I loved this! Such a fun concept and really great characters. Felt like the outside conflicts weren't explored maybe as deeply as I would have wanted.

When Dylan impulsively calls into the radio station to win a once-in-a-lifetime trip, she manages to win but gets put in an interesting situation. The radio station gets to pick who she goes with, and they pick Jack, a guy she met at a bar one night and unintentionally ghosted. This leads to an interesting physical and emotional voyage. It's an interesting and fun read.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC! I'm sorry it took me so long to write it -- anxiety and depression are SO fun!

Dylan Coughlan is sick of London's dreary weather and her boss's drearier attitude when she decides to impulsively enter a radio contest for a two-month trip around the world. The best part? She wins! The worst part? She has to take "Jack the Posho," a random contact in her phone selected by the radio announcer, and while things were hot and heavy between them the night they met, things in Dylan's personal life derailed them getting to know each other more.

Now they have a whirlwind adventure to get things right.

While I was initially over the moon about the premise, the pacing felt a little scattered with a slow start and a quick end. It seemed as though a lot of romance tropes were danced around but the author never completely gave the characters over to them -- yes, there's forced proximity but I think there might have been a missed opportunity for only one bed, and it seemed to set up an enemies-to-lovers situation but never fully leapt into that either.

I did appreciate the inclusion of a bi main character, as well as a character who chose to have an abortion. However, I felt there should have been some sort of warning that the storyline was coming as it ended up being a huge part of Dylan's journey and was a relatively heavy piece of subject matter.

Thank you, NetGalley, for an e-ARC of Wanderlust by Elle Everhart.
Wanderlust is the story of two people on a prize trip around the world. In true romcom fashion, this book is light, predictable, and fun. Easy to read, but without much depth. Unfortunately it doesn't have any strengths that will set it apart from other romantic comedies.

Winning an all expense paid trip around the globe sounds like an ideal holiday. But when Dylan learns her traveling buddy is none other than Jack, the man she ghosted after one night, she fears her trip of a lifetime might be more of a trip from hell. Will the two be able to endure several weeks of close proximity?? Or will they forgo their prize in an effort to stay sane.

The concept of two people getting to know each other while traveling the world was super fun. Especially since Dylan and Jack started off on the wrong foot. The close proximity they were forced to endure while traveling created great tension and aided in the will they, won’t they tug of war.

Despite being a romance, this book wasn’t afraid to tackle difficult subject matter. Everhart effortlessly wove in both the positive and negative effects surrounding social media. I loved seeing both sides represented.

Overall, this was a stellar debut by Elle Everhart!!! Her vocation as a secondary English teacher shines through. With an established voice on her first book, I expect great things from her in the future.

Special thanks to Netgalley, GP Putnam’s Sons, and Elle Everhart for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my review.

*Reader’s should be advised that this book does mention abortion, online harassment, and death threats.

Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I’m going to keep this review short and sweet. This is a lovely summer, escapist romance read with some real life/heavy themes thrown in. I loved the vacation of Jack and Dylan’s trip. I did feel like certain elements were done before, however sometimes that is welcome when looking to escape into a love story.

Trigger: abortion

Wanderlust was a cute romantic story, I would read more from this author, the cover art is eye catching and pulls you in and the characters were likeable

Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

Travel the world with Dylan and Jack. Dylan wins tickets to travel the world the only probably is she needs to bring someone with her. The catch is that someone has to be a random contact from her phone. Jack ends up going with her. As they travel feelings develop. It's not all smooth sailing for these opposite personalities. However as they spend more time together will feelings develop or will they go their separate ways?

I enjoyed this one. I felt like it was missing a really big hook to keep you super interested. However, I love reading books about travel. I felt like there was a lot of character development which was great.

Content: abortion, spicy scene (explicit)- I skipped for my personal preference, swearing, social media bullying

Read if you enjoy:
🗺️Traveling
🧳Wanderlust
🗣️Complex conversations
💗Romance
🧲Opposites attract

I reeeeeally liked this book. Raw and real emotions, tough subjects...I enjoyed it. I listened to the audio & it was a great narration. Makes me wanna travel the world & I loved the romance! Would round up to 5 stars.

Really fun idea but it didn't pan out like I thought it would. I found the characters both likeable and enjoyable to read, but the start was slow that it took me a long time to hook me. Once it did I really enjoyed it!

Such a disappointment.
This book was not bad, but it did not live up the hype that was built up around it, first by the beautifully and thoughtfully designed cover, and then by the GENEROUS comparisons to hits such as The Unhoneymooners and People We Meet on Vacation.

The atmosphere and the vibes are the strengths of this book, but they couldn't carry it to anything beyond a 3-star for me. The characters, particularly Dylan, felt super one-dimensional, repetitive, and (I hate to say this), annoying, while the plot overall landed squarely in the fine-but-not-impressive category.

I would recommend this read for anyone who wants something quick and rompy for a cross-country flight, a beach read, or a those 10 pages you peruse before you fall asleep each night ... but beyond that, the substance lacks.

Wanderlust is a fun concept. Girl meets boy. Girl doesn't return boy's calls. Girl wins trip around the world from a radio station and they randomly select her travel mate from her phone contacts. Of course, it ends up being the boy she didn't call back. Dylan is less than thrilled when Jck'sname is chosen. She knows she should have called him back a couple months ago fter they met, but she didn't. And now she has to go on a trip around the world with Jack, a stick in a mud. He's so serious and Dylan is spontanous. He gets irritated at her for throwing her stuff down in the hotel room, gawks at her wanting to go off schedule, and is way too straight laced for her. But of course, there is an attraction there that grows as the time goes on.

Both characters are likeable and they work well together. They get to go to some fabulous locations together: Australia, Mumbai, Iceland, New York City, and Mexico City. Dylan is a writer for a magazine and is hoping to get her own column after her stories about the trip are published. The only problem is, romance is what her audience is looking for. She has nothing to write about in that department, except for the growing attraction between them. Jack has specifically asked Dylan to keep him off the internet. One night, Dylan sends an article about her feelings for him to her boss without thinking. There is fallout from that article and she doesn't tell Jack about it right away because she doesn't want to ruin what they have so far.

It is a fun story and the banter between the characters is cute and builds the relationship. Spoiler alert...


They get together! But there were a couple of things I didn't love about the book. 1. Dylan is bi, which is fine, but it is only mentioned twice and really has nothing to do with the story. 2. SO many F-bombs!! 3. There is only 1 kiss in the whole book until you get close to the end. Then, a 2 chapter long sex scene. There's way too much detail and it's thrown in at the end like a space filler.

Overall, it was a good book and a fun concept. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

"Wanderlust" is an adorable and heartwarming book that takes you on a whirlwind adventure around the world! The story follows magazine writer Dylan Coughlan, who impulsively enters a radio contest. The prize is a once-in-a-lifetime trip with her travel partner being randomly selected from her phone contacts. Enter Jack, an uptight guy she ghosted. Eeks!

I loved this opposites attract romance, which ended up tackling much deeper topics than typical contemporary romance novels (ie. abortion, sexuality, career turmoil). I also really enjoyed the travel destinations they explored. Wanderlust, for sure!

Sincere thanks to NetGalley & G.P. Putnam's Sons for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book had a really slow start for me. I put it down and read a couple of other books before I finished it. I am glad that I picked it back up. I did grow to like the characters and the second half of the book.

dnf at 60% again i really thought this was a book that i would like but i did not vibe with the characters. i really wish i liked this more but did not

This was such a fun, flirty rom-com. I loved it way more than I was expecting to. If you love contemporary romance you’ll love this one.

This one was okay but just not really for me. In hindsight I should have known better, it’s compared to two other popular novels that I just didn’t jive with. I would still probably try this author again in the future.

(Actual: 3.25⭐) I was so excited for this book - I love traveling and thought the premise sounded fun - but found it to be a bit disappointing. For a long time it felt like not much happened, and while that can work in a book's favor sometimes (think: atmospheric reads), here I found myself really noticing the overall drag. As someone who absolutely LOVED novels such as People We Meet on Vacation and The UnHoneymooners (which this book was marketed as being similar to), Wanderlust unfortunately just didn't feel up to par with them in my opinion, That said, I did like how this book tackled certain issues such as doxing and [cyber-] bullying, and I appreciate the fact there was no 3rd-act breakup. Ultimately, while this one wasn't a full win for me, I'm still open to reading more from this author in the future!

Thank you #Netgalley

This was a cute read. When Dylan wins a radio contest for a trip around the world, there was a catch. The radio station would randomly choose her traveling companion by calling a random number in her phone. When they call Jack, Dylan is unsure of who he really even is. He is a bit short with her in their trip preparations so she was weary of how this trip was going to go. This started out rough as you could imagine, traveling with basically a stranger. It takes time for the two of them to get comfortable with each other and how much of their past they actually want to share. As time passes, little connections begin...and in typical rom com fashion....you can imagine the outcome ;)

The tension was really good between the MCs, made the slow burn worth it. The premise of the book is very unique, winning a trip from radio contest with a random person from her phone contacts. Made for a really good time. The enemies to lovers, mostly one sided because he ghosted her, gave really good banter.