💫 Spoiler Alert 💫

I enjoyed this story from the first chapter. I sort of went through the motions of “Is Ray flirting? She’s definitely flirting, am I crazy”? I was confident she was, then I wasn’t and honestly my heart hurt for El because it really did feel like an infinitely impossible situation. I was in two minds how things would play out with Rachel, but wow did my heart break for El. I was both proud and also frustrated with how she handled the aftermath. Ultimately I feel I probably would have done the same. So it was relatable and realistic in my mind. I love how it ended, I love how overdramatic El can be and loved Jamie so much. I did like Will as well. The build up was incredibly frustrating at times, but it was necessary and worth the suffering in the end.

This was a cute heart warming queer rom-com 💖 but at it's core was a story about finding yourself and the importance of friendship ✨

The romance between El and Ray is very slow burn and mild as the story focused more on Els personal growth and finding the confidence to be her authentic self.

The characters are great, I enjoyed El as a narrator and the secondary characters have enough personality without taking over the story. I also enjoyed that this was a "finding yourself" book with characters who are in their 30's and not teenagers or early twenties which is the norm, I found it much more relatable ✨

Over all this is a light quick read that promises a happy ever after from the get go and I enjoyed it for what it was

On the face of it I enjoyed this novel: the idea of a group of (mostly) queer friends moving out of London to renovate an old house is interesting, and the group dynamic was too. But the romance element was just so boring. Eleanor, the protagonist and narrator was just a wet blanket of a person, mooning her way through life hating her job and (inexplicably) loving her best friend Ray but doing nothing about either. And Ray had no real personality, except that El and her other friends seemed to find her fun? I would spend time with their housemate Jamie, and the cast of characters from the village they move to, but otherwise it was a no from me.

Laura Kay has done it again! Outstanding story life from the start, this book takes you on a rollercoaster journey and a true eye opener, recommend this book 1000%

I love a found family. This made me just want to find a group of friends and move to the sticks, renovate a house, and love on some chickens.
This small group of characters is so charming and endearing. Jamie is simply gorgeous with his mothering of chickens and bringing the best out in people. Will is great but not as noticeable as some of the other characters. Ray, I don't know about. I certainly didn't see what Eleanor sees in her and I would have liked to get a more in-depth look into El's feelings about Ray.
I had hoped to see Sally in the New Years epilogue.
But generally, this was the kind of book that warms the cockles of your heart with hope and courage.
I received a copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this one. It was an easy read and I enjoyed the plot/story line. I managed to read it and it got me out of a slump.

Have you ever wanted to move out into the countryside with a group of friends, buy a house together, and form a little gay commune? Well, if you haven’t, then Wild Things will sure get you desperate to do it.

That is, in broad strokes, the plot. Eleanor, our protagonist, and her three friends jointly buy a house a little ways out from London, on something of a whim. Those friends include Ray, who El has a crush on, Jamie, who works at the same company as Ray and Jamie, and Will, Ray’s flatmate, who had intended to buy the house with his girlfriend until she broke it off with him. A regular little found family!

This is the perfect read if you want something light-hearted and low stakes, where the central plot is about building a home, this book is for you. There’s very little stress to it, since a large chunk is focused on the aforementioned homebuilding exercise. In fact, the only real tension comes about in the final quarter or so, when you finally confront the question of how Eleanor’s crush on Ray will play out.

Perhaps this is why I have to admit I enjoyed this one less than I did The Split and Tell Me Everything. I mean, I still liked it, but I just found that lack of tension made it feel like I was drifting along through the book for the most part. The best part was the final quarter where suddenly things started to go just a bit wrong (before, of course, getting fixed). Here also came to a head a few other things that had been simmering in the background (namely, regarding Eleanor’s parents, some bits about her brother too). I think it would have worked better for me if these had been made just a bit more prevalent before this point.

However, saying all this, Laura Kay’s strength is in writing characters and she did it again so well here. This is a cast of characters that feels so real, like you want to leap into the pages with them (and join their little gay commune!). Their relationship and the community they build in the village is just so wholesome. As I said, really the perfect low-stakes and light-hearted read.

And, really, this should be a sign that, if you’ve never picked up a book by Laura Kay before, you should be rectifying that as soon as you can.

A great atmospheric read. Loved El and Ray and the slow burn. If you like Catherine Walsh and Mhairi McFarlane this has the same kind of feels. Loved the commune and the angst. I would have loved more between El and Ray but overall a gorgeous light summer read.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Wild Things is Laura Kay's third novel, continuing her reign as a feminine queer romance leader in publishing.

Wild Things follows Eleanor and her wild year of doing things she normally wouldn't do, like moving in with her long time crush- Ray into a queer commune in the countryside.

When the group's friend Will experiences a break up with a house in limbo, they decide to all move in together and live outside of London for the first time. Broken boilers, broken hearts and some chickens makes this novel a sweet read- and perfect to kickstart spring.

I really enjoyed seeing the concept of a queer commune being fleshed out in the UK- I read All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews last year and was excited when she took this concept and explored this in her book and Wild Things is similar but with a more romantic feel.

Wild Things is a perfect book if you want something that is positive, cute and light to read but not too short. At times I lost myself in the pining of El towards Ray, and this took me out of the book and the wild list disappeared and reappeared a bit too much but overall I was engaged with the text and really enjoyed this book.

Oh this book is gorgeous. I loved it. It’s funny and sweet and sexy with the most adorable cast of characters (I think the hilariously dry Rozália was my favourite) and a wholly satisfying ending. I really enjoyed Laura’s first book, The Split, but Wild Things is on another level. Can’t wait to see what she does next.

Laura Kay is an author whose work I love reading and Wild Things is no different - I adored the main character El and the ramshackle old house that they move into, it was written so well that you could see the house and the village...Fantastic again.

El is stuck in a rut. She is trapped in a job she loathes, lives with a passive aggressive roommate and her love life is nonexistence. Oh, and did I mention she is secretly crushing on her best friend. So, El does what will all do when we are looking to make a drastic change in our lives. She makes a New Year’s Resolution to…

Have a Wild Year.

I didn’t see the commune/house renovation plot coming but I guess that’s what experiencing a wild year is all about… Expecting the unexpected. I real strength of the story is the diverse characters. I adored them all: Jamie, Will, Ray, Rob, Poppy, Rozália and Sally.

The romance is a delightful slow burn. However, the story centres more on El’s personal growth than the romance between El and Ray.

This story is so wholesome. If you’re looking for a book to brighten up your day, then this one is a must.

A story following four friends and their work/love lives and one big decision. I enjoyed this book, it was a bit slow to start but definitely got better!

I really wanted to love this book as the characters were great but I think this book tried to do too much at once so the ending felt a bit rushed.

I think this would be a nice summer read.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy.

This takes slow burn to a whole other level. I feel like we only actually got two chapters of actual romance. The rest of the book feels like boring filler with El pining and coming across as a tad pathetic and immature. I also didn’t feel like there was any chemistry between El and Ray. There seemed to be more of a connection with Rachel or Sabine. I did adore Jamie though, he seems like a fun bestie to have. From about half way through I started skimming and I don’t feel like I missed out on anything at all. Definitely wasn’t for me

I received a copy of the ebook via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Laura Kay has done it again. I bloody loved this book. I loved everything about it - the characters, the plot, the ending!! It’s such a heartwarming, feel-good book full of friendships, chaos and laughter.

This should have been just the book for me, it wasn't. Didn't like the MC or the storytelling.
Instead of feeling like a warm and easy romance, it felt like an annoying kid sibling who follows you around.

Wasn't for me, please check other reviews.

Four pals moving to the countryside to start a queer commune with rescue chickens? Pretty sure Laura Kay wrote this book specifically for me.

El is in a rut- she has a dead-end job, lives in an overpriced flat with a terrible housemate, and is hopelessly and devastatingly in love with her best friend. Tired of being seen as the boring one, she drunkenly commits to a year of wild things - cue jumping at the chance to buy a run-down house in the countryside with her favourite people- including the girl she’s in love with, because of course!

Wild Things is Laura Kay’s third book and I was *thrilled* to get my hands on an ARC for it because each one is better than the last. There’s yearning, there’s queer joy, there’s loveable characters - honestly, it’s like a hug of a book. I have done no useful things today, I’ve just drunk endless cups of tea and binge-read with the cat. You should absolutely do the same.

El has been a little stuck, romantically and at work, so she decides to have a year of doing wild things. Halfway through the year, she moves out of the city to live in an old farmhouse with her three best friends. One of her best friends is also Ray, who El happens to have a huge crush on since basically forever. This could go either amazingly well or terribly wrong.

This was a very cute, funny queer romcom! I enjoyed reading about the house and how they decorated it as well as getting to know all of the characters. The story felt very summery, I believe this would be an ideal book for your Summer holiday! It was light but entertaining!

However, I didn't find myself itching to pick it up and continue reading. It wasn't bad in any way but it wasn't very memorable -- it was a perfectly okay novel!
I did think some of El's thoughts regarding Ray were a bit pathetic, just a little too much considering their situation. She often thought about how she would do literally anything if Ray was watching her or doing it with her and it wasn't really sweet and cute, it was more like a constant need to impress. It was often about things El wouldn't normally do herself, which then felt like she wasn't being true to herself and like there was a pressure to be a perfect person specifically for and in front of Ray.

I would still recommend this book, especially during Spring and Summer! It was cute, light and fun!

I thought this book was so well written. Fun, relatable and heartwarming.
I loved how normal it was to be queer in this book, like it wasn't a huge abnormal deal like it can be in some writing.
The characters were people I wanted to be friends with and the setting was stunning. I love a shabby country house.
Overall, an easy and fun read that was really up there for me.