I could NOT finish this book. No sane adult man would let himself be treated, act like this. The manic pixie dream girl is so over. Trixie is annoying. "Bear's" sisters have no respect and are annoying. And by the way, every time I read Bear all I can think of is the slang meaning.... doesn't offend me, just, why did she have to name the hero "Bear" - I know it's short for Barrett, why not call him Barrett?! Who reads the classified ads these days?!!?? I won't be recommending this one. unless it gets some edits.

To Get to the Other Side by K. Ohlert, published by Alcove Press, tells Trixie and Bear's story.
Trixie is on her way somewhere when she stops to pick up a a chicken.
And Bear is one of five siblings, he's tired of living in the city, tired of working only to make ends meet.
Both are perfect for each other.
I learned a lesson reading this book, no, actually make that two. One I don't have to like every book I reda and two, chickenwheelchairs seems to exist.
This hilarious rom/com is a pet lover's paradise.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an arc of To Get to the Other Side! I really enjoyed this cute romance.

Trixie and Bear were so cute and I love the roommate aspect and how they met. I do think their personalities could have been a little deeper. They seemed slightly bland characters to me that growed a bit, but not a lot.

I loved how they learned to love each other and move past their pasts. They grew together and though I didn’t relive the miscommunication, that was more me getting frustrated, not on the author.

I thought the pacing was a little off in certain parts, but overall I really loved To Get to the Other Side. I recommend if you’re a fan of contemporary romance!

This was an unbelievably cute story! I loved the quirky, unique characters and the funny situations they found themselves in. A great story about the difficulties in being who you really are.

Thank you netgalley and publisher for the ARC in exchange for a review. All thoughts are my own.

As much I loved the blurb and the cover, the plot didn't excite me as much. It was definitely an enjoyable read with lots of sweet and funny moments!!

“That blush did things to me. I liked knowing I had that kind of effect on her”
“Fantasy public make-out sessions were not a good way to start a platonic relationship”
“I’m in for more than I’d bargained for with that one Chick-Chick”
A sweet, fluffy a bit uncommon but still spicy romance between a woman who’s been taught all her life that if you don’t smile people won’t love you and a man who is the first to fall … and hard !!!!
I really liked it !!!
The added bonus of a pet was great and deciding for that to be a chicken … weird but sweet nonetheless.
This book had some really great tropes: friends to lovers (not my favourite but still good), roommates, forced proximity, increasing sexual tension and sometimes some innuendos in the mix.
Plus the male main character, Bear, was such a sweetheart. His physical approach the very opposite of his soul!!
Being raised in a house of women at least he knows how to treat women !!!
He is respectful !!!!!
He’s amazing. But he’ll have to face the trouble that Trixie is taking to him.
She is such a good, kind hearted woman. And past trauma has been eating her alive. Expectations and terrible trust issues led her to where she is now and Bear may be just the right solution !!!
The book itself was easy to get into and even more easy to read !!!
I absolutely loved each and every side characters (well with some reasonable exceptions) and I hope I’ll get the chance to read more about some of them who might be involved more than a little with each other!!!!
“I wanted to see the real her, the one behind all the smiles, real and fake”
“All I’ll say is what I saw in there was a man with a passion for what he was creating. It would be a shame to see that passion go to waste”
“Whatever you need, whenever you need it, I’m here. Love”

5⭐️

Would recommend if you like:
✅grumpy/sunshine
✅roommates/close proximity
✅a runaway chicken 🐓
✅dual POV

To Get to the Other Side is definitely one of my top reads for 2022! I loved that the book takes place in Chicago (being a fellow city girl myself) and imagining the chaos of running through the busy streets of downtown to catch a chicken. The story follows Trixie who runs into traffic to catch an injured chicken and runs into Bear who ends up helping her get her new pet back to safety. In a turn of events, Bear's sisters end up leasing out his spare bedroom (without his knowledge) and Trixie turns up to inquire about the room.

Bear can't say no to Trixie and she needs a space to accommodate her new chicken, Chick-Chick. The tension between the two is 🥵 They can't stop thinking about each other and you could feel the steam coming off the pages. The only thing I didn't love about this story was the spicy scene was a fade to black and I was needing to know what happened between Trixie and Bear. If you like It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey or Always Only You by Chloe Liese, you'll definitely like this. Overall a 5⭐️ read and I hope Bear's sisters get their own books!!

⭐️⭐️
I love receiving ARC’s to read and I genuinely look forward to most of the books. I work hard to provide a reliable and honest review. Had I thought about the cover some more, I probably could’ve figured out that this would not be a book for me. I do believe this may be one of the silliest rom-coms I have read in a long while. The lead character Trixie acts and talks like she’s 10 years old and I don’t get there is no chemistry. I couldn’t figure out how Trixie has so little control over this chicken and it took it everywhere including her apartment that doesn’t allow pets. None of it made sense to me. For the record, I own urban chickens in Orlando. I’m sorry.

This book was almost cute, but to be honest, it is not one of my favorites. I think the main problem that I had with it was the characters, and the way they were written. I just felt like there could have been more. The characters felt very two dimensional, and I had a hard time reading about the main character, Trixie. I think the author was trying to make her seem quirky, but it came off as childish. Also, the big muscled man is named Bear? The premise of the story has so much potential, but this one just didn't cut it for me.

Mein Leseerlebnis

Da sich die Geschichte frisch und unterhaltsam angehört hat, habe ich mit Begeisterung zugegriffen. Nach dem Lesen des Romans bin ich nicht begeistert, aber auch nicht enttäuscht. Mein Leseerlebnis würde ich als nett und kurzweilig beschreiben.

Den Anfang des Romans fand ich einnehmend und am stärksten. Im Mittelteil flaute die Geschichte etwas ab und auch das Ende konnte mich nicht voll überzeugen.

Der Roman hat zu sehr von seiner lustigen Ausgangssituation gelebt, um alle Seiten unterhaltsam füllen zu können. Eine längere Novella mit um die 150 Seiten wären als Format vielleicht besser gewesen. Denn dann hätte die Grundidee der Geschichte sich ohne Längen entfalten können und es wäre keine Langeweile aufgekommen.

Die Charaktere im Buch waren mir durchaus sympathisch und auch der Schreibstil der Autorin war angenehm. Alles war ganz nett, hat aber keinen bleibenden Eindruck auf mich hinterlassen können. 🖤🖤🖤

Für wen?

Wer den Klappentext ansprechend findet, für den ist der Liebesroman vielleicht etwas. Erwartet eine kurzweilige Geschichte, die euch nett unterhalten kann, ohne komplett zu überzeugen.

Thank you @NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ARC of To Get to the Other Side.

This was a feel-good read. Our two main characters, Trixie and Bear, have their own traumas but come to terms and find their HEA.

I rated this 3/5 because I would have liked to see a little more depth to their trauma. I felt the moments when the MCs addressed their traumas was a bit repetitive. We could have seen them work through it a bit more or had added insights. I loved the set up of their relationship and how they ended up under the same roof. I especially enjoyed the closure from the epilogue.

There were a few cliché moments that were kind of meh for me. For example, I feel like Grey's Anatomy is mentioned in so many rom-coms. My only other critique is that the MCs names made me cringe a bit.

Overall though, this was a fun read, and I would enjoy reading more from Kelly Ohlert!

This book started out good but then they started doing this little stuff that made me lose my respect or interest little by little for both of these main characters. So yeah, I ended up not enjoying it! And I can assure you, 'it's me, not you' situation.

I am an avid romance reader, but a girl can only handle so much quirky, manic pixie dream girl before it becomes an absurd mad lib. The main downfall of this book (ignoring the overbearingly childlike features of our female protagonist, and the absolute lack of characterization of our male protagonist) are the thin motivations on which the plot is built. None of the stakes are believable or relatable.

When Trixie rescues a chicken from the middle of the road and decides to keep it, she needs a pet-friendly living situation ASAP. She answers an ad for a roommate and finds Bear- a man who has no idea his sisters placed the ad for him to begin with. She moves in, sparks fly, and while both have feelings for the other, they’re nervous about crossing the roommate-to-couple barrier. Add in her fear of showing her true emotions and his fear of revealing his true personality and you can see exactly where this rom-com is going.

Overall, this was a cute romance. It was fairly predictable, but I always enjoy the forced-proximity roomies to lovers trope.

My biggest issue with the characters- Trixie’s deep fear of letting people see her be unhappy and personality “quirks” were a bit over the top for me. I felt like her trauma from childhood and her fear of not smiling for even a moment was so intense that if anything it needed to be taken more seriously- her reactions were so displaced from reality that if she were my friend I would give her unconditional support while highly recommending therapy- it almost felt like her issues were so serious but they weren’t addressed that way- it could be solved by falling in love? Girl has years of trauma and needs real help if she can’t see that nobody else in her life feels like they have to smile all the time but she truly deeply believes that if she stops smiling everyone will hate her and turn on her. Also the reason for her roommate’s betrayal never was really made clear which made it hard to really understand.

So while not my favorite, but I did enjoy reading it and thought it was cute and I liked Bear’s character and I liked his family and the way his sisters connected to Trixie.

If you’re looking for a light and somewhat predictable rom-com, this is an easy read and while I had a couple things I didn’t love, I did enjoy it as a whole.

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the opportunity to read and review.

This book is so wholesome and cute. It is a fade to black when it gets to heated scenes so this book is perfect for people who like a good rom-com without the heavy spice. But I loved the main character and loved how much she cared for this chicken!

The beginning of this book was really good. Saving a chicken from rush hour traffic, who does that? Trixie Ward that’s who!! I enjoyed the story. I was able to connect am with the characters. They frustrated me to no end. I liked how Trixie and Bear had issues they needed to overcome. She has a hard time actually connecting with people on a personal level and for good reason, and he just doesn’t think he’s enough and so he just tries to pretend that he is something he’s not. I loved Bear’s sisters. They were a little over the top with their meddling but they were lovable. I did not like how the story was soo focused on Chick Chick. The chicken brought them together I didn’t think she needed to be the reason why they almost broke up. I will say that chicken wheelchair was a very unexpected grand gesture.

To Get to the Other Side started out cute, with a chicken being rescued from rush ohour traffic. Unfortunately, it went downhill from there. I could not connect with the main characters, they did not seem real to me. Although, Bear's family was a hit! I enjoyed them. Many parts of the story under-developed.
I did enjoy reading about the animals at the shelter! They sound so cute. I would have enjoyed reading their 'dating profiles'. The cover of this book is adorable! It is what drew me to the book.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I needed light and fluffy and this was light and fluffy!

This started with a lot of promise for a great romcom, then it got wacky and weird and never fully recovered for me. I liked it, it was cute, I love a good grumpy/sunshiney trope, but I don't know, something was missing. I just never fully connected to the characters and thought it was all a bit over-troped if thats a thing?

Was it a quick, easy, cute read? Yes! This would make for the perfect summertime pool/beach read when you don't want to think too hard and just be entertained.

Chick Chick...so weird, but so cute!

I’m a mood reader and lemme tell you this book was speaking to me! The cover! ADORBS.

This was light and cute and fluffy to read. Some lol moments and some cute moments. It wasn’t the best writing but it was a decent read over all and a fast read.

Tropes:
Close proximity
Grumpy/sunshine

Was it the best rom com I’ll read all year? No. But it’s def not going to be the worst.

And aweeeee the pet chicken is as cute. Chick chick! 🐓

The book started off well but soon went downhill (like within 10 chapters). The author's execution of the storyline was simply not up to the mark. The characters are bland, their is no personality, no chemistry between them. The plot is boring and you'll eventually get tired and annoyed reading about the chicken who FYI is named 'Chick Chick'. Trixie is very unlikable and unrelatable. She's not like any other girls, she's quirky👀She also has an abusive streak to her character, which the author casually puts in there and ignores. The guy is called 'Bear' who even though the author tries very hard to make him look 'hot and sensitive' just comes across as weak. The 'insta-love' trope doesn't sit well with me at all. The author tries to include other tropes as well, which again the execution is done poorly.

I tried very hard to get into this but couldn't. It was annoyingly boring.

eARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review.