I always find the flow of Christina Lauren books easy to follow and it makes the book flow well. This book reminded me of JoJo Moyes - The Giver Of Stars.

It is different to the typical romance I usually go for, however I enjoyed the previous long lost lovers vibe in this book. I was glad for a strong female lead in this book and feel that Lily’s character was cleverly crafted, allowing us to see her strength but also vulnerability to her.

The journey of Lily and Leo trying to solve and uncover Dukes clues kept me reading as I desperately wanted to find out what happened next. I was not expecting the turn involving Bradley and liked that I didn’t see it coming. Leo was top of the romance book boyfriend material list!

The end of the story was nice, it wrapped up well and loved Walter and Nicole coming together.

This had a completely different tone to the other Christine Lauren stories I've read, focusing a lot on the adventure aspects of the story as well as the romance. It's a feel good treasure hunt that doesn't take itself too seriously, and is filled to the brim with ridiculous plot twists. It's lighthearted and overall a lot of fun.

However I couldn't gel with the main characters and their romance. This has the 'second chance' trope that I'm not particularly fond of anyway, but add to that I just didn't get chemistry from them. And although I can admire Lily's steadfast resolve to not accept help from anyone, sometimes she made really stupid decisions because of her stubbornness.

Lily's father was a famous treasure hunter; whilst Lily is not a fan of his antics, she makes a living as a tour guide offering fake treasure hunts to tourists. This, unfortunately, doesn't bring in enough money to be able to buy back the ranch that she lived on when she was younger. When someone from Lily's past comes back into her life as a tourist on one of her tours, things will get a lot worse for Lily. The trip ends up being a disaster and Lily and Leo will spend a lot of time together in the wilderness.

This was an ok read for me. This is a second chance romance although the romance plot isn't the main focus which I was disappointed with. The book focused more on the adventure part of the story with the drama of the events of the tour taking the main focus. I would have liked to have seen more of the romance as I did like the two characters together but felt we didn't get to see enough of them.

I absolutely loved all of the other Christina Lauren books and I had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately this was a book I just couldn’t get into and did not finish.

I have always enjoyed Christina Lauren’s books and this was a really welcome change to their typical style! A treasure hunting adventure romance with a thrilling edge to it all, I throughly enjoyed Something Wilder. It also featured two of my favourite romance tropes - second chance lovers and the smitten male main character. I could vividly picture each of the settings and my heart was in my mouth at times! I adored Leo and Lily, together and apart, and this made the story all the more enjoyable.

While I went into this with fairly low expectations after not really giving with The Unhoneymooners, I was pleasantly surprised by the adventure angle this novel took.

While it’s not one I’d re read, I did enjoy the Wild West style setting and the clues and riddles to solve along the way. I also loved that this was a second chance love story that was delivered fairly realistically given the unrealistic treasure hunting backdrop

Writer duo extraordinaire Christina Lauren did in fact deliver Something Wilder in this new release, unfortunately, it just wasn't for me.

Lily and Leo were in love and supposed to run Lilly's family ranch until tragedy and random events split them apart. Years later, Lily runs a company that takes tourists and other corporate teams into the Wild Wild West, following Butch Cassidy's old trail. A business that she loathes, but knows a lot about since her father was a notorious treasure hunter from around those parts.

Then, the universe converges to bring Lilly and Leo together again on one last expedition. That's when friendships get questioned, and no one is who they seem to be when an actual money prize is a stake.

The premise was interesting enough, and something that could be refreshing both for the authors and the romance genre overall. However, I'm really sad that this missed the mark for me, as I was very much looking forward to this new read from Christina Lauren, based on my love and admiration for their previous works.

The takeaway is that no one is infallible, and it's impossible to please all types of readers. I hope that Something Wilder can connect with other readers, in the way that it couldn't for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. A light and easy read, it held my attention to the end. It’s not my normal type of book but I did enjoy it, though I would have liked a bit more depth to the characters. Overall ideal light, quick read for holidays.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I went through a rollercoaster of emotions during this book. In parts I was neutral, I hated it at some points, and I enjoyed it in others. Part of this is my fault and I am bad at refreshing my memory on what the book is about before I read so I thought I was going into a typical RomCom and this book is not that. However, I did really like the direction it went in after my initial "what the heckdoodle is going on" moment that I had.

The way that the clues were set up were similar to The Inheritance Games which I enjoyed and it also added more to the story than it being the typical plot arc of a romance novel.

There were points that could have been refined, like it took me a fair few days to get through the first 10% of the book but after that I flew through it in 2 hours.

I would recommend this to people who want something a little bit different in their romance novels!

When I saw a new book by Christina Lauren I was so excited. I LOVE her books, and her writing style. However, I do have to say with this one I felt a little bit let down. I personally prefer when romances start with two characters who are meeting fresh in the book. I like to watch their relationship blossom, and be enthralled by the happy ending. However, that being said, it was a really good book, I loved the characters and the underlying plot. I loved the western themes that were apparent running throughout the book. It made me feel like I was there, living in the desert with them.

This was a fun adventure romance from Christina Lauren, but be aware: it definitely leans more heavily into the adventure than the romance. I'd say about 80% of this is adventure and action, the other 20% is the two main characters figuring out their feelings for each other after meeting each other again after years apart.

It's hard for me to determine if I liked this one or not. As a romance, it wasn't really that exciting. The conflict from their past could have been solved so easily, it feels so dumb for them to have had to go through so much pain. As an adventure? It was thrilling at times, then quickly turning silly and over-the-top, only to end up with an incredibly cheesy ending. It's not that I didn't enjoy the ride, I just wish someone had told me where we were going before I got on board.

I'm sure there's an audience out there for this book, but I still don't know if I'm part of that group or not.

My most enthusiastic 5 stars rating since the beginning of 2022! I absolutely ADORED this book. I thought I would be in for a nice little romance, but the romance turned out to be breathtaking and on top of that we were served with this incredibly thorough and detailed mystery plot that kept me hooked until the very last second! You can tell how hard the authors worked on this and I enjoyed every moment of it. Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC - I went and bought a hardcopy of my own after finishing it because I know I'm going to want to reread it and annotate it all over again!

One of my favourite films growing up was City Slickers and this is like if Curly and Billy Crystal had the hots for each other (which they probably did). A decade ago Lily and Leo were wide eyed hopeful youngsters who fell in love and planned a life together but fate and family got in the way and they never saw each other again….until now! Leo has gone on a treasure hunting guys trip which just so happens to be run by Lily who holds a pretty mighty grudge and is scraping a living with her best friend because her no good treasure hunting Pa sold her ranch from under her. There’s a notebook with maps and clues and treasure it’s all there as well as hot nerd and hot cowgirls and lines like: “his ribs formed a Faraday cage around his crackling electric heart”. I mean… come on you can’t get much better than that.

Something Wilder is a summer romance book but with an adventure twist!

Lily Wilder, or Dub as her friend and co-worker Nicole calls her, is barely making ends meet. 10 years ago she thought she had it all: her dream job running the family ranch in Wyoming, with the help of her boyfriend Leo. Now she runs Wilder Adventures in Utah, where she brings groups out on trips, mostly city folks trying to rough it. She'd give anything to have her ranch back and as for Leo? She's forgotten him, pushed the painful memories of him aside when he returned to New York the summer they fell in love. Her father was Duke Wilder, legendary treasure hunter who spent his life exploring Utah in search of Butch Cassidy's treasure. Lily and Nicole are getting ready to bring 4 men out on a trip when she recognises that one of them is Leo

This book has plenty of adventure, searching for treasure, bad weather, twists and turns. I loved the descriptions of the landscape, it was really vivid and fun. I liked Lily as a main character, she's tough and cool. Romance wise, it does take a backseat in this story. There's hardly any flashbacks to the characters falling in love (which I actually liked as I feel sometimes flashbacks can slow the pace of the story down), this is a second chance romance story where the couple have to trust each other on this dangerous journey. It's a fun read, the rugged Western element to the story isn't something I'd usually gravitate towards but I'm glad I gave it a shot.

Christina Lauren is a writing duo that I always feelI can trust to provide me with a good read. That is why I was beyond excited to read Something Wilder whilst I was on holiday. I knew it was something a little different for the pair but I didn’t realise to what extent. Let me tell you, this book blew my mind! It is unconventional and unique and it is truly exciting to devour.

This book is very different from any of the other books that they have released and it deserves a lot of love. It is an action-packed western meets mystery. It has an angsty and heart-warming love story, lot of comedic moments and a whole lot of adventure. I’ve never seen this mix of genres before and at first I was worried. I didn’t need to be though, as the genres blended perfectly!

I don’t want to give anything away about the story and the adventure but just know that it gets wild about 30% in. At one point I gasped so loudly I woke my fiancé up who was on the sun lounger next to me. I loved how the riddles, puzzles and codes are developed throughout the book and had fun trying to figure them out. I thought I had figured things out and I was completely wrong. It truly is a wild ride.

I loved Lily and Leo with their second-chance romance storyline. Lily is such a determined, fiery, stubborn and caring main character and I loved watching how she dealt with things. Lily definitely takes no messing and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about her. Leo is such a sweet love interest. He clearly cares so much for Lily and others around him. He is excellent and I loved him. I loved the tension we see the first time they see each other again. Their romance storyline is heart-warming and the love radiated off the page.

The secondary characters in this book are also excellent. All of them are unique and a lot of fun. Two who I feel deserve a special mention are Nicole and Walter. Pair Nicole’s toughness with Walter’s shyness and they make an interesting duo to see throughout the book. I loved watching all the characters interact with each other and how fun it was to read the dynamic between them.

Personally, I would say that for me, this is Christina Lauren’s best book I’ve read. It is so unique, fun and truly thrilling. I’m glad they decided to step out of their comfort zone and give something unique a go. It worked amazingly and exceeded all my expectations.

Overall, Something Wilder is a truly unique, thrilling, heart-warming and amazing book to devour in a few sittings. I cannot recommend this one enough. Expect the unexpected with this one and let yourself be drawn into the story.

This was my second Christina Lauren book following The Soulmate Equation. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t feel the thrill I did reading the first book by the duo!

I found the plot at times a little cheesy and far fetched. However, I think it would make a good quick holiday read!

I liked the adventure side of the storyline and really enjoyed the hidden codes that Lily had to decipher left by Duke!

I really loved the ending, I loved how the adventure was wrapped up and adored the final clues! This for me, made the book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

l went into it completely blind.
Wow….. l absolutely loved it!!!!
This was a well written contemporary romance but with so much more going for it, action, adventure, humor, love, and betrayal.
Get ready to be swept along on a wild and fun misadventure with puzzles to solve and treasure to find,throw in a second chance at love and not everything is as it seems and you have a hit on your hands. I fell in love with Leo and Lily and also had a soft spot for Nicole and Walter. The perfect read right now to escape from reality, l highly recommend it to everyone, go grab your copy and enjoy the ride.

DNF 20%

the two main characters of this book were rather annoying from the beginning and I really didn't like the whole adventure set up either when this is a romance novel. Then I read some reviews on goodreads and I'm personally glad I didn't finish this if I'm honest. I think I'd much prefer to read another book from this author duo.

WILD WEST FANS…

Adventure meets romance in the latest from author duo Christina Lauren. This was the perfect summer read – prepare to suspend your disbelief and enjoy the wild ride!!

Read this if you like:
- Witty banter
- Desert vibes
- Plot twists at every turn
- Second chance romance
- Wild West meets City Slickers
- Films like The Lost City and National Treasure
- An amazing cast of side characters (think The Hangover meets Indiana Jones)
- A mix of action and romance in a plot (this is definitely more adventure than romance)
- Treasure hunts (with riddles, puzzles and tonnes of suspense along the way with the race to find the treasure!)

Petition for this book to be made into an action comedy/rom-com ASAP as it would be amazing to see this come to life on the big screen.

Thank you so much Netgalley & Little Brown Book Group!

This book was a solid 3.5 stars for me! The way that Christina Lauren is able to vibrantly describe the ranch setting was truly something brilliant. I also was a big fan of the second chance romance, slowburn and forced proxemics trope- if you are too, this book is great for you!
Both Lily and Leo were well-rounded characters with electric chemistry, however I did not expect this book to be so action-packed! For me, unfortunately, it made some of the more action-heavy scenes quite difficult to follow and to process what had happened. The plot was good, which made this fact even more frustrating! Overall, I would recommend this book to a friend, but not right away! Check out The Unhoneymooners or Josh and Hazels Guide To Not Dating if you’re interested in Christina Lauren’s books!