Wild Things by Laura Kay is a beautiful, hopeful, LGBTQ+ story about El and a wonderful cast of characters.

“The version of myself that only exists in my head, the one who takes chances, steps out of my room and spends the night running wild."

I love the sense of family and community in this book and would recommend picking up a copy this summer!


Two best friends. One huge crush. A year that could change everything...

A warmhearted, hilarious queer rom-com about what happens when a group of friends are actually brave enough to live the dream and give up their dreary city apartments to buy a house in the country together.

El is in a rut. She’s been hiding in the photocopier room at the same dead-end job for longer than she cares to remember, she’s sharing a flat with a girl who leaves passive-aggressive smiley face notes on the fridge about milk consumption and, worst of all, she’s been in unrequited love with her best friend, effortlessly cool lesbian Ray, for years. So when a plan is hatched for El, Ray, and their two other closest friends—newly heartbroken Will and karaoke-and- Twilight -superfan Jamie—to ditch the big city and move out to a ramshackle house on the edge of an English country village, it feels like just the escape she needs.

Despite being the DIY challenge of a lifetime, the newly named Lavender House has all the makings of becoming the queer commune of the friends' dreams. (Will has been given a pass as the gang's Token Straight.) But as they start plotting their bright new future and making preparations for a grand housewarming party to thank the surprisingly but wonderfully welcoming community, El is forced to confront her feelings for Ray—the feelings that she’s been desperately trying to keep buried. Is it worth ruining a perfectly good friendship for a chance at love?

I was given an ARC copy of Wild Things from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an Arc in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars
Unfortunately, this book didn’t do it for me. It was rather dry and the MC started to get annoying and showed little personal growth. Her obsession over her love interest really seemed unhealthy and I wasn’t convinced by the way it was resolved. I love this genre, but this book ended up not being a good fit.

Wild Things is available May 23. Thanks to NetGalley and Vintage Anchor for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There were some things about the book that I really enjoyed, like the whole house renovation process. Jamie is a delight, Sally is wonderful, and Jacob, Bella, and Edward are the best chickens. I would happily read a book based on Jamie’s antics at the house, on the Instagram page, and in the WhatsApp community group. Happily. I liked the whole group dynamic, and the found family themes running through the book.

I knew that it was friends to lovers, but ultimately I think the chemistry fell a little flat. El clearly spent so much time pining over Ray, who didn’t seem to reciprocate. Maybe that had to do with the book being in first person with El as the narrator, but I wish more overt things had been put in there to key the reader that Ray is also into El. Their connection felt rushed since it wasn’t developed on both sides. Honestly, I felt more of a connection between Rachel and El, and I thought the two of them would date.

I had a hard time getting into the book initially, and found the first couple of chapters until they buy the house to be slow and clunky. I thought that El would be in college or in her early 20s based on her behavior and was surprised to learn she’s 30 or so. That said, once they bought the house and the ensemble had more time to shine, the pace picked up nicely.

Overall, it’s a quick and light read with good supporting characters and themes of found family.

3.5 stars. This one had good bones, but I just didn't love it enough. I got annoyed with the characters, the miscommunication, etc. Loved the idea of a Queer Compound and their IG page. Loved the personal growth of the main character. But that's about it.

I wanted to like this one a lot more than I did, but it was just all over the place for me and it wasn't all that great in my opinion. It wasn't so much romance as it was women's fiction and maybe that's why I didn't vibe with it. I didn't quite feel the chemistry between the main character and her unrequited crush/best friend, Ray. It was a cute coming-of-age story, but I think that's where it stops as far as what was good. It was slow and fell flat for me. I think it might be ideal for some readers, but really wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Vintage Anchor for the eARC of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of this book! I saw the description and thought it would be such a cute fun read, and while it was at times; it wasn't the most memorable book for me.

I really liked most of the side characters of this story, Jamie and the chickens are perpetual highlights, thought the writing was good and liked the idea for the story, the relationship between El and Ray was not my favorite and and it ended up overshadowing a lot of the book for me. Some of the banter between them boarded a little too close to mean for me and it's difficult to believe that anyone could be that blinded to the fact that someone was in love with them.

At the end of the day, there were too many things that just seemed too easy/didn't make sense (doing what sounds like a full gut rehab on a 4 bedroom country estate, gaining thousands of Instagram follows in just a few days/weeks, and full on character development that happens off page) for me to truly enjoy this book.

All that said, it was a really fast read and I think other people could really enjoy it - it just wasn't my cup of tea.

I received a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this title a lot, albeit more as general fiction than as a romance story. The story of El's rut, and the wild year she plans to get out of the rut is so fun and sweet. I was shocked by how funny the book was, making me laugh out loud multiple times as I was reading it enjoying how weird and delightful El and her friends were.

As a romance title, it was a very slow burn, which I am coming to realize just isn't really my thing with significant will-they-won't-they moments, which were in short supply for El and Ray. For most of the book, it felt like the possibility of that relationship was entirely in El's head and Ray was treating her as just another friend. To be honest, that gave plenty of space for the hilarity I loved, but was not what I was expecting going in.

I am eager to dig up more of Laura Kay's work that wasn't published in the US after this!

Received as an ARC from Vintage. Wild Things starts out with a timely premise for a lot of millennial and gen Z readers, buying a house out in the country with a group of friends. I can only speak for myself, but this is the millennial dream in a lot of ways. El has started her year off by trying new things and living a more wild life. When the opportunity to move into a country house with her best friends (and crush) arrives, El jumps at the chance.

El's relationship with Ray drives the plot, but it feels like the author leaves a lot of other plot behind to make this relationship the complete focus. While it is a nice slow burn with lots of anxious moments, I feel that there was room for more comedy revolving around the living situation and townspeople. On it's face, Wild Things should have been a fish out of water story regarding a group of queer millennials in the country, but it was ultimately just a simple friends to lovers story. I feel like the author left a lot of meat on the bone and I would've loved to have seen more on the house, friendships, and small town life.

This is the year for El to do wild things. She gets a butterfly tattoo, has a threesome, and moves into a rambling country house with her three best friend, including the woman she has been secretly pining after for years. Will this also be the year she takes a wild chance on love?

So much of contemporary women's fiction is about how the reader responds to the main character's voice. Maybe that explains why, despite the many lukewarm reviews, I absolutely LOVED this book. El feels like a real person, struggling with career and relationships and the various minor traumas of being human. Her friends and family also feel authentic, and in particular their relationships and dialog are wonderfully written. The story clips along at a gentle, readable pace, and although some of the side plots were underdeveloped, it didn't get in the way of my enjoyment of the book. I was totally rooting for El to be happy in her career and her life - with or without love - and I gobbled this book down in about two days.

Ever since getting pet pigs I am DRAWN to books that include animals and the chickens on this cover caught my attention and I knew I had to request to read this book. Thankfully my request was approved through NetGalley!

Wild Things is written in first person single POV and I normally prefer dual POV, but Laura made single POV work with this one. I don’t feel like any part of the story or any other characters development was lost due to this.

El, Ray, Will, and Jamie move out of the city and into an old farmhouse where DIY projects and remodeling becomes a huge part of their lives. There’s so much more than that in this book, though. You’ll see romance, character growth, friendship growth, and self-discovery.

El is trying to find herself, dealing with hidden feelings for Ray, and seeing what fits best for her. I think my favorite part of this is El’s journey to self-discovery.

Tropes:
- LGBT+ rep
- Friends to lovers
- Found family
- Awesome side characters
- Forced proximity


Wild Things is being published on May 23, 2023 so make sure to grab it!

Low stakes, super cute queer rom com. Cozy read with friendly banter set off the grid. Story is well developed with interesting secondary characters and low stakes. Takes place in a commune/farm/homestead and was absolutely everything I wanted it to be.

This one was just ok for me. I don't really need my romcoms to be super believable but this one was to much.

This was a really cute slow-burn romance. I absolutely loved the concept of having a queer house with a group of queer friends (and one token straight friend), although the concept was barely mentioned after the idea was first introduced. The house they bought turned out to be very worn down and the first 60-65 percent of the book was a lot of pining and renovating the house.
Although I loved how the author portrayed the friendships that El had and made throughout the book, as well as how El worked through difficult times throughout the book it really wasn't enough to save it for me.
The romance, once it actually started a little after 70% into the book, moved really fast and I didn't really feel the chemistry between El and Ray. Because of El pining for the entire book, basically, there should have been a bit more chemistry between the two of them.
Thank you to NetGalley and Vintage Publishing for an eARC of this book.

ARC Review

I love the idea of this book, but it had 3/4 different story lines going on at one time and it lacked cohesion between them. The two main characters were not likable and thrown together in an unrealistic way. All the ideas were rushed and pushed together in the last few chapters.

Overall, a really cute, light-hearted read. Characters were well developed and really entertaining, loved the setting, and the ending was really sweet. My favorite part was probably the actual Wild Things journal entries at the very end, most of them made me laugh-out-loud.

Probably not something I would pick up again to read, but I would recommend to someone looking for something light.

✨ sapphic
✨ found family
✨ friends-to-lovers
✨ very light spice

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I thought the book was an easy, light-hearted read that was overall enjoyable. It's advertised as a romance, but to me, it felt more like a story of four friends who previously lived in the city but now are finding their way in the country. Together, they had some funny moments, and I liked their chemistry together as a group.

At times, it felt a little slow. There were a couple of big events such as buying the house, but other than that, it just tapered along and hinged on the friendship of these four people. I didn't love the "romance" between El and Ray. El was basically pining over Ray the entire book, and it seemed like Ray was toying with her about that at times. Miscommunication was a big issue and is one of my least favorite things to read about. I almost wondered if there would actually be any romance in the book at all because of how little they communicated honestly to each other.

This would be perfect for you if you're not looking for anything heavy and enjoy light romances. It was also nice to see El grow throughout the book and start believing in herself.

This was a good Romance that I found very entertaining. Perfect for getting lost in.
I just reviewed Wild Things by Laura Kay. #WildThings #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC, unfortunately I read it alongside something very exciting so I found this to be a little boring. I did really like the characters and the setting though!

A sweet romcom centered on a young queer "found family" friend group (with one token straight member) that buy a rural property together outside London and create the queer commune of their dreams. I struggled a bit with the immaturity of main character El in the beginning of the story, but by the end she experiences quite a lot of personal growth. Excellent supporting characters, dreamy descriptions of the commune and the rural village it's based in. A really enjoyable read.

This was a really light-hearted, cute book that I flew through! I would highly recommend as a great palette cleanser. I enjoyed the author's writing style. I will say I wasn't a big fan of the ending, [I thought maybe El would move on instead of ending up with Ray but we can't always get what we want. (hide spoiler)] I found the themes of found family with the queer commune on a farm very charming. I didn't quite feel the chemistry between the main character and her unrequited crush/best friend, Ray. It was a cute coming-of-age story, but I was shocked when I found out El was closer to my age rather than a younger adult (18-20) because she truly needed to grow up. I also felt like I was missing some details - for instance, why was El always broke, what was the story with her ex-boyfriend, and [why was she so into Ray when she saw what a terrible partner she could be? (hide spoiler)] For a warm fuzzy friendship story, I thought it was pretty good - but as a romance, I wasn't sold on it.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of Wild Things. My thoughts and opinions are my own.