<b>the dedication:</b> For everyone I’ve ever had a crush on. Thanks for all the material.
<b>the cover:</b> I love a cute cartoon cover- and the chickens!
<b>FMC:</b> El- the shy, timid, keep-your-head-down friend of the group who doesn’t like to take risks… 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 🥰
<b>FMC:</b> Ray- the spunky friend who is effortlessly cool and loves taking risks. She’s 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.
<b>POV:</b> 1st person, single POV
<b>HEA:</b> yes
<b>spice:</b> mildy steamy. Some flirting and touching but a closed door mostly clean romance
<b>TWs:</b> absent/uninterested parents, cheating (not between MCs),
<b>standalone:</b> yes
<b>final thoughts</b>: 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
🌈 LGBT+ representation
🏝️ forced proximity (homeowners in a farming town)
💞 friends-to-lovers
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 great side characters
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 found family
💼 workplace romance (kind of- there are a few workplace scenes but not the main location)

It was OK, really slow and took alot of time to get to the point, but all in all a decent book.
Thanks netgalley for letting me read this book

The slowest of burns. So slow I got quite bored. I liked the friendships and the idea behind doing things to find yourself and personal growth. It was just too slow of my taste and the chemistry between El and Ray just wasn’t enough for me to care about them.

Thanks to NetGalley and Vintage Anchor for an eARC.

One of my favorites of all time. Maybe it was because I literally felt like the author had put up cameras to spy on my friends and me because this was soo spot on to my life lol. Loved the characters soo much. Wow.

Had a great time reading this book. Its another perfect lazy Sunday read. I laughed, I chuckled, I grinned at all the antics this found family of characters got into at their new house.

Thank You Netgalley and Vintage for providing an eARC for a honest review.

Oh, what a charmer of a book -- I had the most fun reading this sweet story of Eleanor and her 'wild year' and her semi-impromptu decision to buy a house in the country with her best friends (including the one she's madly in love with) to start a queer commune of sorts. I love a rompy friendship book, particularly when it's chock full of wacky side characters and tons of heart. I was slow to trust Ray, but damn if she didn't win me over. If you're a fan of Josh Thompson's television shows, you'll love this book (or maybe that's just the chicken affinity talking...)

This was a super cute, easy, lighthearted read! I’m a sucker for the roommates trope so I was a huge fan of El and Ray’s love story! I was actually laughing out loud at times and I enjoyed myself throughout the book! It’s definitely a bit cheesy but I think it’s the kind of cheese you will want to indulge in! I will be checking out more from this author!

I think what I liked most about this book were the characters. They felt like people I’ve met and the dialogue and humor between them was fun to read. Honestly, I think this would make a great movie or TV series for that reason. And the growing pains of moving from city life to country life complete with chickens and a garden, as well as the colorful community of people in their new village are prime for comedy.

I was really more invested in that part of this book and the development of the main character than the underlying love story. For me, friendship, community, and personal growth were the most important themes of this book. The love story was sort of just background for me.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5346094704

https://www.instagram.com/p/CpOhVuKrmR-/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Wild Things by Laura Kay was a heart-warming and sweet story laced with self discovery and all the feel good things that makes this book so perfect.
A joyful read full of likeable characters.
They are relatable in their own ways, and I found myself just wanting them to be happy.
This book is absolutely amazing. I genuinely smiled the entire time I was reading this!

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You Netgalley and Vintage for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this eARC.

Wild Things portrays the messy, realistic beauty in contemporary life. (Especially for queer folks.) Friends El, Ray, Jamie, and Will go in on a house together in a village just outside of London. (A very real thought in many young adults heads these days.) The “Lavender House” commune, as it’s affectionately called, is wildest thing El has done during her year of being wild. During El’s wild journey, readers experience her dead-end job, bisexual dating life’s ups and downs, and the messy and real relationships of herself, her friends, and her family.

The characters are fun and relatable. Each character has their own quirks, flaws, emotions, and desires. While the story focuses on the core characters, the side characters that readers are treated to are no less likable and engaging. Readers only get a glimpse of some characters from the village they move into, and it would have been great to meet even more new characters and experience village life surrounding Lavender House.

Readers who appreciate the messes in the beauty of life will gravitate towards this novel.

This book was so adorable! It was a fun, easy, and quick read and it got me out of the reading slump I had been in.

Cute book that was very entertaining. The story is light and funny which makes it a perfect weekend or beach read. You will love all the characters in here as they all bring a part of the story together.

This was a solid, cute story! I enjoyed the cover and the overall themes and the characters in this book. Could see it for many book clubs!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It centers around El, a young bisexual woman working at a dead end job in London along with her two friends, Jaime and Ray. Ray is El's best friend, but El has had a massive crush on her since forever. Together with Will, Ray's roommate, they have very little money, and they lament their inability to be able to have the stability of a place of their own.

Will comes into some money and they impulsively decide to buy a dilapidated house in the country together, so that at least they won't be throwing their money away. The house needs a lot of work that none of them know how to do and they're not sure about being a group of (mostly) queer people in a quiet village, but they make it work and the book is largely about these adventures along with El's journey of figuring out how to live a life she loves rather than hates.

I did really enjoy this book, but I will say there is a LOT of drinking in the plot. It seems like the characters are either constantly getting drunk or getting over hangovers. I'm not even particularly sensitive to drinking in books, and I know the characters are meant to be in their 20s, but it just seemed excessive to me.

This was a cute fast paced book to read it was lighthearted and made me miss being a in middle school and reading Twilight and whether I was team Edward or team Jacob oh the good old days. I loved the coming of age story and character developments.

A book about found family and a few hens, I absolutely devoured this queer coming of age! Unrequited love, friendship, and the growing pains of realizing who you truly are.

This book grabbed my from the cute cover and I was so excited to be able to read it! It was a light hearted, feel good story and I really enjoyed it.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC.

I liked the light-heartedness, I liked the topics of growth and coming to yourself but this missed the mark for me. It was mostly just okay, I didn't particularly like any characters and I found myself not wanting to pick it up. I did DNF at 45% for full transparency.

This was a good book. Mostly lighthearted and a feel good story. It's about growth and leaving your comfort zone and making your own happiness. It's about getting out of ruts that pop up in life and friendships that turn into family.

There were some small things that bothered me but not once did I feel like I wanted to dnf. It was a quick read and the writing flowed very well.

Love the fact that chickens were named after Twilight characters (an obsession I had as a teen). Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for a chance to read the earc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this one. Sadly, that's not what happened. When I started this, I was expecting hilarious. I never laughed. I got through 30% of this, and it was just a boring trudge. Nothing mentioned in the synopsis had actually happened, merely been hinted at. While this might've picked up, it wasn't for me. I have better things I could be reading