Review: Wild and Free (#3, The Three) by Kristen Ashley

My Thoughts

A supremely intense, action-packed finale entirely worth the wait.

• Related Posts: My review of Until The Sun Falls From The Sky (#1) | My review of With Everything I Am (#2) | Epic Paranormals | Kristen Ashley Reading Orders

Synopsis

Abel Jin and Delilah Johnson have lived their lives with a hole in their soul, yearning for something they don’t understand.

Until one night Delilah is in mortal danger and a man who’s otherworldly strong and supernaturally fast saves her. Delilah is then cast into a world where fiction comes to life in the form of Abel, her destined mate, a vampire/werewolf hybrid who claims her at first breath as his.

But Abel knows the danger isn’t done. He’s dreamed for centuries that his mate will perish and he will stop at nothing to keep her safe.

For Delilah, she’s not only coping with fantasy come to life, but a mingling of very different families. Not to mention, she has on her hands a man who doesn’t understand his true nature and has lived his long life thinking he’s a monster.

Abel and Delilah together fills the hole that has been clawing at them for decades. But finally finding each other, it also tips their destinies as the last of The Three. They must unite with the other destined lovers, who with Abel and Delilah, are fated to save the world.

My Review

“Born to be yours, baby…”
“Born to love you, Abel.”

Vampires. Werewolves. Hybrids. Phantoms. Wraiths. Witches. Chaos. Bikers. Fighting. Loving. Prophesies. Saving the world.

This book has got it all.

Hold on tight, because the conclusion in The Three series takes you on one helluva ride. Wild and Free is an apt title for Kristen Ashley’s latest, which had my heart pounding wildly from the very first page to the last. Rife with non-stop lovin’, non-stop suspense and non-stop kicking ass, the story is fabulously fierce and intense. In fact, the last quarter of the book has got to be the one of the best endings I’ve read from KA. I wanted to hoot and holler and punch the air, I was so into it.

“That hunger inside you, little girl, you’ll quench it… You’ll know it when you find it and I know my Lilah. You’ll get it, fight for it, earn it, beg for it, but in the end, you’ll win it and you’ll be whole”

The foretold Three are finally all identified and this last story is both tragic and happy. Abel Jin and Delilah Johnson have lived their life with a hole in their gut that nothing seems to fill. An unrelenting pain that longs for something… someone. And suddenly, fate gets a move on and Delilah finds herself in mortal danger, but saved by a man who is as dangerous as he is gorgeous. Strong, fast and fierce. Supernaturally so. And from the very beginning, he claims Lilah as his.

“I’d come to Serpentine Bay on a quest and I had a feeling I’d found my Holy Grail. It was just that my Grail was scary as shit.”

The best word to describe Abel is intense. He’s had to make it on his own over hundreds of years, thinking he was alone. A monster who needed blood to live. A wolf that ran without a pack. He had been left abandoned in an alley as a child and throughout his life, has had to let go of people he loved… over and over again. But when he saw this woman, that gaping hole inside closed tight. He was whole for the first time in his life. And so his first uttered word to Lilah was, “Mine.”

“I just know you’re not gonna get dead because of it, seein’ as I’ve waited three lifetimes for you, and now that I’ve got you, I’m keepin’ you.”

Lilah had lived boldly and free, the daughter of a biker who believed in chasing your own fate and following your heart. I loved Lilah immediately. She was independent, strong, vivacious and loving. She relented to her instincts and accepted Abel quickly and wholly. She was funny, confident and so secure in who she was. And together with Abel, they realized they had to figure out the danger that hunted them… and that meant Abel had to figure out who he really was.

Enter King Callum and vampire warrior extraordinaire, Lucien, followed by their equally kickass women, Sonia and Leah. Seeing them all together was awesome. Ready and willing to help Abel and Lilah, they joined forces for a common cause. Because one thing was certain, the danger continued to escalate with Lucien’s brutal father, Etienne, at the helm. And although The Three were the focus, humanity as a whole was now in peril.

As Abel learns more about what being both a vampire and a werewolf means, Lilah struggles to figure out how she can help. Abel and Lilah, however, share a bond… a connection that is the most intense of them all. They are tethered together, heart, soul and thoughts, dreaming of one day living on their own, free to do anything they want, free to be who they are fearlessly.

“Yes.
This was it.
This was us.
This was what we’d be.
Wild and free.
Fucking wild. Living wild. Living free. Saving the world. Kicking ass. Packing it all in. Not missing a moment. Not wasting an instant.”

Fate brought these six people together, to fight together and save the world, and the outcome of the war, no one knew. Secrets would be revealed, people would perish, evil would hunt the good, and supernatural powers would be unleashed in a way that got my heart racing and my pulse pounding. As mentioned above, the last quartile was absolutely fan-freakin-tastic. I loved the suspense, the action, the intensity and even the humor woven throughout. I loved that the characters, not just The Three, loved hard and lived intensely. They were loyal, supportive and a team to the very emotional, climatic end.

Kristen Ashley does a brilliant job of concluding the series with a story that unfurls through multiple perspectives, relaying all that hangs precariously in the balance. This is an exciting page turner that will have you dying to see how it all culminates, while also leaving you with the bittersweet feeling of seeing this series close.

“Wild and free, baby. You and me for eternity.”

Reading Order and Links

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