Christina Lauren is the pen name of writing partners/best friends Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, the New York Times, USA Today, and #1 internationally bestselling authors of twenty-eight books, including the Beautiful and Wild Seasons series, The Unhoneymooners, Twice in a Blue Moon, Love and Other Words, In a Holidaze, and The Soulmate Equation. Find them at ChristinaLaurenBooks.com or @ChristinaLauren on Instagram and Twitter. You can find more of my reviews of their work here.
Growing up the daughter of notorious—and notoriously absent—treasure hunter Duke Wilder left Lily without much patience for the profession . . . or much money in the bank. Using Duke's hand-drawn maps to guide tourists on "treasure" hunts through the canyons of Utah pays the bills but isn't enough to buy back the beloved ranch her father sold years ago, and is definitely not enough to deal with the sight of her first love walking back into her life with a motley crew of friends ready to hit the trails. Leo Grady knew mirages were a thing in the desert. When the silhouette of his greatest regret comes into focus in the flickering light of the campfire, Leo realizes he wants nothing more than to reconnect with his first and only love. Unfortunately, Lily draws a clear line in the sand: it's never going to happen. But when the routine trip goes completely sideways, the group wanders if maybe the legend of the hidden treasure wasn't a gimmick after all. Alone under the stars in the isolated and dangerous mazes of the Canyonlands, Leo and Lily must decide whether they'll risk their lives and hearts on the adventure of a lifetime.
What's just so awesome about Something Wilder is the adventure element of the story. At first, it seems like you're getting a standard romance, but after the twist that occurs about 100 or so pages in, it's clear that this one is going to be twistier and more violent than maybe anyone would have guessed. While it still doesn't take itself too seriously on the treasure hunt element, Christina Lauren definitely leans into the craziness of the wilderness and the types of people you might meet in the wild. There are plenty of twists and betrayals along the way, making Something Wilder one of the most insane romance novels that I've ever read.
Now, don't get me wrong, there is plenty of romance in Something Wilder. I love the opening prologue that set the scene of Lily's and Leo's relationship when they were young. It helped readers understand the emotional rollercoaster they must have gone through during the intervening years, and clearly sets up this book's trope as second chance romance. For fans of forced proximity and there's only one bed, there's plenty of that in here too (albeit behind some twists at first!). I love how Christina Lauren's romances rely on tropes to set the tone, but how the relationships between the characters are all their own outside of the tropes. A lot of Lily's and Leo's emotional journey is about finding a way to reconnect with one another on that emotional level, and discovering what changed over the years that they have to address. I related so much to both of them and how they approached this new chance at life and love, and it makes for a hopeful and fulfilling story.
CLo always puts together a fantastic read. Something Wilder depends on its seamless blend of romance and adventure, but they don't skimp out of any of the other wonderful things they always do. The setting is just as much a part of the story as it usually is (maybe even more so based on this one's premise), and everything feels well-researched even though we know we couldn't follow this route in nature at all. They incorporate several secondary characters that feel fleshed out, even if we don't see their character arcs the same way we do with Lily's and Leo's. The shifts in the MCs' POVs are coherent, and I never once lost track of the story as it shifted from Lily's to Leo's eyes and back again. Overall, their writing just keeps getting stronger, and these two, if you didn't already know, are just a powerhouse.
I've got a whole lot of Christina Lauren to catch up on, so I can't wait to keep reading more of their work. Until then, you can find them at ChristinaLaurenBooks.com or @ChristinaLauren on Instagram and Twitter. You can find more of my reviews of their work here.
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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