My review: 3⭐

I am usually a big fan of this duo, but this one didn’t do it for me. Maybe because it’s light on the rom~com and heavy on the adventure.

All Lily Wilder ever wanted was to take over ownership of her family’s ranch, so when her father, Duke, sold it out from under her she is devastated. Add on top of that the love of her life, Leo, unexpectedly had to go back to New York when his mother has a car accident and she’s utterly heartbroken.

Fast forward 10 years and Lily now lives in Utah giving tours that are fake treasure hunts. She can’t believe it when Leo shows up for one of the tours. Long story short ~ there was a misunderstanding and neither really got over the other and moved on.

I can tell a lot of research went into writing this one. There were a couple heart pounding moments towards the end and a small twist, but overall I wasn’t as wowed as I thought I would be. I liked how it went back and forth with Lily and Leo’s point of view and I did enjoy how Lily and Leo got their second chance at happiness and how it ended. Also, I loved Lily and Nicole’s friendship ~ it was rock solid.

I’ll still continue to read their work and hope the next one is a bigger hit for me.

*Thanks to Gallery Books, Christina Lauren and NetGalley for the ARC. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review*

Book blurb: Release date ~ May 17, 2022

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.