Member Reviews
the dedication: For everyone Iโve ever had a crush on. Thanks for all the material.
the cover: I love a cute cartoon cover- and the chickens!
FMC: El- the shy, timid, keep-your-head-down friend of the group who doesnโt like to take risksโฆ until her forever crush challenges her to a challenge of doing 1 crazy thing a month for the year to bring her out of her shell. I LOVED that at the end of the book we got to read her journal entries ๐ฅฐ
FMC: Ray- the spunky friend who is effortlessly cool and loves taking risks. Sheโs all-in when her friends group decides they want to buy a plot of land and start a little gay commune together and live off the land. She takes on a lot of the DIY around the house while seemingly oblivious to El pining after her all along the way.
POV: 1st person, single POV
HEA: yes
spice: mildy steamy. Some flirting and touching but a closed door mostly clean romance
TWs: absent/uninterested parents, cheating (not between MCs),
standalone: yes
final thoughts: I need to buy a commune with my closest friends and live out this fantasy!!! SO CUTE and amazing, loveable side characters
read this book if you love
๐ LGBT+ representation
๐๏ธ forced proximity (homeowners in a farming town)
๐ friends-to-lovers
๐งโ๐คโ๐ง great side characters
๐จโ๐ฉโ๐งโ๐ฆ found family
๐ผ workplace romance (kind of- there are a few workplace scenes but not the main location)
An adorable look at all sorts of love -- friendship, LGBTQ+, and self-love -- packaged as a fun romcom with cute writing and characters.
Wild Things was a light, enjoyable book by Laura Kay.
Itโs advertised as a romance but to me it was more of a friends, coming of age type of book.
At times it was a little slow for me and the romance was a slow burn but overall a really sweet read.
Thank you Netgalley and Vintage Anchor for this ARC
๐Review
4๐๐๐๐
๐Book 63/100
๐Wild Things
๐ซGenre: Romance/Rom-Com
โ๏ธ Laura Kay
๐๐ฉโโค๏ธโ๐ฉ๐๐ฉโโค๏ธโ๐ฉ๐๐ฉโโค๏ธโ๐ฉ๐๐ฉโโค๏ธโ๐ฉ
Synopsis ๐
El is in a rut personally and professionally and makes a promise to herself and to have a year of โWild Things!โ Every month sheโs committed to doing one wild thing out of her comfort zone. An opportunity to move out of the city and into the country in a queer commune, and she jumps at the idea. El now will share the house with her friends which includes Ray, the girl sheโs been crushing on for five years. Yes you heard me, five years ๐
Thoughts ๐ญ
I honestly didnโt think Iโd like this book as much as I did because for one, I do not like slow burns mixed with miscommunication. To my surprise this gem had more to it, and I loved the friendship aspect to it. Oh and those chickens and IG Fan Account were a great add-on ๐๐
The self-growth and self-development aspect to it was my favorite part as we watch El evolve. The love story was a bit draggy, but I promise the rom-com in-between the story line makes it plenty enjoyable ๐ Great cozy summer read โ๏ธDoes El get the girl ? Does El get out of her rut? Youโll just have to read it!!! This was a fun read to read during pride month๐๐ซถ๐ป This is my first Laura Kay book and definitely not my last!!!
โจThank you @netgalley & @vintageanchorbooks for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
๐Publication Date:
May 23, 2023
โจโจโจโจโจ
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This was a slow burn for me. It took me longer to get through the first quarter than the last three. There was a lot I really enjoyed, especially the love between the friends and their hopeful commune. I also really liked that there wasn't (spoiler) a big blowup between the friends that made them consider selling or realize that it had been a horrible idea. I liked that Eleanor got herself together and found her own happiness, or path to happiness, before the romantic part came through. But there was just something missing for me.
โจ Wild Things - Laura Kay โจ
๐ชด ๐พ๐ 4 โญ๏ธ
๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ, ๐ช๐ด๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ช๐ต? ๐ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐จ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏโฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ. ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ง๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ, ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏโ๐ต.
El was challenged by her friends to spice up her life by doing something wild every month. She and her friends decide to move to the countryside where they can make a queer commune together and raise chickens and garden. The only problem: she has a crush on her girlfriend Ray and moves into the room next door. El must confront her feelings for Ray.
I absolutely adored this story! It was definitely a slow burn, majority of the book focusing on Elโs โwild yearโ and setting the scene for moving to the countryside with her friends. I loved the lgbtq+ representation and the friendships formed between the group. If you like a friends to lovers, slow burn, countryside living tropes this is the book for you!
Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced review copy! In stores TODAY! ๐
I loved the premise of this book, and the found family aspect was really appealing but honestly this came across as a book with Sally Rooney characters trying to be insufferably funny or quirky. Sometimes that style works but sadly it has hardly ever worked for me. Give it a try - it may be up your alley but unfortunately I couldn't stand this novel.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Synopsis; In WILD THINGS, Eleanor (โElโ) is challenging herself to do a year of wild things, one each month. Some of these things include getting a tattoo and being part of a threesome (although that second one didnโt go as planned). One of those things isnโt telling her best friend Ray about her years-long crush on her. When El, Ray, and their friends Jamie and Will agree to buy a house in the country together, that one wild thing may just have to happen.
I love a good rom-com, and this definitely had some good moments of both, but the humor dominated it. Between Jamieโs antics and the rapport between everyone and the motherclucking Twilight chickens, this book had me hooked on the humor alone. I also LOVE books about chosen family, and this ragtag bunch stole my heart.
However, the lack of solid plot and the romance didnโt live up. The first half of the plot was pretty much them buying the house and the second half was El eventually confessing her love to Ray, but the house buying came earlier than expected and the romance was a slow burn, but not a great one. It felt like a Ray had little to no attraction to El, even though they *spoiler-ish* end up together at the end. It felt forced, and I really wish there was a dual pov for this book. That wouldโve helped solidify the eventual couple. The trek to get to their romance was kind of boring, honestly. The only thing keeping me going was the chaotic antics the rest of the cast brought.
I expected more from this book, and I really wanted to enjoy it, but some things werenโt wild enough for me to give it more than what I gave it. I had originally rated it at 4 stars, but eventually dropped it to 3.5 after some consideration.
If youโre looking for a little less plot but a lot more chaos, this book is it. Thanks again to the publisher and netgalley for the arc!
My friends and I have a joke that we want to sell all of our belongings and move to a commune together, so the description of this book made me giggle. I think this book had SUCH a good plot, but I cant help but get angry when it comes to miscommunication tropes. Its frustrating, especially when its over something so simple but these adults cant talk.
I really enjoyed the journey this book took me on, I just wish the conflict was not entirely based on miscommunication!
While I enjoyed this book and really WANTED to love it (queer commune! chosen family! queer romance!), it sadly fell a bit short for me. It dragged a bit in the middle. My main issue though, was that the author did too good a job making me annoyed at the love interest and not enough winning me back over towards her at the end. (SPOILER ALERT: they get together at the end - shocking for a romance, I know.) I was so frustrated and had hoped our protag would wind up with someone else. At the end I bought it, but I just wanted to be more invested. That said, loved the personal growth and side characters, but I'd have loved to see the side characters be granted a bit more personality and story.
Thank you to vintage anchor and netgalley for providing me with an eARC of this book. El is bored in her life - stuck in the same job, has a flatmate that she does not get along with, and has been secretly in love with her best friend Ray. To break out of her shell, El resolves to do one radical thing a month. However, despite this - she still feels stagnant. The book starts with her involved in an unsuccessful threesome and texting Ray while she leaves, driven by sheer awkwardness. The premise of the story continues with El, Ray, and two other friends moving out to the English countryside to live together. I quit this book around 10% - I found the characters uninteresting, I didn't see the appeal of either El or Ray. It does seem like a sweet read that is full of found family elements but it was too slow burn for me and the cast wasn't engaging enough.
This was a really fun and sweet book. As a fellow queer who would love to leave it all behind and move to the middle of nowhere with all my people this book was really fun. I really liked how heartfelt and sweet this whole book felt.
This is definitely something I would recommend as a sweet and easy summer read.
What a fun, sweet read! As a member of the queer community who talks about moving onto a commune with her friend group at least once a week, I really enjoyed reading someone's take on what that would actually look like in practice. I was a lot more interested in the friend group dynamics than the romance aspect of it (which is shocking for me, although I wasn't a huge fan of Ray admittedly), but I thought this book had many heartfelt and tender moments that made it worth the read.
I wanted to start Pride month off with finishing this on June 1. Well, itโs June 10th and Iโm posting my review the day I finished. โ๏ธ
What to say about this book? Although it took me a bit to get into it, I deeply fell into this group of characters for what each were to each other. The story follows El, but we get to go along for the ride with Jamie, Will, and most importantly, Ray.
Now, I donโt read synopsisโs before I read the book. I try not to, anyways. And this was the cutest, and most real slow burn between 2 people. ๐ฎโ๐จ
We meet the most important people in Elโs life and see how they progress with their relationships with her as well.
One of the biggest parts of this book, you can see by the title, โWild Thingsโ. El is on a mission to have a Wild Thing year where she includes something out of the ordinary for her and I really took a lot out of that. How lost and stuck in our own minds we are and we always stick with the โnormโ but itโs those โwild thingsโ in life that kind of help us move along and enjoy life a bit more. I think that is why I truly enjoyed this book. It made me think of my own life. And the relationships I have.
The only difference between my life and this book? I donโt have a commune in need of fixing up. ๐
Thank you to @netgalley for approving my request for this, and @lauraekay for writing this beautiful, thought provoking book.
This romcom is true to the name, it made me laugh out loud. A little to start but the characters were funny, charming, fully imagined, and brave. Angsty and very British, the house renovations and quirky village setting were great fun! This is a new release, out May 23rd and you should check it out!
-Found family
-Slow burn
-Queer representation
If youโre looking for a light hearted romance this is the book for you! I love a good slow burn if done properly, but at times it felt a little slow for me. The idea of these 4 friends moving into โLavendar Houseโ together was so cute, and honestly sounds like something I would want to do with a few of my besties!
All of the characters were adorable and genuine, with some funny one liners too! I personally havenโt read many novels with queer themes/representation, so I canโt compare it in this novel to others, but I believe it was done well! At times this didnโt feel much like a romance to me, but nonetheless I would highly recommend you to read this!
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced e-copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
Eleanor a crossroads of her life. She takes us through her experience of trying to find her best life.
Cute but the pacing felt very slow to me. I really enjoyed the premise and the ensemble cast, but to me this just wasn't engaging.
This was a cute read! I loved the village setting, the found family, and the idea of buying a house with friends. I would have loved the story more if we focused more on El and her Wild year. I would have loved to explore more of her going on adventures and going outside her comfort zone. Some of these things were actually wild in my opinion. I also think Ray wasnโt the right person for her. There was something about Ray as a character that I didnโt enjoy and honestly felt she was a little rude with the MC.
My other bigger grievance was that they never took out the carpet in the bathroom. Any sane person would have done that first before redoing hardwood floors or painting cabinets. The face the bathroom was moldy and gross, tackle that first. I just want to know if they did anything with that bathroom by the end of the book
This was a light, fun, and quick read.
I enjoyed it and the characters. A gay commune?! Friends to lovers, slow burn? Yes, sign me up! But there was just something about this that I didn't love. Rather than a queer contemporary romance, this one reads more like women's fiction to me (the vibes). Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it...I just felt like the romance was the subplot and it took soooo long. I don't mind slow burns but usually we get more tension/angst. If you like a good plot with a side of romance, this is the one for you!!
Also, for those wondering, this one isn't spicy.
Thank you to NetGalley for an eArc of Wild Things. This is my honest review.