3.25 This was a cute forced proximity romance that was a fun read but got a little slow in the middle. This story follows Trixie a animal lover who rescues a chicken from an intersection with the help of a tall handsome stranger, in Chicago only problem she’s not allowed pets. After Trixie takes the chicken to the vet and spends more money than she has to help her Trixie is at a loss as to who would take the chicken. That is until an apartment listing shows up that is to funny to pass up. Trixie shows up to find the tall handsome stranger or Bear as we come to know him. Bear offers Trixie the apartment and maybe a place in her heart as well.

This novel started off strong I thought the concept was interesting and the characters seemed relatable and entertaining. After about a third of the book the problems start to become a little to repetitive and it just left me not caring as much. That being said I felt this book at a strong ending as well it just really lagged for me in the middle. Saying that though I did enjoy the writing so I plan to maybe pick something else up from this author in the future. I would like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

3.75 Stars

I love the general set-up and ridiculous meet-cute and re-cute. The meddling sisters are hilarious and a random injured chicken makes for lots of comedy and heart. Then Trixie and Bear fight their attractions for so long and it’s sweet and frustrating in the right ways.

Trixie’s trust issues and ingrained trauma, to always be smiling and carefree in the presence of others, is so relatable. Though I do think, by the end, it goes a little too far. The number of ways she talks herself in circles stopped making believable sense.

I greatly appreciated Bear’s backstory and journey. Issues of perceived and expected masculinity need to be addressed more. So, to see it play out so well here was great. Though, once again, I think it started to run thin towards the end, especially since he had such amazing familial support.

There’s a lot of heat and build in these pages. Great attraction but, for once, I’m disappointed that the foreplay ended in a fade to black. I appreciate all levels of steam in romance books, but this one gave great leading tease and the abrupt cutoff felt wrong.

Still, overall, I enjoyed the themes and strong characters. Even though it fell short here and there, it’s still a great read.

*I received a free early e-copy from the publisher.

I adore this rom-com. I really loved the grumpy sunshine aspect of this book. This book has jokes in it and they were hilarious, and I loved how much the jokes added playfulness to the story. Every part of this book was adorable, and I highly recommend it. Thank you for letting me read this arc.

This was a first time read for me by this author so I didn't have any expectations when I picked this up. It was a fun, light-hearted story that was quite entertaining. The story was definitely unique and sweet and just the thing for a good pick-me-up. Trixie was a quirky and lovable character and Bear was sweet, homey, and a quiet guy who came through for her when she really needed it. Trixie had been given notice to find another place to live, and Bear's meddlesome sisters had posted an ad to rent out his spare room, which was the perfect solution for Trixie. Bear worries about keeping things platonic between them, but agrees to rent out the room to her. It doesn't take long for that platonic wall to crumble and for their feelings for each other to start to take over.
The story was cute, with plenty of fun moments that made me smile and laugh. An entertaining and enjoyable, feel-good story!
I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

Thank you to the author, Alcove Press and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The blurb begins: "Trixie isn’t exactly sure what she was thinking..." and we as a reader never really get more insight than that. This book is a combination of "quirky" female lead (aka manic pixie dream girl), grumpy and withdrawn male lead (aka misunderstood sensitive soul), love beyond all sensible budget considerations for an escaped factory chicken with the extremely original - I kid you not - name of ChickChick (I suppose this shouldn't be considered a negative, as this is what brings the two leads together and cements their relationship), lots of mention of "blue balls" as soon as female... breathes near male, and to top it all off, a truly awkwardly written sex scene. Oh, and I forgot one absolutely irritating detail: WTF is going on with substituting food for cursing (oh snickerdoodles - oh fish fingers - oh ... insert food of choice). I'm sure there are those that will be charmed by this book - I am not among them.

2 stars

I really wanted to liked this book but the female main character was so unlikable I just couldn't. She did things and said things that I didn't find funny just annoying which in the end was a huge part of me not enjoying the book.
Our MMC was also very one dimensional and I didn't care about him to be honest.
Still I did like the authors writing style and I'm curious about other books from this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars
This book has an interesting premise, which I enjoyed. I also liked Bear and Trixie, although I wish that their backstories had been more developed as they played such a significant role in who these characters are. Both are scared by their pasts and through their journey in this book – with the help of each other – they learn to put these issues in their proper place in their lives. I enjoyed their time on page together and found myself laughing out loud at various times as I read. The secondary characters were interesting and at times added to the story.

There were parts of the story that for me, could have been executed better – Trixie’s backstory for one. I felt like growth made the most sense and felt genuine. Trixie’s on the other hand, felt more one and done, which left me a little baffled as to whether she had actually dealt with her issues. I’m not sure how I feel about what the sisters did in the story, other than it felt extreme at times.

I enjoyed the story for what it was but didn’t find it amazing. Bear and Trixie are interesting characters. The title is very fitting for the story – both because of the chicken and the journey that the characters (particularly Bear) go on.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.5ish stars

The start of this book was funny, silly, and kind of ridiculous (in a good way). As it went on, it became clear that the female protagonist had some pretty serious trauma to start working through (so did the male protagonist, but it felt different), and the tone and style of writing got heavier as she got deeper into those issues. Eventually, we got to the HEA, and it was fine, but I actually liked the first half of the story a lot more. Also, ChickChick was definitely my favourite part of the whole book, so I’m glad to see things worked out nicely for her.

To Get to the Other Side was silly and kind, but I struggled to connect. The characters and the story, truffled to pick a focus. with any of it. I think the main issue for me is that we’re not exactly sure where the focus of the story is.

I did find that Bear and Trixie seem well suited for each other, and they help each other navigate through some challenges while eventually finding their way back their relationship is wonky and I struggled to connect. The main characters give off quirky main vibes that just did not land and detracted from the story. Even though I struggled to connect with the story it was a fairly fast read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for my e-ARC of this book.

The book opens with Trixie driving down a busy road and stopping to rescue a chicken. After attempting to sneak the chicken into her apartment, she has to find a new place to live. This leads her to Bear who was a knight in shining armor when she was performing the road rescue. She moves in, and Bear finds out about Chick-Chick. The story continues as they live together and take care of Chick-Chick while denying their attraction to each other. It was a sweet and quirky read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Alcove Press for sending me an early copy of this book! All opinions are my own!

This was super cute from the very beginning, and I had so much fun reading this book. You never knew what you were going to get from one chapter to the next, and I adored the way that Trixie was so bubbly and quirky (she reminded me of my best friend). The romance was adorable and had so much depth to it that I felt I could actually relate which is something romance books often struggle with for me.

I really enjoyed the journey that Trixie and Bear both went on with their mental health and learning to navigate healthy relationships. That was something that made them so much more relatable for me, and it really balanced out the fun and laughs of the rest of the book. Their stories made everything matter so much more, and it gave a depth to the book that I really enjoyed learning.

If you're looking for a light read that will have you giggling but also have you wanting to cry into your pillow, then this is the romance for you!

This is a light, fairly clean, enjoyable romance but without enough substance to rate it higher. The story started out fun with Trixie rescuing a chicken from a busy Chicago road and a stranger, Bear (weird nickname!), helping her. They are both attracted to each other right away but Trixie drives away and they both figure they’ll never see each other again. Wrong, of course. Bear’s sisters are a nosy, pushy delight, as they try to get their brother to come out of his social isolation (and help his finances) by placing an ad in the paper without his knowledge, looking for a roommate for him. And that’s how Trixie and Bear meet again.

The chicken thing was fun to start, but wore thin pretty soon, with Trixie obsessed with nursing this injured chicken back to health, even though her finances are taking a major hit because of it.

Trixie has issues because of past experiences with her parents and a college roommate betrayal. She thinks she has to smile all the time or people won’t like her or want to be around her. I thought this was a bit overdone and needed more explanation.

Bear’s issues struck home with me more than Trixie’s did. The author wrote a good portrayal of how society continues to put pressures on boys and men to “man up”, and denigrates interests that aren’t considered masculine enough. (Bear prefers wine to beer. OMG, a major horror!)

I bounced between the print version and the audiobook, which was narrated by two different narrators, both of whom did an excellent job with the material: Stefanie Kay and Paul Heitsch.

Thank you to Dreamscape Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook and to Alcove Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

DNF at 10%

The chicken thing was weird. Sorry! One too many mentions of potential chicken poop and chicken lice and I was getting too icked out.

I liked the ideas behind "To Get to the Other Side", but I think that the execution fell a bit short. I think that Trixie and Bear while having complete and understandable feelings were a bit flat because the writer took a bit long to reveal why they felt that way, especially with Trixie. I think it was most evident with the whole smiling thing and not being able to show emotions to others because they wouldn't like her anymore. I understand that sometimes when people are afraid of how they perceived it narrows their view of what other people are actually seeing, but it felt that a lot of her inner thoughts still came off particularly childish, which was rough for me to read.

I enjoyed that the Ohlert, wanted Bear to pursue his passion with flowers and his mom's shop. I also liked that even though Bear wasn't passionate about construction he still helped out Trixie with making something important for Chick Chick. I thought that Bear's family being passionate about his relationship with Trixie was sweet and at times weirdly intrusive, (Family Meeting was great).

All in all this was maybe around 2.5-3 star review for me. A great premise, great ideas, some very childish characters, but a very cute chicken.

A romance featuring a quirky main character - who rescues a chicken crossing the road and then finds herself needing a new place to live with said chicken. She ends up moving in with a somewhat grumpy contractor. I enjoyed this easy reading romance. The characters were quirky and their relationship was realistic.
Friends to lovers/roommates to lovers. Each character has to find themselves and their priorities in order to be a better partner.

"... people tend to be drawn to friendlier, generally happy people. They are more approachable. But everyone has down moments. No one is happy all the time."

Forced to find a pet friendly home after she spontaneously adopted a chicken, Trixie moves in with Bear whose meddlesome sisters put up his spare room for rent, without his knowledge. Between testing the boundaries of their platonic ground rules, figuring out how to save a family business, paying for mounting vet bills, and navigating their own emotional baggage, will they find the love that they deserve?

The book starts off on an interesting premise where two people with polar opposite personalities are thrown together. While they adapt to cohabiting, with a chicken for added company, circumstances force them to reconsider the walls they’ve built to hide the scars from their childhood. Sadly, the book does not have enough substance to warrant your interest.

The narrative itself does little to move the story forward. I felt it had less show, more tell to advance the events. That also left a lot to be desired in terms of character development.

For these reasons, I didn’t enjoy the romance either as the characters lacked chemistry. Whatever they had was driven by lust which made it hard to feel invested in their relationship. The length was unnecessarily long and did not help the pacing with repeated back and forth over the same things.

The different forms of bullying both the lead characters experience opened a valid discussion, though the execution could have been better.

Maybe this was not the book for me but it may appeal to a younger audience for the meet-cute and instant attraction.

This ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Alcove Press.

This was cute romcom. Trixie and Bear are so cute together, I love Bear’s family and the role they play in this. I do enjoy a good forced proximity trope, and with the addition of grumpy/sunshine, this has a lot going for it. It had its funny moments too.

Thank you to Kelly Ohlert, Alcove Press, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

To Get to the Other Side is a fun quirky romance.
Our MC"s Trixie and Bear meet when a chicken literally is running across the road and they step up to save it.
What follows is a sweet slow burn romance between a girl, a boy and a chicken.

This is a quick read, I read it in one afternoon. There are some heavy topics addressed in this story. Trixie and Bear both need to work through painful childhood memories before they can commit to each other. There are many instances of miscommunication, and I must admit, it is my least favorite trope.
I liked it enough to round up from 3.5 to 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove for my eArc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

When Trixie saves Chick Chick the chicken from the middle of the road, she opens up a new door for herself. She find herself living with Bear, whose meddling family thinks she might be the one. Fans of the genre knew that this grumpy-sunshine pair will eventually find they do love one another but unfortunately, for me at least, the path was just annoying. Yes Trixie is perky and quirky but really? It got to be too much. And some of the things that Bear says and thinks are just out of the dark ages. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Over to others.

A sweet, slightly kooky roommate romance between two strangers living in Chicago. Thanks to his meddling sisters Bear's extra room gets posted and Trixie jumps at the chance, needing a pet-friendly place to stay after rescuing a sick chicken. There's some cute banter as these two try to keep things platonic and fail. Recommended for fans of books like The flatshare or The temporary roomie by Sarah Adams. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review.