Wren has had her heart broken recently and decides to take a few weeks off of work. She travels from the UK to America to spend a few weeks in Indiana on her father and stepmothers farm. Anders is a neighbor who lost his wife years ago and still hasn’t moved on. The two are immediately drawn to each other, become close friends, and fall in love. The ensuing story was at times both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

I enjoyed the evolution of Wren and Anders. I liked the slow build of them actually coming together and the twist in the plot was actually unexpected for me. Sometimes modern romances can be a little predictable but I enjoyed the plot twist and it made the situation they found themselves in that much more difficult and realistic. I also really enjoyed the family element to the story on both sides. Both adults were struggling in their relationships with their family members and I felt the resolution of those issues were dealt with nicely. All in all I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it!

This title definitely describes the book.

Overall, this story is definitely heartbreaking. Of course, we should not be expecting a happily ever after. Just a sense of taking a deep breath.

"I love that I still have a place with them, that I still feel so welcome."

For me, it's a sense of relief.

Wren is suffering from a broken heart after her fiancé announces he's in love with his younger secretary. All the hopes and dreams she has are crushed and the only thing she can think to do is get away. A trip to Indiana to visit her father seems like far enough away from the UK to heal and dig herself out of the hole she finds herself in. What she doesn't expect to find in that hole is two brothers who live across the farm from the families farm with their own emotional baggage. Jonas is still recovering from a broken heart but his biggest concern is the farm. It's a given that he will take over the families business but his father can't seem to let go and the two are butting heads. Anders lost his wife five years ago to a tragic accident and refuses to move on. Wren and Anders spend a lot of time together fixing up the vintage Airstream Wren discovered on the farm, but Anders won't allow himself to get close to her.
Wrens step sister is helping to expand business and everyone is working together to reinvent the farm into a destination wedding location. Jonas will need to prove he knows what's best for the business while learning to set boundaries with his ex. Wren will learn that the things she thought about her family are untrue and that she wasted a lot of time thinking they didn't care about her. As her feelings grow for Anders she realizes that her and her ex-fiance really weren't meant for each other. She is falling hard for Anders but he won't even consider having feelings for anyone other than his wife.
The summer will be healing and Wren will learn so much about herself. Getting closer with her family and spending time on the farm will make Wren rethink her career, her future, and where she wants to live.
The story is filled with love, friendship, second chances, and forgiveness and I really enjoyed the story.

This book was really cute! I have read paige toon’s books in the past and enjoyed them, and this was no different. She is very good at storytelling and setting the scene. I was wuickly transported right to small town rural indiana. I also usually get very bored with slow burn books but this one kept me interested the whole way through.

Thank you netgalley and putnam for this ARC.

This one was a slow burn….and I mean slooooow. What I enjoyed: interesting and unique family dynamics that the protagonist has to work through, THE TWIST, how the author chose to reconcile everything after the twist. I just had the hardest time with this book keeping my attention for the 60%, but because the writing was well done, I kept going. The ending was worth it though!

Thank you NetGalley, Paige Toon, and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Paige Toon is a new-to-me author and I felt a bit apprehensive starting this one because the marketing copy implies that her writing style is similar to Colleen Hoover and JoJo Moyes. High praise indeed. Here's what I enjoyed: the close-knit community as a setting, descriptions of the farm, and the way the characters pulled together to achieve a common goal Only Love Can Hurt Like This is an angsty, emotional read which will appeal to many. But it's also a book with pacing issues, adult characters who would rather leave the room/the farm/the country then have a difficult conversation, and one completely random chapter written from a character's point-of-view when he's had zero scenes from his point of view the entire novel. No spoilers here, of course, but I'm still puzzled about the big secret. Or maybe I'm most puzzled about why the main characters allowed other characters to dictate their life choices. In the end, Toon does stick the landing and I was pleased with the conclusion.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the complimentary copy.

This is not a book I would normally choose. It sat on my TBR pile for quite awhile and when I finally started reading it, I only had the title to guide me. I chose not to re-read the description. All I can say is wow. Only Love Can Hurt Like This delves into so many types of love, so many types of hurt. It was an easy pleasant read that was rather formulaic - until it wasn't. I know my review is vague, but really, going into it without and knowledge let me wander in the story and not anticipate anything until the story presented it.

Wren flees her England province and decides to visit her father and step-family in America when she discovers that her fiancé is in love with another woman. Anders is Wren’s father's next-door neighbor, who is dealing with losing his ex-wife and is struggling to move on. Wren and Anders met and instantly had a bond with each other. Unknowingly to Wren, Anders is afraid to get too close to anyone new due to a dark secret that he is keeping. Everything eventually comes to light, and she learns the true extent of his heartbreak.

I struggled with getting into this book, but around the middle mark, things started to change, and I was invested. The story was beautiful, and the big plot twist made it even more compelling. Wren and Anders's story was an emotional rollercoaster. The romance between Wren and Anders felt real, and I loved that Wren was willing to risk everything with a broken heart for Anders, even though it might end in disaster. I felt for Anders on multiple levels. I loved the side plot about the air stream.

Paige Toon's writing is beautiful, and I am excited to read more of her books. She focuses on not only romantic relationships but family relationships as well. (Wren with her step-sister Baliey, her stepmother, and Anders's brother, Jonas) I loved how she incorporated the advocacy for mental health. Any book that openly discusses depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts automatically wins, in my opinion. I also loved that she spoke about the pressures of being a health advocate for a loved one. That is never an easy situation, especially when not everyone is on the same page. I felt for Anders because he was stuck in the middle, not knowing if it was okay to move on and still respect his ex-wife's parents. The book is a perfect slow-burn second chance romance that explores family relationships and mental health.

Thank you to NetGallery and Penguin Group
Putnam for giving me a copy of the book.

The more Paige Toon I read, the more credit I give to the research she puts into her love stories. Her books take place all around the world, and even though she is clearly a British author, I felt completely transported to the small-town rural Indiana setting and life on the farm. While this story was a slow-burn full of angst, I never felt bored! There was a great cast of supporting characters that made Wren’s summer on the farm feel not only realistic but also healing. Also, I love how the book explored not only Wren’s romantic relationships, but her fractured relationship with her half-sister, Bailey, her father and new friend/ Andre’s brother, Jonas. I am not one to cry in books and I came really close to shedding tears at the end of this.

This one was super slow. Great premise but simply fell flat. I didn’t find myself rooting for the couple or believing in their love story.

I wanted to love this book and I think the knowledge that there was a "shocking twist" coming ruined it for me. I really loved the character development, the descriptions of the town and the farms, and the dialogue between characters. After the twist, I feel like I was reading a completely different book that was over dramatized and essentially lost interest in the characters.

I enjoyed Only Love Can Hurt Like This. I feel like it kept a steady pace throughout the story and kept the reader’s interest. I don’t think this was a super favorite of mine compared to other romance reads I’ve read, but I would push this forward to other readers who need a fun, cute, and quick read. Thank you for my ARC! <3

This is my first Paige Toon novel. I was hesitant at first to read it because the blurb compared the book to Colleen Hoover, and I wasn't feeling angsty love. Thankfully, the angst wasn't smushed in your face. I was also nervous about the looming secret we were barreling towards. Fortunately it was presented with grace and understanding. I think the best part of this book was the description of the farms where the story took place. I didn't get a strong sense of characters and the romance was not swoony. I may check out another book by this author and see if this is an outlier. Thank you to Putnam and NetGalley for the ARC!

This story was so much. Heartbreak, love, angst, smiles, tears and more. I was hooked from the start and I fell for all of these characters as well as Paige Toon's writing style. Very good!

This is the story of true love with a deep secret that could be life-changing. Wren lives in the UK and one day finds out that her fiance is in love with someone else. To give herself a break, she plans a trip to the U.S. to stay with her father and step-family on their farm in the Midwest. Very early into her visit she runs into Anders, the neighbors' son who is home or a short visit. Wren and Anders soon have something more brewing between the two of them and start to dream about what a future may bring. But, Anders has a secret that could turn everything on its head.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐦𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐰, 𝐬𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠.

When a sudden wrench in her plans leaves Wren single and looking for an escape, Indiana doesn’t sound too bad. Despite leaving most of what she knows behind in England, Wren is excited to see her dad and his family and spend time away from her past life. What she doesn’t account for is the introduction turned infatuation with Anders and all his mysteries. Determined to heal, Wren is convinced she doesn’t need Anders but for some reason she can’t seem to stay away — even if he’s hiding a secret that could change everything.

This book did indeed break my heart. I was so enthralled with the love story of Wren and Anders. I was rooting for them to the max. There were also so many forms of love in this book, from platonic to familial to romantic. I really enjoyed the different themes and takes on love, as well as how different characters processed different emotions. The magnitude in which some emotions and scenes were done really blew me away!
My only quip is that the timeline got confusing. I felt like there were a lot of random jumps in time that didn’t make much sense. However, they were pretty easy to digest and push through.

This was my first book by Toon but it won’t be my last. I am just sitting here swimming in a sea of quotes from this book as well as pure joy for reading such an incredible story from the first page to the very last! This story was exquisitely told from Wrens point of View and the reading pace was fast and flawless. The side characters were loving, funny and added great depth to the storyline. Anders was withholding some key information from Wren and when she finds out the whole truth - her world comes crashing down again. THIS is a book I wish I could read for the first time again - it was that good!
Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy for an honest review.

This one will get your eyes welling with tears!
Being new to author Paige Toon, I didn't know what to expect when diving into Only Love Can Hurt Like This. What unfolded in the pages of this story involved heartbreak, feelings of inadequacy, family dynamics, falling in love, and discussion on the meaning of commitment.
This book is not perfect. There are pacing issues throughout and transitions of time can make the story feel as if it's being told out of order, which causes sections of the text to seem clunky and disjointed.
What this author does well, is dive into our main character's psyche to allow the reader to empathize with her struggles. The main character's inner monologue and flip/flopping decision making can lead to a bit of whiplash, but that is, in a way, realistic.
The side characters in this story are enjoyable. The overall plot is fun and brings in romantic tropes (small town, will they/won't they) that many readers will be excited about. And that twist? You just don't see it coming and it breaks the reader's heart when it does!
If you're looking for a story about coming-of-age/finding yourself in your 30's with a romantic through line, this is the book for you!

3.5 stars - Thanks to Net Galley and Putnam for the advanced copy. This book just started incredibly slow for me. I forced myself to finish it, and I noted it didn't pick up until around 60%. That is a lot longer than I normally give a book that doesn't interest me. The ending picked up, but the conclusion felt rushed. I needed more of a conversation between Anders and Wren at the end to make it feel earned. Props to Wren though, because she put up with more than most people would. I definitely didn't see the plot twist coming, so props for that. Did the book earn this title? Maybe.

YES YES YES! 5 stars all the way! Paige Toon sent my heart all over the place with Only Love Can Hurt Like This. A heartbroken women, Wren, goes to visit her dad in the states from the UK. She happens upon racecar engineer, Anders. How do I explain this without spoiling it?? Let’s just say that Anders is the true definition of a loving, caring, committed gentleman. At the climax, a guarded secret surfaces. Well it’s not really a secret but just a miss interruption. Anders is dealing with so much and Wren just wants him to break free but he can’t given some unfortunate circumstances. Let’s say that you will want to snag this book on April 25th! (HEA, 0-1 on the spice level)