cartoonish acts of unspeakable evil, but rather the consequences of a good person who didn’t take the opportunity to do the right thing when it was offered. Wild Child also sends a message that is at the core of everything I’ve ever taught my son: you can value love for its own sake, even if it’s not returned. Even when that hurts. To love is good. I really enjoyed this book.