Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

Mabel and Everything After is a really lovely, sapphic, coming of age New Adult romance that spans four years. The writing style was very easy to read in a way that was enjoyable. I would highly recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed Mabel and Everything After when I finished it last year! I devoured it in two days. Since it was around the holidays, I forgot to write the review. I really appreciated the authors writing style and how the novel moved along at a quick pace. It kept me entertained, and I look forward to more from Hannah Safren!

This book absolutely swept me away with its gorgeous love story between Mabel and Emma. Spanned over a few years, I was completely enthralled with Emma's life after meeting Mabel. Although they meet and are immediately drawn together, the timing just didn't align and they split after their summer fling. The story then unfolds with so much happening for both characters. This is a gorgeous book that is so much more than a romance - it's a fantastic New Adult story where both Emma and Mabel learn to find their place in the world and also find a way back to each other.

Highly recommend if you like your stories with a heavy dose of realism.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bella Books for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

Gosh yes. Mabel and Everything After was everything I wanted it to be and more. A lovely coming-of-age new adult, college (something along those lines) romance, that was very lovely to witness. Loved spending time with Mabel and Emma.

This is a great sapphic, coming of age, YA story.

It was an easy read. I struggled to get into the story at first and found the pace a bit confusing at times. I did really enjoy the characters and character development.

This is a sapphic coming-of-age story about love stories that don’t happen until they do. Emma first meets Mabel over a summer during college. They had an immediate connection, but once the summer is over, they are over too. Emma tries to move on, but the memory of Mabel haunts her.

The prose was sparse and simplistic and didn’t really hold my attention - there wasn’t enough interiority for me to feel like I was getting to know Emma on a deeper level, and because of that it often felt like I was watching things happen without any emotional connection to them. This is somewhat made up by the interspersed short, vaguely poetic diary entries that are appropriately melodramatic for a uni student.

Because I was dissatisfied with the general execution, other little things bothered me. The open pages were a little bit info-dumpy. (Throughout the book, exposition is delivered in place of inferiority, which also feels a bit info-dumpy because it isn’t place.) Some of the characterisation felt a little inconsistent.

It didn’t have a capital R genre Romance structure, instead it’s snapshots in time spanning four or so years. I appreciated the distinctly queer atmosphere this created, especially when combined with the way relationships melted into friendships, the background presence of emerging marriage equality and Mabel’s activism, and the ‘all the lesbians on the eastern seaboard seem to know each other’ thing. I enjoyed the distinctly queer flavour.

Mostly I’m disappointed that this book didn’t deliver more: the concept had a lot of potential, I just couldn’t make it work for me - because it didn’t give me enough to work with. That wasn’t a result of the length (it’s a very quick read) but of the lack of depth. Nonetheless, it’s a sweet story.

Mabel and Everything After was gifted to me by the publisher & Netgalley.

I didn’t really know what this was about headed into it, other than queer of some sorts. It is queer and very much a coming of age story. I found this to be fine, but it is very unmemorable for me. I wouldn’t not recommend it, but I also did not take much from the story. Just an okay read for me.

I enjoyed many aspects of this story, I liked seeing Mabel and Emma’s personal journeys and I thought the progression of their relationship was really realistic. However, when together as a couple I sometimes felt like I wasn’t really seeing the connection. That is just me being knit picky though because overall I enjoyed this book for what it was, and had a good time reading it!

2.75 star
Well the title of this book says it all. Emma meets Mabel....Mabel leaves Emma.....and then we spend the remainder of the book reading every experience, every lover every job every drink...And there is a lot of drinking......that Emma has for the next 4 years while pining for Mabel. I found it a bit lengthy and drawn out.. And the ending is predictable. But I must admit, when they bump into each other, it's very emotional and hot...and they don't even touch.
Also I found the writing style a bit basic, sort of like reading someones journal. It took me awhile to get comfortable with it.
I was given this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a sweet first love, young adult book. After sharing a special summer with Mabel, Emma begins her adult life. While she does date others, Mabel is always in her mind. This is a sweet story about finding who you are.

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

The book was a bit slow to start, it took me a little while to get into the novel (like 100 pages or so). Emma could be so frustrating at times, especially with miscommunication, but I loved her and Mabel and all the side characters in the end!

The story is told through Emma’s perspective with each chapter, as a different date and spanning 4 years. Every once in awhile there are journal entries from Emma that read like poems or musings, which in my opinion didn’t add anything and I think took me out of the story.

There was great character development. I loved watching Mabel and Emma grow through the novel! The writing style was lovely; looking at complicated relationships, love, aspirations, and connections.

The pacing could be a bit off at times-starting off kind of slow, picking up, slumping in the middle a bit, and then finally the last 50ish pages kept me hooked. So I definitely think the second half was better than the first and upped my rating compared to how I first felt!

Mabel and Everything After is perfect if you want a sweet coming-of-age, sapphic romance that’s character driven!

Tropes: right person wrong time, second chance, friends to lovers (sort of)

Rep: Jewish MC, lesbian MC, bi MC (or lesbian also? Mabel isn’t really labeled but dated men and women)

Spice level: 🌶 (1 or 1.5/3)

TW/CW: homophobia, bullying, forced outing, death of parent (brief mention), sexual content, toxic relationship, Harry Potter references, infidelity (brief mentions)

I originally requested this book because it takes place partly in my home state, Maryland. However, the story and the characters are what drew me in immediately.
The main characters, Emma and Mabel, are drawn towards each other from the first meeting. It is not the right time for something between them to start, This begins as meetings over a 4 year period. There is still a connection between the women they cannot deny.
This book does have you wondering whether the women will eventually come to the realization they need to stop running away from what could be a long lasting relationship. I won't ruin the ending, but this book is a great read. It is so wonderful to read about a place that is practically in your backyard. However, it does not matter where you live, you can relate to the women and it can be any city.
I would highly recommend this book.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a decent young lovers to friends to lovers story. The beginning of each chapter is prefaced with a date in an ongoing timeline and an excerpt from Emma’s journal. These thoughtful musings from Emma are what kept me interested even though the rest of the book was essentially a recounting of what happened day to day. This book would have really sparkled if the excerpt from the journal at the beginning of each chapter was the foundation of a journey of two souls trying to find their way back to each other. Instead they come off as interesting anecdotes attached to the recounting of their romance. Still, a decent story with lovable young characters.

This book is the classic case of right person wrong time. Think a sapphic love rosie or a sapphic version of ‘Tim McGraw’ by Taylor Swift. It starts off as a sweet summer romance, fully of nerves, butterflies and all the fluffy hopefulness of young love. But Mabel isn’t out to her family and she isn’t ready to be.

The next few years are filled with angst, will they won’t they? vibes and bad relationships. Everything takes drastic turn after drastic turn and you’re left thinking, will Mabel and Emma ever end up together? Would that even be a good idea?

The book is told through Emma’s perspective and to be completely honest I wasn’t the biggest fan of her or her credibility as a reliable narrator. The way she paints the relationships she gets into are a clear reflection of her secret resentment, and annoyance that life doesn’t seem to be going the way she wants. She appeared to me as being self-centered, unempathetic towards others situations and bitter.

I think a lot of the plotting reflects how young and immature the characters are. It seems Emma is so set on what she wants and her own happy ending that she often fails to see how this isn’t necessarily what her various partners also want at the same time. There’s a serious lack of communication between most of the characters which is frustrating to read at times, knowing so many things could be resolved if they just talked it out!!!

But overall I found the book bittersweet, the way it was set in a time where they were fighting for same sex marriage to be legal in America leaves a painful ache in the heart of the reader. And the question that is constantly on our minds, will there be a happy ending for Mabel and Emma?

When I first started reading Mabel and Everything After, I wasn't quite used to the chapter structure along with the journal entries. In addition, even though I knew it was a young adult offering, that part also took some adjustment. But I'm really glad that I keep reading the book since it slowly gained depth and took on meaning for me.

It was a heartwarming, touching book that demonstrated that timing certainly does play into romance or even initially, in this case, a summer fling. I was happy to partake in the build of the relationship between Emma and Mabel over a four-and-half year period. Friends and family of both the main characters were also a great addition.

I received an ARC from Bella Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

“Mabel and Everything After” by Hannah Safren is a new adult coming-of-age romance that highlights how important timing is with love.

Emma and Mabel are seniors at different colleges when they meet and shortly thereafter start a summer fling. Their romance ends when summer does, however, their feelings don’t seem to get the memo.
This follows Emma and Mabel’s journey over the next four years. After their summer fling, they both move on to other relationships and try to move on with their lives. Fate has other ideas and keeps throwing them back into each other’s lives.

I really loved this book. Like I said before, it’s all about timing. When they first meet, they’re at different stages in terms of being out and the plans for their future. Emma knows what she wants but Mabel is more uncertain about things. They keep running into each other but something always holds them back from being together. Even still, they never are quite able to let go of the other completely.

This is told from Emma’s point of view so we get to know her a lot better and see how everything affects her. Safren also uses journal entries for Emma as well to highlight some of her feelings that we really wouldn’t know otherwise. Mabel is more of a mystery, but we get to see her go through her journey the same way Emma does, from the outside through mutual friends of theirs. I normally don’t like single points of view in a romance but I actually preferred it here.

This is a heartwarming romance but has some bittersweet moments as well. They both have a lot of growing up to do and must go through some painful truths before they’re able to find their happily ever after. This really touched my heart and I was on pins and needles wanting them to finally get together. I highly recommend this and can’t wait to see what Safren does next.

I received an ARC from Bella Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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

Mabel and Emma were so sweet. This book was a fun recollection for me as an older, married woman of what it was like going through the ups and downs of a relationship, including the times when you weren't together with the one you thought you should be with. The author did a lovely job capturing the relationship from Em's point of view including understanding the good choices and the bad choices we make along the way.

The pacing felt a little off at points in terms of capturing my interest and pulling me forward, but overall I really liked this cute little story.

Do you believe in true love? Have you ever harbored a flame for the one that got away. Thought of them through every following relationship? Someone that you just cannot get over because their presence changed the trajectory of your life.

In Mabel and Everything After, we follow the story of Emma, recent grad and hopeful future business owner. Emma meets Mabel on a whim and expects a short fling. Little does she know, Mabel will leave an indelible mark.

This coming of age story focuses on working on yourself, finding out what you really want, and finding your way back to your “meant to be”. This story was very cute and incredibly sapphic. I really appreciated all of the queer characters and the messiness of life in early adulthood.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I devoured this book in less than 3 hours. It was easy to read, relatable, and well-written. It didn't hurt that I have a personal connection to almost all of the locations mentioned in the book, and it reminded me a lot of my experience coming of age as a queer person.