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K.J. Charles's Reviews > Wild Things
Wild Things
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Very relatable, contemporary British f-f romcom which is actually a romcom, unlike literally every other book described as a romcom that I have read this year.
This is partly a story about an aimless late 20something looking for more in her life, and partly a story about a group of friends moving to a dilapidated house in a village to found a queer commune, and also a f-f super slow burn romance where the narrator has a long lasting crush on one of the people she moves with.
It's well written, lots of fun, and highly readable but, perhaps because it's trying to be three books, it wasn't completely satisfying as any of them. I would have loved more on the house restoration and living together because that was really fun, I'd have liked more soapy group drama. And I wanted more out of the romance, which...after 200pp of the narrator pining for Ray, I actually really wanted her to hit it off with one of the other cute girls she meets because Ray's obliviousness began to grate, and I never quite pulled that back. Basically I wanted the book to do lots more of the things it's doing, which is no bad thing.
This is partly a story about an aimless late 20something looking for more in her life, and partly a story about a group of friends moving to a dilapidated house in a village to found a queer commune, and also a f-f super slow burn romance where the narrator has a long lasting crush on one of the people she moves with.
It's well written, lots of fun, and highly readable but, perhaps because it's trying to be three books, it wasn't completely satisfying as any of them. I would have loved more on the house restoration and living together because that was really fun, I'd have liked more soapy group drama. And I wanted more out of the romance, which...after 200pp of the narrator pining for Ray, I actually really wanted her to hit it off with one of the other cute girls she meets because Ray's obliviousness began to grate, and I never quite pulled that back. Basically I wanted the book to do lots more of the things it's doing, which is no bad thing.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
March 21, 2024
– Shelved
March 21, 2024
– Shelved as:
british
March 21, 2024
– Shelved as:
f-f
March 21, 2024
– Shelved as:
contemporary
March 21, 2024
–
Finished Reading
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Karen
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Mar 23, 2024 07:48AM
I particularly appreciate the first sentence of this review, because I keep writing reviews that begin "This is described as a rom-com, but that's not how it feels." I thought it was just me being too mopey to appreciate comedy!
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Thank you for recommending this, I really really enjoyed this book. I didn't even feel like it was three books, but I did feel very much like it shouldn't have been a rom com, the happy ending didn't work for me. Like you said, "after 200pp of the narrator pining for Ray, I actually really wanted her to hit it off with one of the other cute girls she meets because Ray's obliviousness began to grate, and I never quite pulled that back." I feel like we never get to know Ray as a person, or it never feels convincing that she is in love with the narrator. And like this is a coming-of-age story that would have a better ending with the narrator accepting that and moving on, whether or not she moves back in with the commune (probably not, too painful).
Karen wrote: "I particularly appreciate the first sentence of this review, because I keep writing reviews that begin "This is described as a rom-com, but that's not how it feels." "Someone actually said to me their reading group is beginning to use "romcom" as a trigger warning because of the number of them that turn out to contain stalking, domestic violence, abuse, or genocide.
I just said to someone yesterday that I don't pick up marriage memoirs anymore without thorough vetting by other people because I'm so tired of getting the "Surprise! It's abuse!" experience. I do like the way characters' mental health and wariness due to past experiences is more openly written into romances, because any narrative of growing trust and intimacy has these undercurrents. I don't like how often a lurid backstory of trauma and abuse is used to lay those dynamics out.
This tendency in romcoms made me extra appreciate how in this book, the main character's childhood trauma (the pond thing) is genuinely one of the funniest parts of this book. More silly traumatic backstories like this, please!
