3.5 stars. It just wasn’t for me. A tad too young for my taste. The story was fine and the writing was okay as well, I just couldn’t get into it.

"The more I learn about you, the more I find myself wanting to know everything."

Wild About You is a cute YA romance. I really liked the relationship between Natalie and Finn and that it wasn't an instant love story. Their journey of falling in love was cute, especially when he wrote her that letter. Additionally, this book included conversations about grief and how it affected the main characters. I thought the author wrote about it well, and it even made me a little emotional. Towards the middle, it felt like the book was dragging along, but after that, it was good. If you like a wilderness challenge-themed YA romance, this is the perfect book for you!

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A lovely exploration of first love and adventure! I adore Hill's writing and can always count on her for wonderful feels and insight!

Wild About You follows Natalie, a college student who hopes to fund her education by winning the Wild Adventures reality show... despite not being particularly outdoorsy herself. After thinking he's a bear in the woods (and panicking), she finds herself paired with the grumpy and stand-offish Finn.

I found Wild About You to be very fun and enjoyable. I enjoy the appreciation of nature and the opening up between Natalie and Finn as the book goes on. My one thing is that Finn's flip from being a perpetual jerk to actually being thoughtful & kind is so abrupt - I would rather have seen more flashes of a kind/thoughtful side to him before that moment. Regardless of that, I could not put it down.

The memories Natalie shares of her beloved Granny Star were like a punch in the heart every time.

I was given an advanced copy for review via NetGalley and Delacorte Romance in exchange for an honest review - thank you!

I received a free book in exchange for review. All opinions are my own.

I like this book very much! This reminds me of a cartoon called Total Drama Island, but nothing serious and weird. I like the setting, the competition, most of the characters, and the writing style. I am not much of a reality show fan, but this story got me interested a lot. Also, anything camping, hiking, and outdoor activities. Overall, I enjoyed it! Check out this book if you like romance, reality show setting, outdoorsy, and competition!

"Wild About You" by Kaitlyn Hill is an engaging and heartwarming YA romance that takes readers on a thrilling journey through the Appalachian Trail, blending the excitement of a reality show competition with the tender exploration of young love.

The story centers on Natalie Hart, a vivacious and unfiltered freshman who finds herself in a financial bind after losing her merit scholarship. Determined to stay in college without accumulating debt, Natalie enters "Wild Adventures," an outdoorsy reality show offering a substantial scholarship prize. Despite her preference for skincare routines over rugged trails, Natalie dives headfirst into the competition, showcasing her resilience and determination.

Natalie's partner in this adventure is Finn Markum, a quintessential outdoorsman with a grumpy demeanor that rivals a bear's. Their partnership is fraught with tension from the start, creating a delightful grumpy-sunshine dynamic. Finn's initial growling and gruffness might seem excessive, but it sets the stage for his remarkable character development as the story progresses.

Hill masterfully balances lighthearted moments with deeper themes, addressing issues like anxiety and the importance of honesty in relationships. While the grumpy-sunshine transformation might happen a bit quickly for some, it avoids the insta-love trope, allowing their relationship to develop naturally over time.

"Wild About You" excels in highlighting the significance of being true to oneself and the value of open communication. The backdrop of the Appalachian Trail adds an adventurous element to the romance, making the story as refreshing as it is touching.

Overall, "Wild About You" is a delightful read that combines humor, adventure, and romance. Kaitlyn Hill's deft storytelling and well-crafted characters ensure that readers will be rooting for Natalie and Finn from start to finish. This book is perfect for fans of opposites-attract romances and those who enjoy a good outdoor adventure with a side of love.

Not so wild about Wild About You. It’s a younger age read (12-15)and dare I say leaning towards the female audience. It has political views about whiteness mentioned 3+ times. The contestants introduced themselves with proper pronouns- which is something the youth do these days. I thought Hill was bringing in politics when I just want kids to read for pleasure.
Natalie Hart has heart and funny sense of humor. She has issues fitting in and college is no different. She misses her grandma who was her safe space and loved her unconditionally and accepted Natalie for who she is.
Struggling to pay tuition, Natalie signs up for a reality tv show, Wild Adventures, for a chance to win $100,000 scholarship money.
On your mark, get set, go! Natalie races for a backpack to use while hiking/camping on the Appalachian Mountains AND to find whose backpack matches her to determine her partner.
The partner is ….Finn. Finn is a loaner and does a lot of growling. Kinda the Grumpy/Sunshine duo. The couple need to communicate and help one another to survive and win competitions.
Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children’s

Gosh, I just adored this book! It was like a sweet little YA hug. This book has very low spice (only kissing) but very high feels!

Pick this up if you like:
* YA contemporary romance
* adorable/hilarious banter
* outdoor adventures
* anxiety rep
* Dolly Parton
* books about reality tv
* a sunshine mfc who turns into a grump and then reverts back to sunshine
* a grumpy mmc who turns into a thoughtful, caring simp
* a literal bear vs. man scenario where you would actually pick the man 😂

The banter between Natalie and Finn was laugh out loud funny, and by the end I was kicking my feet while reading because it is just so wholesome and lovely!

This was a five star read for me, and I can’t wait to go back and read Kaitlyn’s backlist now. I even picked up a copy for myself so that I can reread and loan out to the adults/teens in my life who love romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Romance for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

Kaitlyn Hill has such an entertaining and unique voice, I loved every minute of this book! It was fun, hilarious, and heartwarming all while handling topics of mental health and grief with such care. The premise and location kept me turning the page-- this is the perfect summer read! I think this is my favorite book from Hill yet!

Desperate times calls for desperate measures. Natalie Is not your typical outdoorsy adventure girl but with her student loans and needing to pay for the next semester of school, she did the only thing she could. She signed up for a Wild adventure reality TV show. If she could win, the prize was $100,000. So with her mega cosmetic bag and a pair of hiking shoes she was off. She is paired with a total stranger by the name of Finn and they were at odds from the very beginning.
I thought the storyline was good and I enjoyed the banter and the excursion of the adventure. I did eventually come to appreciate the characters and their differences. I liked how they were able to find ways to encourage and sustain each other through some difficult times. Overall, I thought it was a fairly enjoyable read. It is touted as a young adult book, 12 to 17 years old. In my opinion there was far too much foul language. but I appreciate that there were no illicit scenes. Some cuddling and kissing with suggested sleeping arrangements. It can be read as a standalone story. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

3.5
This was a cute little romance. I did not like the slow build of the romance that much. I wanted to know about the boys character as well and it took a long time to kind of show us that. However the romance was still cute as it developed. I most loved the campy amazing race type of environment and the anxiety rep. I could relate to her growing up with general anxiety disorder. I liked how it showed at some point the thoughts and feelings you get with it. I like that it tells about that in a ya book because I had no idea not only that I had that growing up but also that there were other people going through it too and not everyone else thinks and feels those same ways either. I liked the book and thought it was good.

A truly swoony read full of adventures in the wilderness and in love.

I enjoyed this read from start to finish. Each moment our MMC and FMC have made me crave yet another moment in their world. Grumpy/Sunshine is my romance jam and this angsty teen element really gave light to that already blazing fire of trope passion

I will be buying a copy for my teen daughter to take with her to college as she asked us to put together a tiny library of new books for her to read when she needs escape. This one will give her some laughs and fun to escape from the piles of work she will have in her freshman year.

This is written rather young but being it is YA with geared ages of 12 and up, I went in expecting that. With that in mind I am giving this read 4 brilliant stars!

Thank you NetGalley and Delacorte Romance for this ARC read!

Wild About You by Kaitlyn Hill is a grumpy sunshine young adult romance. Natalie Hart is loud, unfiltered and she won’t apologize for it. However, at the end of her freshman year of college, she loses her merit scholarship and gains an anxiety diagnosis. She is hesitant to take out student loans and discovers an interesting way to get the tuition funds she needs. In a race through the Great Outdoors, Wild Adventures is a reality show a la The Amazing Race. While she prefers to pamper herself rather than roughing it on the Appalachian Trail, complete challenges and compete with other college students. Finn Markum becomes her partner and he is outdoorsy with a Capital O with a growl that would scare a bear. When the friction between them turns flirtatious, Natalie realizes that she’s in more of a wild adventure than she bargained for.
Wild About You is a fun, young adult romance with an outdoorsy adventure. Filled with a grumpy-sunshine pair, enemies among the other contestants and a life changing experience. Along with the fun adventures along the trail, the story deals with heavier topics of anxiety. Despite her lack of experience, I’d admired Natalie’s determination to give the Wild Adventures her all. She was a bit annoying at first but I enjoyed seeing her growth by the end of the story. Finn was grumpy and standoffish at first, yet with Natalie on the trail with him, begins to lighten up. He was very unlikeable at first as well. Grumpy and unlikable doesn’t always go hand-in-hand. I’ve read some grumpy characters who were likable. Finn definitely had some walls and reasons behind his unlikability. Overall, I enjoyed Wild About You. If you enjoy young adult romances, I recommend Wild About You.

Wild About You is available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and Random House Children's in exchange for an honest review.

Natalie needs money after struggling through her first year of college and losing her merit scholarship. She applies and is chosen to be on "Wild Adventures" an outdoorsy-Amazing Race-esque reality show for their first college students only edition. Her randomly assigned partner Finn is gorgeous, grumpy, and has no patience for Natalie's loud, unfiltered, high-maintenance personality. What follows is a typical grumpy-sunshine, forced proximity, fairly tame romance.

I wanted to love this story and I did enjoy it, but there was something about it that made me feel like I was slogging through mud. It wasn't as exciting as it should have been. The last 15% really picked up and I loved that part, but it took a lot of pushing myself to get there.

Also, I kept reading "Enemi" (Natalie's nickname for Alli) as "enema" which was really distracting

Wild About You by Kaitlyn Hill is a sweet grumpy-sunshine teen romance story.
This book was so fun and I loved it so much. the characters were so cute.
A sweet delightful book. I loved watching Natalie and Finn grow in this book. They made me smile throughout the whole book.

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Do you like quirky FMCs? Are you super into survival shows? Do you think you could win on something that's Survivor meets The Greatest Race? Then you should be LINING UP to read this newest book by Kaitlyn Hill! There is no one who writes cooky, neurodivergent MCs like Kaitlyn does. And, I say this because I interact with her a lot on Instagram, you can really hear her voice coming through in this one. Like she took little pieces of her own personality and eccentricities and threw them into Natalie, and I am here for it.

rating: 4 STARS
genre: young adult romance
steam: closed door, kissing
release date: May 21, 2024

This was another one of those books that once I got into it, I couldn't put it down! And even though you're PRETTY sure you know how it's going to end and the competition will end up, you're still not 100% sure. So you have to know!

Seriously, if you're into YA or you're looking to get into the genre, Hill is a great place to start. Highly recommend.

Read if you like:
Grumpy/Sunshine
Camping & Survival
Found Family
Really funny one-liners
Nature puns
Attached at the Hip by Christine Riccio

As a huge fan of both the outdoors and reality TV, this book was made for me. I enjoyed discovering Natalie and Finn's love story. I related greatly with Natalie on being an anxious girlie, so it rang true to me. Loved it!

This cover. What dreams are made of, right? I 100% requested this for the cover. Well maybe 95. I also love that its a YA read.

If you like camping, college adventures, pop culture, opposites attract, mental health rep, bears, and the Appalachian Trail, this one is a good one for your list!

CW: language, including more than a handful of F-words

DNF at 30%

Honestly my biggest problem with the book is that I really didn't like the characters or start to care about them. It's a cute premise, just not for me.

#WildAboutYou

Thank you @prhaudio @getunderlined for my gifted copies! #PRHAudioPartner

“That’s it. Her name is now Enemi. With an i.”

I’ll be honest, the first chapter or two wasn’t for me. If first impressions were it, me and Natalie would not be friends. But, as she does in her Natalie way, I stayed, became charmed, and absolutely adored this book.

First off, yes to all things Appalachian. Think Amazing race, but college kids, in the south, hanging in Appalachia. Yes to all the things. This book made me want to bust out the tent I don’t own and go find a waterfall or six.

The audio was amazing. Amanda Stribling was a great reader. I loved all the different wild adventures characters and how they were like a little family. I cheered hard for Harper, and was definitely ready to scrap Alli. It was just a really fun YA with great underlying discussion on anxiety.

Absolutely adorable. Out May 21!