65. The Simple Wild by K. A. Tucker

listened on Audible borrowed from CCLS
read by Rebekkah Ross
Unabridged audio (12:34)
2018 Atria Books
388 pgs.
Adult CRF
Finished  7/20/2019
Goodreads rating:  4.46 - 11,857 ratings
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Contemporary Bethel (Bangor), Alaska

First line/s: (from Chapter One, not the prologue)  "That calculator's not mine."

My comments:  The narrator, Rebekkah Ross, read this beautifully.  The setting, in the tundra near Bethel, Alaska (But called Banger) was as well done as the large handful of well-drawn characters.  I do appreciate a character driven story, which this was -- a contemporary, well-crafted sotry with just enough romance, full of humor and heartbreak.  I didn't think that I really cared very much about the protagonist at first, because i was judging the inner Calla by merely looking at the outer Calla, but that didn't last more than about a quarter of the book.  I guess you can say I ended up loving it, through the laughter and the tears.

Goodreads synopsis: Calla Fletcher wasn't even two when her mother took her and fled the Alaskan wild, unable to handle the isolation of the extreme, rural lifestyle, leaving behind Calla’s father, Wren Fletcher, in the process. Calla never looked back, and at twenty-six, a busy life in Toronto is all she knows. But when Calla learns that Wren’s days may be numbered, she knows that it’s time to make the long trip back to the remote frontier town where she was born.
          She braves the roaming wildlife, the odd daylight hours, the exorbitant prices, and even the occasional—dear God—outhouse, all for the chance to connect with her father: a man who, despite his many faults, she can’t help but care for. While she struggles to adjust to this rugged environment, Jonah—the unkempt, obnoxious, and proud Alaskan pilot who helps keep her father’s charter plane company operational—can’t imagine calling anywhere else home. And he’s clearly waiting with one hand on the throttle to fly this city girl back to where she belongs, convinced that she’s too pampered to handle the wild.
          Jonah is probably right, but Calla is determined to prove him wrong. Soon, she finds herself forming an unexpected bond with the burly pilot. As his undercurrent of disapproval dwindles, it’s replaced by friendship—or perhaps something deeper? But Calla is not in Alaska to stay and Jonah will never leave. It would be foolish of her to kindle a romance, to take the same path her parents tried—and failed at—years ago. It’s a simple truth that turns out to be not so simple after all.