This was an OK read for me.

Sweet Teen/YA about Natalie and Finn who meet and are paired as partners on a reality show to win college scholarships and filmed along the Appalachian Trail. She’s a definite extrovert (annoying for me at times) with some anxiety and family issues. He’s a bit subdued and dealing with a tragic loss in his life. Along the trail they learn there’s more to the other than originally thought, and they learn how to survive as partners. And I would also add that I was happy to see Natalie’s character mature a little more along the way.

Cute with a few deeper moments.

My thanks to the author, NetGalley and Random House Children’s/Delacorte Romance for providing the free early arc of Wild About You for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫{4.5}
🫑{0.5}

This was seriously ᔕᗝ ᗪᗩᑎǤ ᑕᑌ丅ᗴ!!! YA romances don’t always do it for me anymore, but I thought this was executed so well. It had me giggling from their banter and tearing up from the swoony moments! And the puns! I just love a good, bad pun, and one section of this book had me 𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 🤣 And the anxiety and mental health rep!!! I’ll never tire of seeing it depicted well in books 👏🏻👏🏻

This one follows Natalie and Finn as they embark upon a reality TV show that entails them competing against other college students and completed challenges as they backpack the Appalachian Trail with the prize of a 100K scholarship on the line! They naturally get paired up and get off to quite the rocky start as teammates, and of course are given only one tent 🙃 their progression as both partners and individually as they overcame obstacles both externally and within themselves was beautiful 🥹 and there is a LETTER at one point 🫠🫠 Team #finnatalie for life 🏕️

𝓡𝓮𝓪𝓭 𝓲𝓯 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮:
🌲opposites attract
🏕️reality shows
🌲YA romance (closed door)
🏕️grumpy x sunshine
🌲forced proximity
🏕️only one tent
🌲anxiety//mental health rep
🏕️grief and healing rep

𝓕𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓺𝓾𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓼:

“𝘎𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴.”

“𝘚𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘺.”

“𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘰! 𝘖𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦,” 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴. “𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦.”

*𝙦𝙪𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙪𝙥𝙤𝙣 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙨*

𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚘 𝙽𝚎𝚝𝚐𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚢, 𝚁𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚖 𝙷𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚗’𝚜 𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙺𝚊𝚒𝚝𝚕𝚢𝚗 𝙷𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚎𝙰𝚁𝙲 𝚒𝚗 𝚎𝚡𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊𝚗 𝚑𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠! 𝙰𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚘𝚠𝚗 😊

Wild About You is a fun grumpy/sunshine young adult book. Somehow Kaitlyn Hill makes hiking and camping on the AT seem both fun and romantic. I like the way anxiety issues and loss are addressed. I can see myself gifting this book to some of the young adults in my life.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's for my review copy of this book.

As an adult, I hesitate to pick up a YA romance. Sure, I loved them back in the day but now that I'm older with teens of my own, I want to be careful in how publishers fuel that fantasy of spice and romance.

This one was adorable and I really enjoyed the writing. The 3rd act element where we have to have something for our folks to overcome in their relationship felt weak to me, but this was solid storytelling overall, funny, romantic and educational.

Kaitlyn Hill is a new author for me and I'd gladly pick up another from her.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children’s for this earc

This was a nice summer beach read YA rom com full of laughter, cuteness, friendship and romance.

I didn’t love it or hated it. It did exactly what I expected from it. The grumpy/sunshine relationship is always a winner. If you’re into hiking, you’ll definitely like this one.

Pick it up for your next vacation

Cute young adult romance with adventure. I enjoyed the story. Thank you to the author and the publisher for the book. All options are my own

Unfortunately, this book didn't work for me. I wanted to give it a chance because I live in TN only 45 minutes for Cades Cove. It's my hometown area and I love the Smokies. I am not a hiker nor am I into reality TV, so perhaps I should've known this wouldn't work for me ahead of time. I wanted to venture outside my wheelhouse and see if I would like it given I know the area. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. I will still highly recommend it to my family and friends. I'm in the minority of people in my circle who doesn't like reality TV, hiking, or outdoor related activities, so this will most likely appeal to them.

This was a fun read. A good mix of adventure and YA love story. It was cute and sweet. It felt relatable enough to where a reader could feel part of the story.

This was probably one of the cutest books I have ever read.

As an outdoorsy person myself, I connected a lot with Finn's character but adored Natalie's as well.

The pros:
- Finn's character development was great. I love a MMC that can admit when he's wrong AND apologize - someone see if hell froze over!
- Natalie's character development as a constant people pleaser to someone who's figuring her crap out which is sometimes ugly
- The scenery! Loved being transported into the Smoky Mountains!
- The banter - it was *chef's kiss*

The cons:
- Third act breakup. These predictable plot points just frustrate me. But I'll give it to the author since it wasn't officially a breakup and it was quickly resolved.

This book was adorable and I'd highly recommend to anyone who favors sweet romances with grumpy/sunshine characters and great banter.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's publishing for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was adorable AND funny!

Natalie is a contestant on an adventure show that offers the winners a $100k college scholarship grand prize. She gets paired with Finn, a grump. Together they compete in challenges along the Appalachian Trail, film their progress, and sleep in a tent.

It’s single POV, and young adult.

TW: death of a parent that is off-page and in the past.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my advanced digital copy!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my e-ARC of Wild About You!

𝙵𝙸𝚅𝙴 𝚁𝙴𝙰𝚂𝙾𝙽𝚂 𝚃𝙾 𝚁𝙴𝙰𝙳 𝚆𝙸𝙻𝙳 𝙰𝙱𝙾𝚄𝚃 𝚈𝙾𝚄

1. You’re a fan of the sunshine/grumpy trope.
2. You love a witty and sarcastic FMC!
3. You’ve always wanted to be on a travel adventure show like Survivor or The Amazing Race.
4. Cute romcoms are your absolute favorite genre.
5. You’ve hiked the Appalachian Trail in some capacity and want to read about it.

• 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐓’𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓

Natalie Hart has always been loud, unfiltered, and unapologetically herself. But then comes her freshman year of college, when she loses her merit scholarship and gains one pesky little anxiety diagnosis.

Hesitant to take out more student loans, Natalie decides to shoot her shot and applies to Wild Adventures, a popular outdoorsy reality show. Sure, Natalie prefers her twelve-step skincare routine to roughing it on the Appalachian Trail while competing in challenges against other college kids, but that scholarship prize money is calling her name. High risk, high reward, right?

Enter Finn Markum, her randomly assigned, capital-O Outdoorsy teammate whose growl could rival a black bear. These partners have more friction than a pair of new hiking boots. Or is it flirtation? Turns out falling in love might be the wildest adventure of all...

Thank you to Delacorte Romance for the ARC!

I really loved this book. I had so much fun reading it. I was skeptical at first because of the setting and how the whole book would be taking place outdoors. (I am not an outdoorsy girl at all.) But I quickly got over that and enjoyed it a lot.

First of all, the characters had me hooked. I really liked Natalie and was able to relate to her. Her anxiety issues reminded me of my own and I felt very seen through her. The author clearly has an anxiety disorder because the way she writes about it is so real I felt like she read my mind. I also really understood Finn and his grumpy disposition. I feel grumpy a lot too and I just got him. All of the side characters were well done too. They all felt very human. Being able to write good characters that people care about is the mark of a talented writer. Kaitlyn Hill has that down.

The romance. Oh my. I was obsessed. I loved the way it started. I loved all the middle bits, I loved how sweet Finn was to Natalie, how understanding and supportive he was. It is genuinely so cute and melted my heart.

The only qualm I have with this book was the whole third act argument/miscommunication. I was upset with Natalie for not listening at all to what Finn had to say, not believing at all that he loved her. She created all this drama when Finn did nothing wrong and it was frustrating to read. The only thing it did was make the book longer and annoy me.

Overall, I liked it a lot! I had so much fun reading this. It comes out May 21st, so go pick it up!!!

Natalie enters a reality TV show competition in the chance of winning the money to cover college costs. In love with makeup, the wilderness challenges may not be her strong suit. Getting paired up with a grumpy partner isn't helping much.

This book was really well written. I enjoyed the grumpy/sunshine banter between Natalie and Finn. I really enjoyed her snarky internal monolog. Personally I would have loved to have read less about Natalie's makeup obsession and more about her anxiety struggles. Overall this was an adorable YA romance that I will definitely recommend to others who want cute without spice.

This was such a super cute YA romance! Honestly, in the beginning of the story I did not connect to Natalie and found her a tad annoying. But as the story progressed, she grew on me. Much like she grew on Finn lol. I loved watching their relationship grow and how the author addressed issues such as anxiety and losing a loved one (grandparent and parent both in the past).

I didn't realize this was a YA romance when I first requested it, but that honestly didn't matter. It was relatable and reads like an adult closed door romance, just with college aged characters. This was a really fun read!

Read if you like:
Grumpy x Sunshine
Opposites Attract
Forced Proximity
Only One Tent
Reality TV

A big thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is a fun book. Who would not love to read about a grumpy boy and upbeat girl falling in love in the wild. Yes, Natalie knows she isn’t technically made to be camping and in the wild, but when life gives you lemons, or should I say college tuition to pay to make her acting dreams come true, sometimes a girl got to do what a girl got to do. Finn loves the wilderness it reminds him of his dad. When both Finn and Natalie are forced to pair together, what could go wrong? This book is fun and light. Natalie’s dialogue brings humor to the story. And while being outdoors is maybe not always Natalie’s thing, I love the fact that the competition allows both of their unique abilities to shine throughout the show.
Thank you to Random House Children’s, Delacorte Romance, and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

Wild About You by Kaitlyn Hill is a young adult contemporary romance novel with a side of adventure to it. The story in Wild About You is one that involves the old opposites attract and a grumpy/sunshine romance.

Natalie Hart has hit a rough patch in her freshman year of college while mourning the loss of her grandmother who she always felt closest to. Stress has caused anxiety and losing her scholarship has caused more stress so Natalie needs a way out without a lifetime of debt.

The popular reality television show Wild Adventures is filming near to Natalie and with a chance at a huge scholarship Natalie thinks why not sign up. Being tossed directly into the wilderness isn’t exactly Natalie’s strength but she’ll do whatever she can to win this competition and that includes thawing out Finn Markum, her randomly assigned partner’s icy exterior.

It’s no secret that I enjoy a good virtual travel adventure here and there and I also consider myself a reality TV addict so how could I pass by Wild About You by Kaitlyn Hill? This one takes place along the Appalachian Trail which made for a fun setting and with the characters jumping through reality tv hoops in the competitions it had plenty of fun antics to enjoy. The story does get a little heavier with the lead suffering from anxiety and both characters dealing with loss but it kept a good balance of the light heartedness and the deeper material and when finished it’s definitely one I’d recommend checking out.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Kaitlyn Hill is one of my favorite authors (which is saying something since I don’t generally read YA), and it’s because she knows how to put together an engaging romance that’s often mixed in with thrills and life lessons too. Wild About You was no exception to this.

Kaitlyn does an excellent job in Wild About You at portraying Natalie’s anxiety. As someone who also discovered her anxiety first in college, and seeing it affect her work (but not to the same extent as Natalie), I related a lot. Additionally, I thought that the romance between Finn and Natalie was top tier. The build up was fantastic and natural, and the swoon factor was there.

Overall, I thought Kaitlyn once again killed it with this book, and it’s a 5 star read for me!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for gifting me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This cover had my little National Parks-obsessed heart absolutely swooning, and the content was great as well. I did not know that this was a YA novel prior to requesting the ARC, but that didn't really end up mattering to me. It was very cute and the grumpy sunshine trope was perfectly executed. It is very refreshing to see YA authors addressing issues that will hopefully make these characters feel more relatable to their readers. Natalie and Finn were great push-pull characters and the added chaos of the reality show made it a tad campy but I was honestly here for it. I loved the setting and descriptions, and there were some funny moments as well. Four stars!

Wild About You by Kaitlyn Hill is a captivating wildlife adventure full of romance, exploration, and self-discovery. It is an engaging read of a grumpy-sunshine romance with lots of drama and romance. I can't wait to read more from this author.

Natalie Hart is adept at sporting a positive demeanor even when circumstances around her are less than ideal, like they have been lately. That is why, when she is offered a place on a reality challenge called Wild Co-Edventures, she jumps at the chance to compete for the $100,000 grand prize. Unfortunately, the show requires more than just survival in the wilds of the Appalachian Trail; Natalie must also learn to collaborate with her surly partner, Finn. When the cameras are turned off, however, their real personalities come to the surface, and the two unlikely teammates find more than friendship on their journey.

This enjoyable, fast-paced new adult novel is a charming blend of quirky personalities and safe levels of danger. The slow-burning enemies to lovers romance component is expertly paced, as well, and though it is obvious from the beginning what will happen, the journey getting there is a delight. While the story is told in the first person from Natalie’s perspective, readers are still surprised at points when her inner feelings become more obvious, and these revelations endear readers to her and her experience. Likewise, details about Finn’s backstory appear at appropriate moments and permit readers to further connect with him, as well.

As this is a new adult novel, there are occasions of strong language, romance, and mental health challenges found within the narrative. Though these are lighter than some other stories for this age group, it is worth noting that this novel is best suited to mature readers. It is these inclusions that help the novel feel authentic in its representation of college students who are struggling to embrace their individual identities, and for that reason this book is both a pleasure read and a cathartic investigation of the experience of entering adulthood. Well-designed, enjoyable, and filled with charming characters, this is an excellent addition to contemporary fiction collections for new adult readers.