Another triumph from Anita Kelly. It should be obvious but I super love their writing. We follow Alexei as he hikes the Pacific Crest Trail, meets Ben, and the two get to know each other while fending off the mortal peril of the wild. There’s a lot to live in this book, but for me it’s the learning to love yourself, just as you are. We all put so much stock in what others think of us and so often fail to acknowledge what we think of ourselves.

One of my new top favourite books! This was such a beautiful story about two people finding themselves and finding each other on the Pacific Crest Trail. So many ups and downs - I loved that it wasn't a straight 'trail' to instant happily ever after. The characters were so relatable in all their beautiful complexities and challenges. This book is great for fans of Casey McQuiston and Allison Cochrun!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced review copy of “Something Wild and Wonderful” by Anita Kelly. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

The beginning was so cute! I liked the premise a lot. I was impressed with how the author made me instantly root for the couple. I also liked the setting a lot. I have no desire to do such an intense hike but I really liked reading about it.

I do wish this had two different narrators for the dual POV but if you’re reading physically that wouldn’t be an issue. I have to pick up a lot of books on audio so I thought this was worth mentioning.

There were lots of time jumps but I think it works ok. There were a couple scenes I would have liked to see that were just referred to in the time jumps.

Schnitzel the ugly dog was hilarious. There were also cameos from the previous book but it’s been a bit since I read that so I couldn’t remember all the friends. I liked the first book too.

I feel like we lost momentum at the end with the exchanging letters although it was an effective way to do more time jumps. It felt like the couple should have done more inner work before they reconciled but that seems to be a common issue with contemporary romances.

Overall I enjoyed this especially at the beginning. I think contemporary romance writers should read this book if they want to see how to write a really effective meet cute that makes readers immediately root for the couple.

4/5 stars

“…maybe it was the detours that actually counted the most.”

I keep typing and deleting words, trying to come up with a way to tell you just how absolutely perfect SOMETHING WILD & WONDERFUL is. Described by the author as “WILD, but make it gay”, it’s a queer love story between two men who fall for each other after a chance meeting while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Alexei is in turmoil after his religious parents cut him off when he finally comes out as a gay, and Ben is nursing a wounded heart and corralling a scattered spirit in the wake of a toxic breakup and the loss of his aunt.

I love books with a physical journey, and this one is especially immersive: we experience the aches, the exhaustion, the sweeping vistas, and the songs of birds alongside Ben and Alexei as they hike up through California into Oregon. There’s simmering chemistry, tender intimacy, aching grief, and gorgeous, high-flying hope. As a person who used to be deeply embedded in a religious community, I felt so much of Alexei’s process around his own faith. Seeing him allow himself to experience God, to find everyday holiness in the outdoors and his love for Ben, healed something in me. I also loved how pure their affection is: Ben and Alexei are both such unique people, with different ways of processing and socializing, and they are constantly delighting in each other just as they both are.

It’s a love letter to the trail, to the wilderness, to the wild parts of ourselves that seek to be free and to find a home in another person. This story broke my heart wide open; I can’t recommend it enough. Also, the audiobook, performed by Mark Sanderlin, is lovely. Thanks to Forever Books and Hachette Audio for the review copies!

Content warnings: family rejection, homophobia, religious bigotry, loss of a loved one, injury, toxic relationship, panic attack

After loving Love & Other Disasters I could not wait to get my hands on something Wild & Wonderful! Thank you Forever and NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

Alexei, quiet, introspective, and nerdy is looking for solitude and time to heal from religious trauma as he begins the hike of all hikes on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). On day one, he runs into outgoing, charming, and hotter than hot Ben. Though Alexei had no intention of finding a trail buddy, he and Ben soon begin traveling together. What then unfolds is possibly the most tender and gentle romance I have ever read.

I am such a fan of Anita’s work and Something Wild & Wonderful is no exception. They write with such care and Alexei and Ben’s love for one another is so soft and gentle. It was so beautiful to watch Alexei come out of his shell around Ben and to see Alexei process and begin to heal from his past while on the trail. And speaking of the trail!! Wow. The PCT and the setting almost felt like another character. The setting was so vibrant and Anita did such an incredible job describing the terrain and the entire feeling of hiking and being outdoors. Reading this book made me itch for summer and to be on the trails. Lastly, I absolutely loved the familiar faces we got to see both mentioned throughout the book and then directly on the page when Ben and Alexei go to Nashville. Such a fun aspect for everyone that has also read Love & Other Disasters!

Overall, highly recommend this book for anyone who is looking for a soft and gentle queer love story, and as a bonus: features the incredible outdoors.

Alexei has a rough start to his journey on the Pacific Crest Trail. Lucky for him, Ben, a very attractive stranger, is there to save the day. When Alexei continues to run into Ben on the trail, they ultimately decide to take on the trail together. Neither one of them was prepared for this big adventure to also include a love story, but here they are.

This book is incredible - the emotions, the swoon-worthy moments, the character development - it truly has everything you could want in a romance story. Alexei and Ben were the sweetest characters you can’t help but love, both as individuals and as a couple. They each had some things to work through and their different reasons for being on the trail, and their individual journeys were beautiful, but the way they supported each other and were there for each other throughout those journeys was even more special. There were some pretty heavy topics, including the characters feeling like they weren’t enough, and this book had me emotional and tearing up at times. But it was also incredibly heartwarming and even funny at times. I can’t say it enough, this book is amazing.

Thanks to Forever Publishing for the advance copy.

✨Book Review✨

Something Wild and Wonderful
By Anita Kelly (@anitakellywrites)
Release Date:
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Review:
This book was SO good! I took a break in the middle to read my most anticipated book of the year that I received as an eARC, and I was still so thrilled to get back to it! I loved watching the relationship between Ben and Alexsi grow over their hike on the PCT. I think it was also a well-done representation of the characters, as it showcased that being a part of the LGBTQ+ community is not always an acceptable thing for all families, and navigating that for someone can be really challenging, lonely, and isolating. I loved how kind Ben was and I absolutely loved his family!

Thank you to Anita Kelly, @grandcentralpub @readforeverpub and @netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Something Wild and Wonderful
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Romance
Author: Anita Kelly
GR: 4.49

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

My Thoughts: This was a wonderfully written book that I really enjoyed. Their love story just touched my heart. Alexei is hiking the Pacific Coast Trail to get into his “second self,” really struggling with where he fits into the world and how he is treated. Enter Ben, and Alexei saving him from a rattlesnake, the chemistry was instant. The way their story blended and developed was so endearing and heartwarming. The way these two men were navigating the world in the best way they knew, and never giving up was just so special. The story was written with compassion, grief, healing, love, and human connection.

The way the author approached mental health was with grace and beautifully written. The details written about the trail was so well done, so inviting, that you really felt like you were there on the trail with Alexei and Ben. The plot line was very well written, you really get a glimpse into many people’s reality. The characters were fleshed out well, with depth, witty banter, chemistry, and engaging. The author’s writing style was complex, multifaceted, thought provoking, beautiful, and brilliant! The plot was written with care, especially given the highly emotional nature, and was heartfelt.

This story took me on many emotional rollercoasters, I really love when a story can do that. The message is clear and can easily be for any sex, learning how to love and support yourself, especially when the world is so ugly at times. Kelly knows how to write a romance novel, it is truly a gift. I highly recommend picking this book up, and her prior book, Love and Other Disasters.

I absolutely adored Ben and Lex!! Their journey together on the PCT was so much fun and I loved seeing their love grow for one another. Lex needed this trip to find out who he was and to meet the other half of his soul. So beautiful.

Fun, heartfelt, and romantic, I am becoming a very big fan of Anita Kelly and her adult romance stories. The plot was fun and lent an air of adventure that perfectly complemented both characters' emotional arcs.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⬜⬜
Title: Something Wild & Wonderful
Author: Anita Kelly
Genre: LGBTQ Romance
Month Read: April 2023
Book Type: E-Arc
Publication: March 2023
Publisher: Forever
Pages: 368
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me this E-Arc. It in no way influences my review on this work in any way, shape, or form.

TRIGGER WARNING-
Family Estrangement / Homophobic Slurs / Blood/Bodily Injury


"Do they miss me?
Does it count if the person they miss isn’t actually me?”




No Spoiler Summary (Goodreads):
Alexei Lebedev’s journey on the Pacific Crest Trail begins with a single snake. And it is angling for the hot stranger who seemed to have appeared out of thin air. Lex is prepared for rattlesnakes, blisters, and months of solitude. What he isn’t prepared for is Ben Caravalho. But somehow—on a 2,500-mile trail—Alexei keeps running into the outgoing and charismatic hiker with golden-brown eyes, again and again. It might be coincidence. Then again, maybe there’s a reason the trail keeps bringing them together . . .

Ben has made his fair share of bad decisions, and almost all of them involved beautiful men. And yet there’s something about the gorgeous and quietly nerdy Alexei that Ben can’t just walk away from. Surely a bad decision can’t be this cute and smart. And there are worse things than falling in love during the biggest adventure of your life. But when their plans for the future are turned upside down, Ben and Alexei begin to wonder if it’s possible to hold on to something this wild and wonderful.





Review:
I absolutely loved Anita Kelly's debut novel, and was so thoroughly excited to get this ARC. I am truly sorry it took me a few extra months to read this, and wasn't able to review before publication (I had a whole baby in January and things got a little thrown off track). I am glad to say, however, how beautiful and un-put-down-able this book truly was.

Alexei. He is so wonderful and complicated and grieving the loss of his homophobic religious parents, but he's so giving and kind and just wonderful. He's the type of guy you can't help but love and root for, and even if he is tragically self sabotaging you want him to realize he's worth so much more than he gives himself credit for. He's so fragile, but was also so tough in moments where he needed to be, and I am so glad we got to see him and Ben take charge at different times over such different things throughout the book (and their hike).

Ben. Ben is a little baby and I love him. I grew up with my Portuguese best friend, and his Uncle Jaco's party was so reminiscent of some of the best times of my life spending time with her and her family. I loved the random snippets of Russian and Portuguese in the book, as well, and it really brought the characters to life with so much more color. Ben is wonderful, and truly just is so excitable, and open, and honest, and I saw a lot of myself in him in a lot of ways (he truly doesn't stop speaking) which made the literal and figurative trip so much more fun.

If you want a book where you learn a lot (about birds, plants, hiking the PCT) this book is wonderful. I'm not and never will be someone who walks for fun, but this book almost made me want to go get some hiking boots. (Almost.) I also loved a lot of the side characters we got to meet, and you'd be glad to meet them, too. I highly recommend picking this up and giving it a try. LGBTQ romances are still not super easy to come by, and I love being able to read them.



Recommendation:
Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Simon and the Homosapiens Agenda (YA) by Becky Albertalli





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I love Anita Kelly and this is no different. Absolutely amazing and a 10/10 read. They make their characters so relatable and I love how easily you can jump into their novels.

This book was a warm hug - I have no words for how happy it made me. Ben and Lex are two sweet angel babies that I just want to keep safe forever. This book even got me mildly interested in hiking, which is an enormous feat. Absolutely 100% recommend this book.

Anita Kelly is remarkably talented at getting me invested in things that I otherwise do not care about, like, for example, hiking. Genuinely, the idea of someone wanting to hike 2000 miles in one go is... beyond baffling to me. I'm lucky when I can convince myself to go on a walk (paved) around the lake I live near. It's only two miles. Four if you add in an extra part. But Kelly sucked me in with Alexei and Ben. There's something about the way their interactions start and it's all one word things back and forth to the way Lex slowly begins to open up. Plus the way that Ben starts to feel settled that just really worked for me. I loved both character ARCs and I loved the secondary characters we got to meet and interact with along the way. I even loved the description of the landscape and the joy of eating at McDonalds. As a person who is delighted by air conditioning if I've been outside for a mere twelve minutes, the simple joy the men took in modern conveniences was somehow alarmingly relatable given that I am never very far from things like running water and they were going for days on end without.

If you've not read the book yet, basically, Alexei has been recently laid off from his job and while he is sorting out his next step, he decides to set out on hiking the Pacific Coast Trail thinking he can figure out Alexei 2.0 on the way. He needs to figure out how to let go of his parents who disowned him for being gay and sort through the way they used religion against him. Alexei understands that God does not share the values his parents say they're living by, but that is quite a lot to process. Fortunately, he has like 2000 miles to do so. But he doesn't factor Ben into his plans. Ben, who is funny and handsome and charming. Ben who is on the PCT because he wants time to explore before he returns home to Nashville to begin his career as a nurse in the geriatric field. He doesn't seem to see himself the way Alexei sees him, but they've got a whole lot of miles to work through that too.

Their chemistry is electric from the first moment they meet, in my opinion, but in a very... natural feeling way. The way that when you meet certain people you wonder about them for a while even if you don't spend all that much time together. There's a spark that could become nothing, but obviously, given this is a romance novel, that's not what happens and that spark turns into a whole lot more. I just absolutely adored the way Kelly wrote this book and I loved every bit of it. A million stars from me!

Drop everyting and add Something Wild & Wonderful to your TBR. Better yet, just find the book and read it.

Alexei is determined to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. Having recently come out to his parents without acceptance, he is ready for a fresh start.

Ben is also determined to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. He's studying to become a nurse and is ready for an adventure in the mean time. He's used to people accepting that he is gay.

Both meet on the Pacific Crest Trail and what happens next is something both wild and wonderful.

I highly recommend Something Wild & Wonderful, Anita Kelly's sophomore novel. Kelly has a wonderful way with words that had me hooked and not wanting to put the book down. I enjoyed the little tidbits about the trail and felt both character's points of view. Both Ben and Alexei had journeys to go on and each were heartwarming. The content warnings at the beginning of this novel were appreciated. I cannot wait to read what Anita Kelly puts out next.

Thank you Forever publishing and Netgalley for my earc in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own!

This book is a wonderfully sweet story of learning to love yourself before you can love someone else. The backdrop of the hiking trail was fascinating and so well done. The author's knowledge of what it was like to be part of that environment was amazingly well researched. Everything about this book pulled me in and charmed me. The two leads were very distinct and well-matched, and I loved seeing their journey evolve. This book is warm and comforting. I will definitely be checking out other books by this author. This book was an amazing find. As always, thanks to NetGally for the ARC copy!

Anita Kelly always writes with this distinctive tenderness that always makes my heart full. They know how to express human emotions that makes their characters endearing, relatable (even if our shared experiences aren't the same), and unforgettable. Add the backdrop of the Pacific Crest Trail and the experience of reading this is as breathtaking as the reviews. Kelly shows us yet again that among your people you can find your full truth and be loved as you deserve to be.

I enjoyed this book more than I expected to! If I didn’t have the audiobook, I don’t know if I would’ve gotten as into it as I did. I found the beginning a little slow and boring. But the single word exclamations that Alexei and Ben shared kept me going. So charming.

I found this to be a beautiful story of growth for both Ben and Alexei. I learned a lot about hiking the PCT and loved the autism representation.

My favorite part? When Alexei pulls out Alanna: The First Adventure. My Tamora Pierce loving heart lost it.

The audiobook was done really well. The voice actors did a great job! It was easy to understand and the pace was done well.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher. I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Anita Kelly is an auto read author for me now after reading both of their books!

I really enjoyed the strangers to lovers trope in this book. There was queer love, self exceptance, and just a great time hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.

There was this amazing soft kind of love blossoming in this while Ben and Alexei were getting to know each other disowned. He meets Ben and they go on this journey together.

I felt so much for these guys and their journey while hiking 2,000+ miles. Alexei goes on the PCT to figure things out and have a spirtual journey after being disowned from his parents. At times I wanted more about the actual trail, but I think this had great descriptions of that.

I have just recently gotten into hiking and wanting to hike so this book was very timely for me on that front. I highly recommend this to fans of Love and Other Disasters, hiking, and queer romances!
4 stars

Both main characters are fleshed out well, and that each comes from different backgrounds (e.g., geographic, familial relationships, ethnicities) helps define them as individuals and how they navigate their budding relationship. There were no real moments that felt “out of character” just for the sake of drama, which I find is often the case in romance novels. The setting of the PCT trail helps provide adventure and plot outside of just romantic, and the descriptions of the trail life felt authentic and beautiful. I also appreciated the care given to rendering an autistic character alongside a neurotypical one.