Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Something Wild & Wonderful by Anita Kelly

35 reviews

imds's review

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  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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the_vegan_bookworm's review

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emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Anita Kelly writes another fantastic book that will grab you by the emotions and give you a shake! Alexei and Ben are wonderful, layered and likable characters. Setting the story with the PCT as the backdrop was so interesting and made for such a rich story. It was a generally really great read!

I do wish the autism was better explored, instead of being implied and then added in the epilogue. It felt obvious that it was where the author was going but I wish there had been some earlier discussions on the subject to really work it into the message being put out.

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madisongturner's review against another edition

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4.5

Another beautiful queer romance from this author. This one really hit home in a lot of ways with the complexity of being raised queer in a religious family, which was beautifully handled. It handles the realities of relationships where each person has such a different background that impacts every decision they make. Definitely recommend (along with anything else Anita Kelly writes!)

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nevawink's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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amandaboyer's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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finesilkflower's review against another edition

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3.75

Largely enjoyable. I like books where not that much happens and it's mostly hanging out with the characters; I'd say this is about 50% that, and 50% angst.  

As a nature lover, I love the idea of a romance set on the Pacific Coast Trail. It is a romanticized view, but that is what you are here for in a romance!

The romance is sweet, and the characters are likable and complement each other well.  Both characters are painfully earnest and endlessly tender. The main problem I suppose is that it's difficult to imagine why these characters who genuinely adore and want the best for each other would have a book-level of relationship conflict, and as a result Kelly has given them both a level of insecurity and angst that it is actually pretty difficult to deal with (both in technical/authorial terms of being able to resolve it by the end of the book and for me personally as a reader). It sort of felt like Kelly was resolving on "he walks on the trail for a long time and then feels like a different person" to do a lot of work. 

Random Observations:

 * Alternating POV is one of my romance pet peeves but it's SO common. 

* I can't confirm this, but the appearance and demeanor of Alexei led me to imagine he's modeled on the autistic-coded CEO character Evan Speck from Freeform's "Good Trouble" - the softer version of the character who loved turtles, before the soap opera wiped his memory.

* Feels like there was a missed opportunity for Ben to patch up an injury of Alexei's and engage in some hurt/comfort.

* I like that the pining portion of the book isn't the whole thing and they actually move onto a relationship which is more interesting. 

* The book contains scenes of sexual tension and sex scenes; I am not sure if I am just bringing my graysexuality to this book, but the sexiness didn't really land with me. It just kind of felt like the tone of scenes randomly shifted between sexiness, tenderness, angst, etc. 

* The two major conflicts in the relationship both occur when Alexei abruptly walks out on Ben, once on the trail and once by disappearing mid-visit to his family. As a reader, these events felt a bit samey, but also I feel like the relationship pattern created made me really wary on Ben's behalf about continuing to pursue Alexei because obviously he has a tendency to bail when things get hard, which is exactly what Ben doesn't need. And I'm not convinced he won't do it again after the end of the book! The book's attempt to turn this into a lesson for Ben about how he needs to be vulnerable and put his heart on the line actually felt kind of toxic and victim-blamey. I don't think Alexei is a bad person but I was pretty convinced by the book that he is not in a place for a relationship right now. And the ending also made me feel that perhaps Ben is not either: When Ben shows up to meet him at the end, although we know from Alexei's POV that it's welcome, it didn't seem like Ben had enough information to know that it would be, and his other grand gesture of getting a tattoo of Alexei's favorite bird felt like a real red flag to me.

What kills me is that there are COMPLETELY genuine romance conflicts you could put in the book without having the two characters be this messy. Ben's job could have created a serious roadblock even if they had been open and communicative about it. Alexei's relationship inexperience and/or neurodivergence could have created communication barriers or expectation gaps. The book could have covered the difficulty of translating an intense trail experience to the real world. I suppose I just felt that Alexei's second abandonment of Ben crossed the Relationship Feasability Event Horizon, so by the end I didn't even want them to get together.


* Dark-eyed juncos are pretty?? Compared to TANAGERS????? 

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daisy1_f's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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kshertz's review

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adventurous emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Okay officially love this author so much. Love and other disasters was amazing and how happy was I to see the characters again?. So. Happy. But really Ben and Alexei stole my heart. Not only did I read this in a day, but it made me cry. I can’t remember the last time a book made me cry. There is a trigger warning about being cut off from family and I knew it was coming but it still hit me hard. Found family means everything to me and the way this book validated that for me was beautiful. I had a hard time with the PCT trail and that they kept leaving it 😅 but that’s my own perfectionism I know. You won’t catch me on there. But this love story is achingly beautiful and relevant and I think everyone should read it. There’s also just enough smut to keep me happy. 

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lowkeymarie's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • 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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jareadforfilth's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this book so much, an instant all-time favorite, EASILY. Ben and Alexei are each sooo lovable in their own ways and I love them so much together too! I literally hate nature and this book made me want to hike and camp and just do it all!! There is definitely plot, but it is mostly character-driven and unlike many character-driven books, this one keeps up the pace in a way that is both refreshing and incredibly engaging. I was drawn in for the entirety of this book and loved both of our heroes from the moment we met them. Their arcs are also both so inspiring and beautiful, I can’t rave enough about these beautiful characters, and their friends both old and new are incredible too!!
It is also paramount to stress the beauty of the writing here. Kelly uses their words so impeccably and artfully, I was clutching my heart at the shear colors they were able to paint in their syntax. Props to the editing team too, I’m sure it was a team effort and it truly felt like art. I swooned, I became breathless, I cried, I cheered and felt joy. I cannot say enough good things about this book. Incredible rep, incredible storytelling, incredible characters, gallons of heart and some big nerdy moments with found family and healing? THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ.

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