Member Reviews
Such a lovely, charming debut from Elle Everhart! This story takes readers on an adventure around the world and I enjoyed every minutes of it. The characters and their love was so wonderful. Can't wait to see what Elle Everhart does next!
Dylan is a writer for a magazine and after a particularly bad start to her morning one day, she decides to call in to a radio contest to win a trip around the world. She ends up winning the trip, but the catch is that they can choose any person in her contacts to accompany her on the trip. They end up choosing Jack, a guy that she met on a night out and has not spoken to since. The two start their worldwide travels with tensions running high, but as they get to know each other it becomes clear why they how these two may have connected in the first place.
I really loved the concept of this story and how Dylan and Jack are reunited by chance. It was really fun as the reader to travel with the characters and watch their evolution individually and as a pair. Both Dylan and Jack have dealt with some difficult things in their lives prior to meeting and I love how much they support each other through these challenges and encourage each other to be the best they can be.
Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
WANDERLUST by Elle Everhart comes out July 4th, but I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy from the publisher of this lovely debut novel.
The setup: our heroine has won a free trip around the world, but the catch is that has to take it with a random contact selected from her phone. And the contact they pick is a guy she met once and never called back. Awkward!
The author does a great job of capturing the awkwardness and intimacy of traveling with basically a complete stranger, as well as the softening as they get to know each other and become closer. It was really quite charming.
As a content note, the plot deals heavily with online harassment that the main character experiences after writing an article about the abortion she had in college. Definitely something to deal carefully with if that is something that would distress you. It is all too real of a an experience for women online.
I'm also just really glad this book talks about her abortion without regret. I know not everyone agrees with them (which is fine! Don't get one!) but it is also an important issue for healthcare, bodily autonomy, and religious freedom. It's so common to see books with accidental pregnancies as the main engine of the story, but not enough matter of fact discussion of abortion. It may turn readers off, but I hope not. I hope everyone can read it and empathize, even if it's a choice they wouldn't make for themself.
Oh, how I loved Love Interest. The writing by Casey and Alex was funny, heartfelt and I couldn't stop reading this book once I started. Sadie and Jack were both characters that had so many layers to them. . It’s everything I love in an HEA wrapped up in a pretty little bow.
Thank you to NetGalley and G. P. Putnam's Sons for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Wanderlust, by Elle Everhart, takes the reader on a journey around the world with beautiful scenery, fun antics, an unlikely couple and lots of drama that needs unpacking. At the core, however, is a sensitive topic that some readers may find offensive. That aside, the story is still easy to follow and enjoyable, and the ending is rosy, albeit somewhat expected.
If you’re looking for a quick romance summer read then this is your book! Dylan wins a free vacation through a radio station but the thing is she must take a random person from her contacts alongside with her. Just with her luck a random man she met at a bar named Jack is chosen out of her contacts. Now they must deal with one another as a they take their trip. Personally, for me I found the characters to be quite annoying and immature which is something that really bothers me when I read a book. Although the tension and romance between the character really did come through and save the day. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this eARC!
This was an entertaining book, good concept and easy to read story. Definitely average and great for a quick easy read
Wanderlust is a cute story with a fun premise— two people that hardly know each other traveling the world together. I enjoyed the plot and getting to read about many different countries. Once the characters finally got together the chemistry was great! I did find myself wishing that the characters and relationships were fleshed out a bit more prior to the trip. I also wished there was an epilogue showing the relationship more after the trip. Overall, I think this was a fun read but I don’t think this one will stick with me for a long time. I am thankful to have received this ARC!
This was a super fun, light read that would be perfect for the beach or, even better, vacation! I loved both Dylan and Jack almost instantly and their chemistry sparked off the page even before they started to find common ground. While there were times I wished we could have gotten a bit more of the local flavor of the locales they visited on their trip, I thought that overall the narrative and character development were balanced well with giving sufficient page space to the experiences and locations that Dylan and Jack visited.
putting a bourdain quote at the beginning of your cartoon cover romance novel sure is a Choice. breezy airport fluff without much of anything behind it but i'm sure fans of that sort of thing will like it enough
n Wanderlust, Dylan wins a radio contest to travel the world. But she has to do it with someone randomly picked from her phone—a guy she met at a club and hasn’t talked to since.
This book popped up at the perfect time and was exactly what I wanted. Jack is cute and a bit awkward and so so soft, and Dylan and Jack complement each other perfectly. Ellie Everhart places a strong emphasis on the little touches and moments and I felt the importance of every single one. Jack was such a relatable character to me—I honestly don’t know that I’ve read another character that would react more like me. Wanderlust is perfect for fans of Just My Type by Falon Ballard and the travel vibes of The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun. I am so glad to add Elle Everhart to my list of authors that write amazing fun, sweet romances.
*Thank you SO much to Penguin Group Putnam for this ARC!
Such a fun book! This gave me Christina Lauren vibes in the best way. Perfect for fans of a rom com and a "feel good" read!
this book was so cute! i couldn't put it down! a great beach/summer/vacation read! there were a few slow bits, but overall i enjoyed it!
4.5⭐
The premise of 1) winning a contest to travel around the world, and 2) having to agree to hand over your phone and let a radio show call someone at random and ask them to join you (on air) instantly had me hooked. I thought that Elle Everhart did a wonderful job with both characters who were wildly different from each other but who, still, seemed to fit together in a way that seemed perfectly believable. Dylan was a strong, capable (sometimes stubbornly so), funny, intelligent FMC and I'd love to see more FMCs like her. She never backs down and it was so refreshing and satisfying to read about a woman who continues to take opportunities to stand up for herself. I think some of her confidence and dogged self-sufficiency might come across as arrogant to some, but I just read it as confidently capable. I guess if you <i>don't</i> like that kind of FMC, then this book wouldn't be for you...but, if that's the case, you also probably should steer away from all my reviews, anyway.
I <i>did</i> agree with some reviewers about the short amount of time we (the readers) get to spend in each location and wanting more descriptions and chapters for each place; BUT, I'm also thinking that this book is a contemporary romance novel, not War and Peace. I felt like the select experiences we did get to read about in each location were given an appropriate amount of real estate. Each experience served to move the plot along and gave us enough detail to capture the setting, at least for the purposes of this book. I WILL say, though, that it was kind of weird that they never went to South America? I mean, they were in Mexico, it was RIGHT there...but maybe that would add two chapters too many? Maybe it's just me, but I'd happily read a couple more chapters and don't think I'd feel any differently about the overall pacing or length of the book, I'd just feel happier about having "gone" to even more places ☺. That wasn't enough to lower my rating, though.
The <b>one small issue</b> I did have was that <b>I <i>need</i> an epilogue</b>!!! Please, for the love, tell me what happened one year later! Once I got to about 95% I kept expecting the book to start moving faster to wrap things up, because I assumed there'd be <i>at least</i> a page of epilogue, and when it just ENDED, I was a little devastated. But, only a half-star's worth. 🙃
FINALLY, I just signed up for NetGalley and this was the first eARC I read. Gotta say, I have high expectations for all future eARCs now. Blame Elle Everhart for setting the bar with this one.
Big thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for letting me read an eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.
Wanderlust tells the story of Dylan, a writer trying to get her own column at the magazine she works for, and Jack "the Posho," a guy she met at a bar one night. Winning a radio contest pairs Dylan with Jack (someone randomly chosen from her phone's contacts list) as they win a trip around the world.
The premise of this book sounded interesting and like a nice way to indulge in some vicarious wanderlust, but I think this book suffered from pacing issues. Some parts dragged, some parts were incredibly truncated, and time was convoluted throughout. The travel descriptions were also inconsistent, and despite the book's title, I didn't find much wanderlust satiated. I think this book would have benefited from more clear demarcations of time, and a dual POV would have been preferable.
Thank you to Putnam Books and NetGalley for gifting me with an ARC to review!
Dylan has been going through some troubles, and things finally get to go her way when she win a radio contest that would allow her to take the trip of a lifetime. The only catch is that they will randomly choose a contact out of her phone to travel with her. Unfortunately for Dylan, the radio chooses one random guy that she made out with and never contacted again. Obviously tensions are high at the beginning, but then the chemistry happens.
This book was cute, but it wasn't great. The beginning was slow, and the ending was wayyyyy too drawn out. Dylan annoyed me at times, and Jack's attitude got on my nerves. It was compared to The Unhoneymooners and Lease on Love, but I did not think the dialogue and connection was as cute in this one.
If someone reads a lot, this might be worth reading, but overall, I would not necessarily recommend it because of how dry some of the parts were.
This is a nice summer travel read, with the center being a quite lovely romance. Dylan is in a work rut, and randomly wins a "trip around the world." The catch being someone random from her phone tags along. A random bar hookup, Jack, ends up by her side. Elle Everhart does a really nice job of building tension, showing a budding romance between two people who are trying to figure themselves out. Dylan definitely had moments of being pretty selfish, but she shows growth over time. I like how Everhart approached some really tough topics, which felt like quite natural conversations. For me for a book that is set "around the world" there is a lot missing for me personally on the travel aspect, the locations, etc. but I suppose it makes sense since there are so many weeks that go by in between. Overall a very enjoyable read! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to provide my honest review.
Overall this was a cute story! A fun idea, winning a radio contest and traveling the world with a randomly chosen person from your contacts list? You know what....yes I'm in!
The wanderlust in me was looking forward to an enemies to lovers, set amidst amazingly an amazingly scenic backdrop and while I enjoyed reading this, it ultimately fell pretty flat. We don't know what caused the rift between Jack and Dylan (I really wish there was a prologue to show their meet cure or at least give us some chemistry to root for later), their initial animosity did not include any of the serial tension we would normally see in an enemies to lovers and they were down right plain rude go each other for far far too long. In the end, I just wanted more. I wanted to feel like I was in each of these locations with them but the author didn't really set the scene, I wanted more interaction between the MMC and FMC, I wanted to see something that would help me root for their, at least, happily for now. And for goodness sake, the number of missed opportunities for a one bed scene?!?!? 🤣
Overall this is a perfect airplane to vacation read. And I'm going to not so secretly hope for some of their itinerary related details to show up in the final version at the end (kind of like how some food related books might share a recipe, or music related books with a playlist), while it seemed like they hit all the major cities, there was clearly some research on possible activities and such that would make a great author's note!
Thank you Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the ARC in exchange for my review!
I very much enjoyed this lovely romance showing that sometimes true love awaits in the unlikeliest of places such as a fluke win of a trip with a total stranger.
This was fantastic and such a fun read. I loved it so much and kept turning the pages. Can’t wait to be able to share this with friends.