5 Days of Reviewmas 🎄 - Day #3 - Wilde Like Me Review 📚

Hi there Internet!

I hope you are doing well wherever you are in the world today 🌏

So I hope y'all are enjoying Reviewmas, and aren't too annoyed that I'm uploading a shit tonne 🙀

I can feel my creative juices flowing pretty well at the moment and I'm having a great time, so this has already been a success in my book 👌

Today is Day #3 and it's a book review that I promised you in a post back in October. If you need reference/context, please click here before you read on.

Welcome back 💚 I know what you're thinking, and I am sorry I am two months late in delivering on this 🙈.

Basically, I love Louise a lot. She's a beautiful lady who I look up to a hell of a lot, and her book is just another wonderful thing to come out of her brain 💗.

Here are my thoughts on her debut novel, Wilde Like Me....

Published in June 2017, Wilde Like Me is a romantic novel that’s wholesome, heartfelt and empowering for women and girls of all ages.

I found about this fun read because I follow its author Louise Pentland on YouTube. I’ve been officially subscribed for about 6 months now, and it has been a wonderful time so far!

Her videos are some of my absolute favourites to pop up in my subscription box; whether they come from her main channel ‘sprinkleofglitter’ or her second vlogging channel ‘sprinkleofchatter’. They’re quite lovely, 10/10 would recommend by the way.

Whether she is talking about something nifty in the lifestyle department, or more niche topics like pregnancy/motherhood related videos – they are a joy to watch.

There’s something incredibly normal about her content, but she still manages to make everyday life fun and exciting. I don’t follow Louise for crazy shenanigans; although I thoroughly enjoy them when they happen. I follow her because she’s a charming and intelligent lady who can talk about literally anything, and I will listen.

No joke, Louise could read the phonebook and I’d find it entertaining. She’s that fun!

So, when I heard that Ms Louise had written a novel, I was hoping that the same charisma and intellect would translate into her vocabulary and narrative choices.

I purchased the book after watching Louise talk about it for 5 minutes. Yep, I’m an easy sell.

Long story short, I certainly wasn’t disappointed 💜💙💛

Wilde Like Me introduces readers to Robin Wilde – a make-up artist and single mum to 6-year-old Lyla Blue. She has lovely friends and a kooky aunt, but secretly she’s lonely and constantly anxious that she isn’t being the best mother she can be.

She longs to change her fortune and find her Prince Charming. So, after 4 years of single mum life, it’s time for new adventures and opportunities for Ms Wilde. But will she find everything she is looking for?

The narrative itself was wonderfully written, and I found myself getting more and more excited about what new shenanigans were unfolding on every page.

The sophisticated yet conversational manner with which Pentland constructed the story was easy to read, and the monthly chronological signposts was also really helpful to follow character growth.

Plus, this book was also full of hilarious jokes that had me chuckling from start to finish.

What surprised me most was the complexity of the narrative.

Everyone were going through their own journeys throughout, and there’s more going on than just a single protagonist arc. So, even if you aren’t crazy about what Robin is going through, there are enough arcs to get emotionally invested elsewhere.

It gets serious through times like Robin’s best friend Lacey and her husband Karl struggling to start a family.

But there’s also some parallels to high school clique drama through Robin and the PSM’s (aka Posh School Mums), or you could just enjoy little Lyla being a ray of sunshine all the damn time. There’s lots happening!

There was a lot of fun characters, and Aunty Kath was definitely one of my all-time favourites. I adored how spiritual and wholesome she is, and her love for quirky knick-knacks, arts and crafts is all I aspire to be in real life.

Plus, her devotion to Robin and Lyla is family goals! Everyone needs an Aunty Kath in their lives.

Having said that, Robin was someone I didn’t love all the time. Her insecurity was eerily relatable for the most part, but I just wish that sometimes she would have a bit more faith in herself and her uniqueness.

She’s got a massive heart and the way that Pentland has gone about constructing her, you want to be best friends with her by the end. I felt like she tried so hard to live up to these perfect fantasies based on other people’s successes that she’d forgotten it’s OK to be a diamond in the rough.

Nonetheless, I liked how raw Robin’s journey was. It wasn’t glamourous, and Pentland didn’t gloss over any of what Wilde felt or experienced. It’s all there – the pain, the uncertainty, the heartbreak. But also, the joy, the laughter and most importantly, the self-growth.

I also appreciated the thematic depth of the narrative, as there were lots of super valuable take-home messages to glean from certain character arcs.

The most immediate thing for me was the importance of not living up to anyone else’s expectations but your own. Sure, everyone else might be doing something different… but that is 100% OK. The people who truly love you will follow you along for the ride, and those who don’t may not be the people you need to have in your life.

But trust me, there were many more.

Women’s fiction novel Wilde Like Me isn’t something I would usually read, but I am incredibly glad I did. It’s fun and genuine, with a variety of life lessons weaved into the experiences of every character.

Robin’s story is set to continue next year with Book #2, and I can’t wait to read about the next chapter in this universe.

Let’s get Wilde in 2018, ladies 😉💖✨

★☆★☆★☆★

BLURB: Meet Robin Wilde! You'll make a friend for life and she'll take you on a journey you'll never forget ...

Single mum Robin Wilde adores her six-year-old daughter and loves her job as a make up artist's assistant. She has a wonderful best friend and an auntie who is bonkers, yes, but loves her to the moon and back.

But Robin has a secret. Behind the mask she carefully applies every day, things just feel ... grey. And lonely. She struggles to fit in with the school mum crew. Online dating is totally despair-inducing, and she worries every day about raising her little girl with self-confidence, courage and joy.

What Robin longs for is someone (over the age of six) to share with - someone who's always on her team.

After 4 years (2 months, and 15 days!) of single-mum-dom, it's time for Robin Wilde to Change. Her. Life.

Exciting new opportunities are about to come Robin's way ... Perhaps a man, perhaps the chance of a lifetime ...

What will Robin do with the possibilities she creates for herself? And what potential will she unlock if she takes the leap?

★☆★☆★☆

So there you go! I'm really happy I was finally able to get this one up, because I genuinely loved this book✨

If you want to keep up with all things Reviewmas, remember to follow me @miss_memphis98 on either Instagram and/or Twitter to keep up with when I post 😀

You can also check out Louise's main channel here, and her vlogging channel here, if you want to show her some love 💕

Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow Internet,

Love and a sprinkle of chatty glitter, Emily xx 🌷