I always enjoy a character-led romantic comedy, and Wild Things was definitely that, but arguably it is also a little more. The friendship aspect of the book was beautifully written, and I loved the relatable and likeable characters alongside the gorgeous locations-overall a well-written and uplifting book that I have already been recommending.

This story is slow but quite lovely. Eleanor feels a bit stuck in her life so she's trying a year of "wild things". This pushes her toward growth. I enjoyed the book but didn't love it. I think I didn't love it because frankly I didn't see why Eleanor was so obsessed with Ray. She seemed to be placed atop a pedestal without really earning it or any sense of reciprocation and I truly believed the book would end with Eleanor realizes she deserves better. The ending was gratifying in some ways but I think didn't go with the theme of growth. I liked the plotlines of queer community, moving out of the city, that coupling is not the only important relationship.

I absolutely adored Laura Kay's previous two novels so was looking forward to reading Wild Things.
Eleanor is living in a flat share in London and unhappy at her job when she has the opportunity to move to a house in the countryside with her best friends Ray, Jamie and Will.
The novel started slowly and it took me a while to get into it and to really connect with the characters. However , once I did I loved the plot and the characters. The author excels at characterisation, her writing is effortless and I really felt a part of El's world. Another enjoyable and recommended read from Laura Kay.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

I think Laura Kay is a master of characterisation - her characters always feel so real and relatable, and she brings a warmth to them that makes them really likeable - and in that respect she's on top form in Wild Things. I particularly loved Jamie, country life influencer and chicken rescuer extraordinaire, and Rozália, the underwhelmed Hungarian future star of children's literature. I did find the story here pretty slow and (despite being par for the course for a romcom) the fact it ends being so focused on traditional romance felt a bit out of kilter with the theme of queer found family and friendship, but overall this was a really enjoyable read.

This was a lovely little rom-com with queer representation and relatable storylines particularly with the main character, Eleanor, who finds herself striving for big changes in her monotonous lifestyle whilst trying to shake her secret crush on her best friend! Wild Things was so easy get stuck into and it ended up being a novel that I was sad to finish!

Although at times a little cheesy, this novel perfectly depicts a realistic version of a slow burn friends to lovers trope and is a great read!

I really enjoyed this book. It was a cute queer romance with amazing characters and the plot is really great. It is a perfect read for summer.
I loved the fact that even though we mostly followed our main characters, we also ended up getting pretty close to the other characters. Most of the characters had a very well written character development, which I really loved!

I could see my self reading this again sometime and I can definitely recommend it if you want something funny and cute with amazing characters for your summer reading.

Rating: 4 stars ⭐️

This book would be a good summer read and I really enjoyed reading this queer friends to lovers romance story!

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this copy. All opinions are my own.

It's a cute, light read, perfect for a day on the beach. However, that's it - you read you, you feel good, you pick the next book.

I requested this book as I loved the beautiful cover and the description sounded like it would be a cute, light romance.

I was on the fence with this one - It certainly was a cute, light romance but it was far too slow paced for me and I struggled to stay interested.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. Took slow burn to a whole different level. I didn’t feel like the MC’s had any chemistry at all and found El to be a little immature. Started skimming lines and didn’t really feel like I missed any of the plot.

I love El. I know she doesn't have everything together right now, but she's trying and she seems to have a soft self-awareness of what's happening in her world. I found myself cheering for her and Ray the whole way, but each character touched me. Parts of the book felt manic - not in a bad way - in an illustrative way. Perhaps in capturing what it's like to be in your twenties or thirties.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this eARC!

This was a really cute, light read! It was a sweet queer romcom about El, but it was also about friendship (and living in the queer 'commune').

I loved the small, rural town setting and all the side characters from there. I also loved the whole friend group (and don't forget the chickens!). While I did find the main character a little immature at times, I guess it also sort of made sense in the book. But overall, this was a really enjoyable and quick read!

A fun read. Huge thanks to the publisher for letting me read and review this ARC, it was greatly appreciated.

A slow burn, friends to lovers novel, and my first LGBT romance, Wild Things had super cute characters, beautiful supportive friendships, communal living, community spirit, karaoke and chickens. What more could you want?

Maybe more steam, less slow burn…

The main character, El, is lost and loveable, someone you want to guide and protect like a little sister. Her best friend and crush is kinda oblivious to the depth of her feelings. A little flirting and some meaningful looks but nothing much happened, romance wise, until right at the end of the book. Then it happened so quickly, I missed the feeling that they had truly connected and didn’t really get to enjoy El and Ray as a couple.

That said, there was plenty of other things to keep me interested in the story:

I loved El’s journey of personal growth
I loved that as a friendship group, El and her friends bought a house together
I love that they chose a rundown property in a quiet little village and decided to renovate
I loved how the whole village embraced them
I loved that they adopted chickens and created a garden
I loved the secondary characters, Sally, Lisa and Rozalie
I loved the book Rozalie wrote (I would love a copy of THAT book IRL)

With thanks to the publisher via NetGalley for this advanced copy in return for an honest review.

A charming summer read about found family, taking chances, and believing in yourself.

I've often dreamed about buying a big house in the countryside to share with friends, and this book lives out that dream in a picture perfect English country village.

The romance element is secondary to the friendships in the book, which is not at all a bad thing, because the friendships are all amazing. I want friends like these! The supporting characters are wonderful in their own ways, and it's so lovely to see snippets of their individual journeys. The idea of building a community and the importance of having support systems gave the book such a heart warming vibe.

All in all, a lovely read. The perfect book for a long weekend spent soaking up the English sunshine.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

a heart warming queer romance with relatable characters and an interesting plot. thanks for the arc!

Wild Things by Laura Kay
⭐⭐⭐

A big thank you to Netgalley and Quercus books for allowing me to be a ARC reader of this book. Although I gave it a low rating I found this book a easy light read. A perfect filler book for a reader who likes to read heavy stuff.
I believe the main reason I didn't rate the book higher was down to the man characters behavior around certain situations. El came across a lot more Younger than how I thought she would.
However I did enjoy the group aspect, especially since it contained a lot of the LGBTQ+ community. The idea of them going in on a house and renovating it together was also enjoyable.

Laura Kay and her tireless commitment to giving her beourgeoning queer following what they want is truly unmatched. We've all fantised about a queer commune and with Wild Things, we get to read all the fun, heartache and growth play out. I found the book to be hilarious, emotional and as always, incredibly relatable. Wild Things tells the story of what happenes when you try new things, grow into your identity and bear the reality and indignity of a crush that won't quit! Highly recommend.

💫 Spoiler Alert 💫

I enjoyed this story from the first chapter. I sort of went through the motions of “Is Ray flirting? She’s definitely flirting, am I crazy”? I was confident she was, then I wasn’t and honestly my heart hurt for El because it really did feel like an infinitely impossible situation. I was in two minds how things would play out with Rachel, but wow did my heart break for El. I was both proud and also frustrated with how she handled the aftermath. Ultimately I feel I probably would have done the same. So it was relatable and realistic in my mind. I love how it ended, I love how overdramatic El can be and loved Jamie so much. I did like Will as well. The build up was incredibly frustrating at times, but it was necessary and worth the suffering in the end.

This was a cute heart warming queer rom-com 💖 but at it's core was a story about finding yourself and the importance of friendship ✨

The romance between El and Ray is very slow burn and mild as the story focused more on Els personal growth and finding the confidence to be her authentic self.

The characters are great, I enjoyed El as a narrator and the secondary characters have enough personality without taking over the story. I also enjoyed that this was a "finding yourself" book with characters who are in their 30's and not teenagers or early twenties which is the norm, I found it much more relatable ✨

Over all this is a light quick read that promises a happy ever after from the get go and I enjoyed it for what it was