Dark Wild Night by Christina Lauren

Dark Wild Night by Christina Lauren
Release Date - September 15, 2015
Publisher Website - Simon and Schuster

Publisher Social Media - Twitter
Pages -  431 pages
My Rating - 4/5
**purchased**

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
But what didn't happen in Vegas seems to follow them everywhere.

Lola and Oliver like to congratulate themselves on having the good sense to not consummate their drunken Las Vegas wedding. If they’d doubled-down on that mistake, their Just Friends situation might not be half as great as it is now.

... Or so goes the official line.

In reality, Lola’s wanted Oliver since day one—and over time has only fallen harder for his sexy Aussie accent and easygoing ability to take her as she comes. More at home in her studio than in baring herself to people, Lola’s instinctive comfort around Oliver nearly seems too good to be true. So why ruin a good thing?

Even as geek girls fawn over him, Oliver can’t get his mind off what he didn’t do with Lola when he had the chance. He knows what he wants with her now ... and it’s far outside the friend zone. When Lola’s graphic novel starts getting national acclaim—and is then fast-tracked for a major motion picture—Oliver steps up to be there for her whenever she needs him. After all, she’s not the kind of girl who likes all that attention, but maybe she’s the kind who’ll eventually like him.

Sometimes seeing what’s right in front of us takes a great leap of faith. And sometimes a dark wild night in Vegas isn’t just the end of a day, but the beginning of a bright new life...

The Queens of Romance have done it again. Dark Wild Night delivers a take on friends to lovers trope that is basically everything I could want and continued their streak of writing adorable romance reads with incredibly charming characters.

The Wild Season series has quickly become one of my favourite romance series. It has an irresistible blend of humour and heart and balances out the sexy scenes with thoughtful story arcs that allow the characters to grow. This installment is no exception. It's pretty much, in my opinion, a must read series for romance fans.

Lola is a fascinating character. Her voice felt so different from Mia and Harlow but you could also immediately understand why they would all be friends. Lola, like her friends before her, has some baggage that she is dealing with and it get dragged to the forefront as her story arc progresses. She has a strong fear of abandonment that stems from many things in her life which combine with her lack of success in the romance department to create some entirely relatable issues for her to have to work through.

Lola's love of comics and art also presented a interesting element to her voice. She often saw or related to things through her artistic viewpoint. Her passion for her career and the drive she had to push herself was admirable. I appreciated that it didn't paint her as terrible for wanting a career she was proud of and for fighting for it. Her storyline does deal with balance and how important that can be for all elements of someone's life but she's never painted in an unsavory light for sometimes putting her career first.

Oliver is perhaps the most laid back out of the guys in this series. His love of comic book culture makes him a nice match for the artsy Lola. While Finn is my favourite of the guys in this series, Oliver's patience, kindness and Australian accent make him a strong second choice.

The secondary characters are some of my favourite from the entire series. They really added to the book's charm. We get to spend more time with Not-Joe thanks to Oliver's point of view and he is just as ridiculous as I had hoped. Lola's father also provides a lot of humour and helps add insight into her character. It was obviously nice to catch up with the characters we already know and love from the previous books but getting to invest in these knew characters is what makes these companion novels work for me.

This is a love story about timing, patience, and letting yourself take the risk. Lola and Oliver's journey will appeal to those who like a slower burn to their romance, and really satisfying payoffs. It's a solid addition to the Wild Seasons series and one whose heart rivals its sexy.