Greer's nuanced look at an imploding marriage is striking take on second chance romance and queer love. Hannah is a self described control freak and swears to herself to remain stationary after having not been given a choice as a child. Levi longs to escape where he and Hannah grew up because of a woman who verbally berated him and ignored him. When they converge back together it's and explosive battle to see who will come out the victor of their relationship, but there is no victor and it takes understanding and care for the couple to be able to puzzle out their relationship.

The friendships in this book are wonderful and also show change and growth throughout. Overall, the book has a good handle on the need for communication in relationships, and if that isn't possible, there is no shame in getting/asking for help. This is a fade to black romance book. The relationship was swoon worthy and extremely heartfelt.

Levi is queer and talks to Hannah about being Demisexual but it is treated normally, it's a normal conversation and then they move on which I believe is the best way to deal with something like that. Queer identities don't need to be a big deal, they are informational but should be treated like any other person/identity.

Overall, I would recommend this book. I think it's a great read to understand processing personal trauma and having to solve your own problems before solving the problems of a relationship.

This was nice! It was first time reading this book by this author and I will definitely keep her in my to watch for authors.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me @ 44%. I wanted to love it but there was so much that was a miss.

Let’s talk about the positives:
* Jewish rep, mental health rep, demisexuality rep - LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS. I loved how prominent that it was and I loved how strong that the rep was with the characters
* I loved the premise of the book with a second chance romance

Let’s talk about what I didn’t love
* this felt like a solid miscommunication trope and that’s a huge No from me. the characters even mentioned about wanting to talk but actions speak louder than words…
* the two characters married and then one disappeared for 4 years??? Ughhhhhhhhhhh. Come on. It’s a jerky, selfish, and inappropriate move.
* I struggled with liking any of the characters. Especially the FMC and MMC - I love second chance romances but everything about those two was just wrong.

This was my first Helena Greer book but I’m not writing her off as an author yet. I really enjoyed her writing and how she told the story - I just couldn’’t get behind the plot or characters. I will definitely check out future books from her in hopes of connecting with them more.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever Grand Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Helena Greer's first book in this series, Seasons of Love, was the best book I read in 2022, and I was so looking forward to this book basically from the moment I finished SoL! I was then lucky enough to get an ARC of this book from Helena Greer herself after DMing with her, and I have slowly devoured it because of how amazing it is!! Please Please read SoL before this one; they are interconnected for a reason.

The tone of this book is radically different from SoL in a way that worked so well. Plot-wise, we got a more complicated perspective on Carrigan's and the deceased Cass that made me reflect on SoL constantly. The inner thoughts of both Hannah and Levi were frustrating in the best way, as I, as the reader, knew they could do it and save their marriage but had to keep reading for them to know it!

To me, this book was a series of difficult conversations with a background setting pivotal to all of the conversations. Hannah and Levi had to actually talk about their problems and desires for the first time in their decades-long relationship, and I loved the way Greer made them actually work through it on the page.

I loved the writing style so much; this book was perfectly written, and while it's fairly long, it made sense for the relationship we are working with. I was constantly underlining and annotating because it was impossible not to when everything they were saying was so important. This didn't follow the traditional formula for a romance novel in the best way, as it was more about how these two characters can work together rather than how they can love each other; their love is never in question, just the how.

I am waiting with bated breath for Greer's 2024 next book in the series, as they keep getting better and better! (also, Helena Greer is a Librarian, and I am always rooting for fellow Librarians!)

This is a stand alone follow up novel to Season of Love (Oct 2022) which I’ve read. In that one great aunt Cass dies and leaves the tree farm and Inn to four people. Heirs, Miriam (artist) and Noelle (tree farmer) end up pairing up in that one. Hannah Rosenstein was always meant to run the Inn and she got the education and then personal training from Cass to do it. The last heir is their childhood best friend Levi Blue. He never liked being at Carrigan’s as his parents were the caretaker and cook. He felt less than the others. He was an angry young man who dreamed of being a cook and took off to travel the world four years ago. But in leaving he broke Hannah’s heart. Now he is back, and a celebrity chef. He wants to woo Hannah and she agrees he can stay to help with cooking for a major upcoming event.

Things I love. They all genuinely love each other. Very positive Jewish representation (it is ironic they own a Christmas tree farm). Big LGBTQ representation. Levi is demisexual or pan and there is a lot of explanation of it and the difficulties of figuring that out as a youth. Seeking help for mental health issues.

A few things made the book harder to enjoy. The flipping back and forth in time was choppy and sometimes it was for something very important and other times it felt like now we need to give this character a scene. Arguments got repetitive. It comes down to he doesn’t want to stay at Carrigan’s and Hannah who grew up traveling the world with her documentary filming parents wants to stay. I honestly didn’t understand why they loved Blue so much when they were young. And I didn’t understand why Hannah didn’t try to help more with a solution to their problems. It read more like general fiction because it felt like it went on forever with a lot of drama. And so much wasn’t about the romance itself.

Overall I was glad to come back and visit the characters I knew from the first book and get Hannah’s story. I think I enjoyed it more having read the first book and would recommend reading them in order. The story is closed door for intimacy. Usually I’m excited when I see an author is going to continue the series but here I’m indifferent about it. Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC and I am leaving a voluntary review.

Hannah is now co-owner of Carrigan's All Year, a destination inn. Her first love, now ex and absent business partner, Levi, is back at the request of a VIP bride who wants him to cater her wedding. And he'll only do it if Hannah accepts to go on five dates with him, because he is determined to win her back.
This childhood best friends to lovers to enemies to lovers second chance romance is book 2 in the Season of Love series. It ward to follow, the flashbacks didn't help, and the plot seemed to be jumping from a scene to the next without a good flow, there was a disconnect that made things very confusing to me. And there were too many characters and stories for my taste. However there was a great Jewish and queer rep.
I received an advance review copy of this book for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Oh dear. I’m so sorry to report that I didn’t like this book. The characters are extremely unlikable and I simply couldn’t root for any of them. I found the dialogue to be unrealistic and everyone is just so full of angst and despair that I couldn’t connect with it. Some portions were also tricky to follow and I realized later that perhaps reading the first book in the series would have been helpful.

I very much appreciate the ARC and wish everyone who worked on this book good luck with its release! I think it will find its fans, especially in readers who are already familiar with the story through the first book.

2.5 ⭐️ - 3 ⭐️

I don’t believe I’ve quite read a couple that felt less suited for one another. The entire book it felt like the relationship was one sided with Hannah saying that she didn’t want to let Levi go while simultaneously doing everything in her power to make things go wrong. Also, she was just plain mean at some points. I certainly did not hold any lover for her, nor did I for Levi honestly. Both characters just felt selfish.

The romance itself felt rather dull in that there was a lot of pushing together only for someone (Hannah) to argue an issue as to why they couldn’t be together. Towards the end, it didn’t feel as though that was a good compromise or plan on how they were going to work on their relationship.

I wanted to like this book. The cover is cute and the plot itself seemed interesting. Unfortunately, that wasn’t really the case.

I really enjoyed Helena Greer’s last book, Season of Love, a romance centering on Hannah Rosenstein’s cousin, Miriam. It was so much fun to revisit Carrigan’s and all of its crew in For Never and Always.

Levi and Hannah’s relationship provides a lot of good lessons about marriage. They love each other, but life has pulled them apart. They are granted a second chance in this book, and Hannah is a little hesistant about the idea of remaining married to Levi. As the story continues, they realize that the key to successful marriage is choosing to priortize one another, and they find ways to compromise so they can be together and each get what they want. That realization absolutely matches with my own life experience, and I found it very moving.

For Never and Always mentions so many different Jewish holidays, which made me so happy. Hannah and the team and Carrigan’s host a big Passover seder. There is even a brief mention of Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish holiday that celebrates trees. The representation made me really happy. The world could certainly use some Jewish joy right now, and For Never and Always provides exactly that.

Levi discusses with Hannah that he identifies as demisexual, meaning that he can only experience sexual attraction to someone after forming a deep emotional bond with them. He cannot see himself feeling attracted to anyone but Hannah. There is so little representation of the asexual spectrum in books in general, especially in romance. I am so glad that Greer told Levi’s story, and I can only imagine how much it will mean to people.

There is also a nonbinary rabbi, Ruth, who Levi and Hannah ask for advice. I was thrilled to read this representation as well. It is so important to have nonbinary characters in all kinds of roles and stories. I also absolutely love portrayals of rabbis that disrupt the idea that they have to be old men with big beards like in Fiddler on the Roof. My only complaint is that I wanted more of Rabbi Ruth in this story.

Greer’s books have brought me so much joy, and I am already looking forward to the next one. I would also love to see Season of Love or For Never and Always made into a Hallmark movie.

"He smirked. “I can see your evil wheels turning. I love your evil wheels.”
_
Love our favorite Christmas tree farm. This book is set during Passover and it's the second in the series centered around Blue and Hannah's relationship. OMG I love a childhood love/lifelong friends/soulmates story but they are on a rough patch after time apart. But absence makes the heart grow fonder and trying to go out and make something of themselves and such.
Love this series and this group of friends, family, ok found family. So much growth and self discovery. Both want different lives but still love each other and just don't know how it will work.
Love the sound of how Levi looks. He's so mysterious with his black eyeliner, leggings and scarves.

Thank you readforeverpub for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

I wanted to like For Never and Always a lot more than I did. I really think you need to read Greer's previous book Season of Love prior because this really felt like a sequel and not two stand-alone books in the same universe.

The Jewish and queer representation was strong but unfortunately, I didn't really like any of the characters. I found them insufferable and too focused on their past with too much therapy speak. I saw a review that described this as a vibes book and honestly that's the best way to describe it.

I did like Greer's writing and I will read other books from her but I think if I had read Seasons of Love first I would have liked this more.

“You’re my favorite person I’ve ever met in my whole life, and the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

After really enjoying Season of Love, I was excited to go back to Carrigan’s and get into Hannah and Levi’s story.

When Levi “Blue” returns to Carrigan’s after being away, Hannah’s world is upended. He’d broken her heart by leaving when she couldn’t. But he’s back after Cass left him part ownership of Carrigan’s. He wants to make amends but a lot of his relationships are broken and Hannah is still furious at him, Levi agrees to stay and help during a high-profile wedding and Hannah can’t help but notice they still carry deep feelings for each other.

Hannah and Levi’s story is just beautiful. They’ve never moved on from each other in all the time they’ve been apart, and you can feel their chemistry and love for each other through the pages. They have these intense, vulnerable conversations to determine if and how they can salvage their relationship. It takes them time, but their love for each other runs so deep that they desperately what to figure it out. There’s a lot of baggage they carry from their childhoods and early adulthoods, and it’s great to get that backstory. The addition of past moments really helped in understanding their relationship.

They both carry trauma from childhood, though very opposite. Hannah wanted to plant roots and Levi wanted to travel and explore the world. But I think that time apart really served to let each of them settle into their lives and figure out what they want. And when they finally discuss their issues, really great.

“We all grow anxieties of the soil in which we were planted.”

I loved seeing more of Noelle and Miriam, and those friendships feel so genuine. My only complaint is that the book feels a bit too long. There were some things I could have done without and would have preferred to continue focusing on Hannah and Levi. I think this could have benefited from some trimming and focus. The characters are well-developed so they’re interesting to read about, but there are some moments I could have done without,

*I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

3.5/5 stars rounded up

I really enjoyed "For Never & Always". There were some really great elements that kept me engaged and invested as a reader. First and foremost, the character development from the beginning to the end was great. We really saw Levi and Hannah grow and change. This was aided by the flashbacks, which contrasted a lot of the development we saw with where they started from. The Jewish and Queer representation was also excellent, as can be expected from this author.

Read this book if you want:
- grumpy x sunshine
- second chance romance/marriage in crisis
- mental health rep
- complex characters who behave like real people

At times, I did find the melodrama a bit exhausting, especially since these characters are in their mid to late thirties. I would also highly recommend to anyone picking up this book that they read "Season of Love" first, I think someone jumping straight into this book might find some context lacking and may end up confused. But hey, "Season of Love" was one of my favourite books last year, so I'm happy to recommend it to anyone interested in reading "For Never & Always"!

2.5 stars
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I really liked Helena Greer’s debut last year, focusing on a Christmas tree farm run by Jewish people, and a romance blooming amid tensions over transfer of ownership. But unfortunately, the follow-up, For Never & Always, failed to capture that same magic, being rather dull by comparison.
I do like that the book continues to highlight the complex relationships among the people who live and work at Carrigan’s, from friendships to romance to the more complicated relationships, And to see Carrigan’s transform into an establishment for various holidays throughout the year is a wonderful way to subvert expectations, and highlight not just some other Jewish traditions, but also explore how Carrigan’s might help in celebrating secular holidays, like the Fourth of July.
And I do like the friendships between the core cast, Noelle and Miriam from the last book, and their respective relationships with both Hannah and Levi.
But I didn’t care much for either Hannah or Levi as characters, and I found their romance rather underwhelming too. They had no chemistry, so it was so weird seeing them interact with what was meant to elicit tension or make these romantic declarations.
This book also suffered from a similar issue to a book like People We Meet on Vacation in its excessive use of flashbacks, and apart from the subheading telling you it is a flashback, there’s not much material difference in the text giving you cues that it is one. Their behavior in the present still feels very juvenile, and doesn’t feel like they’ve grown and learned, something I like to see in a second chance romance, so it made it hard to root for them.
While this book was a miss for me, I am excited to see what’s next for this cast of characters, based on the teaser at the end! And I’d still recommend checking out other reviews for other opinions, and possibly giving it a chance if you’re looking to read more Jewish holiday-centric romance, and you’re open to a second chance romance that heavily utilizes flashbacks.

This book was very frustrating for me because I was fighting to finish it. I wanted a cute holiday romance, but instead I got way too many commas and characters I didn't fully connect with or care about. The pacing on this book was off from the beginning for me and I think that messed with my head while reading it.

For Never & Always took me a little while to get into the story, but I enjoyed it when everything was said and done. Unlike other stories where it's easy to read any story in the series out of order, I think I missed some things within this series by not reading Season of Love first. I enjoyed the LGBTQIA+ representation in the story and the fact it's a Jewish family who owns a Christmas tree farm and business.

Thank you to Forever and Netgalley for a copy in exchange for review consideration.

This writer's style just isn't for me, unfortunately. It feels like it explains things overly and doesn't create the sense of urgency or passion I need when I read a romance. Still, I can appreciate that there is an audience for this style of writing. It also irks me as someone from the Adirondacks that a lot of the place-specific details are wrong, which is, again, a very personal thing.

3.5 stars

This was a good second chance romance between two childhood best friends. I liked the relationship between Hannah and Levi and how we got to see it develop from friends to lovers to exes to lovers again between two time periods. They definitely were meant to be and are each others people and just got each other. But I felt like there was just too much of a lack of communication between the two that ended up being repetitive and made me yell at them to just talk already. I feel like they had too many issues to due this that made it unbelievable that they would work out. Although once they did actually talk in the end then I could see their relationship working out and them having their happily ever after together.

Overall, this was a good romance and recommend that you give it a try!

Read if you like…
•second chance
•small town
•queer romance

It’s back to the tree farm and drama galore!
Whew, Hannah’s anger emanates from the pages repeatedly. I wondered if she had ever been happy in her life.
A bombshell is dropped a few chapters in, that apparently, wasn’t that big of a secret anyway.
I felt for Levi because he kept delivering everything Hannah demanded of him and yet it still, wasn’t enough.
One of the lessons I took from the book is if there is something or someone you really want, go after it, give it your all, until all possibilities are exhausted.
Sometimes the person you’re with is just the right fit.

This was okay. It just felt like a book that should of taken place with people in their mid 20's, not a 35 and 36 year old. I enjoyed their romance but I just feel like the development wasn't really there. I liked all of the Noelle and Mariam that we got though.

I received an arc through netgalley.