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Something Wilder
The "reigning romance queens" (PopSugar) and New York Times bestselling authors of The Soulmate Equation and The Unhoneymooners present a charming and laugh-out-loud funny novel filled with adventure, treasure, and, of course, love.
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 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 treasure hunt of a lifetime.
This page-turning adventure full of second chances, complicated relationships, and the breathtaking beauty of the American Southwest will take you on one wild ride.
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 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 treasure hunt of a lifetime.
This page-turning adventure full of second chances, complicated relationships, and the breathtaking beauty of the American Southwest will take you on one wild ride.
Editorial Reviews
"This exhilarating, fast-paced, deeply emotional and sexy romance is required beach reading." -Oprah Daily
"Something Wilder is magnificent. It's everything I've ever wanted in a book - laugh out loud humor, rollicking adventure, and the swooniest romance. A perfect read!" -Sarah MacLean, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Day of the Duchess and The Rogue Not Taken
"The name Christina Lauren (a portmanteau for the writing team of Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings) is beloved by romance readers (and publishers) having become synonymous with sure-fire hits year after year. Dubbed by many advance copy readers as a sexier version of the movie National Treasure, heroine Lily uses the old, hand-drawn, fake treasure maps as a way to guide tourists on tours through the red rock canyons of Utah. But what if those supposedly fake treasure maps weren't so fake after all?" -Fortune
"This might be the ultimate beach read of 2022. Christina Lauren are back with this highly anticipated, super-fun romp packed with action, adventure, and a treasure hunt. The authors describe it as Romancing the Stone meets The Hangover, and you'll understand when you read it! It's a bit if a departure for Christina Lauren, but there's plenty of romance and banter to keep their fans satisfied (plus...one sleeping bag!). If you're new to Christina Lauren, stop what you're doing and read The Unhoneymooners, a perfect choice for a beach read." -Country Living
"Something Wilder is exactly what we all need right now…a true escape within the pages of a book, filled with adventure, rekindled romance, and second chances. Trust me, you'll want to go along for the ride with Lily and Leo." -Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of
"Something Wilder is magnificent. It's everything I've ever wanted in a book - laugh out loud humor, rollicking adventure, and the swooniest romance. A perfect read!" -Sarah MacLean, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Day of the Duchess and The Rogue Not Taken
"The name Christina Lauren (a portmanteau for the writing team of Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings) is beloved by romance readers (and publishers) having become synonymous with sure-fire hits year after year. Dubbed by many advance copy readers as a sexier version of the movie National Treasure, heroine Lily uses the old, hand-drawn, fake treasure maps as a way to guide tourists on tours through the red rock canyons of Utah. But what if those supposedly fake treasure maps weren't so fake after all?" -Fortune
"This might be the ultimate beach read of 2022. Christina Lauren are back with this highly anticipated, super-fun romp packed with action, adventure, and a treasure hunt. The authors describe it as Romancing the Stone meets The Hangover, and you'll understand when you read it! It's a bit if a departure for Christina Lauren, but there's plenty of romance and banter to keep their fans satisfied (plus...one sleeping bag!). If you're new to Christina Lauren, stop what you're doing and read The Unhoneymooners, a perfect choice for a beach read." -Country Living
"Something Wilder is exactly what we all need right now…a true escape within the pages of a book, filled with adventure, rekindled romance, and second chances. Trust me, you'll want to go along for the ride with Lily and Leo." -Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of
Readers Top Reviews
KarenHeDaniela Go
Rating：5 stars This is my first time reading Christina Lauren's work. I'll say it is wonderful and pretty enjoyable reading. The writing is so beautiful. I feel like taking an adventure to Utah Red Canyon with the characters all the way long. I can even feel the dry air and sunlight when I close my eyes, while the funny fact is that I've never been to Utah in my life. And the story is very well-designed as well. The plot has so many twists and turns that I couldn't even blink. I always love the smart, independent and capable female characters, and Lily is definitely my favorite type of heroine. Oh, I would fall in love with Lily if I was Leo. So I am really happy to see Leo make it right and win his love back eventually. Well done, man. After I finished the book, I had a feeling that Leo is like a key to Lily's life. A decade ago, Leo left, and Lily's heart was locked, as Lily couldn't love anyone else since Leo left. Beyond miserable love life, every aspect of Lily's life started to tangle up, family, career, finance. But now, when Lily reconnected with Leo and start this amazing adventure, Lily's heart started to unlock, and Lily's unsure life started to untangle little by little. The funniest part of the book is that there are full of riddles and codes in this journey as well as Lily's life, and Leo is literately a code breaker, no matter for the codes or for Lilly's life. It's really an interesting book, highly recommended to someone who enjoys adventurous stories or second-chance romance.
Maree LaRueKarenH
Since first reading "The Unhoneymooners" a few months ago, I just can't get enough of the Christina Lauren writing duo. This Wyoming and Utah "Romancing the Stone" is no exception! In addition, we get dual third-person POV from Lily and Leo. I completed my undergrad in Laramie and I've been watching "Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid" long before that. Suffice to say, I was glad of the author's note about geographic accuracy. It helped me just enjoy the adventure! The story starts with young love and young heartbreak. I liked getting to see Lily and Leo full of hope, before flashing forward to the future. While I have a great relationship with my dad, I can sympathize with a burden of accomplishment and family duty. As a former tour guide and frequent traveler, I thought Wilder Tours sounded great. I Googled pictures of the setting and nearly booked a flight to the Canyonlands. Gorgeous natural beauty. What a setting for Leo to reignite the passion in Lily, with his dumb friends egging him on. Oh yeah, it gets full-on steamy more than once! Mishaps and treachery beset our would-be lovers. Along the way, I really appreciated the authors yet again hitting the hard relationship questions. What is compromise? How do you fight for happiness? Gender roles are discussed and discarded. Lily and Leo understand and respect each other's strengths; love that. Stay tuned for the epilogue y'all, it'll keep you believing in persistence, puzzles, and HEA.
Lyndsey | @thebru
4/5 stars ⭐️ 361 pages 📚 🎶 Cowboy Take Me Away - The Chicks “At least you’ll have choices in front of you, which is the only thing I want for you. Most of all, I just don’t want you to end up with a life half-lived.” Something Wilder is the newest contemporary romance by Christina Lauren which follows the story of Lily Wilder, Leo Grady, and an adventure-filled week in Utah. I went into this blind and expecting a typical romance story however I will say the romance is really a secondary plot throughout this book. The primary plot is about an off-the-grid adventure guide tour turned intense treasure hunt 💰 There is drama, twists, and violence as Lily, Leo, and their friends go off in search of treasure rumored to have been found years ago by Lily’s father, Duke Wilder. One of my biggest complaints about this book was the third person POV. I felt like we could’ve gotten so much more about the actual romance storyline if we were getting candid thoughts from Lily and Leo. Additionally, as this is a second chance romance, I wanted more of the original 5 months L&L spent together before their nearly decade long time apart. Overall this was a really fun and adventure filled read! I recommend if you like: 💞 Second chance romance 🌵 Escapism 🐴 Wild West vibes! 🗺 Riddles, codes, treasure hunts 🤯 Lots of twists
Samantha PaigeLyn
I love this adventure! It had action, a quest and some romance. I didn’t swoon, but I still loved it. It was a fun romcom, but with more action and adventure mixed in. I did love how Leo was ready to give Lily his life savings 4 days after being reconnected after 10 years. But I also loved how strong she was and how he understood her. He would distract her when she got upset. He knew just how to take care of her without choosing for her. Leo out loud - yea sure let’s go. Leo in his mind - I’ll follow you anywhere. I’m not letting her go this time. Unless she asks me too. By the end I was crying and then laughing a split second later! I cannot wait for the next Christina Lauren book!! They are two of my favorite author duos!
Katie SweetingSam
I laughed and sat on the edge of my seat throughout this novel. Something Wilder has something for everyone - fun, sexy, sneaky, witty, and evil characters abound; a love story; a treasure hunt; lots of obstacles; and lots of laughter. The dialogue had me laughing out loud. I raced through the book in less than a day, enjoying every moment… you will, too.
Short Excerpt Teaser
Chapter One Chapter One
Hester, Utah-Archie's Bar
May, Present Day
"IN HINDSIGHT," LILY said, wincing, "I know better than to ignore a bar fight going on behind me."
Archie extended a meaty hand, passing her a dripping cloth full of ice. "I'm more concerned you took an elbow to the back of the head and barely flinched."
"Is that a joke about me being hardheaded?" She sucked in a breath at the shock of ice against the nape of her neck.
Archie leaned over the bar. "I'm saying you're a tough little cowgirl, Lily Wilder."
Lily shoved him away with a laugh. "Kiss my ass, Arch."
"Any time you want, Lil."
With an elbow resting on the scuffed wood, she held the ice in place and watched condensation track in slow, fat streams down her pint glass. But as soon as she dragged a finger through it, the glass got muddy. All day long, wind worked the red desert dust into the creases of her clothing, into her hair. Hands, arms, face. Thank God for showers and sunscreen. With the kind of crowd one found at Archie's, though, it was never worth showering before coming in-whether Lily was sitting at the bar with a beer or working behind it in the off-season. The errant elbow to the back of her head was proof enough.
The door opened, briefly blasting the dim room with light, and Nicole arrived in a flash of messy blond hair and checked red-and-blue flannel. Sliding onto the stool beside Lily's, Nicole lifted her chin to Archie in both silent greeting and beverage order. He pulled a lager into a questionably clean glass and slid an even more questionably clean bowl of peanuts toward the women. More starving than fastidious, Lily dug in.
Nicole gestured to the ice pack. "What the hell?"
"Petey and Lou were at it. I was collateral damage."
"Need me to kick their asses?" She moved to stand, but Lily stopped her with a hand on the arm.
Nicole was taller and stronger than Lily, and her loyalty made her nearly feral when provoked. Lily wagered that Petey and Lou would have a pretty fair fight on their hands. If Lily gestured for Nic to go at it, she'd die trying. But Nic was all she had, so Lily tipped her head instead toward the small stack of papers on the bar near her friend's arm. "Is that the new group?"
Nicole nodded. "Arriving tomorrow."
"Dudes?" Lily asked. Their clients were almost always men coming out to hunt treasure and play at being outlaws. A group of women felt like a breath of fresh air. Those trips were quieter, more easygoing. They almost made the job worth it. Almost.
"Yeah. Four of them."
"Bachelor party? Birthday?"
Nic shook her head. "Looks like it's a group of friends just taking a trip together."
At this, Lily groaned. At least bachelor parties were on some kind of mission, usually to sneak booze and have a week of debauchery they'd talk about for years to come. But the groups that came to Lily's tourist expedition company, Wilder Adventures, just to "get away" always needed more babysitting, more structure. Sometimes that was fine-helping people enjoy a vacation on horseback had been Lily's joy growing up and was to this day-but right now she was running on fumes.
"All of them signed the waiver?" Lily asked.
Nic scratched her cheek, hesitating. "Yeah."
Pointing, Lily asked, "What's that mean?"
"Well," Nicole said, "it kind of looks like they were all signed by the same person."
Lifting her beer to her lips, Lily muttered a quiet "Shit."
"Dub, it's a formality."
"Unless it isn't," she said. "I can't afford a lawsuit."
"Girl, you can barely afford this beer." When she ducked to catch Lily's gaze, Nic's wild hair fell over half her face, leaving one glimmering blue eye free to study her best friend. "How are you thinking this will be our last trip out?"
Lily squinted down at the whorls in the scuffed wood bar. Truthfully, she had been hoping more than anything that this would be the last hurrah for Wilder Adventures. She wanted this to be the last time she took city slickers out into the desert to team-build and "rough it" and hunt for fake treasure. She wanted to put her dad's journal away and never have to look at it again. She wanted to live where no one asked her about Duke Wilder's maps or his stories and she could forget all about Butch Cassidy. Lily wanted to never again see a man wear polished dress shoes while riding a horse or hear another woman wearing a Prada "western" shirt complain how sore her ass was after a half hour in a saddle. She wanted to be running a ranch, to tack u...
Hester, Utah-Archie's Bar
May, Present Day
"IN HINDSIGHT," LILY said, wincing, "I know better than to ignore a bar fight going on behind me."
Archie extended a meaty hand, passing her a dripping cloth full of ice. "I'm more concerned you took an elbow to the back of the head and barely flinched."
"Is that a joke about me being hardheaded?" She sucked in a breath at the shock of ice against the nape of her neck.
Archie leaned over the bar. "I'm saying you're a tough little cowgirl, Lily Wilder."
Lily shoved him away with a laugh. "Kiss my ass, Arch."
"Any time you want, Lil."
With an elbow resting on the scuffed wood, she held the ice in place and watched condensation track in slow, fat streams down her pint glass. But as soon as she dragged a finger through it, the glass got muddy. All day long, wind worked the red desert dust into the creases of her clothing, into her hair. Hands, arms, face. Thank God for showers and sunscreen. With the kind of crowd one found at Archie's, though, it was never worth showering before coming in-whether Lily was sitting at the bar with a beer or working behind it in the off-season. The errant elbow to the back of her head was proof enough.
The door opened, briefly blasting the dim room with light, and Nicole arrived in a flash of messy blond hair and checked red-and-blue flannel. Sliding onto the stool beside Lily's, Nicole lifted her chin to Archie in both silent greeting and beverage order. He pulled a lager into a questionably clean glass and slid an even more questionably clean bowl of peanuts toward the women. More starving than fastidious, Lily dug in.
Nicole gestured to the ice pack. "What the hell?"
"Petey and Lou were at it. I was collateral damage."
"Need me to kick their asses?" She moved to stand, but Lily stopped her with a hand on the arm.
Nicole was taller and stronger than Lily, and her loyalty made her nearly feral when provoked. Lily wagered that Petey and Lou would have a pretty fair fight on their hands. If Lily gestured for Nic to go at it, she'd die trying. But Nic was all she had, so Lily tipped her head instead toward the small stack of papers on the bar near her friend's arm. "Is that the new group?"
Nicole nodded. "Arriving tomorrow."
"Dudes?" Lily asked. Their clients were almost always men coming out to hunt treasure and play at being outlaws. A group of women felt like a breath of fresh air. Those trips were quieter, more easygoing. They almost made the job worth it. Almost.
"Yeah. Four of them."
"Bachelor party? Birthday?"
Nic shook her head. "Looks like it's a group of friends just taking a trip together."
At this, Lily groaned. At least bachelor parties were on some kind of mission, usually to sneak booze and have a week of debauchery they'd talk about for years to come. But the groups that came to Lily's tourist expedition company, Wilder Adventures, just to "get away" always needed more babysitting, more structure. Sometimes that was fine-helping people enjoy a vacation on horseback had been Lily's joy growing up and was to this day-but right now she was running on fumes.
"All of them signed the waiver?" Lily asked.
Nic scratched her cheek, hesitating. "Yeah."
Pointing, Lily asked, "What's that mean?"
"Well," Nicole said, "it kind of looks like they were all signed by the same person."
Lifting her beer to her lips, Lily muttered a quiet "Shit."
"Dub, it's a formality."
"Unless it isn't," she said. "I can't afford a lawsuit."
"Girl, you can barely afford this beer." When she ducked to catch Lily's gaze, Nic's wild hair fell over half her face, leaving one glimmering blue eye free to study her best friend. "How are you thinking this will be our last trip out?"
Lily squinted down at the whorls in the scuffed wood bar. Truthfully, she had been hoping more than anything that this would be the last hurrah for Wilder Adventures. She wanted this to be the last time she took city slickers out into the desert to team-build and "rough it" and hunt for fake treasure. She wanted to put her dad's journal away and never have to look at it again. She wanted to live where no one asked her about Duke Wilder's maps or his stories and she could forget all about Butch Cassidy. Lily wanted to never again see a man wear polished dress shoes while riding a horse or hear another woman wearing a Prada "western" shirt complain how sore her ass was after a half hour in a saddle. She wanted to be running a ranch, to tack u...
