I loved this book! It was emotional and pulled the heartstrings! The beginning was a little slow at first but I really enjoyed the ending! I would highly recommend!

I received an arc from NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

Wow, this book really tugged at the heart strings. Two people with difficult pasts and one not overly open about it leads to some serious heartache.

I seriously was not expecting the curveball at the end of this book which made it all the more heartbreaking. Glad for a HEA ending though.

I am new to this author but will definitely be reading more!

OH MY GOSH! I love this book. I can't wait to buy my own physical copy and mark it up. I felt all of the emotions while reading this book.

I felt like the main and secondary main characters were all really well thought out and had depth. There was growth in multiple characters, mostly the main female character, Wren.

There was a twist that I honestly didn't see coming until the sentences leading to the reveal occurred.

I could've finished it in one sitting. It was so well-written and as I mentioned above, I felt all of the feels!

I really loved this book...I have been in a reading slump for a few weeks and this one got me out of it. I fell in love with the characters and their stories. There is a mix of laughter, love, grief and secrets- a great beach read! I hope we see a sequel- I want to know so much more about Wren, Anders, Jonas and Bailey!

Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam, NetGalley, and Paige Toon for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I adored this book. It definitely started out a bit slower, and the ending was a bit (in my opinion) disjointed/rushed for me (I think if the big resolution moment had been fleshed out instead of done in a flashback moment it wouldn’t have felt this way for me, but this may just be a personal preference thing for me and others may love it!), but overall I found the story of this book to be an emotional and charming tale. I loved Wren’s character and her growth throughout the story. I throughly enjoyed that this wasn’t just a story of romantic love, but also of platonic love, familial love, friendship love, and every kind of love in between. Anders battle with grief was heartbreaking and gut-wrenching and raw; I felt it in my bones as I read those scenes. I loved Jonas and Bailey as secondary characters. Seriously, this book was a joy to read.

I honestly found this book to be so boring. There was too much unnecessary detail and the entire story was suer drawn out. I also don’t like how she basically guilt tripped him into being with her when he clearly wasn’t ready yet.

Oh. My. God. What a journey! This book was an extremely slow burn but I completely understood why. It had a realistic time frame, showcased the struggles and heartache to allow for a healing partnership. It was great, emotional and what a secret!!! Fantastic. 5 🌟

This story is the true tale of "you can't help who you fall in love with."

Only Love Can Hurt Like This...with lead character Wren, who witnesses a moment that totally changes her life - her fiancé realizing he's fallen in love with someone else. She decides to head home to Indiana to visit with her father, stepmother, and sister and use some time to move forward and refocus. There are layers to this visit - her desire to mend her relationship with her father and stepmother, and to grow closer to her stepsister. She finds a down-in-the-dumps Airstream that she decides to renovate and fulfill a dream of having a 1960s Airstream to road trip around the country in. She realizes that she isn't completely fulfilled in her job, and decides to make changes. And most importantly, she meets her neighbors from a farm over, Anders and Jonas. After seeing Anders at a bar, she knew there was potential to fall in love again.

Every time she's around Anders, she falls more in love. However, their relationship doesn't come without hurdles. She's frustrated by the fact that he isn't affectionate, and he always seems to run away from her when platonic might seem romantic. She learns he's fighting his own demons, and a secret from his past upends the trust she had grown in him. However, after realizing that she can't help that she's fallen in love with him, she's going to have to commit and fight for the relationship more than she ever has in her life.

This was a really solid romance novel - not the best I've ever read, but I still found it a page-turner. I truly enjoyed all of the characters and loved that it wasn't just a love between Anders and Wren that grew, but that she also found a loving place with her father and step-family after feeling "on the outside" for so long. She found a passion in the Airstream, she opened herself up to new work as an architect...outside of the love story, there was so much growth in all of the characters and that's always inspiring to read.

On another note, I felt like the cover of this book could have been so different! I wouldn't have known the premise or the category of the book by the cover alone. Would have been so cute to see an image depicting Wren and Anders within farm life!

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group Putnam, G.P Putnam's Sons and author Paige Toon for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and author for an advanced copy of this book. It has not influenced my review.

Summary: Wren's fiance falls in love with someone else. With a wedding cancelled and a heart broken, Wren goes abroad to Indiana to visit her dad, stepmom, and half sister. People she feels she barely knows. There she meets Anders, a man who lost his wife four years ago. Even though neither of them is ready for a new relationship, they find themselves drawn to each other over and over again. But, Anders has a secret. Can Wren handle another secret? Can this love survive a secret?

Review: I loved this book. Loved it. I sat down to read it at 930pm and didn't put it down until I finished it at 3am. I found that Wren's maturity throughout the book, from how she handled her fiance being in love with someone else, to how she handled things toward the end of the book. This was my Paige Toon book, and I will definitely be picking up more of her books in the future. I think she wrote a beautiful, honest story about trying to find love after betrayal and after loss. She specifically captured how messy and freeing and debilitating it can be to fall in love again.

Wren sets off for her father’s American heartland home for a vacation after she discovers her fiancé is in love with someone else. Heartbroken, she’s hoping to temporarily escape her problems and sort out her head. Luckily, she forges a friendship with her half-sister and befriends a couple of local (handsome) brothers. Anders, the handsomer of the two, is giving mixed signals but Wren can’t help to fall for him. Yet, he’s hesitant and no one understands why.

Holy wow did they make their lives so much more difficult for no reason! I struggle getting through books/movies/shows that base an entire “plot twist” on semantics and lack of communication. YOU ARE AN ADULT! The last 80 pages I was like “there is not enough happening to stretch the conclusion this long” and then they did some new ridiculous thing that I was eye rolling and laughing at the absurdity. Maddening.

Also, why was Casey literally not a real character in this. I felt like most of them were very 3 dimensional and easy to get along with, and this man was literally non-existent and I was supposed to blindly trust and like him? A man?? Absolutely not.

But, it did make me feel a lil emotional. It was a rollercoaster, but if I’m feeling a little sad that’s definitely something worth noting. Characters were written well and it was just spicy enough at the end to keep me intrigued.

I just finished this book and I read it in one day because I couldn't put it down. I love all of the characters! This took me through so many emotions. I laughed. I sad cried. I happy cried. That twist was WOW! I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me a copy of this arc to review.

ARC REVIEW

Only Love Can Hurt Like This by Paige Toon

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Heartbreaking, slow-burn, and fantastic plot. Can we learn to love again?

The story having stayed with me long after the last page was read. Wren and Anders journey through growth, grief, and healing is breathtakingly beautiful. With every chapter leaving you wanting more. Only Love Can Hurt Like This is a true love story in the making. Would definitely recommend!

THANK YOU to Netgalley & Penguin Random House for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Alright, I didn’t hate the book necessarily so the three stars might look like I did- but the storyline had potential. The twist was interesting and added some depth to the story.

Unfortunately as a whole this book was a big miss for me. I usually really relate or connect with characters and it helps me get super sucked in. It took me a long time to read this and I think it’s a few things….

I couldn’t really connect with the main character, I felt like it was a totally lifetime movie with terrible acting. Like do rugged country guys really run up and grab their friends that are girls and swing them around when they see them and have only known them for a couple weeks?….no. It just all seemed so fake and over the top and hallmark. Then there would be an f bomb and then it’s like wait- maybe not hallmark?! I’m so confused.

Anyway- still read it. Enjoyed parts. Had to push through some spots. I’m thankful for the arc as always! I do love reading and this still brought me some literature joy.

I was trying to wait to read this book closer to pub date… like in 2023… but I couldn’t contain my excitement and I devoured this!! Paige Toon has this way of writing stories that are both light hearted and heart breaking at the same time and the book hangover right now is real!

Synopsis: Needing a fresh start and a place to heal her broken heart, Wren decides to visit her dad and stepmom on their farm in Indiana. There, she crosses paths with Anders, the son of the family who lives next door and the two begin a special friendship. As feelings start to emerge, Wren is hesitant to move forward as she’s been left behind one too many times while Anders is harboring a secret and afraid to get too close to dealing with his past.

Thoughts: 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.

Read if you like:
-Emotional romances
-Farm-life activities (e.g., corn mazes, tractor rides, peach picking, barn renovations)
-Event planning
-British heroine
-Sister relationships
-Lots of Indiana references

Thank you Putnam for the ARC! Pub date 4/25/23

If I could describe this book in three words they would be: slow-burn, heartbreaking and beautiful. I fell for Wren and Anders romance. It gutted me. I thought I knew what I was getting into and yet I never could have prepared myself for how much I loved this book and these characters. This book is about sacrifice, misconceptions, honor, healing and longing. If you ache for something as beautiful, angsty and heartbreaking as Colleen Hoover or Taylor Jenkins Reid then this is a must-read. This book will get in your feels and won't let you go. I will definitely be checking out more by this author!

I loved this so much! This was my first book by Paige Toon and I definitely want to read others.

Wren had her heart broken by her fiancé, who just months before their wedding tells her that he fell in love with someone else. As a means of escape, she travels to America to stay with her father. While there she befriends the neighbors Jonas and Anders. As her feelings for Anders develop she starts to uncover things about him that make a relationship very complicated.

Once again, I found myself relating to the insecure main character 😂 Wren felt very relatable and real in her insecurity. We explore the “one who was left behind” trope in multiple ways with her.

All of the main characters were likable and easy to root for in my opinion, though I was pretty confused about the relationship between Casey and Bailey. Most of what we were shown was a husband needing to grow up and love his wife instead of his friends and gaming, but then we were told that Bailey and Casey were perfect for each other. Their relationship was a relatively minor part of the story though.

There is a twist about halfway through the book that I didn’t see coming, but looking back I could see that it really was plausible.

The pacing was good. I didn’t feel that it was dragging along and I finished the book in less than 24 hours!

This was also a fade to black romance, which is what I prefer.

This book had me in tears so many times and I definitely recommend it!

I received a digital copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Okay wow. Where do I start? I’ve followed Paige Toon for some time and adored her books. People compare her to being the UK version of Colleen Hoover and that is so accurate! I adored everything about this book. Tears were shed. Feelings were felt. I love Wren. I love her family. I love the airstream. I love the farm. I love Anders. This is her best book yet and I have zero chill considering this comes out in FIVE months.

Thank you NetGalley for eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Such a sweet and heartbreaking story. I loved Wren and her pragmatism. She loves Anders so completely and poor Anders is the steadfast kind of guy all women dream of. It's so hard to watch them go through everything they went through. Such a good, emotional read. This was my first Paige Toon book but it won't be my last.

Absolutely fantastic plot! Could not put the book down once I began reading it. Cannot wait for it to be released. Will recommend it to everyone I know!

Only Love Can Hurt Like This is one of the most moving love stories I have ever read. Quite literally, I could feel the emotion from the characters they are just so well done.