A review by kerasalwaysreading
Love Always, Wild by A.M. Johnson

4.0

This was such a sweet story about second chances and taking risks in order to be happy!

Thank you so much to A.M. Johnson and Foreword PR for my advanced copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.

Wilder is an author who has received best seller accolades for his debut book. In this book, he tells the story of his first and only love, though he has fictionalized him. It tells the tale of young love between he and "Jake," who tragically died. But, the death of the love of his life was the only fictional part of the story, when in reality, it went a little differently.

In college, Wilder (Wild) was an openly gay student tutoring the golden boy athlete, Jax. Secretly, they shared a whirlwind romance, but when Jax went home on holiday break, he never came back. He'd ghosted Wilder, left school and basically fell off the face of Wild's Earth. Heartbroken and devastated, Wild picked up the pieces of his life, but never fully recovered from Jax's rejection.

Years later, Wild still cannot shake the memories of Jaxon and the sting from Jax's betrayal is still there. Meanwhile, Jaxon is still dealing with the fallout from the guilt he has from all of those years ago. The tragedy that caused him to cut ties with the love of his life still looms over him and his household. Jax is the man of the house with his incredibly religious mom and mentally handicapped brother. But, when he sees Wilder's book in a local store, he is completely floored.

What starts as Jaxon emailing Wilder under a fake name, blooms into a full blown new friendship with the man he misses so much but feels is wrong to want. And Wild, consumed with the strange familiarity with this supposed fan of his book, continues to share parts of himself via email, not knowing that he is the subject of his own heartbreak. When he does find out the truth, will he be able to come to terms with his new correspondent's identity or will it be a whole new level of betrayal?

Will Jaxon ever be able to be who he truly is in order to be happy or will he continue to live a lie out of regret? Will these two men be able to pick up the pieces of their past and carve themselves out a new future?