This book had me blushing even though there was no on page sex, idk how Helena managed that but wow wow wow I am bowing down.

I felt so seen while reading this book, I think the queer representation was perfect. I couldn’t get enough of the tension and banter between Levi and Hannah and really felt like I was in the room with them sometimes. Found family holiday books are my absolute favorite and this one is no exception.

Unfortunately due to a lack of formatting in this eARC, I am unable to read the book. I do apologize and I appreciate the copy, but I have severe ADHD and the lack of formatting makes it very difficult for me to read. I will not review anywhere but once the audiobook comes out, I will look to support and review this author/title! Sorry for the inconvenience.

I really enjoy Helena Greer’s writing and inclusion of diverse characters. Levi and Hannah’s story was well told and I enjoyed their relationship. It did take me a while to get into this one because I felt like the beginning really dragged. Once the story got going, it was very enjoyable though.

This is the second book in a series but can absolutely be read as a standalone. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the first book in the series as well as to fans of second chance romances.

I really enjoyed this book! Helena Greer did a great job of showing just how difficult relationships and marriage can be, especially when people grow up together and think the know just what the other thinks. I absolutely loved the LBGTQIA+ representation and the Jewish culture throughout the book. Thanks #NetGalley

O.M.G I LOVED this book. It had all of my favorite tropes: second chance romance, friends to lovers, it’s only ever been you, marriage in trouble, and so much more. I enjoyed but didn’t love the first in this series, but sure am glad I picked up For Never & Always.

Hannah and Levi are destined to be together. They’ve grown up together and only ever loved each other. Too bad they want diametrically opposite things out of life. They agree to a series of dates to figure it out and if they can’t, they’ll sign divorce papers.

This love story is sweeping and epic. Told in dual POV with occasionally flashbacks to their history, I could not get enough. These two are gone for each other, but Levi especially is just GONE. The man literally worships Hannah and his chaos monkey personality just adds to his charm. I loved him so much. I wanted slightly more of Hannah’s background and for her to show a bit of the emotional vulnerability we were seeing from Levi, but it was true to her character to remain pretty buttoned up until the end. We also get to revisit Carrigan’s and the found family therein which was so fun.

I voluntarily read an early copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

After reading book 1 I was so excited to get my hands on For Never and Always. It's a classic second-chance romance between Hannah and Levi, childhood sweethearts who wanted different things out of life which caused them to break apart in their earlier thirties. Except when Cass, the owner of the inn and Hannah's aunt, leaves the whole estate to Hannah and Levi along with their two friends (who you read more about in book one) it brings them back together. Can they rekindle the lost love of their lives or will the pain and suffering of it all cause them to never turn back?

I loved the Jewish joy. this novel brought. especially right now when antisemitism is on the rise we need books that show some of my favorite parts of Judaism! The traditions, the family, and the community. It was thoroughly inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community and had a ton of mental health representation as well which I totally relate to, being someone who struggles with anxiety and depression. The reason this wasn't a 5-star book for me was that I found myself skimming a lot. It also felt a little messy. I also had a problem that Hannah's crippling anxiety around travel and almost inclusiveness just magically went away in the last couple of chapters. Lastly, I found it hard to grapple with the author's very anti-Israel reactions online when this book is so entranced with Judaism which is intrinsically tied together.

Overall I'd give this a 3.5 stars. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest opinion. This book releases 11/28.

I was really looking forward to this one. I loved Season of Love by this author so much, it was one of my top ten books last year. Unfortunately, For Never & Always was not such a hit for me.

To be fair, I'm not the biggest fan of second chance romance or of a lot of relationship drama, so maybe that was part of the issue. I found the first book so charming and so special, I loved the whole cast of characters. There were moments in this book when the setting and characters still charmed me, but they were far fewer. I liked that this one wasn't as Christmas-y as the first. I did not like either of the MCs. I found them both irritating and immature. Frankly, at many points in the book I just wanted them to shut up already and get over themselves. The dialogue felt way overly dramatic and just not like the sorts of things real people say. I didn't even feel any chemistry between them. I think part of the problem was that they are having sex pretty much right from the start so there was no build up of tension. There was a lot that didn't work for me personally, but it's very possible that's just a personal preference thing. It made me want to reread the first one, so I could feel the magic of the place and the people again. I didn't hate For Never & Always by any means, there were enjoyable aspects, but I was disappointed after having loved the first one so much.

Second chance romance between two ex childhood best friends who may have secretly gotten married but left each other but are reunited again when their ownership stakes in a destination inn forces them to face each other. Hannah Rosentein should be happy, she's now the co-owner of the destination inn Carrigan's All Year, her happy place but unfortunately so is her first love, biggest heartbreak, and absentee husband, Levi "Blue" Matthews. Levi left Carrigan's to pursue his dreams of becoming a celebrity chef, and he has made it. He's famous, and he's proud to be the queer cook who made a name for himself yet his return is not as welcoming as he had planned, especially since his family is made at him, his best friend is dating his nemesis, and Hannah, his wife, wants him to leave... again. Levi and Hannah grew up as childhood best friends turned lovers, but Levi left when Hannah asked him to, and now he's back because she's asked him to come back but this time he wants to be back in her life permanently and he's going to do whatever it takes to prove it to her. Hannah and Levi want two completely different things but they can't stay away from one another, can they make it work this time? This is the spinoff book to the Seasons of Love (which I absolutely adored) but unfortunately this one didn't work for me. Hannah and Levi are suppose to be in their 30s but acted like teenagers, the miscommunication trope went hard on this one, and honestly they both just didn't really feel like they worked together that well. I didn't find myself liking or caring about their relationship all that much, which is so unfortunate because I adored the first book so much. If you like second chance romances with tons of miscommunication then this is for you!

*Thanks Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing), Forever for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

🦇 For Never & Always Book Review 🦇

Rating: ⭐⭐

❝ She and Levi were an island nation, trapped in a civil war, and the only person who understood the scope of the casualties was the one person she couldn't talk to about it. ❞

❓ #QOTD What's your favorite holiday treat? Gimme black or white chocolate peppermint bark, please! ❓

🦇 Once childhood best friends, now bitter exes, Hannah and Levi remained united by their shared inheritance, Carrigan's; the winter wonderland-themed inn where they shared so many childhood memories. Levi was Hannah's first love, heartbreak, and husband, but their time apart has created a rift between them. Can Levi use this second chance (and the next three months) to prove that he still loves Hannah--and that he's worthy of her heart?

💜 Childhood friends to lovers AND a second chance romance? Sign me up! Helena Greer's characters are enthralling, the history and chemistry between them an immediate draw. From the get-go, there's so much representation to delve into, ranging from mental health (Hannah has panic attacks and agoraphobia) to childhood trauma, a queer cast, and culture rep. This is a mildly angsty yet definitely sweet small-town romance that relies on small flashbacks to build the tension between the main characters.

🦇 While I love the mix of tropes here, the reliance on dual timelines kind of gave me whiplash. I didn't realize that this was the second book in a series until I sat down to write this review (entirely my fault, I know, but apparently I'm not the only one), which explains why there were so many plot puzzle pieces missing when I started reading. Hannah is harboring so much anger when Levi returns home, but we have to rely on flashbacks and snippets of information to understand why. That makes it difficult to sympathize with either character. While both characters are in their mid-30s, they act very juvenile at times, as if they're still their childhood selves. There's also a major reliance on the miscommunication trope (and if you've read my past reviews, you know I am NOT about that). There's a lot going on here, for sure, but the number of conflicts make the story almost difficult to navigate.

🦇 Recommended to fans of second-chance, small-town romances loaded with all the rep.

✨ The Vibes ✨
⏳ Childhood Friends to Lovers
🥈 Second Chance Romance
🏳️‍🌈 Queer Rep
✡️ Jewish Rep
🧠 Mental Health Rep

🦇 Major thanks to the author and publisher for providing an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 🥰 This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

ARC Review: For Never and Always, by Helene Greer. ⁠
⁠
Here's a bullet point pros vs. cons review for you.⁠
⁠
The basics: ⁠
Low-angst second-chance contemporary romance, demi M + straight F couple; takes place on a Christmas tree farm in upstate New York; all of the main characters and most of the supporting cast are Jewish.⁠
⁠
Pros:⁠
Mental health is a huge component of the romance; Hannah has panic attacks if she leaves the farm, while Blue is recovering from childhood trauma (specifically bullying, both from classmates and from a trusted adult).⁠
Many of Greer's characters are queer, and they don't have internal angst around it.⁠
Blue and Hannah, the MCs, are never mean to each other, even when they don't know quite how to treat each other.⁠
⁠
Cons:⁠
There's just too much time spent detailing Blue's quirky outfits. I'm sorry, I'm supposed to believe that a 36-year-old man who wears cutoff jorts, t-shirts with feminist slogans, and vintage silk dressing gowns to a romantic picnic is sexy? I just can't. (It could be a me problem, YMMV, but THIS IS AN ACTUAL OUTFIT that Blue wears.)⁠
I can't believe I'm going to say this but - I wanted more angst(?!?). I don't usually love angst, so a second-chance romance between two characters who respect each other and work through their differences in an adult way should have been perfect for me. I actually think that it might have been OK if there had been some plot besides "how will they make it work?"⁠
It's closed door 😞⁠
⁠
So, y'know, a mixed review. I don't regret reading this one, but I think it just wasn't for me.

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for this ARC.

Let's start with what i liked about this book: I think it had a lot of great rep: Demisexuality rep, jewish rep, and mental health rep.

However, what I didn't love was, as the book puts it, that the two main characters are "'both melodramatic jerks who love misery."" I also wasn't a big fan of how opposite their plans were for the future. I'm just not sure that they are good together long term.

if you like angtsy, complicated, second chance romance with great rep, this might be for you!

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

DNF - 8%

Unfortunately I just could not get into this book. I didn’t know when I started it that it was the second book in a series and I felt a little lost. I also could not get into the storyline, I wasn’t invested in the characters at all. I’m not a big fan of second chance romance as a trope either.

When I actively avoid reading a book, I don’t finish and this was one of them.

The writing was good quality but it just wasn’t for me!

Honestly, this book was a bit tough for me to get through. When fate brings together the heirs of a Christmas wonderland, coupled with years unresolved issues no one has sought to work through, it was just not the easiest read. There were points where I found the flashbacks helpful, but sometimes too much time jumping got in the way of the plot for me.

I found the side characters pretty interesting (and learned there is a first book in the series), but just found myself struggling to be invested in the characters because they all seemed to be a bit too immature for being in their mid 30s. I think the way the relationships progressed was a bit too fast for me considering all of the years of unresolved issues.

I love a good redemption story but unfortunately this one kind of missed the mark for me!


I read this book as an ARC - thanks to the author and publisher for the ARC!

I'd like to start this by saying I loved Season of Love. It was a warm hug a fun escape to Carrigans Tree Farm. This book didn't quite live up to my expectations. I found the characters difficult to like and deal with. They were all so whiny and annoying. It took me months to finish this book. It wasn't the escape from the real world I needed. It felt sad and unhappy. I did love the LGBTQia and Jewish representation.

I loved that this story started with a breakup and worked towards the HEA. It was different from most other romance novels because of that, and I really enjoyed watching their journey. I love Carrigans and all the people who make it what it is. I read the first in the series and I actually liked this one better!

For Never & Always
Helena Greer
4⭐️

This second chance, angsty return to Carrigan’s was just what I needed and wanted. It felt like coming home. If home is a Jewish-run Christmas tree farm. 😆

I adore Greer’s writing and the well developed characters she creates. Carrigan’s is without a doubt a world I would love to live in. I adored Levi and Hannah and their sweet story full of big feelings and so many tender moments. I couldn’t help but root for them.

I loved the dual POV and that we get little flashbacks to better understand their history. While this also helpful to five you insight into the side characters, if you haven’t read Season of Love I personally would recommend going back and reading that first to best understand everything and everyone.

There was so much beautiful representation. Greer definitely delivers when it comes to rep! The MC’s discovery and mental heath journeys were written and handled with the utmost care.

What I enjoyed;
💜 Grumpy/Grumpy
💜 Angsty Romance
💜 Second Chance
💜 Demisexuality Rep
💜 Jewish Rep
💜 Mental Health Rep
💜 Shenanigans

Pub Date: 11/28/23.

If you’re in the mood for a sweet, sappy, small-town romance most definitely check out For Never & Always! I can’t wait for Miriam and Noelle’s wedding!

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was apparently book 2 in a series and I spent much of the book feeling very confused.

I did like the diverse representations in this book (Jewish, plus-sized, LGBTQ+ characters just living life). The idea of a Jewish family owning a Christmas tree farm was fun and fresh.

I did not love this book or hate it, so...three stars.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

DNF @36%

I didn't know this was a second chance romance when I started it (my bad), but the long chapters really made it a struggle for me to read. I didn't read the first book in the series which may have helped bc the characters in the first book cameo here and are super cute so may need to go back to that one.

I do think this book explores two people who want such different things in an interesting way and I feel like Hannah and Levi's struggles here would resonate with people it just was a tad too angsty for me.

I always DNF when I no longer want to pick up a book and I had no desire to pick this one up and even though I hate to DNF an ARC I just couldn't motivate myself to want to read it. I also started and finished two other contemporary romances after starting this one so it really was the book not my reading mood.

Also tell me why I thought this romance was about two people who taught high school theater or had something to do with theater? In my defense Levi has extreme high school teacher energy on the cover.

An okay romance for me. I didn’t read book one so I didn’t really care about Miriam and Noelle.

Some things I liked about this book:

Representation and a lot of it
Queer characters just existing
Cole. I really loved that guy
A lot of the anxiety rep was really accurate to my experiences
Flash backs and present story telling
Levi being funny in a dramatic way
Chef stuff
Hannah’s love of her hair and drastic change with it too

Some things I didn’t like:
The repetitiveness. There was so much repetition in this book, it could have been 50-100 pages less and still just as impactful. The amount of times they have the same conversation is staggering
There is a lot of self reflection with no change until the end
Blowing out a breath

Read if you like:
🏳️‍🌈 LGBTQ Rep
🥈Second Chance Romances
✡️ Jewish Rep
❤️ Romance
⏳ Flashbacks

This book was such a great love story! I loved the flashbacks and the way that you truly get to know and understand the main characters and fall in love beside them.

Thank you so much to the publisher for my ARC! I truly loved this one so much!