For Never and Always by Helena Greer
Format: ALC from Forever, Grand Central Publishing

For Never and Always is Helena Greer’s second book, and features the same cast of characters from last year’s debut novel Seasons of Love. For Never and Always is a second chance romance with mental health, queer, and Jewish representation, and I loved the diversity featured in all of the main and supporting characters. In For Never and Always, Levi and Hannah are reunited at Carrigan’s, the Christmas-themed farm and hotel they each inherited a portion of. Hannah works at Carrigans as a hotel and event planner, while prodigal son Levi left years ago vowing never to return. These two have a LOT of history together! Together with their families, they begin to unpack their emotional baggage and learn to work together again, but they cannot deny the connection they still have after many years apart.

There are many people who will really enjoy this book, and I appreciate the value that it will have for them. Unfortunately this book did not speak to me. The characters read as all very emotionally immature for their ages, and I wanted to yell at them at several points throughout the book. Some aspects of the writing also really bothered me, like improper capitalizations and phonetic spelling. The plot itself was fine, but the characters and writing kept me from loving the book overall.

Thank you to Forever Publishing for the ARC of For Never and Always, which publishes on November 28.

While I was extremely impressed with the queer and Jewish representation in this book, unfortunately I couldn’t bring myself to finish it. I’ve tried on several occasions over the past few months and each time I get into a slump. This is a sequel, and I haven’t read the first which could be the reason for me not relating to nor enjoying the characters, but in reality I do feel like there is a lot of inner dialogue and not much plot. I appreciate the opportunity to read this.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to read this book early! I really enjoyed it. I thought the writing was very well done, and the story kept me interested. I believe my students/patrons would also love this book and will be acquiring it for the library!

For Never & Always had some amazing Jewish and Queer representation in this book that I absolutely adored, and wanted more of! This made the book so unique, and if you're looking for more romance in these categories, I'd recommend picking it up.
This is a second chance romance story that has a lot of family drama! It also revolves around cooking, small towns, traveling, and the hospitality industry.
Our main characters, I felt, were pretty unlikable, and not great for each other. Some people love reading about unlikable characters, but I am not one of those people. Miscommunication, again, a trope that many like but I do not, was through the roof!
I also had a bit of a hard time following the plot. It was more of a "vibes" story, so if you enjoy a general ambiance, this is a good fit for you.
Ultimately, this was not a great read for me, but is obviously a great fit for many readers out there based on the abundance of excellent reviews! I hope this falls into the perfect hands come publishing time.

This book comes out November 28, 2023! Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the eARC in exchange for a review.

After reading Season of Love, I was hoping we would get a book all about Hannah & Levi! They had an obvious connection and I had to know their story! For Never & Always did not disappoint! I had a really good time with it. I do think I enjoyed the first half more than the second though. The pacing felt a bit slow.

I love a good second chance romance! This one was like *I hate you/I love you I’m sorry* kind of thing and I ate it up. I enjoyed seeing Hannah & Levi find their way back to each other while also healing some old wounds. The two learned a lot about themselves and what they really want together in life.

I can’t wait for Helena Greer’s next book!

I was so excited to see a second book in this series! I love getting to revisit characters that were main characters in previous books while also getting the opportunity to connect with new characters. This was a great addition to the carrigans universe!

I'm not kidding when I say I've waited a year for Levi and Hannah's story. I was already hooked from the little bits I learned about their story while reading Season of Love. The story has Hannah and Levi going from (kind of) enemies to lovers but of course before they were on the outs they were once friends and then lovers in their younger years. Levi's side of the story was so sad yet sweet to read, he's always wanted nothing more than to prove he belongs and is worthy of the family and friends he has. I loved seeing Levi try to win Hannah back and have Hannah slowly open up throughout the story. And their heart to heart talks just kept getting better, especially when Levi opened up about his sexuality. I loved how the book ended and thought it worked well for what the characters wanted.
Thank you to Netgalley and Forever for the ARC

I was drawn to this book because of the cover. I had heard of the author before but hadn't read their other work and didn't realize this is the second book in a series. I didn't feel like I needed to read that first, although there are a handful of characters from the first book and it may have helped in knowing their relationships to the MCs slightly better.

It's a second chance romance. Hannah and Levi (Blue - because they thought he was named after jeans) have known each other since they were kids. The chapters jump back and forth between the past and present day, starting with Hannah at 7 years old. We see how they became friends and how they're relationship grew and fell apart.

Hannah owns a family Christmas tree farm, even though the family is Jewish. Blue has been away for 4 years to make something of himself. He's a famous chef and he wants to prove to Hannah they're still good together and gets her to agree to 5 dates. The problem is, she doesn't want to leave and he doesn't want to stay.

I enjoyed this one, for the most part. I wish I had read the first book just to have more of a background. I also felt parts of it dragged a little, but was still a good book. It has great representation. Jewish rep, Queer rep (the MMC is demisexual and side characters from the first book are also LGBTQ). There's also mental health rep, which I love seeing. I will read from the author again.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley. I voluntarily read an early copy of this book.

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

I didn’t realize this was a sequel- just a disclaimer! I absolutely loved the representation in this book! And reinterpretations are hit or miss but this was incredible

Absolutely one of my favorite romcom reads, a rare demisexual representation and beautifully written in so many ways as well. Believable and loveable characters who learn how to put the work in to make things work.

I personally did not like this book. I read 67% (up to chapter 16) before I realized this book was not enjoyable for me.

I found the writing style to be incredibly confusing. The use of third person didn’t always flow, so it made the plethora of characters run together. This also didn’t feel like it could be read as a stand-alone in the series. There is little explanation of the happenings of book one, which every second book in a series needs some of.

I also found the back and forth between Levi and Hannah to be ridiculous and often redundant. Hannah wants to hate Levi so much, but she was also in the wrong for a lot of things.

I also find it so rude that everyone is ALWAYS talking poorly about Levi. His struggles and pain were invalidated throughout the whole book, and I found that to be disappointing. Loved the demisexual representation but did not enjoy the invalidating of Levi’s strife.

I didn’t realize that this was a sequel so perhaps having not read the first is part of why I sadly did not enjoy this one. The flashbacks did not work for me and I really did not see the connection between main characters at all. However, I loved the representation found in this book and know that it will be loved by many other readers.

4.5 stars rounded up. I so enjoyed For Never & Always, and there were several moments where I screamed and/or had to immediately text a friend to tell them something that happened in the book.

For Never & Always takes place after the events of Season of Love -- Miriam is happily back at Carrigan's and in love with Noelle, and after Levi Blue has returned to Carrigan's, at Hannah's request and also to her dismay. But the story is also told in a series of flashbacks from Hannah and Levi's perspectives, from when they were 5 to when they were 31 and had their catastrophic breakup. I generally do like flashbacks, and I thought the flashbacks here were really well done -- they were perfectly placed to explain something happening in the present, and it was sweet to watch Hannah and Levi fall in love.

There is a lot of angst in this book. Levi basically is the walking talking embodiment of an angsty broody teenager (even when he's 36). And Levi and Hannah have a lot of baggage and a lot of history and a lot of triggered fight and/or flight responses that they have to work through. But it felt so rewarding to watch them work through it (and fail at it, and try again, and fail again, and keep trying), and I couldn't help but root for them. I don't think the word bashert was used to describe them (shockingly), but that's how their relationship came across.

Speaking of bashert, this book is so amazingly Jewish. Levi cooks Jewish food, explicitly, even as he goes on to be a big fancy chef. The book opens at Passover, and the descriptions of the food and hosting a seder and feeling miserable at the lack of bread and the Four Questions are so important to the book and so Jewish and also just feel so normal. There are a nonzero number of times that Levi wears a kippah. Levi says that he keeps kosher-style, so no pork and shellfish. It's just spectacular Jewish representation. (And as a little bit of an aside, the way that Helena Greer writes like I do, with G-d and Kel Malei Rachamim, is a whole nother kind of representation that I never expected but am thrilled to see.)

And speaking of representation, there is all kinds of queer representation in For Never & Always. Levi coming out to Hannah as demi and pan is sweet and tender, and Levi coming out to Noelle was also sweet and hilarious at the same time. Cole returns and has an announcement, too! (It seems like Tara's story is next, but I want Cole and Sawyer!!)

One last thing -- this book somehow managed to be steamy and fade-to-black at the same time, which is impressive, even if I still would rather read an open door book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for providing me with an eARC of For Never & Always in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

As I said before, if there is a plus size woman on the cover...I'M GONNA NEED TO REQUEST IT! This cover is beautiful and so was the story. I have read many second chance romance but this was so cute. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

When I read Season of Love I was obsessed with Hannah and Levi and he wasn’t even on page, so I was dying for their book. I knew it was gonna be good and it has been!

This angst level was high. VERY high. I will no go into detail because I think it’s better to go in blind, but my jaw dropped a few times. Their love was so so intense. Levi was set on reminding Hannah that he loved her, though Hannah didn’t need reminders because she hadn’t forgotten him either. Since the beginning, their love wasn’t a problem in the relationship.

I admit that the more I knew about their relationship and their past… the more I thought that love wasn’t enough to save it in this case. I don’t know how I feel about how everything progressed. I really like them, but I think I liked them more as friends. Knowing the problems that caused their breakup made me a bit cold towards the present and their second chance.

Aside from this, I can’t deny that I loved this book and it was a big serve. The writing was amazing, the flashbacks were perfect to understand Hannah and Levi and the side characters helped a lot (especially Cole I love Cole so much).

TW: Emotional abuse, homophobia, panic attacks/agoraphobia

Rating: 4/5
Steam level: Fade to black

ARC provided by Forever and NetGalley. Opinions are my own!

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishers for this Advanced Readers Copy of For Never & Always by Helena Greer!

I have been anxiously waiting for Levi and Hannah’s book since the end of [book:Season of Love|60383010] and this did not disappoint. I adore everything about Carrigan’s Christmasland and this cast of characters and I loved that this book was about growing up and coming home. I related to Levi so much in both timelines (I love the demisexual representation so much!), and I loved watching the personal growth of both him and Hannah through this story.

While this book isn’t being marketed as part of a series, I think reading Season of Love before this will enhance your enjoyment of this book. Greer does add in mentions and details of side characters throughout the story but I could see it being overwhelming and potentially impacting opinions about pacing without having read the previous book.

The end of the ARC also mentions Tara’s book is next, which is very exciting, but I admit I am most looking forward to a potential Cole book.

I really wanted to like this book, but it just didn't work for me. I found it very hard to get through. I didn't really like any of the characters and felt no connection to any of them. I did like the representation in the book, especially the demisexual representation, which I hope becomes more seen in books in the future.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

📚 A R C R E V I E W 📚

⭐️⭐️⭐️ .5

♥️ second chance romance
♥️childhood friends to lovers
♥️LGBT+ rep
♥️therapy and mental health rep
♥️small town romance
♥️dual timeline
♥️sequel

This book centres around an inn that started off as a Christmas-themed hotel and tree farm, but was turned into a year-round destination. Such a fun concept!

Hannah and Levi have been best friends their whole lives and fell in love. She wanted to stay and run the business. He wanted to go out and pursue other endeavours and they broke up. Now, he’s back to win her over.

Their relationship ended because they ultimately wanted different things, but the passion and love between these two is entirely transparent. Levi has some of the swooniest declarations I’ve ever read 😍. He is so mesmerized by Hannah and so deeply in love with her that he will go to any lengths necessary to win her back.

This book includes a cast of quirky and loveable characters. It definitely has a small town feel!

It also includes many details about Jewish religious celebrations and holidays. I’ve never read about Judaism in fiction before and it was to see new representation.

This is sequel, but can be read as a stand alone.

Thank you to @netgalley for an ARC of this book!

QOTD: What was the best ARC you’ve read recently?

#arcreview #netgalley #lgbtromance #bibliophile #prettybooks #bookstagram #bookblog #romancereads #books #bookworm #bookaddict #romcombooks #explore #explorepage #bookish #bookishlife #bookrecs #bookrecommendations #romancebooks #bookreviews #bookshelves #bookaesthetic #booktok #romancebooksofig #bookphotography #bookphotos #contemporaryromance #bookart #booksandcoffee