This romcom is true to the name, it made me laugh out loud. A little to start but the characters were funny, charming, fully imagined, and brave. Angsty and very British, the house renovations and quirky village setting were great fun! This is a new release, out May 23rd and you should check it out!

-Found family
-Slow burn
-Queer representation

If you’re looking for a light hearted romance this is the book for you! I love a good slow burn if done properly, but at times it felt a little slow for me. The idea of these 4 friends moving into “Lavendar House” together was so cute, and honestly sounds like something I would want to do with a few of my besties!

All of the characters were adorable and genuine, with some funny one liners too! I personally haven’t read many novels with queer themes/representation, so I can’t compare it in this novel to others, but I believe it was done well! At times this didn’t feel much like a romance to me, but nonetheless I would highly recommend you to read this!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced e-copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Eleanor a crossroads of her life. She takes us through her experience of trying to find her best life.

Cute but the pacing felt very slow to me. I really enjoyed the premise and the ensemble cast, but to me this just wasn't engaging.

This was a cute read! I loved the village setting, the found family, and the idea of buying a house with friends. I would have loved the story more if we focused more on El and her Wild year. I would have loved to explore more of her going on adventures and going outside her comfort zone. Some of these things were actually wild in my opinion. I also think Ray wasn’t the right person for her. There was something about Ray as a character that I didn’t enjoy and honestly felt she was a little rude with the MC.

My other bigger grievance was that they never took out the carpet in the bathroom. Any sane person would have done that first before redoing hardwood floors or painting cabinets. The face the bathroom was moldy and gross, tackle that first. I just want to know if they did anything with that bathroom by the end of the book

This was a light, fun, and quick read.

I enjoyed it and the characters. A gay commune?! Friends to lovers, slow burn? Yes, sign me up! But there was just something about this that I didn't love. Rather than a queer contemporary romance, this one reads more like women's fiction to me (the vibes). Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it...I just felt like the romance was the subplot and it took soooo long. I don't mind slow burns but usually we get more tension/angst. If you like a good plot with a side of romance, this is the one for you!!

Also, for those wondering, this one isn't spicy.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eArc of Wild Things. This is my honest review.

I want to thank the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC for my honest review. I have to admit, I have struggled to write this review a bit. I did enjoy this book, and felt it was well written, but it really took me a while to get into it. I loved the friendships in this book, and how they really formed their own family. I loved reading about the cute town, and the party, and the Instagram stories. I really feel like the romance piece of it wasn’t the part of the book that I looked forward to reading more of. Maybe it’s because I have never read a LGBTQ romance, and I honestly didn’t even realize that was what this was until after I started reading, so it was a little out of my wheelhouse. I thought the first half of the book was really pretty slow, but the 2nd half had me hooked.

3.5 stars.

"Wild Things" by Laura Kay is a low-stakes, slow-burning queer found family romantic comedy about a group of friends who kiss living in London goodbye by buying a home/commune in the countryside. As I said, the story is slow to start... actually, it's slow in the middle, too. The romantic aspect doesn't really start to pick up until late in the book. In fact, the romance really isn't the focal point of the book. A lot of the story revolves around main characters El, Ray, Jamie, and Will buying and renovating their countryside house so they can turn it into a commune. They get chickens, they make a big garden, they figure out the perils and trials of homeownership, they learn how to rebuild and fix things via YouTube videos, etc, they prepare to throw a lavish housewarming party, etc. The found family aspect is also focused on a lot, and this is where I believe the book succeeds. Laura Kay has written such a wonderful sense of friendship and community within these characters. Each one of the four main friends gets time for their personalities to shine. We get to know El, Ray, Will, and Jamie on intimate levels, get to know their quirks, etc. Still, El and Ray are the main protagonists here, as is El's infatuation with Ray (that she seems to be painfully oblivious of, even after being told about it). The "wild year" that El starts to have in the beginning of the book sort of falls by the wayside once she moves into their shared home because all of her adventures shift to focus on their endeavors there. El spends most of the beginning of the story trying to be someone she's not because she thinks she's boring and not adventurous. She starts the year off by doing things that scare her, like (trying to have)/having a threesome, doing Molly, etc. I liked her better as a character when she was just being herself, though she learns to find confidence within herself as the story goes on. I sort of disliked Ray for the most part... she seemed oblivious in a mean way. El made her feelings known on multiple occasions, that she has had a crush on her for years, but Ray disregards them and continues to hurt El. Their "relationship" is one-sided until about ~85%, and even then, I didn't really buy what happens in the end. This is a fine book, but it likely won't be on my year-end list of best-of novels.

Thank you to NetGalley, Laura Kay, and Vintage Anchor for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own, and I was not compensated for my review.

WILD THINGS by Laura Kay was a real delight! Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC which I received in exchange for my honest review.

WILD THINGS chronicles the story of Eleanor "El" who commits to do one wild thing every month for a year. Together with her closest friends - loveable Ray, hilarious Jamie, and endearing Will - and with heartwarming appearances by her brother and his partner, El embarks on a wild journey. El, Ray, Jamie, and Will purchase a country home outside of London to fix up - calling it their queer commune - and El confronts her long-held love for Ray, her best friend. This story is equal parts romantic and hopeful and heartfelt - I loved Kay's writing and I will definitely look out for her future work!

I need to start out with, this is a SLOW (maybe slowest) BURN. While I loved seeing our MC grow and mature throughout the novel it felt like it took half the book to get to the countryside, which was what I thought the location of the book was going to be from the beginning, and then ¾ of the book to get to the romance. I loved the witty one-liners that Kay provided and the found family + queer representation made up for some of the other parts I felt weren't as developed and lacking a bit.

I found this book to be a light and enjoyable read. While it was advertised as a romance, it felt more like a story of four friends navigating life in the country. Their chemistry as a group and the funny moments they shared were highlights for me.

Although there were a few significant events, the pacing felt a bit slow overall, relying heavily on the friendship dynamic. The romance between El and Ray didn't resonate with me. El's unrequited feelings and the lack of honest communication made it frustrating to read.

If you're seeking a light romance without heavy themes, this book would be a good fit. It's satisfying to witness El's personal growth and self-belief throughout the story.

I think this is a fine book, but it didn't sell me in practice the way the summary sold me. Found Family is such a buzzword, and it does get me every time, so I liked that about this -- otherwise, I found it a bit boring. I love a road trip as a concept, but I think in play it needs to be a bit more exciting to fill a book.

I initially found this difficult to get into, which I think was just a me thing. I had trouble keeping all of the characters straight. But I did really enjoy it once I got further along in the story.

What I really loved about this book was the found family moving out to the country together. All the characters were fun and unique, and I really enjoyed the romance. I liked that the found family aspect took on a bigger role than the romance.

If you’re looking for a sapphic friends to lovers story with a fun cast of characters look no further than Wild Things!

This is a super fun romance with a unique premise: four friends from London move into a house in the English countryside. My favorite part was the found family aspect, plus the authentic and lovable characters.

For someone who has absolutely no skills when it comes to DIY home repair, I find myself reading and loving a lot of books that feature this as a main topic. Wild Things is one of those books.
Wild Things follows a group of friends who decide to buy an old house that is in desperate need of fixing on the outskirts of London. We then learn that the friends have some complicated relationships since one of them has been in the love with the other for years. While I loved the set up, this book wasn't quite for me since I'm not the biggest fan of slow burn - but it was really well done and I'm pretty sure that fans of that trope will devour this story!
What I did absolutely love about this book was the focus on found family and friendship. You could really tell that these friends would go to the ends of the earth for each other and I loved that the romance part wasn't the big draw here but the fact that these friends just have so much fun together.

I absolutely adored this book! It was really well written and I loved all the characters. I wish I could move into Lavender House with them!

This book follows El who is in a rut. She is still in the same dead end job she hates, and hopelessly in love with her best friend Ray. When El, Ray, and their two friends Will and Jamie, hatch a plan to ditch the big city and move into a house in the countryside together, it feels like the perfect opportunity to shake things up. Despite being a DIY challenge, the friends are excited and hopeful for their newly named "Lavender House".
However, being in such close quarters with Ray forces El to confront her feelings and decide if it's worth ruining a their wonderful friendship for a chance at love.

I want to start by clarifying: I typically read romances that are aligned to my particular tastes (cis/heterosexual/female POV), so this was a bit out of my wheelhouse. So I can't really speak to the emotional pull of the steamy scenes (which are PG-13 at best)
That being said, its really well written. Its a great vantage point into friendships that span friend circles, what is considered 'wild', and could you be 'wild', and the impact of unrequited love. This is a solid 3.5 stars, and a great break-in story for anyone looking to move outside of their typical tropes/genres

In this story we follow a group of friends who decide to buy an old fixer-upper house on the outskirts of London. This is all fine, but one of the friends is in love with the other and has been for years. The romance was the definition of slow burn as it took the entire book to make any progress. El and Ray’s story didn’t seem like the focus of the book. About 80% of the book was based on the group of friends and the house. I really loved the community that they ended up building. The found family aspect is always great to read! I loved the premise of this book but it just missed the mark for me; I found too much happening all at once. Thank you Vintage Anchor via NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wild Things - Laura Kay

Thank you @netgalley for the #gifted earc in exchange for my completely honest review.

El is in a dead-end job and is struggling to get over a big crush on her best friend Ray. When her friends propose buying a house in the countryside and creating a “queer commune” (with the Token Straight, Will) - El is excited. Will living together be the best thing ever, or will El have to confront her feelings for her best friend? And will she feel the same way?

This was exactly what I needed to break my reading slump. I loved this friend group and their easy friendship. I’m not usually a friends-to-lovers fan, but it worked here. I could’ve read about their little house in the village forever. I need a friend like Jamie in my life, honestly I want a Sally too, maybe even the chickens 😂 The story gets off to a slower start and it’s definitely a slow burn, but it’s cute. El is absolutely pining over an apparently totally oblivious Ray. I’ll be honest - for most of the book I thought El was too good for Ray and that Ray is kind of a jerk. I’m still not sure the story proved me wrong 😂 As far as friends-to-lovers go, this was a cute one!

Thank you to @Vintage for the ARC. This book was a fun read. I usually do not like the slow burn troupe, but this one changed my mind. I enjoyed the friendship between Ray and El and how their relationship developed. Jaime was my favorite, I would love a story all about him.