Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - Something Wilder

This book was more like Indiana Jones than a rom-com, but once I adjusted to that, it was alright. There’s a lot of suspension of disbelief that needed to happen, but the twists and turns felt fun and enjoyable.

Overall, this wasn’t a particularly swoony romance, but it was still a fun read. It’s not my favorite Christina Lauren romance, but it was just an enjoyable read. Check the trigger warnings, though!

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nabecker13's review

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Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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kcbatts's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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lauryneball's review

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Treasure hunt, adventurous

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natashaleighton_'s review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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thebooknook180's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

The ending actually pulled out pretty strong. But wow this book is ridiculous. I think a lot of my confusion came with the marketing of it.
SO if you like National Treasure, Laura Croft, The Lost City, etc - this book is totally for you!
Definitely needing to suspend reality for a bit, it’s fun and adventurous, and the relationship makes sense.

Honestly though, I think without the romance this book could’ve flourished even more. The relationship between Leo and Lily felt like a staple of the authors (as in, they traditionally write romance) instead of what was best for the book. Also wow! Did that random death/murder take me by surprise. RIP Terry

Content Warnings

inkdrinkers's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

"I swear to God I didn’t realize this was your Lily.”

Lily Wilder has always lived in the shadow of her famous treasure hunter father. Even after his death, she's still only known as his daughter as she runs her own hiking tour group, taking parties out into the desert to search for their own pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. But the one person that never just saw her as Duke Wilder's daughter was Leo, until Leo left her to return to New York after his mother's death. Ten years later Leo reappears in Lily's life and sets off a chain of events that sends the two colliding once again while hunting for Butch Cassidy's hidden treasure in Utah.

I think I'm beginning to wonder if I actually like Christina Lauren books. This is only my second, but even with the UnHoneymooners I felt like there was something missing. I felt the same way in this book. The romance felt like it didn't make much sense. It's a second chance, but instead of Leo and Lily being able to talk about the way things changed for both of them in the past ten years - they just fall immediately back into sex. The sex scenes are wildly out of place and often very sudden - with a lot of fooling around in tents and sleeping bags (not... my favorite, lmao). I just struggled to feel any kind of spark between Leo and Lily, I felt like it had been far too long between their fling to make it believable that they didn't forget about each other for so long - and I consider myself a hopeless romantic.

I was actually really interested in the treasure hunting aspect of this book. The adventuring aspect of Leo and Lily hiking through the canyons looking for treasure was a lot of fun! I enjoyed the fact that Leo and Lily played well off of each other with brawns/brain, instead of assigning specific traits to each of them. The ciphers and codes were also interesting, so kudos to the authors for the puzzles! (The ending was my favorite)

This book had it's funny moments too, but overall felt a little bit too formulaic for me so I have to just chalk this up to a miss for me. I still plan on trying out Love and Other Words, not to mention the recent The Soulmate Equation/True Love Experiment. Maybe I just haven't found my Christina Lauren book yet.

Content Warnings: Death, Gun violence (on page), Violence (on page), Death of parent (past), Sexual content (on page), Kidnapping (on page)

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