Anita Kelly remains one of my favorite new authors of the last couple years. For people who know them from Love & Other Disasters, you may find Something Wild & Wonderful much slower-paced and introspective. I personally LOVE books like this, and I think it's one of the strengths of Kelly's Moonlighters novellas. SW&W is an incredibly compassionate novel that balances minimal drama with high internal conflict. More than in the Moonies books, we get a wonderful array of minor characters that bring both the PCT and the MCs' lives to life.

Though this is dual POV, it's Alexei's book. He is a sad boi in comparison to Ben's golden retriever energy. Ben has his own journey to go on, but it's Alexei's quest to discover "Alexei 2.0" that takes center stage. There's a lot to unpack there: Alexei hits the Pacific Coast Trail after his parents disown him for being gay, a circumstance that also means he has also been alienated from the faith community he grew up in and, to a lesser degree, his younger sister. He's been recently laid off from his job. Many readers may also recognize that Alexei is neurodivergent (confirmed in the epilogue when he gets an official autism diagnosis) and he struggles in common social situations. He has an awareness of having never quite fully fit in anywhere and he's just...sad. But also hopeful and determined to make a future for himself where he does fit. Ben, on the other hand, has an exuberance and openness that readers will instantly fall in love with. He's one that wears his heart on his sleeve and I can see so many readers falling as instantly in love with Ben and Alexei does (not that Alexei would ever admit that's what happened).

The writing is also beautiful as ever. I just love the attention Kelly pays to the smallest chunks of their characters' experiences. They're just so amazingly kind to everyone that appears in the pages of their book (except for a couple of bigots who get appropriately taken to task). I think Something Wild & Wonderful is a great addition to Kelly's body of work and I can't wait for more people to read it!

Do you hike? I hike. You certainly don't need to hike to love this book, but there's something about existing with someone else in the middle of nowhere, traveling long distances, over rough terrain, helping each other avoid near-death encounters with snakes and foxes and snow... It changes you. It shapes your relationship. It builds trust and appreciation and an immediate acknowledgement of compatibility. The PCT is, in short, an exquisite setting for a romance.

This story is sweet and soft and STEAMY!!! and everything I adore about mm romance. It's also a story about the work we need to do. Sometimes even when we find our person, keeping them requires knowing when we're ready for them and when we need more time. More time to heal. More time to find out who we are. Or simply more time to walk alone, all the things and experiences and people we need to find along our way revealed around each corner like trail magic.

Anita Kelly has created something gorgeous in Something Wild & Wonderful. There is patience, kindness, roughness, pain, pleasure, and love. And the letters will make you weep like a baby, fair warning.

Thank you so much to Anita, Netgalley, and the publisher for this advanced copy.

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW from author: familial estrangement due to queer identity; religion and strict religious upbringing (Christianity); alcohol usage; harsh homophobic language (used in Chapter 16); brief references to past toxic romantic relationships.

An interconnected standalone with Love and Other Disasters

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-m/m contemporary romance
-close-proximity
-insta attraction
-only one on the trail together
-friends to lovers
-neurodiverse rep
-nerds in love

Gosh, I don't even know how to review a book this amazing. This was such a soft romance, entirely character driven and just a beautiful read. All about how difficult and brave it is to live you authentic life and to allow yourself to be loved for yourself.

I loved Alexei. Introverted, trying to figure out who he was after an estrangement with his family after coming out. Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail on his own and stumbling across Ben. Alexei was a nerd and I just wanted to hug him. His POV was so introspected and so beautiful. His love of birds, and knowledge, and reading. The grief he experienced separated from his family. And the work he took to love himself, and figure out what he wanted from the world, what his safe place looks like.

And Ben. Sweet, sweet, gone on Alexei almost immediately but also just figuring himself out after a toxic relationship. Not looking for love but stumbling across it anyway on the trail. I love how these two became friends first. This book really spends the time to show these two falling for each other, Learning about each other, having those conversations and learning more about each other.

And gosh their sexual tension. Sexy, tender, and all about the emotion, as these two explored their intimacy even further. I adored the glimpses of London and Dahlia's HEA. The emphasis on family, found and related. And just being love. The importance of therapy, how love doesn't heal you, but gives you a person to hold your hand on the way.

This book is spectacular and I cannot wait to read whatever Anita Kelly writes next.

Steam: 3.25

First off.... I loved Love & Other Disasters! And I was over the moon when I seen a new novel by this wonderful author.
Something Wild & Wonderful by Anita Kelly was fun, exciting and suh an incredible read.
The characters were unforgettable and extremely lovable. The relationship was the real deal, the writing was stellar: it's just is a well written book. Her writing style is playful and witty. I literally don't think I could ask for more.
You'll adore Ben and Alexei and you'll love their story.

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Forever,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review to my blog, platforms, BookBub, B&N, Kobo and Waterstone closer to pub date.

My favorite romance novels tend to be quiet, tender, thoughtful. They involve characters who have so much love to give, yet so much to learn about self-acceptance and self-love. Dramatic things may happen--because life can be dramatic--but the drama feels realistic, and usually doesn't rely on anything too OTT and trope-y. ⁠
⁠
Those are all the reasons I adored @anitakellywrites's "Something Wild & Wonderful." It's about Alexei and Ben who meet while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. They are both at a crossroads in their lives, healing from past wounds and figuring out who they want to be now.⁠
⁠
Kelly writes with tremendous empathy. This is obvious if you've read any of their other works, like this year's "Love & Other Disasters." Their compassion for Alexei and Ben's slow-burn romance--and separate interior lives--is comforting and so hopeful. This novel made me smile, tear up, and coo. ⁠
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As a writer, I hope my writing makes just one reader feel seen and heard. And there's no doubt that Kelly will make *many* readers--irrespective of sexual and gender identities--feel seen and heard. ⁠
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In one gorgeous novel, they wrote something after my own heart. One of my absolute favorite reads of the year. ⁠
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Thank you to @netgalley and @readforeverpub for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Much like Anita Kelly's other book, Love and Other Disasters, I flew right through this book. I could NOT put it down. I have never read anything set on a hiking trail, so it was lovely learning a little bit about that. You could really feel the emotion in the book. It almost felt like I was also experiencing the same discoveries about desire, love and heartbreak all over again. The ending made me cry, in a good way. I can't wait to read more of their books.

Thank you to NetGalley, Anita Kelly, and Forever Publishing for the eARC in exchange for my honest review*

I absolutely loved this book: a meaningful romance with characters that just stole my heart. I love Anita Kelly’s writing—they always create characters that feel so authentic. Alexei and Ben are two characters that really had to grow on their own and together throughout the plot. They communicated (and failed to communicate) in ways that felt real and tender and complicated. They had funny and awkward sex, sex with feelings, sex driven by lust and physicality. All of this felt very real to me, even in the context of a romance novel.

Anita Kelly strikes a masterful balance of meaningful thematic content and delicious tropey ridiculousness. They explored a lot of themes that resonated deeply with me: faith and queerness, finding your own family, processing feelings, healing by being in nature; it also, of course, had lots of the sweet, tropey goodness that I love in a romcom (Only One Tent, grumpy/sunshine, love letters, horny nonsense).

Some heavier topics (and potentially difficult for some readers) include religious trauma/homophobia, family estrangement, coming out, and implied sexual assault/dubious consent. In my opinion, all of these were handled with grace and care. Highly recommend for fans of queer romance with depth!

I knew from the very first chapter that I was going to love this book. I knew from less than a quarter in that it would be a 5 star read for me, and I knew shortly after that, that this was going to become an all time favorite. I was absolutely correct.

This book opens with Alexei saving a stranger, who turns out to be Ben, from a rattlesnake on the Pacific Crest Trail. It's a rather brief interaction but I immediately felt connected to both characters, and like I had started to learn things about them. In just a few pages! The amount of depth, vitality, and complexity that Anita Kelly delivers to their characters from the very beginning is so strong in the novel, and it only grows as we watch Ben and Alexei fall in love and discover themselves along the trail.

Alexei is struggling to come to terms with his situation and form a new life plan after being disowned by his parents for coming out as gay. As heavy as his thoughts can feel some times, it is always clear that he has so much love and compassion in his heart. Ben comes from a large, loving family, and has been out as gay for over a decade. He's out on the trail hoping to find some focus before starting his new career as a nurse. Both characters feel unique with distinct storytelling voices and this book benefits strongly from it's dual POV structure.

The romance between Alexei and Ben develops in a way that feels natural and inevitable, and yet somehow totally wondrous and magical. I got completely swept up in their story, and was routing for them from the very beginning. Despite their insecurities, they are both such strong people individually, especially by the end of the book, and yet it's obvious that they are so much better together than apart.

My favorite part of the book was the second section, which is told entirely through letters. I felt so connected to the characters in this section. I may have teared up once or twice, in the best possible ways.

Overall, this is one of the best romance novels I've read in a long time. These characters will be sticking with me for a while and I would absolutely read this book again.

I couldn’t put this down. This story, these characters were so tender and loveable. I loved seeing their journeys, on and off the trail, together and solo. The story had so much heart and handled making sense of who you are and who you love and the people you think will love you but can’t poignantly. Lex and Ben have delightful chemistry and it’s so fun to see it unfold as they each come into their own.

I adored this book so much! The setting on the PCT, the characters, The LOVE!!! I WANT MORE! Highly recommend and Anita Kelly writes fab queer romance! Grab this book!

Beautifully written and I couldn't love it more if I tried. Absolutely loved this romance
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

A million stars for this pure and gorgeous love story!

‘A new queer voice conquering the world’ is what I called Anita Kelly when I read their first full novel Love & Other Disasters. But oh boy, they’re far more than that. They’re definitely one of the best romance authors in the world right now.

I fell in love with Alexei and Ben the moment I met them. And I fell hard. They squeezed their way into my body and aimed straight at my heart. It’s so difficult to describe what this story did to me. I sat in the garden under our cherry tree and listened to the birds and looked at the plants and the sky, and imagined I was there on that trail and watched those two men falling for each other. The fuzzy feeling I got in my chest when Alexei and Ben met. The smile tugging at my lips when Alexei was listening to birds and Ben was watching him. The ache settling in my belly when Alexei talked about his parents. The tears running down my cheeks when I read those letters. And still so many moments lifting the corners of my mouth up into a huge smile.

I loved the insta love turned into slow burn, I adored the descriptive writing, and I was in awe of the conversations Alexei and Ben had even while having sex. This is how a romance should be written, authors out there! And readers, this is the perfect romance to read. It’s got Charm Offensive vibes while it’s far more quiet than Charm. One of the best romances I read this year, maybe even the best! And that beautiful cover fits the story so well!

Anita Kelly has yet again knocked me to the ground with their writing. This book feels different than any romance I've ever read. It's not a typical whirlwind love story, this is literally step by step the journey of two characters finding themselves and walking into love. They consider everything carefully and they take their time. And even when they stumble and fracture themselves, they step back, consider what went wrong, and they work toward the healing they need. Alexei and Ben don't fall into each other, they take each other by the hand and stabilize one another for their entire journey. Something Wild and Wonderful is soft and quiet and considerate. It settles into your bones like the trail does to Ben and Lex and it leaves a lasting impression..

I love how much LGBTQ rep there is in publishing now days. It is something that I like to see! This book was no exception to how excited I was to read it. I had not read any of this authors previous books, but I do have it on my TBR and might just pick it up after having read this book. I think I have seen a lot of content about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail recently and this book was something that made me more interested in it. I think that it had a good amount of plot, adventure, and steam mixed together to make the perfect story.

Something Wild and Wonderful truly was wonderful. I’ve seen it described as a slow burn, but it really was not. It had just the right amount of steam, pacing, and relationship development to keep me hooked while still being believable and true to life at the same time. The character development was excellent as well, particularly of Alexei. You could really see him grow over the course of the book as we learned more about his history and family trauma that drove him to hiking the PCT. Ben was great as well! Both characters were flawed, but it was beautiful to see them address their shortcomings and grow both individually and together. This book made me want to hike the PCT more than Wild while hoping for a swoon worthy experience! A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley.

Heartfelt and such a joy. I really enjoyed this one more than the author’s previous work and will be reading more in the future. This was just what I needed to cheer me up

This was a lovely read. I loved Ben and Alexei and appreciated the slow burn romance set along the Pacific Crest Trail.