What do you think?
Rate this book
Wild River #2.5
A Wild River Retreat
Can a weekend in the wilds of Alaska clear the air between these competitive colleagues and remind them of all they’ve been missing?
When the opportunity for a high-profile promotion comes up, hardworking sales rep Kendra Phillips figures she’s a shoo-in…only to be disappointed to be beaten out by her new coworker, Nolan Lawless. Kendra wouldn’t be so upset if he was just another colleague, but she and Nolan have history. The two shared a steamy week together at a sales conference months ago, and Kendra came away feeling that their connection was real. At least, until Nolan ghosted her as soon as the conference was over.
Kendra just wants to move on and focus on her job, but a forced work retreat makes avoiding Nolan impossible. Roughing it in the Alaskan wilderness isn’t exactly Kendra’s idea of a good time, and when Nolan is assigned as her partner for the trip, she’ll have to channel her pain into competitive energy to prove she’s over him…even when sleeping next to him in their tiny shelter tells her heart she’s not.
When the opportunity for a high-profile promotion comes up, hardworking sales rep Kendra Phillips figures she’s a shoo-in…only to be disappointed to be beaten out by her new coworker, Nolan Lawless. Kendra wouldn’t be so upset if he was just another colleague, but she and Nolan have history. The two shared a steamy week together at a sales conference months ago, and Kendra came away feeling that their connection was real. At least, until Nolan ghosted her as soon as the conference was over.
Kendra just wants to move on and focus on her job, but a forced work retreat makes avoiding Nolan impossible. Roughing it in the Alaskan wilderness isn’t exactly Kendra’s idea of a good time, and when Nolan is assigned as her partner for the trip, she’ll have to channel her pain into competitive energy to prove she’s over him…even when sleeping next to him in their tiny shelter tells her heart she’s not.
63 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2020
41 people are currently reading
239 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Snow
85 books691 followersJennifer Snow is an award-winning, USA Bestselling author. Her publishing credits include a six book small town, Brookhollow series published through Harlequin Heartwarming, her MMA sports romance series Beyond the Cage is published through Berkley/NAL Intermix, her Colorado Ice series with Grand Central and her Wild River & Wild Coast series published with HQN. She also writes thrillers under J.M. Winchester and screenplays with 13 produced rom-coms for UPTV, Hallmark, BET+, QVC+ and more. Her upcoming speculative rom-com is releasing through Canary Street Press in Sept 2024.
More information can be found at www.jennifersnowauthor.com
More information can be found at www.jennifersnowauthor.com
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
March 28, 2021
I really liked this one, but thought it was so odd that the author chose to not so the hero and heroine actually making love. We hear references to their times together, but that was it. I don't need it to be super graphic or anything, but since her other two books really up front about the main love interests having sex, it just seemed odd to me. I did like both Kendra and Nolan and liked how the story ended.
"A Wild River Retreat" follows Kendra Phillips who is aiming for a sales promotion at her job. When her boss announces a new sales lead, she's locked to see it's the guy she had a magical week with months ago, Nolan Lawless. If only Nolan hadn't ghosted her, Kenda would be thrilled. Now the two of them are stuck together at a retreat in Wild River where they are paired together through a series of "tests" in the wilderness. Kendra knows her actions this weekend will help or hurt her promotion. Nolan is trying to just get through it knowing that since he's Kendra's boss he's going to have to keep his feelings in check.
I really did like how this one ended up going. As soon as I read the words "ghosted" I got scared about what that may mean about the story. But I liked what Snow did with the plot and how readers quickly figure out what really happened. You have to wait for everyone else to catch up though. Snow also gives us Nolan's point of view, and I liked him a lot. I also liked why both Kendra and Nolan had reasons for wanting the sales job and they were not going to tamper down their competitiveness.
The dialogue and flow were really smooth and I love the setting of Wild River.
The ending was a true HEA, but I wish we had gotten a little more. This was fairly short (even for novella standards) and the rest of the book was taken up providing an excerpt to another book.
"A Wild River Retreat" follows Kendra Phillips who is aiming for a sales promotion at her job. When her boss announces a new sales lead, she's locked to see it's the guy she had a magical week with months ago, Nolan Lawless. If only Nolan hadn't ghosted her, Kenda would be thrilled. Now the two of them are stuck together at a retreat in Wild River where they are paired together through a series of "tests" in the wilderness. Kendra knows her actions this weekend will help or hurt her promotion. Nolan is trying to just get through it knowing that since he's Kendra's boss he's going to have to keep his feelings in check.
I really did like how this one ended up going. As soon as I read the words "ghosted" I got scared about what that may mean about the story. But I liked what Snow did with the plot and how readers quickly figure out what really happened. You have to wait for everyone else to catch up though. Snow also gives us Nolan's point of view, and I liked him a lot. I also liked why both Kendra and Nolan had reasons for wanting the sales job and they were not going to tamper down their competitiveness.
The dialogue and flow were really smooth and I love the setting of Wild River.
The ending was a true HEA, but I wish we had gotten a little more. This was fairly short (even for novella standards) and the rest of the book was taken up providing an excerpt to another book.
December 20, 2020
I liked this one way better than the other Wild River short! And yes, these are much more short stories than novellas IMO. I’d love to read more about this couple!
December 16, 2022
3.5 stars: Wild River Retreat is a short story (63 pgs) in the Wild River series. This one is forced proximity, second chance, miscommunication romance. Kendra Phillips and Nolan Lawless met a year earlier at a conference and spent a wonderful week together. They both lived in Alaska, but several hours apart. They decided to give a relationship a try, but Nolan copied Kendra's phone number down incorrectly. He thought she gave him the wrong number on purpose, she thought he ghosted her. Fast forward one year and Nolan has been hired by Kendra's company and gotten the promotion she thought she had a lock on. There is still one position left and she wants it, but has to get through a team building exercise in the Alaska Wilderness, worse yet, she and Nolan are teamed up to work together. Can they get through the weekend together? Will they sort out the misunderstanding? This was a fun story, with two interesting characters. Both Nolan and Kendra are workaholics and at the top of their games. They don't like to lose, so when they are forced to work together, they still do their best to win every task. Along the way there is some humor, more misunderstandings and finally reconciliation. I liked both of these characters and as much as I get frustrated with the trope using lack of communication, I liked how this one played out. Although these books and stories are all part of the same series, they all star different characters, so can be read in any order or as standalone stories.
October 9, 2020
Being a fan of the Wild River novels, it was inevitable that I’d be this novella, as well. At this point I’ve read the first three books in the series and I’m fully invested in the town of Wild River, the characters who reside there, and their relationships. Because of this, it’s no surprise that I enjoyed this little story about two hard-worker, motivated, pharmaceutical sales reps and their journey toward a second chance together.
I think what made this one enjoyable was it being set almost entirely out in the Alaskan wilderness. We’ve gotten good glimpses of this in the novels, which is a strength in the series. But this story takes place outdoors all the time. And while the characters aren’t in life-threatening danger out there, the competitive nature of the survival retreat and the rekindling romance between the heroine and hero keep driving the story forward.
I’m glad I got to spend a little time with these characters. And I’m glad I got to have a glimpse at Wild River from the perspective of two characters not from the town. I feel it’s a great place for a reader to get a feel for the series before taking the deep dive into the novels. Just a little taste before they get hooked like I did.
I think what made this one enjoyable was it being set almost entirely out in the Alaskan wilderness. We’ve gotten good glimpses of this in the novels, which is a strength in the series. But this story takes place outdoors all the time. And while the characters aren’t in life-threatening danger out there, the competitive nature of the survival retreat and the rekindling romance between the heroine and hero keep driving the story forward.
I’m glad I got to spend a little time with these characters. And I’m glad I got to have a glimpse at Wild River from the perspective of two characters not from the town. I feel it’s a great place for a reader to get a feel for the series before taking the deep dive into the novels. Just a little taste before they get hooked like I did.
dnf
March 1, 2021DNF @10%
I enjoy Wild River series, but I just could not get into this novella. I felt like it was teaser book, more of a filler story.
I enjoy Wild River series, but I just could not get into this novella. I felt like it was teaser book, more of a filler story.
October 29, 2022
2.5 stars
I will preferences by saying that this was not a bad story but it just did not fit my tastes to my liking. It had several things going against it in my opinion.
One, this was a novella. I have a love-hate relationship with Novelas because of the length and lack of depth there are to them both imply and emotional storylines. This one had that problem where it was very surface level and very simple. Nothing went deeper than that. I just didn’t like the story line at all and just made me cringe a couple of times because there was just nothing there. The substance just wasn’t there and the whole throwing Kendra and Nolan together just didn’t work for me. It was way too short for this type of story. And a lot of the time I was questioning why they were even together because it made no sense to me.
Which leads me to my next point which was the romance. It had the trope that I am not fond of which was love at first sight. Granted that love at first sight happened three months prior but it was still part of the romance between Kendra and Nolan. It just didn’t make sense of why they fell in love with each other aside from the physical implications. They stated that they got to know each other over the course of a week and then they were instantly in love but that was never shown and it just didn’t convince me that after a week that they were madly and deeply in love with each other. Could they have had a connection? Sure. Could have been physical chemistry? Absolutely but love I don’t think so. I hate that with romance is when they have the stroke in here because it’s not satisfying for me to read. I want to see the development and the growth of the relationship over the course of the story that makes me by that they’re madly and deeply in love with each other. This just did not do it and a lot of it was really focused on the physical Cole attraction and nothing more. They say that they told each other their hopes and dreams and reveal themselves and blah blah blah blah blah three months ago, but I didn’t believe it and I certainly did not feel the love between them when they were reunited. The focus was on the conflict and the physical attraction and nothing more. Every time they kept saying they were falling for each other I was rolling my eyes because nothing proved that to me at all.
Thirdly, I didn’t like the characters. They We’re just very unlikable throughout the story especially her. I didn’t sympathize with them. I didn’t feel for them. I didn’t route for them because I didn’t care about either one. Both of them were whiny babies about oh she didn’t do this and he didn’t do that instead of being mature adults and actually talking about things while on this retreat. I understand this was the conflict but still after a while it got to be a little much. And that’s saying some thing because I love the miscommunication trope but it just did not work for me in this instance. I just I did not like either one of them and it was really hard to root for the romance when I didn’t care about them or whether they were in love or not.
It just rubbed me the wrong way as soon as the storm began especially when the love at first sight trope was present because I knew as soon as I happened that I was not gonna care for it because I do not like this trope and find it warily done in a well done way. With this being a novella, I knew it wasn’t gonna be handled in a great way. It just did not work for me on so many different levels and I didn’t like the romance because it didn’t feel like a romance and I didn’t like the characters. It just was a little short a little thing that was a one and done and I can say I will never read it again. It just wasn’t a great experience for me while reading it.
I will preferences by saying that this was not a bad story but it just did not fit my tastes to my liking. It had several things going against it in my opinion.
One, this was a novella. I have a love-hate relationship with Novelas because of the length and lack of depth there are to them both imply and emotional storylines. This one had that problem where it was very surface level and very simple. Nothing went deeper than that. I just didn’t like the story line at all and just made me cringe a couple of times because there was just nothing there. The substance just wasn’t there and the whole throwing Kendra and Nolan together just didn’t work for me. It was way too short for this type of story. And a lot of the time I was questioning why they were even together because it made no sense to me.
Which leads me to my next point which was the romance. It had the trope that I am not fond of which was love at first sight. Granted that love at first sight happened three months prior but it was still part of the romance between Kendra and Nolan. It just didn’t make sense of why they fell in love with each other aside from the physical implications. They stated that they got to know each other over the course of a week and then they were instantly in love but that was never shown and it just didn’t convince me that after a week that they were madly and deeply in love with each other. Could they have had a connection? Sure. Could have been physical chemistry? Absolutely but love I don’t think so. I hate that with romance is when they have the stroke in here because it’s not satisfying for me to read. I want to see the development and the growth of the relationship over the course of the story that makes me by that they’re madly and deeply in love with each other. This just did not do it and a lot of it was really focused on the physical Cole attraction and nothing more. They say that they told each other their hopes and dreams and reveal themselves and blah blah blah blah blah three months ago, but I didn’t believe it and I certainly did not feel the love between them when they were reunited. The focus was on the conflict and the physical attraction and nothing more. Every time they kept saying they were falling for each other I was rolling my eyes because nothing proved that to me at all.
Thirdly, I didn’t like the characters. They We’re just very unlikable throughout the story especially her. I didn’t sympathize with them. I didn’t feel for them. I didn’t route for them because I didn’t care about either one. Both of them were whiny babies about oh she didn’t do this and he didn’t do that instead of being mature adults and actually talking about things while on this retreat. I understand this was the conflict but still after a while it got to be a little much. And that’s saying some thing because I love the miscommunication trope but it just did not work for me in this instance. I just I did not like either one of them and it was really hard to root for the romance when I didn’t care about them or whether they were in love or not.
It just rubbed me the wrong way as soon as the storm began especially when the love at first sight trope was present because I knew as soon as I happened that I was not gonna care for it because I do not like this trope and find it warily done in a well done way. With this being a novella, I knew it wasn’t gonna be handled in a great way. It just did not work for me on so many different levels and I didn’t like the romance because it didn’t feel like a romance and I didn’t like the characters. It just was a little short a little thing that was a one and done and I can say I will never read it again. It just wasn’t a great experience for me while reading it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 12, 2020
Take two competitive and successful sales reps. He has just been hired by the company where she works. Although they met months earlier at a conference, each is plagued that what they thought they'd found in each other was rejected. Now they have to endure a two-day wilderness adventure.
What's even worse is they are teamed together.
Can they make it through two days of competition where they have to cooperate? Or will their respective hurts from before create sufficient anger in each that they can no longer work together in the office? After all, his new position makes him her immediate supervisor and she was expecting to be awarded that position.
In this novella, we find out how it all resolves.
What's even worse is they are teamed together.
Can they make it through two days of competition where they have to cooperate? Or will their respective hurts from before create sufficient anger in each that they can no longer work together in the office? After all, his new position makes him her immediate supervisor and she was expecting to be awarded that position.
In this novella, we find out how it all resolves.
February 6, 2022
Kendra is bucking for a promotion by working her ass off but just when she thinks she is getting a promotion in walks Nolan, the guy she had spent a week with to claim the promotion. The company is sent on a retreat with Cassie's company. While on the wilds they are paired together. While having t be so close hey finally talk and find it was both of their faults that they had not heard from each other. Great fast paced story.
Read
July 2, 2020Categories
Small Town & Rural Fiction, Contemporary Romance
Miniseries
A Wild River Novel
Small Town & Rural Fiction, Contemporary Romance
Miniseries
A Wild River Novel
September 8, 2020
This story was so much fun!!! I loved the competitiveness of Kendra and Nolan. Jennifer Snow is such a great author
October 10, 2020
I really love this series. Great romance stories.
October 16, 2020
I didn't care for this novella. I never got the point of it being part of the Wild River series.
October 26, 2020
Great short, fast read.
November 9, 2021
nothing like the great outdoors to make you communication and figure it all out!
September 27, 2024
no
50 pages!??
What a waste of my time! Had the bones to be a great novel. This was missed however.
50 pages!??
What a waste of my time! Had the bones to be a great novel. This was missed however.
February 23, 2022
A great short story to add to the Wild River series!
April 1, 2021
Good
A short novella length story, about two people who really need to up their communication game.
Short, sweet, and of course with a happy ending. This is a clean romance too.
A short novella length story, about two people who really need to up their communication game.
Short, sweet, and of course with a happy ending. This is a clean romance too.
January 14, 2023
3.5 stars. nice second chance story.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews