I loved this one! What a beautiful, emotional journey along the Pacific Crest Trail. Anita Kelly has such a great voice.

Idkkkk I just didn’t really like this one. I personally prefer sapphic romance so that could be it. It could be that it was third person and there was one audiobook narrator and I hate that. Idk but this just didn’t hit for me at all.

Absolutely loved this book. Ben and Alexei are such well-developed, heartfelt characters, and their story is so emotional. There's a lot of serious, devastating moments, but also a lot of levity - it feels so realistic to actual relationships and how one would unfold between these two. Anita Kelly also paints a gorgeous picture of the PCT and makes you feel like you're hiking alongside Ben and Lex. Thank you to Forever for the ARC via Netgalley!

Not my typical type of read but I enjoyed it none the less! Enjoyed reading about them falling in love along the PCT - it was an emotional, beautiful journey! Thanks for the ARC!

Anita Kelly is absolutely incredible. Love & Other Disasters was a 5 star read for me- though this book wasn’t quite as good, it was still 4 stars. I think things got a little messy once the characters weren’t in the wilderness, and that’s my only complaint.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

A very charming and lovely book. Both of the main characters were so easy to love and felt very well rounded. The setting of the pacific crest trail was exciting for me as a lover of the book Wild and a romance novel done in the wilderness was new for me and I thought it worked very well. It was nice to have at least one of the queer characters not struggling with their sexuality and having a stable family

This is a beautiful book. Anita Kelly has such talent for putting you in the head of their characters and addressing all the messy, complicated emotions you’ll find there. They're so real, and relatable, and I've never read one I didn't root for.

Alexei and Ben are both hikers on the Pacific Coast Trail. They meet by chance and decide to hike together. Both of them are on the trail for different reasons, and they end up learning a lot from and about each other.

This book is so sweet! It read more like a YA romance to me, but I truly enjoyed it. Watching Ben and Alexei fall in love was adorable. While their communication skills needed work, they grew so much over the course of the novel. I really liked how this book was broken into acts, especially loved the letters in the last act. A beautiful story of found family, love, finding yourself, and perseverance.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was stunningly beautiful. The growth of both characters set against the backdrop of the PCT was a joy to read!

I need to reread this one already. It was just so lovely and emotional. Anita Kelly is going to be an auto-buy author, for sure!

I loved this book! The characters were so well-written and had so much depth. Their conflict was realistic and relatable.

I also loved the setting and hiking. Highly recommend this one!

I knew I was going to love this book because Anita always delivers and it was true! I loved this book and how it made me feel part of their journey, how I felt connected to them and to their feelings, how I could enjoy their adventure from the comfort of my bed.
I related to them and wanted them to be together, among struggles and obstacles, I cheered for them. It was romantic and made me smile a lot and I see myself revisiting this story many more times.

Loved, loved, loved SW&W! Anita Kelly has done it again. Ben and Alexei's story was beautiful. I loved the setting of the PCT (I'm not a hiker and am not familiar with the trail in real life but it felt like the author did their research). 10/10 would recommend! I'm excited for Anita's next one.

Even thinking about writing this review has my eyes welling up with emotion.

Anita Kelly has crafted an exceptional story in Something Wild and Wonderful. Alexei and Ben are two people both hiking the Pacific Crest Trail for their own reasons. Strangers at first, the two end up hiking together learning not only about each other, but themselves as well.

When I tell you that I think about this book every day since I finished reading it, I’m not exaggerating. Kelly writes such beautiful prose that you feel transported to these places along the trail. Their dialogue is so crisp and realistic that you forget these two main characters are fictional. And the emotion. The emotion! It isn’t heavy-handed, but rather manages to soothe past hurts you may not have even known existed.

At a certain point nearing the end of the book, there’s a section that’s written just in letters written by Alexei and Ben. This is when I found myself weeping. Are the letters sad? No. Kelly is just so skilled at capturing specific queer feelings that I found it cathartic, a release, as if I too had just gone through this emotional journey of hiking a 2,500 mile trail.

I can’t say enough good things about this book. I always want to be rereading it.

5 stars

This MM romance follows Alexei and Ben as they meet while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Each have their own reasons for spending months hiking the trail, but they agree to travel together for a while. As they spend miles together, getting to know the other and sharing bits and pieces of their past, both grow very fond of the other. And when that fondness grows into more, the two are elated to find someone they seem to fit so well with. But when they leave the trail and their outside lives start creeping in, they will both need to figure out if their romance can go the distance. Oof, this one really found a place in my heart. This was such an emotional yet quiet romance. Kelly is phenomenal at capturing those little moments in a relationship that really get to the core of the connection between the two. Seeing Alexei and Ben so in sync and comfortable with each other, even before their friendship turned romantic, was something I don't find in many romances. I loved how we get pieces of their backstories as the main story progresses so there isn't one big info-dump session. Alexei and Ben are both such complex and complete characters that this was one of those rare romances where it really felt like the two of them were meant to be together. These two have crawled into my heart and I don't think I'll stop thinking about them anytime soon.

I had a hard time getting into this one. A shame because I LOVED the last one. Something about it just didn't work for me.

These two guys were adorable together. I liked reading about the hike, though it reinforces the idea that I never want to do something similar myself.

5/5 incredible! Anita Kelly proves again to be one of my favourite authors. This book blew me away had me sobbing. I loved it

I received an advanced copy of Something Wild and Wonderful by Anita Kelly from the publisher Forever via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

CW: Homophobia, Disowned by family for sexuality.

What It’s About: Alexei is on a journey on the PCT to close the door on a chapter of his life after his parents have rejected him for being gay. On his first day on the trail, he comes face to face with a rattle snake and then saves a very outgoing and charismatic hiker, Ben, from stepping on it. The trail keeps bringing them together. Ben has made a lot of bad decisions before, and almost all of them involved beautiful men, but he keeps being drawn to his hiking partner Alexi. Could they really find love on the PCT?

What I Loved: This book is delightful! Both of these characters are just so lovable and well developed characters, like the first book I read by Kelly, I just wanted to be friends with these two and hangout with these two. This is a beautiful little love story set on the PCT. The setting is nailed and as you read you can truly see the backdrop and joy of being in nature as you find your person. I also loved Ben’s community. My heart also broke for Alexi and having to deal with his family’s disowning of him and the internalized homophobia he is still working through. The way this is written is with such care and reality and I ultimately got rather teary about this as Alexei finally allows himself to process. These two characters are so well matched and what they need. Just a really lovely romance.

What I Didn’t Like: The book moves a bit slowly.

Who Should Read It: People who love excellent romance novels. People who love hiking. People who love thoughtful and developed characters in their romance.

Summary: Two men become hiking partners on the PCT and begin to fall in love.