The Best Wild Idea is about three friends and second chances that arise when tragedy strikes. Jules and Grant met at Harvard, are in love and have their entire lives ahead of them until Grant unexpectedly becomes ill and dies. Grant and Silas have been best friends, practically brothers since boarding school. Silas and Jules were close all through college and after until Silas' father died and he pushed her away. One year after Grant's death, Jules receives a letter Grant wrote before he died. In the letter he tells Jules he has planned a trip for her and Silas. There are 4 more letters at each destination and she must have Silas with her to receive the letters. Despite Jules' hatred toward Silas, she agrees to the trip and its stipulations in order to receive the last words her fiancé ever wrote to her.

I really appreciated what this book was trying to do. It just felt like there were some important pieces of information missing for me. The timeline at times was hard to follow and the reasons for Jules hating Silas(prior to Grants death) seemed petty and silly if you knew your friend was hurting. At one point Jules says Silas was the best kisser- just awkward when the first love of her life is the reason she was able to find her second. I did enjoy Jules' and Silas relationship and the way they understood each other. I just wish we could have seen more of her relationship with Grant prior to his death. Without that it was more difficult to appreciate their relationship.

If you like to travel and love a second chance- this could be the book for you!

Thank you NetGalley and Joffe Books for the ARC!

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I’m obsessed with this book and will immediately be reading the first two in the series. I was skeptical going in. Her dead fiancé’s best friend? I wasn’t sure that plot would work for me. But it did. I laughed, I cried, and I absolutely recommend this to anyone who enjoys being emotionally devastated (in the best way).

The highlight for me? The letters from Grant. They broke me and somehow stitched me back together.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Joffe Books, and the incredible author Lily Parker for the opportunity to read this book as an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Publication date: September 17, 2025

I enjoyed this book, but I felt like it was missing some things for me. The book follows Juliet (Jules) after the devastating loss of her fiance, Grant. After Grant’s death, Jules is sent on a European trip with Silas, Grant’s best friend and someone she has grown to hate. As Jules and Silas embark on their trip to get closure on their grief from losing Grant, will they find their way back to each other? Or is the break in their friendship too deep?

While I enjoyed this book overall, and felt that the grief and healing components were portrayed well, I had a hard time getting over the initial pain of Grant’s death. I also felt like the romance between Silas and Jules progressed too fast in the sense that she hated them and suddenly was in love with him. And the reason she hated him seemed very unexpected and out of the blue. The ending and epilogue were sweet, and overall I felt like both characters had really good depth!

3.5/5

I did like this better than the other book I have read from this series.

I still found the characters to be a bit flat at times in this story though, but I really did like their banter and their chaotic adventures. Or misadventures, I guess.

This follows Jules as she deals with the loss of her fiancé, going on a trip around Europe that was set up by him...but there's a catch, her fiancé's best friend is also there. And the two do not get along.

So yes, that means we have a forced proximity enemies to lovers sort of situation on our hands. And that was a fun dynamic.

I did enjoy this book, but I just wanted more. More oomph, more action/drama, more something.

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

This book had so much emotional weight packed into it, and I genuinely felt it in more than one scene. Grief, guilt, longing, unresolved tension—it’s all here. The premise is undeniably compelling: a woman forced to confront her greatest heartbreak alongside the one man she can’t forgive. That’s a setup made for drama and slow-burn tension, and it delivers on that front.
Jules is a complex protagonist, and I appreciated how the book didn’t try to make her too likable or too “put together.” She’s angry, grieving, confused—and that made her feel real. Silas, meanwhile, hits a lot of familiar billionaire romance beats, but there’s vulnerability beneath the surface that worked for me. He’s patient in a way that never felt performative, and I liked that his love for Jules wasn’t framed as something that magically fixes her. It lingers, aches, waits.
The travel settings were gorgeous. Spain, Amalfi, Paris… each location was described with just enough texture to make the emotional backdrop even richer. The romance really started clicking for me midway through the trip—before that, some of the tension felt a bit too cyclical (Jules lashes out, Silas takes it, repeat). I would've loved a bit more narrative surprise in their dynamic early on. There were moments where I wished the emotional pacing had a little more bite or unpredictability.
Also: the “he falls first” trope was lovely in theory, but I wish we had seen more internal struggle from him, not just devotion. Give me a little mess in my MMC too!
That said, the writing is warm, emotionally textured, and the final act hit just the right note—without becoming overly sentimental. It’s romantic without losing its emotional grounding.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This was a thoughtful, heartfelt read—and while it didn’t hit full five-star impact for me, it came pretty close.

Jules never expected her life to be upended by grief. When her fiancé Grant passes away, she’s left shattered—and even more confused when she discovers he’s left behind a series of letters and an itinerary for a trip across Europe. But there’s one catch: she’s not taking the journey alone. Silas, Grant’s best friend—and the man she’s barely tolerated for years—is coming with her.

Tension crackles from the very beginning as Jules and Silas are thrust into forced proximity, with old wounds and simmering resentment rising to the surface. But as they travel from city to city, guided by the promise of Grant’s heartfelt letters, something slowly shifts. “Enemies” begin to understand each other. And under the weight of shared memories and unexpected moments of vulnerability, a second chance at love starts to take root.

Silas is the classic “he falls first” hero—quietly devoted, aching beneath the surface, and holding secrets of his own. The slow burn between him and Jules is exquisite, packed with emotional depth and the kind of longing that makes your chest ache.

Perfect for fans of emotional, character-driven romances with heart-wrenching setups and healing arcs, this book is a poignant reminder that love can grow in the most unexpected places—and sometimes, even in the shadow of loss, we can find our way back to something beautiful. Reading Grant’s letters broke me! It takes a lot to make me cry while reading and about 56% of the way through I was in tears!

This was such a deeply emotional, beautifully written story about grief, healing, and second chances. When Jules loses her fiancé Grant, the last person she wants to lean on is Silas—the best friend she’s blamed for everything that went wrong. But Grant has other plans. His final wish? That Silas take Jules on the adventure of a lifetime, one she’d always dreamed of… with the man she blames for his death.

If you like emotional journeys, complicated relationships, and love that grows out of heartbreak, this one will hit you right in the feels.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC and exchange from my honest opinion