I loved the primary focus on the strong, female friendships. There was a little romance in there, too, but not at the forefront. Overall, a wonderful story of true healing and the power of friendship.

I loved Carla and Jackson's story. Carolyn Brown is one of my faves. He is a retired soldier working in a remote Texas town and she is a gambler who won a diner in a game and is flat broke. Small towns in Texas. Got to love the people who live there. She has to learn love and trust and he has to adapt at normal life. Their connection is immediate and warm and I couldn't put this book down.

This story moved at a slower pace than I’m used to, taking its time to unfold, but it gave small-town charm and heartfelt connections.

One of my favourite things about this book was the women. The female characters in this story shine with quiet strength, and it’s through their shared pain and unwavering support for one another that true healing, and lasting friendship takes root.

While the plot isn’t spicy, the slow-burn connection between Carla and Jackson is undeniable, built on genuine chemistry and emotional depth. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down, the characters pulled me in. This isn’t my usual kind of read, but I was surprised by how quickly I got hooked.

Carla came to sell a dusty diner and skip town, but between the skillet-wielding cook, a sunny waitress, a smooth-talking oil heir, and a side of small-town magic, she might’ve just been dealt the hand of her life.

This book covers a relatively short period in time and yet packs so much living, and life and conversations into it that it almost isn’t enough! Carla is down on her luck and arrives as the owner of a cafe in the middle of nowhere. The books follows her, the cook and other waitress as well as other waifs from the general area. The conversations are deep and there is so much shared between the women and so much not said but understood that the book is a total charm. The three cafe staff live in a trailer together and they learn to trust each other and to respect the hard hard pasts that they have all had. A book where sometimes nothing is said and yet the paragraphs somehow share it all.

A touching story about healing and finding your way, with strong female friendships at the heart of it. There’s a bit of romance, but it’s mostly about personal growth and leaning on the people around you. It did run a little heavy on the religious themes for my taste, but overall it was still a feel-good, reflective read.

I really enjoyed this as a romance novel, it had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed getting into this book. The overall feel was something that I was wanting and thought the characters were so well written and worked in the genre. Carolyn Brown has a great way of telling a story and the characters were everything that I wanted and enjoyed. I enjoyed the poker element and the heir of an oil family.

I've never read this author before but this book was sooooo good! The pacing was on point, the flow flowed. Perfect! Thanks for the ARC, I appreciate it!

*I want to start off by saying, i dont typically write reviews for books so i have no practice at doing this whatsoever. This is my first "review" of a book, so if theres anyway you think i could inprove, please let me know.*

I had never read anything by Carolyn Brown before "the wild card" so i went into this novel with an open mind. And might I say it did not disappoint. Brown's writing style is definitely different to what im used to but at the same time it felt like a warm hug.
I went into this book with the knowledge that "The wild card" is a small town contemporary romance, which sounded right up my alley. This book was heartwarming and uplifting and genuinely made me laugh out loud a handful of times.
In summary the book is about a gambler, our fmc, who wins ownership of a diner through a poker game. We dont officially get introduced to our mmc until about 28% of the way through the book, however he is previously mentioned in the text prior to his introduction. By not having the romance as the main vocal point of the novel it shows this book is much more than just a romance but also highlights the importance of found family and friendship. I definitely enjoyed this aspect as i think it emphasised how not all family is by blood but can also be people you choose as your family. For example, the fmc meets two women at the diner and as the story progresses we watch they bond grow stronger and them gain a bigger connection.
However I will say, those scene between the fmc, Carla, and her love interest, Jackson, were amazing. The banter, chemistry and relationship between them was great and fun to read about. One of my favourite scenes (possible spoiler 🚨) between the two was their "second" date and how they got forced into spending more time together.

Overall, I've decided to give this book a 3.75⭐️. I really enjoyed the read and am likely to read more by Carolyn Brown in the future if her other novels are like this one

Unfortunately this is a DNF at 30% for me. From what I did read, this is a very light contemporary women’s fiction story. At 70ish pages in, we haven’t seen much of the MMC so the romance aspect doesn’t seem to be too present, at least early on. There’s some religious talk as well as discussion about redemption from addiction (the FMC is a professional poker player who’s down on her luck). Overall, I didn’t feel invested in the characters.

If you want a lighthearted book that leans more toward women’s fiction and less towards romance, second chances and found-family themes, this book might be for you.