Growing up the daughter of notorious treasure hunter and absentee father Duke Wilder left Lily without much patience for the profession… or much money in the bank. But Lily is nothing if not resourceful, and now uses Duke’s coveted hand-drawn maps to guide tourists on fake treasure hunts through the red rock canyons of Utah. It pays the bills but doesn’t leave enough to fulfill her dream of buying back the beloved ranch her father sold years ago, and definitely not enough to deal with the sight of the man she once loved walking back into her life with a motley crew of friends ready to hit the trails. Frankly, Lily would like to take him out into the wilderness—and leave him there.

Leo Grady knew mirages were a thing in the desert, but they’d barely left civilization when the silhouette of his greatest regret comes into focus in the flickering light of the campfire. Ready to leave the past behind him, Leo wants nothing more than to reconnect with his first and only love. Unfortunately, Lily Wilder is all business, drawing a clear line in the sand: it’s never going to happen.

But when the trip goes horribly and hilariously wrong, the group wonders if maybe the legend of the hidden treasure wasn’t a gimmick after all. There’s a chance to right the wrongs—of Duke’s past and their own—but only if Leo and Lily can confront their history and work together. 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.

Any kind of outdoorsy, survival sort of story immediately piques my interest. I don’t know what it is about stories like these. I’m not the least bit outdoorsy. I don’t hike or camp or even go outside if I don’t have to. LOL. I’m much more a fan of being inside and out of the sun and the bugs. Maybe that’s the reason I like these stories! Who knows? But when I saw that a new Christina Lauren book was coming out that sounded a little different than we usually get from them, I was pretty excited! Treasure hunting, second chance romance, and a little suspense? I am in. I ended up loving it, and it’s one of my favorite CLo books now! I read this over a year ago and am just now finding time to review it, so I’m keeping things nice and simple with just a list of my thoughts this time.

1. This book starts off with a bang. Shortly after Leo’s bro trip with his buddies begins, something happens. What started out as a fun little fake treasure hunt turns into a full-blown race through treacherous terrain to find a real treasure. And danger could be lurking within every shadow.
2. I loved the local lore surrounding Lily’s father’s hidden treasure in the red rock canyons of Utah. It added a level of mystery and excitement I wasn’t expecting.
3. Lily and Leo end up breaking off from the other members of the group, so the bulk of the book is their adventure together. There’s more suspense, heavy discussions about their pasts both individually and the one they shared, survival aspects, and romance. I loved the blend of all of these things.
4. There’s a lot of action in this book, which was a fun change from what I’ve come to expect from CLo.
5. Leo and Lily are such a great couple. She’s strong and independent and seriously guarded. He’s sweet and caring. They made such a great team, deciphering clues and navigating this dangerous hunt together. There’s only one tent, guys… and only one sleeping bag. I will say no more. These two ooze chemistry.
6. I had so much fun. There’s banter and shenanigans and the danger was there, but written in a way that felt fun and exciting. It’s not something that will keep you up at night for any reason other than being hooked on the story and needing to know how it all ends.
7. In the interest of full disclosure, my initial attempt at reading Something Wilder was in audio format and I do not recommend it one bit. I live in Utah, where this book takes place. We do not speak with a twang here. I thought maybe this was the narrator’s choice, but then I read where Nicole’s (one of the secondary characters) twang is mentioned. We don’t have twangs. I later learned that Nicole is originally from Montana (I missed how old she was when she left), which some might argue makes this more accurate. But no, they don’t have twangs there either. People from Montana can sound a little Canadian, if anything, but not twangy except for maybe a very subtle one here and there in the more rural areas. The cowboy-wannabe twang the narrator chose for Nicole was so, so wrong for someone from either of these locations. Anyway. I returned the audiobook very early on and switched to my eARC, which was a very good choice for me.

All in all, I loved this! It was fun and fresh and different from the typical rom-com. I had so much fun on this adventure, and would love for Christina Lauren to write more out of the box rom-coms in the future!

Single mom Jess Davis is a data and statistics wizard, but no amount of number crunching can convince her to step back into the dating world. Raised by her grandparents--who now help raise her seven-year-old daughter, Juno--Jess has been left behind too often to feel comfortable letting anyone in. After all, her father's never been around, her hard-partying mother disappeared when she was six, and her ex decided he wasn't "father material" before Juno was even born. Jess holds her loved ones close, but working constantly to stay afloat is hard...and lonely.

But then Jess hears about GeneticAlly, a buzzy new DNA-based matchmaking company that's predicted to change dating forever. Finding a soulmate through DNA? The reliability of numbers: This Jess understands. At least she thought she did, until her test shows an unheard-of 98% compatibility with another subject in the database: GeneticAlly's founder, Dr. River Pena. This is one number she can't wrap her head around, because she already knows Dr. Pena. The stuck-up, stubborn man is without a doubt not her soulmate. But GeneticAlly has a proposition: Get to know him and we'll pay you. Jess--who is barely making ends meet--is in no position to turn it down, despite her skepticism about the project and her dislike for River. As the pair are dragged from one event to the next as the "Diamond" pairing that could make GeneticAlly a mint in stock prices, Jess begins to realize that there might be more to the scientist--and the science behind a soulmate--than she thought.

I absolutely love author duo Christina Lauren, so I was eagerly anticipating The Soulmate Equation‘s release before I even knew what it was about. Well, before it eve had a title. But then when I learned that it centers around a DNA test that tells you who your soulmate is, I was sold! What a fun idea for a romance book. And it was so much fun! As always, my main points are bolded.

1. Jess, our heroine, is a single mom, has the most amazing support system in her family, and loves statistics and numbers. She and her best friend, Fizzy, learn about this DNA test that matches you up with the one you’re meant to be with and she’s definitely intrigued. Numbers make sense to her, so they can totally find her her dream man. I really liked Jess. I don’t normally love single parent characters in romance because I don’t love kids in romance, but Jess is a really great mom and I enjoyed reading about her relationship with her daughter, Juno (who is very sweet and spunky and I’m definitely a fan of hers). 

2. I love the entire cast of supporting characters in Jess’s family (and found family). Her dad wasn’t a part of her life growing up and her mom has been a partier for nearly all of Jess’s life, so her grandparents are her anchor. And, boy, those two are adorable and perfect and exactly what you’d dream to have in your own life. They live in the same apartment complex as Jess and do everything to help her and Juno. I love how close these four are. Fizzy is so supportive and wonderful, and the very best best friend. She needs her own book, in my opinion. Juno is so sweet and sounds like she’s so much older than she, but not because her voice is wrong or she was written wrong. She seems older and more mature in that way that young kids do, when they’ve been brought up by adults they look up to and want to be like.

3. River is so swoooooony. He’s reserved and professional, yet there’s cracks in that facade and I loved seeing his tender, sweet side. He’s also completely adorable with Juno. I love a man who is good with kids, plus he’s successful and ambitious and sexy so I love River.

4. The romance is exactly the kind of romance I love, although this one was quite a slow burn. When Jess and River get the highest compatibility percentile the company has ever seen, they agree to a business arrangement. They will pretend to date one another to publicize River’s company, and Jess will be paid (generously) for her time. The fact that Juno has been thrown into the mix means Jess needs to be careful to protect her daughter’s heart and privacy as well as her own. It definitely added a bit more complication to the arrangement, and I do love complicated romance. Jess and River has the best chemistry!

5. The drama surrounding the conflict in this story was great. I didn’t see it coming, and I love how it was handled. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll leave it at that.

All in all, The Soulmate Equation is such a unique, heartwarming story that I really fell in love with. The two authors that make up Christina Lauren are talented and never cease to make me smile with their stories. I can’t wait for their next one!

Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything. Her identical twin sister Ami, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and she’s managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man.

Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.

Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of... lucky.

I read The Unhoneymooners almost a year ago, and I loved it so much that I didn’t want to review it because it’s hard to review a book that you love EVERYTHING about and hate NOTHING. I didn’t even dislike anything. I instantly added this book to my favorites list and put it on my wishlist to own a physical copy for my bookshelves. It was just so perfect. BUT I’m reviewing it because it deserves to be reviewed. And I’ve talked about it so much on Twitter and here on the blog, so it’s time to explain my love of it (or at least list out the reasons why I love it). As always, my main points are bolded. :)

1. Right off the bat, that synopsis sold me. I know this author duo well enough to know that they would do this story so well. I mean, the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from a bad seafood buffet at the reception and the ONLY two people who came out of it unscathed (because of an allergy and an aversion to buffets) go on the bride and groom’s honeymoon because why let it go to waste? So, even though they hate each other (or so they think) they dash off to Hawaii together. And hilarity ensues.

2. Why does hilarity ensue? Because they have to PRETEND they’re the bride and groom because the trip was non-transferable. Enter the fauxmance, which is my favorite trope as I’m sure you know. So these two people who hate each other have to be all mushy and lovey dovey and do all these coupley things (like a couples massage) in order to not get in trouble. It’s so perfect and hilarious, because there’s definitely tension there and a mutual attraction but they avoid it all costs because they hate each other.

3. Olive is amazing. She’s spunky and smart and capable. She’s also totally comfortable with herself and has so much confidence. She also has the worst luck ever. I want to be her friend and I want her to teach me how to not care about what anyone thinks.

4. Ethan is pretty swoony. Where Olive is high-strung and emotional Ethan is level-headed and soothing. He’s also pretty snarky and never calls Olive by the right name. They’re such a great match!

5. Their chemistry is explosive, and they can argue like nobody else. There is so much snark and contempt between the two of them, but as they spend more time together they realize there’s something more there.

6. Olive’s family is wonderful. I love her twin sister, Ami (the bride), and their bond. They are so devoted to each other. The entire family is awesome.

7. The writing *Italian chef finger kiss*. I hope these two never quit writing, Their rom-coms give me life.

All in all, read this. Read. This. Book. It’s the perfect romantic comedy with all the tropes I love. Christina Lauren can do no wrong.