I really enjoyed this book from the very beginning ! This has so many emotions from laughing to tear jerking!
Trixie is fun and quirky and relatable! The relationship between her and Bear kept me wanting more throughout the book up until the very end.
The characters were fun, relatable and quirky.
I would highly recommend this book!
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

2.5 / 5 stars.

This book started off well (albeit a little strange). The characters showed promise and I was excited to see how the story developed. I was disappointed as the story progressed. The main characters fell flat for me and I think I actually started to dislike them more with each new turn in the story. Not one of my favorites for the year, but I give the author props for coming up with a very, very unique meet cute.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book!

i loved how this novel started with action right from the first line! i wasn’t expecting chick-chick to play such a prominent role in the storyline but her appearances had me cracking up! all the characters are amazing and i adored each and every one of them. but there are plenty of big personalities surrounding their lives and it was hard to keep track of everyone. trixie is a sweetheart! her quirkiness is too adorable and i admire her giant heart and willingness to care for others. as his name implies, bear is just a big teddy bear! although it takes time for him to warm up to his surroundings, he is clearly protective over trixie and her well-being. all of this background is given pretty fast and that’s all i could really say about them. as fun as they all are, i felt like i couldn’t connect with them at a deeper level.

this novel is filled with so much love and laughs but at times i felt that bear and trixie’s emotional baggage shadowed their budding romance. there was a lot of going around in circles, using the same explanations, before they realized they could trust one another. if only they could head me through the pages to open up to each other! i thought that this made some of the chapters repetitive and that the story would have still been complete without referring back to too much of their pasts. i wish there was less focusing on their lives prior to meeting each other and more on the romance and the time they spent together. this was definitely a fun read but i was looking for more ways to be in team trixie/bear

First of all thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

The plot of the story was different. Using a chicken for a pet instead of a dog or a cat was awkward but original and because of this it had funny moments. The characters were cute. I liked that Bear unlike his appearance was very soft, kind and it showed that men could like "girlish" stuff and that is normal. Trixie and Bear's dialog and relationship was cute. But I liked Bear's sisters and family the most. Especially the ad for the rent. All in all it was a cute romcom. I was not wowed but I enjoyed it.

This book is cute but it was just a miss for me. The main point of Trixie's character is that she doesn't show other people her negative emotions which is fine but it felt like the reader didn't see them either. Bear on the other hand, was perfect. I want him for myself.

I received an arc through netgallley.

A quirky, delightful romantic comedy with charming characters, whose journeys "to the other side" will keep you laughing and crying from start to finish. Truly a delightful read! I can't wait to see more from this author!

I enjoyed this book, it was romantic and sweet and had very lovable characters. I really enjoyed the buildup of the relationship between Bear and Trixie. It reminded me a lot of a Hallmark move. There was not really any spice, it was mostly fade to black, but it was still a good book.
The characters were what made the book worthwhile. Bear was so lovable and sweet. I liked how the book addressed real life problems. It showed how toxic masculinity can affect a man’s life and shape who he will become. It also addresses mental illness with Trixie and her struggle since youth with displaying her emotions. I enjoyed the journey that I got to go on with the characters and seeing how their love story played out.

I rated it 3.25 stars because the dialogue was a little unnatural at some points, but Im sure that’s an issue that will be solved in later copies.

This was a cute story! Unconventional, sweet romance and an adorable chicken.
Enjoyed the storyline although it was a lot longer than necessary; could have easily been a short 200-300page, easy & light read. Not a fan of the weird remarks (Trixie)
hated the whole 'blue balls' reference 😑not cool. While this character driven plot was well executed, i didnt find myself very attached to these characters. Not a whole lot of build on them outside of the conflicts they are working over. Overall my rating..3.75⭐️

Thank you @netgalley & Alcove Press for the opportunity to review this entertaining copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

My review also on insta: lattesbooksandblankets 💞

Oh my god. This was SO cute. The premise of forced proximity with a mixed in requirement for them to be coparenting a chicken is PERFECT. IN LOVE. Can't wait for this book to be released to the world for others to enjoy as well!

Trixie is eccentric, different, always armed with a smile aaaannnnddddd chases injured chickens across rushing traffic. Bear is quiet and reserved with a sensitive side. Put these two together? You get one heck of a fun story!

I loved everything about this. The romance was so sweet and cute it was ridiculous. Trixie and Bear were so pure and wholesome. I truly loved it!

I really wanted to love the cute chicken/romance thing that was going on here. I love the cover and thought the name was cute. But from the first few pages I was already terribly uninterested. I thought the main character (Trish) felt way to forced. Everything was more dramatic than it needed to be, and because there was little explanation for her overreactions, she was incredibly unrelatable.

The instant-love plotline felt awkward. There's little build up and background, but suddenly she's obsessed with a man who stood in the road to block out aggressive drivers, while she saved a chicken. And then after she saves the chicken, he's "all she can think about" aside from her "sudden" parental duties to take care of the chicken (I don't understand why her first thought wouldn't be to consider other options...).

Cute idea, but the writing wasn't really doing it for me.

A four-star read that shows promise. I don’t know about this one, I liked it, then it annoyed me and I liked it again, it started so well, and f the author has another story that keeps that initial pace I would gladly follow their work, if its like the second half then I would have to leave it. The characters were okay, Bear had that special something, he played your heart strings, and his family made me smile mostly. Trixie, Trixie, Trixie what can be said about you, she is like that friend you know deep down you like, but you can only cope with them in small doses, that’s who Trixie reminds me off. I know this will be like Marmite you will either love the drama or hate it all. I do hope lots like it, as the writing is there it just needs a little more light to shine through.

To Get to The Other Side is a good book! It is easy to read. It has great characters. I loved the beginning. Overall, it had a fun plot.

2.5 stars

This is a story about Trixie and Bear, who rescue a chicken, became roommates and then start to have feelings for each other. I thought the idea was so weird and so funny - the premise is that Trixie stops her car in the middle of the road simply to save a chicken who was crossing the road. She was helped by Bear, who had to stop because Trixie was blocking the road. They become roommates after Trixie unexpectedly had to move, but it is clear from the start that both of them are wanting more, but they're holding back.

This book started strong for me - I expected it to be weird and fluffy based on the synopsis and the book was just that. Trixie was a fun protagonist - in the beginning, she is determined and she seemed like a lovely person. Bear also seemed like an interesting character in the beginning, and this book was the epitome of the grumpy character and sunshine trope. Trixie rescues the chicken and literally goes into debt trying to care for it, and I thought that was really sweet.

After they become roommates, it is clear that both of them are developing feelings for each other, but it was immediate and it was a bit too much insta-love for my taste. As their feelings grow, that is where it all went downhill for me. It is obvious that both of them carry some trauma and insecurities from the past, and this turns into so much miscommunication that my head was spinning. Both of them, but Trixie especially, act very childish when issues arise and nothing gets solved for most of the book. They keep going in circles of attraction - we shouldn't date - but we want to - but we want and I was quickly tired of it.

I really enjoyed Bear's family, they were slightly overbearing (pun intended) at times, but they were sweet and supportive most of the time. We don't see much of the side characters, and I wish we got more from them but they were fun. I enjoyed Trixie's boss as well, and I wish we got to see more of her.

By the end, I was already tired of the main characters and what I felt was unnecessary drama. I feel like both characters were completely valid in their feelings, but I think it was not handled very well by either side. Both had some baggage they were carrying from the past, but both were acting very childish instead of solving it as two adults. Especially Trixie's issues - I feel like they were just kind of brushed off and magically solved with one conversation, which seems unlikely given how hard of a time she had opening up.

Overall, it wasn't a bad book but it didn't work for me. I expected to enjoy it much more, but for such a character-driven book I found it hard to like or connect with the characters, especially as the book went on. It was a very quick read though, so if that's what you're looking for and the book interests you, I would still recommend it.

I received the arc through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

From the cover description: Trixie isn’t exactly sure what she was thinking when she stopped her car in the middle of downtown Chicago, scooped up a chicken struggling to cross the road, and drove off… but she does know that she has to find a new home for herself and her new feathered friend. The landlord at her apartment doesn’t allow pets and has caught Trixie in one too many pet-smuggling attempts in the past.

Bear likes his quiet life with his close-knit family, who own a flower business, but he’s in for a rude awakening when his meddlesome sisters post an ad to rent the spare room in his simple home, without asking his permission. Still, when Trixie responds to the ad, he agrees to let her move in, despite immediate worries about keeping things platonic.

Determined to keep her new room, befriend Bear, and give her rescue chicken the care she deserves, Trixie fights to keep her walls up and resist her romantic feelings for Bear. However, it’s not long before the pair’s proximity and chicken parenting ignite flames that have Trixie and Bear testing the boundaries of their platonic ground rules. They have to figure out how to save a family business, pay for mounting vet bills, and navigate their own emotional baggage if they want to find the love that they all deserve.

I wanted to love this book. I thought the premise was unique and fun. Sadly, this book just didn't do it for me, personally.

Trixie is the sunshine in this sunshine x grumpy trope but she is sunshine to the very extreme and it leaned on unbelievability for me. Bear, on the other hand, I enjoyed but I didn't find him grumpy enough. What really went too far for me, was the chicken story line. I struggled to even get through it, honestly. It sounds silly and fun on the surface, but it came off odd and I couldn't buy into it. Starting with the fact that a woman ran into oncoming traffic with a smile on her face to rescue a dying chicken, to the fact that a big grumpy he-man was in love at first sight over such a woman, to the sunny woman paying thousands of dollars she does not have on a chickens vet bills, to her MOVING to make a home for this chicken, to the part where this became a book about chicken co-parenting... it just pushed my limits of believability too far and I couldn't immerse myself. I love quirky, I love interesting, I love plots that seem ridiculous BUT also believable. And believability is ultimately where this book lost me.

Thanks you NetGalley and Alcove Press for Providing me with an ARC of the book in exchange of an honest review.

★★.5 stars

As I read the synopsis I thought this book was going to be really great but soon I went into the book and it just wasn’t it.

The start is slow but I thought it would get better but it doesn’t. The characters are very bland and there’s just no chemistry or tension. It’s grumpy x sunshine but I did not find the main guy, Bear, grumpy at all. Trixie, on the other hand I found too sunshine-y. I’ve read so many grumpy x sunshine books as it is one of my favourite tropes ever but I’m sorry to say this wasn’t it. It was mostly insta-love for both of them and I think that was what threw me off. In a romance book with roommates I was expecting some sexual tension, some mutual pining and overall chemistry between the characters but it didn’t quite hit.

I also found somethings in this book very questionable. How did the chicken end up on the road in first place in Chicago that it too? And why did a girl, living alone in a very high-standard city, pay thousands of dollar for betterment of a chicken when she’s barely scraping by? She also works at an animal shelter she could have just dropped the chicken off there. Bear’s meddling sisters were also quite annoying through the book.

I really loved the quirkiness of our main girl even though I sometimes doubt how she survived alone. She’s fun and caring and just sunshine overall. I love Bear’s best friend too because he was just fun and made me laugh occasionally.

Thank you Alcove Press and NetGalley for the eARC! All opinions expressed are my own. This review does NOT contain any spoilers. :)

☆☆☆.5 Overall

First and foremost, I have never read a romance novel that I could say, “This book would not be the same without the chicken,” before, but here I say: This book would not be the same without the chicken. I am a Chick Chick stan, and I love her wholeheartedly.

Trixie and Bear dance around each other in the most beautiful way, their lives intertwining thanks to a roommate ad posted by Bear’s sneaky (but so loveable) sisters behind his back. This novel has everything you could want in a romance: meddling siblings, friends to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, “and they were roommates,” and so many other little tropes that speak to my soul. Ohlert spins an adorable tale about a woman with a big heart and a big man with few words, and I am a complete sucker for it.

I do wish that we saw deeper into both of the main characters, especially Trixie. While I feel like we did see growth from our leads, it didn’t feel as organic and deep as I would have liked to see. At some points, even after I was attached to the characters, it felt a little hard to root for them and their growth, which is sad to say.

I absolutely LOVE Bear’s entire family, and I think they (and their meddling) may be one of my favorite parts about this book. I would love to see more from them, perhaps in a Chloe Liese’s Bergman Brothers type of series, which I promise you I would DEVOUR.

I do have some qualms about this book, mainly surrounding wanting more depth from our mains, but overall I really did enjoy it, and I can’t wait to see what Kelly Ohlert does next! I think that as a debut novel, this is strong, and I hope she keeps pushing. :)

First time reading this author and the story really didn't do it for me.
I did read it to the end (but skipped a lot), but I couldn't related to the characters and the whole thing with the chicken just felt weird. Where I come from, chicken are not pets, so I'm sure Trixie's attachment would have worked better with another kind of animal, preferably a mamal.

I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

When a book starts out with a chicken pun, I think you're guaranteed to get something pretty light and funny. That's what I hoped for when i picked up To Get to the Other Side, and I was not disappointed.

Sweet, quirky Trixie and her newly adopted rescue chicken, Chick-Chick, end up roommates with Bear, a gruff and quiet man. Unsurprisingly, and despite their guarantees to the contrary, Trixie and Chick-Chick end up turning Bear's whole world upside down. In true grumpy/sunshine trope fashion, Bear is at first resistant to these charms but grows attached to Trixie and her sweet animal. Along the way, we also learn some information about Bear that shows he's not the tough guy he may appear to be.

I really loved every minute of this book and look forward to other reads by Kelly Ohlert in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley for the copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

While I was not a fan of the meet cute at the start of this book, the story was fun and the characters overall enjoyable. Trixie was a little too much of the manic pixie dream girl trope, but I appreciated that Bear was more than the typical hyper masculine archetype. Overall, I enjoyed this read, but the substance could have been a little more.