this was cute but definitely a little cliche. it felt more like a YA novel and even though the characters are already in college, they felt younger than that. the main character could be obnoxious at times and wasn’t the most likable, but overall, it was a pretty solid romance.

this book was good, but i didn't like it as much as i hoped i would. i loved the grumpy/sunshine and outdoorsy vibes! i just felt myself wanting to see a deeper connection between natalie and finn.

many thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the arc copy <3

Absolutely adorable book- this is everything you want in a YA novel. Adorable college students, adorable romance, adorable setting. This book was such a great palate cleanser and gave me the warm and fuzzies. Would definitely recommend!

Wild about you (5/21/24)
If you're looking for a sweet YA book about camping, falling in love, forced proximity, and grumpy/sunshine, this is a good choice for you. I am a huge fan of YA novels, and this one dealt with some heavy topics, like grief and anxiety, all while having humorous moments.
Natalie has always felt like an outcast from her parents, and the only person who ever made her feel accepted was her grandmother, who has passed away. Since then, she has struggled with anxiety, which is only multiplied by the amount of stress she has trying to pay for college. This is why she decides to apply for the adventure competition, which has a grand prize of a scholarship.
When she gets to the competition, she is paired with Finn, who is also struggling with grief from the loss of his father. This makes him come across as a grumpy, no-nonsense partner. Slowly, Natalie and Finn form a bond, then become friends, and then eventually more than friends.
This book made me feel so many emotions, and I loved reading about the evolution of the relationship between Finn and Natalie. There was real chemistry, and it showed the importance of being open and honest with someone, because you never know what they are feeling or going through.

Thank you to Net Gallery and the publisher for this eARC. I absolutely loved this and stayed up late read Finnatalie cross the finish line. Team Finnatalie!

Natalie, a freshman theater major joins a wildness reality tv show to win a $100k scholarship. Natalie is ‘high maintenance’ and packed a whole make-up bag to hike the Appalachian Trial (“AT”) to compete against other college kids. Finn, a pain in the ass, khaki cargo pants wearing, hiking/camping professional ends up being Natalie’s randomly assigned partner.

I loved the relatable and strong leading lady, dealing with real world issues and working through her anxiety. Kaitlyn Hill does an amazing job letting us see inside Natalie’s head and feel the conflict she’s dealing with during the challenge. She also does great job describing the nature that Natalie and friends are surrounded by. The pacing of the book was also good and the challenges the competitors went through were fun and scary. Great book. Highly recommend!

Feat. grumpy sunshine, life long friendships (shoutout to Harper and Evan), conquering fears, some history of the AT and real-life brave women (shoutout Granny Gatewood).

This is my first Kaitlyn Hill book, and it won't be my last. I don't typically seek out YA books, but since I knew this was late teens/early 20s, I wanted to test the waters. I wasn't disappointed! Team Finnatalie ended up being such a fun pair to root for, and I found myself laughing, cheering, and doing a little bit of crying from all the emotions they shared and felt throughout the story. The author did a great job of laying the trail (pun intended!) for the reader to follow, and I loved the journey. I also now know what to do if faced with a bear in the wild. Go read the book. 🥰

Kaitlyn Hill is swiftly becoming one of my favorite authors. I love the characters she writes and she writes them straight into my heart. This novel was charming, funny, and I found myself easily falling in love with the characters. I didn’t want to book the book down so unfortunately it ended much before I wanted it to. Definitely worth the read! Looking forward to whatever she writes next! Bravo!

Fast paced, adorable rom com with hilarious dialogue. The main character is really funny and someone I would want to be friends with in real life. Cute story and very enjoyable read! Thank you NetGalley for an opportunity to read an advanced copy.

We adored this super-sweet rom com in the context of a wilderness survival reality show. Natalie Hart had a rough freshman year of college—she started struggling with anxiety disorder, which affected her grades, friendships, and self-esteem, and now her scholarship has been revoked and she’s not sure how she’ll pay for the next school year. So, she decides to sign up for a season of Wild Adventures, where a group of college students compete in survival challenges on the Appalachian Trail for a chance at a scholarship.

Natalie doesn’t have much outdoor experience, but she’s armed with her trusty skin care routine and determined to win people over with her charming personality. But when she’s paired with Finn Markum, who pretty much just growls at her and is clearly disappointed to be paired with such an inexperienced hiker, she’s disappointed, a feeling that only gets worse as the increasingly difficult challenges bring out her anxiety.

Natalie’s anxiety is portrayed realistically and with compassion, the reality show setting is lots of fun, and (in what comes as no real surprise to anyone), the enemies-to-lovers romance between Finn and Natalie made us feel all melty inside. As an added bonus, the novel doesn’t move beyond steamy makeout sessions, so we’d feel comfortable recommending it to our romance-lovers (though do be mindful of some profanity).

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Children’s, and Delacorte Romance for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are our own.

Review will be published at https://threeheads.works/category/blog/ya-books/ on April 22.

Did I stay up entirely to late finish this book? Yes, yes I did.
This is my second read by Kaitlyn Hill, and I think she may be added to my auto buy for future book.
Wild About You is grumpy x sunshine adventurous romance between Natalie and Finn told from Natalie Pov
Both have been selected to be on an reality show Wild Adventures for a chance to win 100,000 scholarship and ended up being partnered together.
I really enjoyed watching the relationship grow between these too, and even though Finn started out as a grump, I truly don't think he ever hated Natalie.
My only change would I love for it to be a dual pov romance.

4.5 stars.

Tropes:
Grumpy/sunshine
Opposites attract
Forced Proximity
One Bed/TENT

This was such a cute rom-com read that I finished in one sitting. I love Finn and Natalie's characters. They were definitely opposites in many ways, but they worked so well together. Natalie was very funny and charming, and some of her inner thoughts made me laugh out loud, especially those in response to Finn's grumpiness. And once Finn opens up, all the things he says made me say "awwwww" Their whole relationship was just "awww" worthy. They are SO CUTE, and the fact that Finn is so supportive of her and her anxiety really seals the deal. If you're searching for a heartwarming read with a cute couple with good chemistry, this is it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Really good! But honestly I didn’t get Finn’s whole “growling” thing, I thought that was weird. Honestly, I’ve never gotten it when men in books growl. Also, he went from being mean to really sweet in like a second, so I feel like that was kind of unrealistic. Besides that this was a super fun and quick read, and the plot wasn’t like anything else I’ve read before. Definitely check this out!

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was drawn to this title because I enjoyed Kaitlyn's last book, and I did a lot of hiking on the AT in college. The vibes were exactly as I expected and satisfied my expectations!

This was a mostly lighthearted and fun adventure, but it also tackled more serious topics; Natalie's greatest enemy is her anxious mind, and Finn is carrying a heavy weight on his shoulders that isn't his hiking pack, but grief. I thought their connection through shared experiences with loss was very touching and delicately handled, and that was the moment I really felt attached to both characters.

"Loss and grief put you in the world's shittiest club, but once you're there, once you know what it's like, you can't un-know." - chapter 12 (ARC edition)

This line really spoke to me because when I joined the club at 19 with the sudden death of a friend, my mom had said something similar to me, as she lost her cousin at 21. It is so comforting to read about characters conquering difficult emotions that had felt so isolating in my own life!

While I really enjoyed the deeper themes of this book, I did find Natalie to be a bit annoying (she constantly bashes on white men with her jokes, like girl, I get it, find a new joke, this one is so old it's more rotten than the s'more still decaying somewhere in the forest (iykyk)...)

That being said, I think this is such a fun rom-com that will be releasing just in time for summer! I'll definitely be recommending this to my audience over on booksta!

i love me a grumpy x sunshine! this was a good one and i liked the concept. a sweet light hearted young adult i recommend you check out. i also liked the anxiety representation. also love a nice reality tv style book!

There is no place my kids and family feel more our authentic selves than the great outdoors. When nineteen year old Natalie joins a reality show hiking the Appalachian trail, she learns a whole new meaning of pushing her own boundaries! As a mom, I am so excited to share this book with my daughters ahead of our summer adventures! Natalie is a strong, independent young lady. I love how she is competitive to earn a scholarship and applies her strengths as an actor to this new challenge. And I absolutely love how this book illustrates and normalizes dealing with anxiety! Wild About You is the perfect book to kick-off summer!

Review is on Goodreads and will be on Instagram in April!

*I received a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this opportunity*

Natalie Hart has a lot riding on winning this $100,000 scholarship. Of course, competing on the nature reality TV show Wild Adventures in her own backyard gives her the home court advantage-- if only she knew how to play the game. And, while being randomly placed on a team with a grumpy outdoorsman may not be the worst thing when braving the Appalachian Trail, it doesn't exactly make great footage or good trail conversation. However, as the two continue to place in the competition, Natalie begins to find hidden depths to Finn Markham that may have Natalie fighting for a prize besides the scholarship.

It has been a long time since I've loved a YA book. Sure, I've read some good ones in the past few years, but WILD ABOUT YOU reminded me what it was like to be a high schooler reading about love-- the butterflies and silly smiles you get when reading something sweet (rather than spicy). This book was a lot of fun, and sure, it was silly in certain places, but it also dealt with some pretty intense topics such as grandparent and parental death, anxiety, bullying, and difficult family dynamics in a very realistic and healthy way. If you're looking for a sweet, outdoorsy, grumpyxsunshine book to read this summer-- look no further!

I really enjoyed Hill's other novels, "Love From Scratch" and "Not Here to Stay Friends". However, the reality TV setting is getting old. "Wild About You" was essentially a repeat of Hill's debut novel, but in the Appalachian Mountains instead of San Francisco. It didn't provide a new or intriguing facet of the reality TV game in the way her other novels did. Additionally, the jokes were just not hitting this go-around. Hopefully, Hill's next novel is better!

What happens when a genuinely nice but inexperienced would-be outdoors-woman snags a spot on a challenging reality TV adventure series? Friends are made, skills are learned, laughter abounds, and yes, even a satisfying romance develops. Katilyn Hill's Wild About You features an appealingly feisty main character who shows persistence and growth as she navigates the often bewildering natural world and the sometimes treacherous behavior of her fellow contestants as she hikes along the Appalachian Trail. A satisfying read, filled with clever laugh-out-loud asides from the heroine.

I really wanted to like this book, but I didn’t find myself getting invested in the characters or story line, I finished the book, but it was just a slower read for me than I would have liked.

This was a cute, fairly lighthearted romance. I loved the premise and overall enjoyed the game show aspect of this book. The characters were likable. My only hesitation on 5 stars is that the writing felt very simple and cringey at times.

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for eARC to review!!