LOVE IT!! So open and honest and raw. It will make you feel and make you think. So well written it draws you into the scene and the story and doesn’t let you go.

All Things Left Wild: James Wade

Release Date: Jun. 16, 2020

Moving, immersive and tragic; a raw, historical fiction of life in the American West post-civil war.
Set in the early 1900s, two brothers, filled with vengeance and greed, pursue to rob horses from a well-off rancher. When the heist spoils and takes a turn for the worst, the brothers start riding south, toward the border in hopes of escaping their pasts. The rancher, Randall Dawson, is exactly the opposite of what you would expect. Academic and literary, not to mention astonishingly affluent, Randall sets out to chase after the Bentley brothers unprepared and ignorant of the ills that befall life on the border. Charlotte, a rugged, western native, helps Randall navigate not only the day-to-day survival of life in the west but also the dangerous, and deadly, political turmoil as a revolution brews in the land lining the Mexican American border. As the story line alternates between the Bentley brothers and Randall Dawson, the parallel stories are brought together in a whirl wind of violence, corruption, love and the consequences that follow decisions made.

Thoughtful and intense, James Wade explores tragedy, growth, redemption and the true grit of the west in All Things Left Wild.



Along with posting on Net Galley, I will be posting my review to Goodreads, Amazon, my Instagram (which has over a thousand book review followers) and my blog. Please find the link to my blog post below.

https://ifyoucanreadthisdotblog.wordpress.com/2020/04/02/all-things-left-wild-james-wade/

Respectfully,
Chanel Johnson

This is my favorite book of 2020 so far. Beautiful, heartbreaking, memorable. The setting is brought to life so vividly and the characters... oh, the characters are perfectly drawn. Bravo James Wade!

This book broke my heart in the best way. I had a favorite book long before reading this book, and this easily took its place as my new favorite book.

I love the language that Wade uses, and the use of first and third person depending on the point of view further characterizes Caleb Bentley and Randall Dawson. This book is a conversation about life and choice, and Wade converses with the reader through the characters, providing different viewpoints through different characters.

However, life is its own entity, and no man controls life.

A man only owns his decisions.

All Things Left Wild by James Wade is an excellent historical fiction set in the “wild west” in the early 1900s.
This book ties together the stories and fates of several characters: the Bentley brothers on the run after a botched robbery, Randall Dawson being the man sent to locate and apprehend the heathens, and Charlotte being a woman native to the experiences of the gritty/rough atmosphere who has had her fair share of challenging hands dealt herself.
The interweaving of the lives, choices, fates of those characters, as well as many others, creates an intriguing look at what happens when decisions are made, and the fallouts that occur from said choices.
The author presents a literary dream in regards to the pictures of the western landscapes depicted throughout the book. You could literally feel the heat, the sun beating down upon you, and the dust swirling around with every breeze.

This book was real, it was gritty, it was raw, and it was unapologetic in the outcomes that occur from the choices we make in life as well as how those choices reflect upon us as well as a person.

Excellent book 5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon and B&N accounts upon publication.

What a roller coaster ride! All Things Left Wild follows two brothers who are on the run for horse thieving, the man determined to find them, and a woman just trying to make a life in the new American West. With atmospheric writing, fully developed plot, and sympathetic characters, this wild west novel is perfect for fans of gritty novels that also asks some interesting moral questions.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.