I devoured this book in one night! It has enemies to lovers, a marriage of convenience and a professional wrestler who wears a mask!

The story follows Tabitha, whose sister, Erica, unfortunately passed away. Now Tabitha is looking after her three-year-old nephew, Milo, in the small town of Rose Hill in the Canadian Rockies. Tabitha is a chef and restaurant owner who’s sassy and snarky and well-liked by everyone.

Rhys was Erica’s landlord and Tabitha believes he evicted Erica after he had promised Tabitha he would contact her if Erica ever got behind on rent. Tabitha is devoted to Milo and is shocked when Rhys tells her he’s actually Milo’s legal guardian! They don’t get off to the best start.

Rhys is very secretive about his work. He tells everyone he works in the Entertainment Industry but he’s actually a World Professional Wrestling Superstar called Wild Side. He has to leave for weeks at a time so he leaves Milo with Tabitha in Rose Hill and visits him on his days off. Tabitha notices bruising on him and wonders what he actually does for a living. The tension between them is delicious. Rhys admires the way she defends and cares for everyone she loves.

Rhys is originally from Florida and as we get to know more about his back story, it’s sad. He grew up in foster homes and while he is a big guy, with muscles and tattoos, he is a sweetheart underneath. Tabitha soon realizes he had been watching Milo for Erica when she needed a break. The scenes with him and Milo are adorable. He is not a Canadian citizen and travels all over the U.S. for work. He gets worried when he starts running into trouble crossing the border. Tabitha is desperate for Milo to stay with her in Rose Hill (she is afraid Rhys might take Milo back to Florida with him) so she suggests they get married!

This is a slow burn romance and we have to wait quite a while for things to get steamy, but it’s worth the wait. In one of the scenes, Rhys wears his mask! He had always been a shy and quiet guy until he met Tabitha and now he thinks about her constantly and looks forward to their time together.

We get to see couples from the last two books when Tabitha talks him into joining the single dad’s bowling league and these scenes are really funny – for such a strong athlete, Rhys is an awful bowler.

This is an emotional journey as they are all grieving Erica and it’s especially sad when Tabitha reads Erica’s journals. I wanted to hug her when she was thinking how her memories of Erica weren’t all sunshine and rainbows but she still loved and missed her. There are a few slow spots in the middle of the book but things pick up quickly and it’s a hoot when Rhys’s identity is revealed!

At the end of the book, we get a sneak peek into the last book of the series, Wild Card, and it looks like it’s about Bash, the last single dad on the bowling team and Gwen, his son’s ex-girlfriend, so that sounds like an interesting age gap story!

Wild Side has everything I hoped for: a mysterious (and hot) MC, sassy FMC and an adorable love story. It gets an A from me.