Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher/author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

Ahh I loved this book so much! It was so freaking adorable. Alexei has been recently disowned by his parents for being gay and let go from his job and decides to go on a 2,500 mile hike across America to find himself. He expects to do it alone, but along the way meets fellow hiker Ben who works his way into his heart.

This was marketed as “grumpy meets sunshine” when I don’t think Alexei was grumpy. He just has severe social anxiety. Ben is obviously better at talking to people and is very open and makes friends with everyone they meet. Alexei is more reserved and doesn’t easily speak to others. I can understand that very well. A lot of Alexei’s anxiety comes from his sheltered background and not really knowing how to read people. Ben makes him want to get to know people and be better. Alexei reading his favorite book to Ben as they were traveling made my heart soar.

Ben and Alexei were so down bad for each other it was making my mouth hurt so much from smiling. When Alexei stared acting like a dummy I wanted to hit him upside the head. It was so obvious they were both so blindingly in love. The ending part at the bridge had me crying.

This is also a book about grief. The grief of losing your loved ones in a sense that they might not be dead, but they are gone. Alexei has to deal with the fact that the life he’s always known is over because his parents have removed themselves from him. He also learns that it isn’t his fault and there are people in the world who love you and care for you for who you are. I loved Ben’s family and friends though. They were so sweet and accepting of Alexei.

This is such a sweet and loving book. There are hardships and difficulties but it’s about two very different people very different worlds realizing they are in love. I loved every bit of it. I’m so looking forward to more from the author.

I really liked Love & Other Disasters and was so excited to receive an ARC of this book. Anita Kelly has quickly become one of my favorite authors. They have a way of grabbing you and slowly building the story to the point where all you want to do is find out what happens! I stayed up late last night finishing it and let me tell you I was weeping *WEEPING* during Chapter 27. Tears running down my face reading in bed. It’s written in such a clever way and I won’t spoil it here, but wow. I just loved it.

😭🥰😭🥰😭🥰

Nature has a way of healing and this story takes place on the PCT (Pacific Coast Trail) with a meet cute between Ben and Alexei who are both going through some things and hoping the Trail will help them process their trauma. And even though they are on different journeys, the Trail keeps bringing them back together. Is it kismet? There is something magical about Joshua Tree, the desert in SoCal where our story starts, when Alexei saves Ben from a rattlesnake. This is an opposites attract / grumpy sunshine romance, but written in a very creative way with dual POV so you can really understand what each MC is thinking and feeling. Alexei is quiet and nerdy and Ben is vibrant and outgoing. And Alexei’s ability to name a bird based solely on its sound is so endearing, no wonder Ben is a goner.

Alexei has recently come out and been abandoned by his religious parents. Ben has had a string of toxic relationships and wants to not fall for the next man he meets. But of course they have an instant attraction and it’s delightful to watch them grow together and apart and together again. Since this is a romance there are conflicts before the HEA, but the conflicts are very unique and I found I couldn’t put the book down. I love how Ben helps Alexei become more comfortable with his queer identity surrounded by mountains and birds and trees and snow and sunshine.

The found family friend group in this book is delightful. Dahlia & London from L&OD make an appearance as London is friends with Ben, and we get to see how they are doing hanging out at dinner and in their fancy Nashville apartment which is so fun! There’s nothing I love more than characters connected through books.

If you are a fan of queer romance, this is a great one.

– Thanks to NetGalley/Forever for the ARC for a review –

Alexei Lebedev is hoping to put the trauma of being disowned by his family behind him. Ben Caravalho is looking to get over his past relationships and prepare to begin living a more fulfilling life. Their paths cross when both men set out on a solo hike of the Pacific Crest Trail.

After reading this book I feel like I truly know Lex and Ben. We get to see both men grow and figure out how to deal with what is going on in their personal lives as they navigate a budding relationship.

Have you ever started reading a book and realize this is the story you’ve been waiting for? The one that speaks right to your soul?
Something Wild & Wonderful was it for me.
I am so thankful for Anita Kelly’s books. They are truly a top-tier queer romance writer.

Thank you NetGalley and Forever for the ARC!

I wanted to like this one but I was not invested in the romance at all. At times it felt juvenile and the dialogue was totally unnecessary in parts... it made me cringe at times.

I actually finished reading this book a while ago, but I've been holding off on writing a review because I was living in that kind of book-haze where you just have FEELINGS that seem far too important for things like "words" that "other people" can read. However, this is a really wonderful piece of writing - both quiet and surprisingly angsty- that I hope lots of other people will pick up as well, so here goes.

The main characters of Something Wild and Wonderful, Ben and Alexei, meet as they are thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, which is a really important element of the book. I would describe my feelings towards nature as "appreciative in theory, skeptical in practice," so I did not expect the setting to be one of my favorite parts of the book, but it absolutely was. To the point where I set the book down at about the 15% mark, thought to myself "I simply cannot finish this inside the four walls of my city apartment" and... booked a trip into Nature? There's something about the way Anita Kelly writes this setting that's just enormously inviting. The book doesn't beat readers over the head with a demand to think nature is great or poetic or awe-inspiring. There's just a quiet, persistent heartbeat of love for the expansiveness the outdoors that sneaks up on you without realizing it. Claiming the setting as a "character" in a book feels almost over-used to me at times, but it finds its truest and best expression here.

The character-characters are pretty great themselves, though. This felt, fundamentally, like Alexei's book: he's on the trail to try to figure out his place in the world after a traumatic estrangement from his family. This plotline was treated, I thought, with exquisite care, despite its heavy emotional nature. While the book is very candid about Alexei's sadness and confusion - over his own situation of estrangement, but also more broadly over the ways in which the world hasn't been welcoming or accommodating to him - he never wavers in his knowledge of who he is. Nor does the book ever suggest he should. There's an extent to which his story is about loving yourself when the world doesn't seem to love you - and while Alexei's love interest Ben provides some of that support, a lot of it is internal, and it's really well-done.

I won't give too much away, but I do have to talk somewhere about how this book has maybe one of my top-three low moments of all time. I'm marking it for spoilers because everyone should get to have the delicious experience of being simultaneously ambushed by "jesus fucking christ my feelings" and "oh my god this is masterful writing" the way I did.

**SPOILERS** The entire low moment is epistolary, done via letters between Ben and Alexei - some of which they send, some of which they don't, and it fucking *wrecked* me. It was quite simply one of the best marriages between plot and tone and form that I've ever encountered: Ben and Alexei are both incredibly lonely through this low moment, and yearning for each other so much, and honestly is there anything that better expresses loneliness and yearning than an UNSENT LETTER? Not to mention that the format - letters written sometimes weeks and weeks apart - allowed each character to express how they've grown individually, and to take the time they need to heal. I was a mess. I've re-read the section two or three times since, and cried every time. END SPOILER


I know it's not for everyone, but if you like to wallow a bit on the way to the safety of your HEA, this is the book for you.

Anyway, maybe I'll write more eventually, but for the moment, I'm clutching this book to my heart, a bit protective of my feelings. What a lovey, caring, accomplished piece of writing it is.

Disclaimer: I received a free e-ARC from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review

*4.75 Stars

If you haven’t don’t yourself the favor of reading Love and Other Disasters by Anita Kelly, you should absolutely do so. Something Wild and Wonderful features, once again, the most precious characters to grace my iPad screen. Ben is outgoing, wears his heart on his sleeve, and Alexei is more guarded, and has some walls to take down. The men meet on the PCT hike, and become unlikely hiking buddies. The romance buds from there, and it had me blushing and kicking my feet.

This book also features coming out in a religious family, and how someone might try to move on from that not going well. Alexei’s journey felt so personal, it was like we were walking it with him. We see the very real scenario in which strangers will call a gay couple a slur just for existing. But we get to see the good, as well. We get to see people stand up for our MCs, and our MCs grow into who they are as people.

I just absolutely loved this, and thank you to Forever & Netgalley for allowing me to read this early in exchange for an honest review 🫶🏻. I can’t wait til this hits shelves in March of next year!

This is the second book that I've read by Anita Kelly. I loved their first book, 'Love & Other Disasters', but this book has a much slower pace. It took me some time to get into this book because I wasn't expecting such a slow start. Kelly's writing really takes you into the journey that Alexei is making on the Pacific Crest Trail. I'm from Philadelphia, and I have never been to that part of the country before. The descriptions really created great visuals of the trails and landscapes in that area. As someone who has never really hiked before, I feel like I learned so much about what it means to hike the PCT and how dangerous it can be. I felt like I was transported there along with the characters.

The main character is Alexei, who is hiking the PCT because he is feeling lost in his life. He has recently come out to his parents, and they have disowned him. He also lost his job, and he thinks that the trail will be a good place for him to reinvent himself as Alexei 2.0. He uses a journal to write down his thoughts on ways that he can improve himself as he begins a new chapter of his journey.

Along the trail, he meets Ben. Ben is the opposite of Alexei. He is outgoing and charming while Ben is quiet and reserved. They begin to hike the trail together, and sparks begin to fly. Kelly's writing again creates such a a beautiful picture of their romance. They really know how to write to make the reader feel as though they are a part of the romance.

I think one of my favorite parts of the book is the section that is told entirely through letters. I loved this insight into how the characters were feeling. I really liked how some of the letters were unsent, but the readers still were able to view these letters to better understand the characters.

Overall, this was a beautifully told and well-written love story. I really appreciated that the main characters from 'Love & Other Disasters", Dahlia and London, had a connection to the characters in this story. That was a very welcome surprise!

Thanks for NetGalley and Forever Publishing for an ARC of this book! I can't wait to read Kelly's next book in 2024! They are definitely on my must-read list of authors now.

I cannot say enough good things about this book truly! It was so sweet and absolutely delicious to get to read through this. I cannot wait to see what Anita Kelly graces us with next! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!!

Alexei and Ben may both be hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, but their reasons for hiking are vastly different. Alexei is hiking after being rejected by his family after coming out to them and is trying to find “Alexei 2.0” to move forward. Ben is hiking before starting a new career while also processing grief and moving on from a negative relationship. They run into each other along the trail and decide to start hiking together. And of course they build a strong connection on the hike!

This is SUCH a special book! Alexei and Ben both absolutely melt my heart and their relationship was a joy to read about. Alexei is so sweet that I just wanted to give him a hug. I loved reading the communication between Alexei and Ben because it was so mutually respectful. Hearing about Alexei’s relationship with his family and seeing it contrasted with Ben’s family relationship was heartbreaking. And the LETTERS!!! No spoilers but my heart could barely handle them.

I can’t recommend this book enough if you are looking for a tender, sweet love story!

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the advanced reading copy!

I deeply enjoyed this book because of its sweetness and emotional honesty. The personal struggles of the main characters, especially Alexei's struggle with how his queerness conflicts with his upbringing, really resonated. It was also super exciting to get to see the main characters from Love and Other Disasters enjoying their happily ever after. I can't wait until it's available for sale so I can boost it more!

This was heavier than I was expecting but wow. It’s a beautiful and emotional step by step journey of two characters figuring themselves out and finding each other. It’s quite and tender.

I loved loved loved this book. I’m a character driven reader so I got very attached to both Ben and Alexei but was especially attached to to Alexei. I recognized a fellow nuerodivergent soul and loved him. I’m so happy Ben loved him for him, bird facts and clear directions and all. I loved the complicated feelings the author explored in regards to his family and religion, it felt so real and raw.

I don’t hike but man this book made it seem so romantic, I live in the PNW so I know how beautiful it is! I also chuckled because I used to live near the Cabazon dinosaurs and have visited them…the whole book was a hug and I can’t wait for my preorder to come so I can hold this beautiful book in my hands.

This book will live in my heart forever. Alexei was so incredibly special to me. Anita has a voice that I need more of so I hope they continue to write these heartfelt stories that give unique voices a chance to be heard.

On the surface, this book is about two strangers who meet while hiking the Pacific coast trail when one saves the other from stepping on a rattlesnake.
Alexei is afraid of hiking the desert, and Ben afraid of the snow. Both of them looking for the long quiet hike to help them figure some things out while their lives are changing. They decide to walk together for a while…Well Ben decides they’ll walk together and Alexei decides maybe he’s okay with it. They start by building a friendship, but wonder if trail magic will give them something more.

Beyond that though, this book is about So Much More -
Finding yourself, and deciding who you want to be. Grieving family members who haven’t actually died. People who are only in your life for a moment, but have an impact for life. Making tough decisions, when one dream is at absolute odds with another. Unsent letters - I thought my heart would crack in half reading some of those. And most importantly - finding what you want and then fighting for it.

I want everyone ever to read this one, it is beyond good. I don’t even have the words, I kind of just want to shove it at people and shout READ THIS.

Thanks (so much) to netgalley and forever/grand central pub for the ARC

Something Wild and Wonderful by Anita Kelly
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This book was PHENOMENAL. When I finished, I was a puddle of emotions and I am still thinking about it several days later. It pulled me in right away and pulled me in deep. Alexei and Ben are both hiking the Pacific Crest Trail solo and end up hiking together, and of course, fall in love.

Alexei is there to heal from the trauma of being rejected by his religious and traditional parents for being gay. Ben is also there to find himself in a lot of ways. Alexei is quiet and more reserved, while Ben is more of a sunshine personality.

I absolutely loved how deep we got into both of these characters in the book, their personal journeys, and how they develop and negotiate their relationship over the course of the book. There is a lot here about boundaries and communicating needs and expectations, and then what happens when mistakes happen. There’s an epistolary element towards the end that just about wrecked me. I loved the setting on the trail, it made for really beautiful moments of connection.

This book is deeply romantic and satisfying, and I will for sure be re-reading it in the future. Highly recommend!

🌶🌶🌶/5 moderate-high steam

Thank you NetGalley and Forever for the ARC

I really enjoyed this book. I liked the variety of characters and how genuine they felt. I also liked that the PCT was a character. I appreciated how the mental health issues were dealt with and how the characters worked on themselves first.

I am about to begin worshiping at the alter of Anita Kelly.

There is something so tender and earnest about their writing and their characters. Everything about them, especially the pain and the jagged edges, the story takes them as says, so gently, “it’s alright”. It made my heart squeeze. It feels like an injustice to call it cute because it’s more than that. But it seriously is really freaking cute. What a brilliant, brilliant book.

This book was so immersive and detailed–-I truly felt like I was on the PCT alongside Ben and Alexei, watching them take photos, set up their tents, and listen to bird calls. Setting the story on a hiking trail is so unique and interesting, and I think it added another layer of vulnerability to Ben and Alexei's love story. They were hiking through rough or scary terrain, facing their physical fears and anxieties together, which eventually helped them face their emotional anxieties, with each other and with themselves, later in the book. The PCT just made so much sense. I love how it continuously brought them together and tore them apart, therefore, making it even more special when they found each other again. (I mean, c'mon, THE CRANES!!! I cried!!)

I loved the Nashville interlude. It was a refreshing change of pace to see Alexei and Ben outside of their PCT elements; it was like a glimpse of what their life would be like after the novel ended (minus the leaving plot point). And the switch to an epistolary format near the end was lovely! I love when books make use of letters, and given how Alexei was frequently journaling, it made a lot of sense for his character to move forward and pour his feelings out like that.

This truly is a beautiful and thoughtful queer romance. But more than that, it is a story about finding the good in the bad, acceptance, worth, and learning to heal from the grief of how your family is alive, but doesn't and can't accept you. The letters that Alexei writes to his parents are so raw and I think a lot of readers will benefit from Kelly's writing. This is a book that will stick with me for a while!

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for this eARC! (:

As a huge fan of Wild by Cheryl Strayed, this book immediately captured my attention. By that I mean I started reading this book at 10 PM, with the intention to read a chapter before bed, and I stayed up until 2 AM getting to the halfway point. By the following midnight, I finished the book.

Something Wild and Wonderful has everything I’m looking for in a queer romance. There’s humor, there’s character growth, there’s tenderness, and there is a lot of heat. I loved the setting of the PCT, especially as a SoCal native who is familiar with a lot of the locations that are mentioned throughout the first part of the hike. I also really enjoyed the interlude in Nashville, and being able to see these two characters in a different setting, how they behave individually and together outside of the PCT. It was really exciting to me to revisit some of the characters from Kelly’s previous book, Love & Other Disasters, during the Nashville portion of the book. Having characters I’d fallen in love with interact with these new characters I was beginning to fall in love with felt like such a treat.

I really enjoyed part three with the letters and I think this is a brilliant way to conclude the end of Alexei’s experience hiking the PCT, as well as a way to take the story from the conflict between the romantic leads to their resolution. After reading about the hike in detail for a good chunk of the book, this felt like a clever way to keep the story fresh, rather than feeling too repetitive or monotonous. And it felt important to see how Alexei processed his feelings regarding his family, and to see how Ben processed Alexei leaving without saying goodbye. As someone who uses journaling as a way to process my own thoughts and mental health, I felt like the letters really showcased how both Alexei and Ben grew as people. How neither character is fully healed by the end, but well on the path to healing and learning to love themselves and each other the way they need.

Being queer is different for each person. The way it impacts your life and your relationships is never going to be the same as another individual. Alexei and Ben have vastly different experiences, from their relationships with their family to their dating history to the way they handle homophobic behavior from others. There is no universal experience when it comes to being queer. That being said, I do think Alexei’s and Ben’s stories will connect with a lot of queer readers and make them feel validated in their individual experiences. This is a part of Kelly’s writing that I’ve grown to love and appreciate, and it’s why I was so eager to read their book. Kelly doesn’t shy away from the hard parts of being queer, but they make sure to showcase the love and the joy that comes with it too.

Love & Other Disasters is one of my favorite books of 2022. And reading Something Wild and Wonderful has officially cemented Anita Kelly as an auto-buy author, for me. The way they tell queer love stories is beautifully done and I cannot wait for readers to get their hands on this next book!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

Magical. This book is magical.

I fell in love with Anita Kelley’s writing when I read their last book, Love & Other Disasters. I was so excited to have the opportunity to read this book, Something Wild & Wonderful, before it’s release. Now, I simply cannot wait to hold the physical copy in my hands and give it a giant hug — returning the giant hug this book was for me.

As with Love & Other Disasters, I loved the dual narration between Alexei and Ben. Getting insight into their thinking, their emotions, and their past created such a beautifully woven story. Anita Kelly handled their pasts — traumas, difficult relationships, emotional hurt — with such gentle grace. Even though our life experiences are different in many ways, I could see myself in these characters in a way that so few authors are able to do so beautifully.

Knowing the genre of this work, I could anticipate a bit of the ending (and that is not a critique in any way!). But what I didn’t expect — and what I appreciate so deeply — is that, up until the end, Alexei and Ben still got their own endings. They each still grew and changed and had plans that were their own, intertwined with their relationship. I love how from beginning to end, it was a journey of self as much as a journey of relationships.

Most importantly, I love the way Something Wild & Wonderful highlighted multiple queer experiences. Alexei’s family and Ben’s family; their experiences and challenges of friendships; their own journeys around self-discovery and sexuality; and Alexei’s changing relationship to faith. As a reader, I saw myself in pieces of each of their experiences. There is nothing more affirming than that when reading a book.

And I can’t finish this review without mentioning the letters. Every one of letters in the section Kennedy Meadows to Cascade Locks made me cry. Sent and unsent, equally.

I am so thankful to Anita Kelly for offering these words to the world and to the queer community. I will be recommending this book to anyone and everyone who will listen… and then buying them copies to make sure they read this book.