I have always loved me a CLau book... but this one-didn't do it for me. Yes, there was adventure out in the great wide somewhere and adequate banter but closed door romance and death for shock value just struck me as odd and then the rest of the story felt contrived and blocky.

I love CLo’s books and this one did not disappoint. I loved the whole treasure hunt happening through the whole book. I was so invested and was praying that they find it and that all the clues were meant for her (you’ll understand when you read it). I love how these 2 amazing ladies write together. They work so well together and I hope they never stop writing. Their books take you to different adventures every time and I love it. The end of this book was the best part for me. I cried through the whole last chapter. LOVED IT!

Lily Wilder was the daughter of Duke Wilde. He was a treasure hunter, he was so obsessed with it, that Lily thought she meant nothing to him. He passed away about 7 years ago and now Lily and her friend Nicole run a treasure hunting retreat to be able to pay the bills, she lives paycheck to paycheck and on the off season she works at a bar in town. Lily knows she cannot do this forever, and has decided she will do one more tour. Turns out that one person on this tour is the love of her life Leo Grady. The boy that had broken her heart 10 years ago.

Leo Grady lived in New York. Just lives his life day by day, he wasn’t happy and he knew it. He and his 2 friends from college go on a trip every year and this year was his friend Bradley’s turn to pick the location. And this year it was a secret, he had no idea where he was going until they landed in Utah and was told they were doing a treasure hunting tour. He didn’t know that the company his friend chose was owned by the love of his life Lily Wilder. The day he saw her again was the day he realized he was not living. Just one look and he felt alive. He started feeling everything, things that he thought he would never feel again. She was the last girl he felt them with, but she looks mad at him. Why was she mad? She’s the one that never called him back. He lost her once he wasn’t going to allow it to happen again.

He will do anything to stay with her and make her fall in love with him again. He never stopped loving her. She will do everything she can to stay away from him. He broke her once, she cannot go through that again. Can they figure it out and move on from their past? Could they finally love each other without anything in between?

Received this ARC for my honest review and opinion. Must read!

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy! This was just the adventure romance that I needed in my life right now. Christina Lauren are truly masters of romance and fun stories, and Something Wilder did not disappoint. These best-friend authors adeptly blend a good time with second chance romance in this delightful book. Lily and Leo meet on a horse ranch out West when they’re younger, but life circumstances pull them apart. They find themselves reconnected 10 years later, while Leo is on a trip with friends, and Lily as an adventure tour guide. But due to a lot of mishaps and chaos, Lily and Leo end up on a treasure hunt, but will they find the money and sustain their re-found love connection? I don’t always like second chance romance, but this was done perfectly, with the longing and love really well balanced with the fun adventure of actual treasure hunting in the desert. They also combine it with some fun Butch Cassidy history and a great cast of side characters. This book was perfect, but honestly, it was perfect for a light and fun and swoony weekend read! I will be shocked if this is not turned into a movie soon. Overall, I recommend this book for lovers of contemporary romance, second chance, and adventure.

Lily is the daughter of well known treasure hunter, Duke Wilder. Lily has decided to start an adventure company of her own and follows Duke’s maps on treasure hunts and camping trips in the Utah wilderness. Lily’s most recent group and one of the guests is her first love, Leo Grady. Leo and Lily are forced to put aside their history and work together when a tragic accident occurs.
Another great book from Christina Lauren! They never disappoint me. This book was unique and different from their other work but I loved it just as much as all the others! If you are looking for a fun, adventurous romance with a little suspense thrown in, grab this book!

Something Wilder by Christina Lauren
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this book. All opinions here are my own.
Lily is the daughter of well known treasure hunter, Duke Wilder. Lily decided to start an adventure company of her own and follows Duke’s maps on treasure hunts and camping trips in the Utah wilderness. Lily’s most recent group and one of the guests is her first love, Leo Grady. Leo and Lily are forced to put aside their history and work together when a tragic accident occurs.
Another great book from Christina Lauren! They never disappoint me. This book was unique and different from their other work but I loved it just as much as all the others! If you are looking for a fun, adventurous romance with a little suspense thrown in, grab this book!

For someone who chose to live in the woods for 5 months in my youth, this book sounded right up my alley. I’m a fan of surviving and exploration, so Lily is a girl after my own heart. Her walls are thick; she’s had to learn to build them since childhood. But, unfortunately, walls are not easily broken, especially when you’ve been let down and abandoned your entire life. So in between what can go wrong, two people are learning each other after ten years apart. What an absolutely dramatic book!

I loved the puzzle element at play in this story. The book focuses on disaster and comedic relief more than the romance, which would have been nicer to explore. I was hoping for more of what happened 10 years ago and more of their reconnection. But the differences make the story unique. This writing duo has said, here’s our story and our villain, and they ran with it. Where others have seen this as a plot issue, I see it as the book’s strong point. As the reader watches things go from bad to worse, Leo and Lily rally to survive the stacked odds against them. This is a fun read, and I enjoyed all the varying elements. Thank you, Gallery Books, for sending this along!

Okay, second chance romances are very hard to do because they often have to involve a miscommunication trope (which is annoying), and it’s harder to build tension and chemistry because the fun parts ready happened. This does not overcome the barriers. It leans heavily into a miscommunication trope, and you get the perspectives of both character who are clearly in love with each other so there isn’t any tension. There also aren’t enough moments for you to see them fall in love again. They are instantly attracted to each other and the only question is if they can make it work and work past the miscommunication from seven years ago.

Now, as for the plot - I kind of love the over the top treasure hunt. The setting is great. HOWEVER, I HATE that a man DIES and it is basically a FOOTNOTE. I don’t care how unlikable the character is, you gotta deal with that fallout and I do not approve of lying to cover it up. Also, a big problem with this story is all the telling vs. showing. We are told up front Terry is terrible. You are told upfront about why Leo and Lilly didn’t work out but that they still love each other without ever showing us why they work in the present.

I am here for over the top. Soulmate Equation was awesome because it was over the top but also had great tension and complicated characters. This missed the mark. It could be how particular I am about second chance romances, but I just don’t think it worked.

And yet - I wholeheartedly thank the publishers for an ARC of this book because it is highly sought after. I loved getting to read it in advance and fully appreciate the opportunity to share my honest review.

Not at all what I expected…it was so much better! I’ve come to expect a great rom com from this dynamic duo, but this story was a great combination of romance with some mystery and western flair. The plot is about a second chance romance, and the authors wrote this very well. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy!

This is DEFINATELY NOT a typical Chrsitina Lauren book.... I was expecting a romcom, steamy romance and this book has that but also truly different as that it has an action/adventure element!

If you enjoy second chance romances, you will def. enjoy Lily and Leo's history and current situation.... and then add a Western vibe with ranch and horses, along with a treasure hunt mystery - this was not what I expected but it (not to be corny) was a wild ride. I loved the descriptions of the Western environment and the side of action, it was a nice change from typical Christina Lauren books. You still get you romance/love element, and if you are a general fan of rom com's, this book def delivered on tension and arguments between the two main characters! Also - the color is just to die for, isn't it? Like bravo. Reminds me of a warm sunset.

I am usually a big fan of this duo, but this one didn't do it for me. Maybe because it's light on the rom~com and heavy on the adventure.

All Lily Wilder ever wanted was to take over ownership of her family's ranch, so when her father, Duke, sold it out from under her she is devastated. Add on top of that the love of her life, Leo, unexpectedly had to go back to New York when his mother has a car accident and she's utterly heartbroken.

Fast forward 10 years and Lily now lives in Utah giving tours that are fake treasure hunts. She can't believe it when Leo shows up for one of the tours. Long story short ~ there was a misunderstanding and neither really got over the other and moved on.

I can tell a lot of research went into writing this one. There were a couple heart pounding moments towards the end and a small twist, but overall I wasn't as wowed as I thought I would be. I liked how it went back and forth with Lily and Leo's point of view and I did enjoy how Lily and Leo got their second chance at happiness and how it ended. Also, I loved Lily and Nicole's friendship ~ it was rock solid.

I'll still continue to read their work and hope the next one is a bigger hit for me.

Lily Wilder never chose a life of adventure, a life of adventure chose her.

Well, sort of.

See Lily is the daughter of Duke Wilder, a man whose name is synonymous with real life treasure hunts. Growing up, Duke would be gone months at a time, leaving his family to fend for themselves. Before long, Lily’s mom left them both. But after a lifetime of chasing lost treasure, Duke never found much. Now grown up, Lily has a disdain for thrill seeking, and a desire to distance herself from her dad’s reputation.

But Duke didn’t only leave Lily alone a lot, he left her without much to call her own. Selling the family ranch that Lily loved before he passed was the final straw. A decade later, Lily still finds herself pushing the lifestyle to pay the bills, working as a guide for pseudo adrenaline junkies on fake treasure hunts. So when the latest batch of guys out for a good time just so happens to include the only other man to ever break her heart, Lily finds herself at a loss all over again. Now Lily is going to need more than a map to find what was forgotten all those years ago.

Something Wilder is the latest release from the uber popular writing duo, @christinalauren. A marked departure from their usual fare, this book still has their signature blend of romance, but also a hefty amount of hilariously twisted escapades. As I was reading, I couldn’t help but to think of this story as a Goonies, but for adults. Imagine my surprise when that very comparison was brought up, mere pages later. Obviously this is what the authors set out to do. Needless to say, their mission was accomplished.

As if anyone would need convincing, definitely check out Something Wilder when you get the chance as it is truly, something else.

Something Wilder was very different from Christina Lauren’s usual books. I enjoyed the premise of the book. The idea behind it. However there was a major plot line that I had a hard time wrapping my head around and it made it more difficult for me to put out of my mind for the rest of the story.

I love the author duo Christina Lauren so I was very excited to read this new book and I enjoyed it! I will say it was less romance and more adventure, but that was ok with me! It was very National Treasure-ish but it was a fun read and I like the genre mash up! Looking forward to their next one!

The Wild West, treasure hunting, and romance - - that's Something Wilder in a nutshell. This quick, fun read with its treasure maps and code breaking is a little different, but I enjoyed it. Thanks NetGalley and Gallery Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 3/5⭐️⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
𝗪𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝: I enjoyed some of the puzzle pieces of the adventure and trying to figure them out. Getting closure on how the treasure hunt ended is what kept me reading through the end.
⁣⁣⁣
𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞: I hadn’t ever read a romcom with so many action sequences, but in this case combining the two made me feel like both sides (the romance and the hunt) were lacking something.

The little romance that this book had didn’t create many sparks for me because it all previously crumbled off of a lack of communication that seemed implausible. I find it personally challenging to love second-chance romances, so that could also be contributing here. I just would have appreciated some flashbacks to Lily and Leo’s past relationship to understand why they still had such strong feelings for each other after ten years apart.

Check out all of my reviews over at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/laurasloaninglibrary/">@laurasloaninglibrary on Instagram</a>

Ten years ago Lily Wilder got her heart broken when her love walked out of her life and her famous treasure hunter father sold his beloved ranch. Ten years later she finds herself barely making ends meet by using her dad’s hand drawn maps to take people on fake treasure hunts in the Utah desert, and his profession was something she wanted no part of. Leo Grady, her first and only love, shows up one day with three friends to go on a hunt. Lily would like nothing more than to leave him stranded in the wilderness, but he seems eager to reconnect. Lily, her work partner and friend Nicole, Leo and his friends all find themselves on one crazy adventure in the desert with some big mishaps. Could the legend of the hidden treasure be true after all? Lily and Leo must work together to find out.

💭𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔:
I’ve read three other Christina Lauren books, The Unhoneymooners, In a Holidaze and The Soulmate Equation. This book was so vastly different from the other three and I 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 it!!! What an adventure!! The setting was absolutely everything in this book. It’s it’s own character and now I want to visit Utah so badly. I read this book in two days, which is very fast for me. I just couldn’t put it down! I loved Leo, but he reminded me of my husband so much-even down to his physical description and demeanor. ❤️ The book took some twists and turns I wasn’t expecting, but that’s what made it fun!

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲:
»𝙰𝚍𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚜
»𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙶𝚘𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚎𝚜
»𝙿𝚞𝚣𝚣𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚕𝚎𝚜
»𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚝
»𝚂𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎
»𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚍 𝚆𝚎𝚜𝚝
»𝚃𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚜

🛑This book is an open door romance and there is some language.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

I enjoyed this book. It started off slow for me but I always enjoy these authors. Thank you so the arc of this book!

Something Wilder by Christina Lauren 5⭐️

This was my first Christina Lauren book and I went in completely blind, anticipating what I thought was going to romance and maybe a bit predictable. But there was so much packed into this book!

I was kept guessing through the whole story and I fell in love with the main characters. I found myself holding my breath at times and crossing my fingers for Lily.

I found everything I wanted in these pages: adventure, romance, friendship, thrill, betrayal, family, redemption.

I also can’t wait to read more from Christina Lauren. These two write with such deep detail that I can truly feel myself experiencing moments alongside the characters. I could taste, feel, and see each moment unfolding and it pulled me deep into the story.

Something Wilder releases May 17! 🙌🎉

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for my copy in exchange for my honest review.

Something Wilder by Christina Lauren is New Adult adventure and romance fiction, following the story of Lily Wilder, daughter of a famed treasure hunter who leads tourists on fake treasure hunting trips through Utah, and Leo Brady, a city-slicker who wants nothing more than to rekindle with his true love, Lily. When the fake treasure hunting trip goes awry, Lily and Leo are thrown into the middle of a dangerous and extravagant race to discover if the treasure written about in Lily's father's journal is real.

I have a complex relationship with Christina Lauren's writing. I have yet to fall in love with one of their books. Each one I've read always seemingly falls flat in some way. I think this book is probably my favorite of theirs so far. I enjoyed it enough to give it 4 stars but I think so much of the book was carried by the exciting adventure plot.

Though this is framed as a second-chance romance, the earlier relationship happens entirely off page, before the book starts. I think because of this the whole book feels a bit too much like insta-love for my tastes. You only get short snippets of what happened between Lily and Leo before they reunite. I love the premise and execution of the dangerous treasure hunt. The way these two get close over the course of the trip was entertaining however, (again) the love between the two characters really starts on page 1 with no build up. I think the last 50% of the book was way more engaging than the first 50% as the treasure hunting/adventure plot was more fleshed out.

I think this is the most engaged I've been with a Christina Lauren book but like always, there's always one element in their books that falls flat and here it's the build up of the relationships. The characters and their personalities are strong. I love how smart and snarky Leo is and I love Lily's power and determination. I loved the twists and turns of the novel. Every chapter the characters face ad different challenge that sent my pulse skyrocketing. The setting of the book in the Red Canyons of Utah added so much. The way the scenery is described is beautiful and the imagery of the sun setting over vibrant canyons kept my attention. I think my enjoyment of this book relied so heavily on that adventure/thriller aspect and fell flat in terms of getting me invested in the relationship of the two characters. I was way more invested about whether they'd find the treasure rather than Lily and Leo ending up together.. Definitely a Christina Lauren book I liked more than others, but I was still disappointed by the lack of relationship buildup.

Omg I loved this book so much!! This book had everything I love: desert adventure, treasure hunt, riddles, cowboys, second chance romance, strong female leads and mystery! This book was fast paced, fun and full of witty banter and intrigue. This is my favorite Christina Lauren book I've read so far and I can't wait to pickup a copy on May 17th when it comes out!

Thank you so much Gallery Books for this e-ARC! I absolutely loved this one.