The Wild Ride Book Club

We meet every 1st Sunday of the month, 4pm - 6pm
Scroll down to see what books we are reading and to learn more about the club.

Must be 21+ to join.

Next Meet Up: Saturday, April 19, 3pm - 5pm
Location: Hopewell Brewing Co
2760 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60647

(April and May meet up dates have been rescheduled due to scheduling conflicts)

Reading List for
April Meet Up

He Loves Me Not by C.M. Nascosta

Rival florists. Spite bouquets. A Monster Romance enemies-to-lovers YOU'VE GOT MAIL in the Discord age
— this flower shop has everything.

Sumi is on top of the world. Well, as on top as one can be after learning a relative one never met has died, leaving one a small fortune. Deciding the unexpected windfall is a sign she needs to follow her dreams, quitting her job, moving to aspirational Cambric Creek and opening a flower shop is the obvious move. Definitely not just a midlife crisis. Applying for franchise ownership with a giant flower conglomerate seems like a piece of cake — they provide the equipment, the distribution contracts, and all she needs to do is front the money and live happily ever after. There’s only one catch . . . she didn’t realize chasing after her dream might cause someone else to lose hold of their own.

Ranar never wanted to inherit the family business. There’s an enormous pressure to keep his family business going — started by his grandfather, passed to his father, and now to him. Pressure as a non-human business, pressure as the grandson of an immigrant, pressure as the eldest son . . . but as it is, brick and mortar flower shops are a notion of a bygone era in this digital world. When Bloomerang, an online flower conglomerate, opens one of their soulless flower factories in Cambric Creek, Ranar knows it’s only a matter of time before he’s forced to close the door on his family’s business for good. It doesn’t matter how pretty the sylvan owner is or how friendly she seems — she represents everything wrong in the industry, in his world. She’s bound to put him out of business eventually . . . but he can make her regret it first.

Sumi is positive there is room for two flower shops in Cambric Creek, if only the owner of The Perfect Petal wasn’t such a rude, condescending, infuriatingly handsome jerk. Despite being non-human herself, Cambric Creek is a learning curve she wasn’t anticipating, and she knows she has a lot to learn about multi-species living — starting with the conundrum of her naga rival’s junk, because where is it? She’d love to discover the mechanics, if only he wasn’t so terrible. When she joins an online server for local business owners, discovering The Perfect Petal’s owner is chatting there as well, she decides it’s the perfect opportunity to discover his weaknesses and take him down . . . if she doesn’t wind up falling for him first.

C.W.: None listed by author.

Queens and Monsters by Clio Evans

I was born to be her enemy.

I’m a hero, she’s a villain. A demigod and a monster.

Years of venomous lies and untold favors catch up to us when the Fates intervene. The woman that I’ve secretly loved for centuries is in danger. I’d do anything to keep her safe, anything to make her mine.

The gods have forsaken us. The Fates plot to end us. But even if our world burns to the ground, it’s her I will fight to the end for.

C.W.: Fisting, intense degradation, shibari, humiliation, BDSM, Dom/sub dynamics, murder, torture, graphic violence, mentions of assault, mentions of war and death, blackmail, flogging, spanking, sex toys, stabbing, electricity play, face sitting, breath play, CNC, primal hunt/chase.

About The Wild Ride Book Club

The Wild Ride Book Club was created from the shared love of reading fantasy romance novels. This book club does not take itself too seriously, and its main goal is to bring people together to have fun, swap books, and read books with lots of spice!

When and where does the book club meet?
We meet the 1st Sunday of each month from 4pm - 6pm. Be sure to check the location, we like to bounce around the neighborhood establishments! This is not a knit group, and you do not need to know how to knit/crochet to join, but some of us might be doing so as we discuss!

What is Fantasy Romance?
Fantasy romance is any work of fiction with fantastical, magical, or non-human elements (not set in space, and not with a technology focus, as this would be classified as sci-fi), where there's a significant romantic element. This club focuses on the romantic element that includes lots of spice!