Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

4.5 stars!

I love the writing style of this book. There were so many hard hitting lines and the way the author told the story makes you feel for these characters like you know them personally.

It was hard for me at first to read it because it has no quotations for dialogue, but I got used to it eventually so it wasn’t too bad.

This is a dark story and it is very difficult to read, but you just have to read it. I cannot stress it enough. It’s hard to put into words how this made me feel because it made me feel so many complex emotions: anger, sadness, disbelief, fury, happiness, grief, pity, you name it.

I think this would be good to reread eventually after knowing the full story and reading the whole timeline.

“Wild Ground” is a perfect title for this book even though it hurts terribly to think of the meaning behind it.

There were so many complex characters in this book. There were also a lot of disgusting horrible characters as well.

My heart ached for Jennifer, especially at the end, seeing her hit rock bottom. All the things that happened to her and how she felt about herself afterward was so hard to read, I just wanted to hug her. There were times as well though where I got angry at her for not understanding what was happening to Danny and the words she used against him. She was a sad, broken person.

Danny was such a sweetheart. I thought it was so sweet how much he loved plants. I loved him and I loved how much they loved each other, the connection they had. It was so heartbreaking to see everything that he went through as well. He said some harsh things to Jennifer, but a lot of times she needed to hear it. Any time they walked away from each other it hurt my soul.

I love Fionnoula and Ali with all my heart. Their story of how people treated their relationship made me ache, but they were such wonderful people. I wish we could have seen them more.

I had such a complicated relationship with Denz. There was so many times I got angry at him, but the more I thought about it, I think some of it was because I was biased by Jen and how she felt about him because we were in her head. By the end I understood him more and warmed up to him, especially when he tried to fix his wrongs. It was a little too little too late, but the effort was there.

I could also probably talk for hours about how complex but also not very complex at all Chrissy was. She was another very polarizing interesting character to me. You couldn’t help but feel bad for her, but you can also see that she was a terrible mother. At the same time, the more you learn the more you may realize that things aren’t as black and white as they seem.

This is a bit of a spoiler so skip this next paragraph if you have not read the book yet, but there was a line that really stuck with me at the end when Denz goes: “It weren't as easy for a kid like Danny to fall and get back up. You could do things that he couldn't and still come back and pick up your life. And that's what you did, even if you can't see it for yourself. It wouldn't have been the same for him. There would have been no goin back.”

I could see that even before Denz said it but that line explained everything perfectly. As I said before there were so many times Jennifer made me so angry because I was like can’t you see that people treat Danny differently because they are being racist, and it will always be harder for him than it will be for you, even if you do or go through the same things. It really hits home that if you are not a person of color, you’ll never fully understand what they go through, just because of the color of their skin.

All the racism throughout just made me so infuriated. It is a very prevalent part of the book and any time I read about it, it didn’t make it any easier to stomach. And I am not affected by it in my personal life, so I can’t even imagine what it’s like to go through it.

The last two lines of this book had me sobbing like a baby I’ll tell you that much. It felt like a punch to the gut when I read it, but it was such a great way to tie everything together.

Part of me is mad at the open ending, because I want more answers, but the more I look at it, it’s actually the perfect ending for this book. You can think what you want and decided what you think the future will hold, but at the end of the day I think it gave enough that you can guess what happened. It was a very bittersweet ending, but that’s what made this book so good. It was just very real.

I highly recommend reading this! It is very difficult to read, so be prepared. It is not a lighthearted book at all. There are very terrible things that happen throughout. But I also think it is a hopeful story at its core.

I am posting this review to Goodreads on 2/21/2024 and I will be posting this review to Amazon on the day of its release!

I stopped reading this novel. Sometimes I just cannot relate to the characters or the themes. I read so much that I must trust my instincts and sometimes, give up on a book. Sorry.

A brutal, bleak, yet hopeful story about first love. An amazing debut, so deeply affecting! The characters come alive, they are raw and known. We follow two teenagers, Danny and Jennifer, who find comfort, support, and love in one another. They are kids forced to grow up far too quickly, but anything they feel or do, they feel and do together. Their relationship is strained by absent, neglectful parents, crippling addiction, poverty, and racism. It is a tender and moving story and one that will linger in my mind for many days to come!

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this book early!

I feel two ways about the story. And someways it was absolutely fantastic and had me thoroughly engaged.. in the other way, the ending had such an open end that I’m struggling to be content with it. It’s a brilliant story. I loved the characters, how they interacted in good and bad. The writing was descriptive but not overly so. All in all, a pretty phenomenal effort with an unsettling ending.

Wild Ground
A Novel
by Emily Usher

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, and Emily Usher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed the book, as it was, and for a first novel, very well done. This is a wonderfully done debut novel that will have me wondering about Jennifer & Danny for a long time to come. You will think of them from time to time as you see others. It is a great and sad and hope-filled.

If you like books with heartbreak, addiction issues, neglectful parenting and bad choices by teenagers/young adults you will love this book. It is raw and real and gut wrenching but leaves you with a sense of hope. This book is not for the faint of heart so please take note of trigger warnings before reading.

This is a wonderfully done debut novel that will have me wondering about Jennifer & Danny for a long time to come.

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group and Emily Usher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Hmmm, this was a tough one to assess. One the one hand, it was ugly, sad, depressing, and hopeless. On the other, it was hopeful, inspiring, gritty and resilient. These two extremes fought it out in my head throughout the story, with no clear winner. I also found the lack of quotation marks to indicate speech to be confusing. I usually had to read a passage twice to figure out what was a statement and what was a thought. I still struggled as the story ended. The dueling timelines also were a hair confusing for me, but that was easier to comprehend.

I enjoyed the book, bleak as it was, and for a first novel, very well done.. If you are looking for a bittersweet tale full of the contemporary issues of race, class, drugs and parenting, then this is for you.

I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being left freely.

So much heartache and love poured from the pages of Usher's book. I enjoyed the story and found it to be a mixed bag of emotions while reading it. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.