Okay, tbh this book didn’t really work for me. But I really WANTED to love it. It had so many great elements — a diverse cast, people working on their mental health, couples learning how to communicate with each other better, great friends and side characters — but, and maybe it just wasn’t the right time for me to read this story or something, it just didn’t come together for me. It felt so long.

There was so much pining. I typically like pining. but I read the pining here as whiny pining (in the case of the MMC) and angry pining (the FMC) rather than just… longing pining. And I frankly wasn’t really here for either, at least not 250 pages of it.

And the whole story is predicated on the fact that the two MCs sucked at communicating and expected one another to be mind readers, and even when they realize that after five years apart still don’t just talk to each other and get immediately to the core of all their problems. And, my dudes, People Not Talking as the central conflict just does not do it for me.

So, if you’re fine with the No Communication trope and can handle beyond-longing flavors of pining, you’ll probably really enjoy this book? Because it does have great characters and love and diverse representation and interesting themes. It just wasn’t for me.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

Hannah Rosenstein, co-owner of Carrigan’s All Year, inherits a predicament when Levi "Blue" Matthews, her former love and celebrity chef, becomes her absentee business partner. Eager to move forward with the business and on with her life, Hannah invites him back to Carrigan’s to have him sign away his portion of the business. Only, Levi has plans of his own. Eager to make amends and win back Hannah, Levi proposes a deal: he'll cook for a VIP wedding at Carrigan’s and relinquish his portion of the business in return for Hannah giving him five dates.

This second-chance, queer romance unfolds against the backdrop of a destination inn with more than one surprise up its sleeve. I recommend reading Greer’s previous holiday novel Season of Love before picking this one up as it leans heavily on the characters and environments established in that book.

While the love story can feel a bit melodramatic, the well-written themes of forgiveness and redemption help to ground the novel. I recommend it for fans of second-chance romances and big, messy families.

A cute love story. I appreciated all of the well-written, sensitivity-approached diverse viewpoints. Cute, easy dialogue. Liked the little twist that Hannah and Levi are actually married and just trying to save their marriage.

A great follow up to the previous book! Love the queer LGBT representation and the emphasis on mental health

It is an interesting romance with two very different characters, each with their very unique traumas and coping mechanisms that make them polar opposites and a bad idea unless they're willing to accept the need to change and learn to compromise. The fact that they're childhood best friends and their lives were completely intertwined before they even realized they were in love with each other just adds another level of complexity that keeps things interesting.
What Greer excels at is making you care for the characters. I spent the majority of the book enraged at the supposedly fabulous Cass for how she treated Levi and at every single person at Carrigan's for not caring enough to notice. It's not often I get majorly mad at fictional characters, but this book managed it in a way that I still get angry just thinking about it.
Overall, it's a solid romance that gives you a lot to think about.

Happy thanks to NetGalley and Forever for the emotional read!

Thank you to Forever Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC. This is my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed this book about a second chance love between childhood sweethearts that have a rocky past but still maybe have feeling a for each other. Levi is a up and coming celebrity chef and Hannah is running Carrigans All Year Inn in their hometown, trying to put it on the map for more than just the Christmas event it used to be known for.

I recommend this book for those who want a different sort of romance, this is queer even if it doesn’t look like it at first glance. I appreciate the different representations presented, which also includes religious representation (the main characters are Jewish, and celebrate all of the Jewish holidays).

4 out of 5 stars, and there is lots of steam, but any action is closed door/fade to black.

I had to hold off on posting my review because I went and read it again immediately after finishing my first read through. This is not a soft, romance. The characters have dealt with some trauma, but the way Greer has written their journey truly envelopes the reader. Highly recommend.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for providing an eARC for an honest review.

I didn't realize that there was another book (Seasons of Love) that I should have read before starting this one. I ended up feeling confused and not really connecting to any of the characters. Overall, this book was just not for me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader. All thoughts are my own.

This book is angsty af and had me all in my feelings. It’s not a new fave for me or anything but I really did enjoy it. I really appreciated the mental health rep and queer rep.

I love this book with my entire soul. Even though I identify so deeply with aspects of Blue that it makes my heart ache.

The depiction of grief in this book is incredibly nuanced and masterfully done. When you're stuck in your own head it's difficult to comprehend that others have different experiences with the same person or even the same interaction. And the acknowledgement that you can feel grief, love, anger, resentment, etc all wrapped up in one messy knot of feelings really struck a chord with me. I know I'm making this book sound depressing but I promise it's not. This aspect just hit me in the personal feels. There's angst for sure but there are also a lot of lighter moments. And of course there are shenanigans!

I loved catching up with the Carrigan's crew and want a thousand more books so I can spend time with every single character.

**Received an eARC via NetGalley**

I really really wanted to love this one, and while I did enjoy it, and would still totally recommend it to other people, I didn’t totally love it. The characters and the story were great! I think the characters were really fun and well fleshed out. Greer writes such fantastic queer and fat rep! And the overall story and plot were so much FUN, I truly enjoyed the concept and the unfolding of the story.

The only reason I didn’t absolutely love it was because I wasn’t a huge fan of the narrative voice. I’m very picky about the writing style, and for some reason I don’t connect with her writing style. However, that’s very much a me thing, and I think anybody who finds the plot intriguing would enjoy the book!

Included as a top pick in weekly November New Releases post, which highlights and promotes upcoming releases of the month (link attached)

I did not end up reading this book. The author and I share very different political beliefs when it comes to Israel and I didn't feel comfortable reading and reviewing.

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

I didn’t realize this was a sequel to another book. I had to DNF it because I couldn’t relate to the characters. My opinion may have been different if I read the first book.

Thank you netgalley.

I really loved this story even more than Season of Love. I enjoyed the twists and the back story. There seems to be something missing in order for it to be a 5 start read for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for a chance to read this ARC. I didn't realize this was a sequel so my review might be different if I had read the first book in this series. Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. The characters seemed whiny and too over the top for me. The 2 main characters just didn't mesh well together, and the friendships were strange too.

I'm not even sure where to begin with my review. My thoughts were kind of all over the place while reading this one. I had a really hard time liking anyone in this book for a very large majority of it. Full disclosure, I didn't read Seasons of Love so I may be missing some things but Cass seemed like an awful, controlling, judgemental person but somehow everyone but Levi and Noelle seemed to worship her, even after learning about how she treated Levi. I completely see how everyone thought Levi was just this whiny, brooding guy...because he was, but I struggle with how nobody seemed to want to find out why he was like that for so long, including his parents?

I can't even lie. I was very tempted to DNF this but instead of just quitting I read ahead to see if I could keep going. This led to me bouncing from the ending of the book to the middle and back again. I ended up reading the book in it's entirety and was pleasantly surprised to end up liking it. There was so much fantastic rep throughout this story: Jewish, ace/demisexual/LGTBQIA+, anxiety, and fat rep. I think that was my favorite part. Someone said in another review that there was a lot of therapist-speak in this story and I have to agree, but I liked that side of it.

If you're looking for a book to read as an escape, this might not be the book you're looking for but if you enjoy a story that feels true-to-life, that has characters who will drive you crazy but then show a lot of personal growth; a story of friendship, family and grieving, then you should go ahead and pick this one up.

*I received an ARC from NetGalley for voluntary/honest review

After a childhood traipsing around the world, Hannah has finally found her home as the co-owner of Carrigan’s All Year. But her mind is still on Levi—her first love and, thanks to some posthumous meddling by her late aunt, new business partner. Levi left Carrigan’s four years ago with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove, but now he’s returned to win Hannah back. Things don’t exactly go as planned though and now he only has a few months to convince Hannah that he’s changed and they are meant to be together.

From the moment I read SEASON OF LOVE, I knew I needed Hannah and Levi’s love story and I was absolutely delighted to find that we’d be getting it in this book. Levi’s presence is constantly felt at Carrigan’s despite him not physically being there and it was clear there was a lot more to their story that needed to be explored.

Don’t let the cartoon cover or the fact that this is a romance novel fool you—there is a lot of trauma explored in this story. Helena tackles tough topics with compassion and grace, validating experiences and reminding us that, despite how it feels, we are never alone in our pain. I found myself relating way too much with Levi, oftentimes highlighting things he said and sending texts to my friends wailing about how it was exactly me. There were so many lines where I felt horribly attacked and wildly validated and it made the reading experience that much better.

All the characters spring off the page with their strong personalities and their interactions are such a joy because of it. In addition to all the character work Helena did in the first book, she also utilizes flashbacks in this one to flesh out Hannah and Levi’s characters even further as well as shines some light on other characters. The relationships between characters also shine, eliciting all the warm and fuzzies.

One of my favorite things about this book is that our main characters actually act like adults and have honest conversations. They do the hard thing and take time to really listen to each other and talk things out—even go to counseling and therapy!—and it’s a beautiful example of how to develop healthy relationships.

Despite the heavier moments at times, I had such a blast reading and falling even further in love with the Carrigan's crew. It is abundantly clear that Helena has a deep love for these characters and this setting—and we get to reap the benefits of that love (hopefully for many more books to come!)

Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher for free and have voluntarily written this review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for an eARC of this in exchange for an honest review.

For Never & Always is a second chance romance between Hannah and Levi (Blue). They separated four years ago when they realized they wanted very different things out of life. Now Levi has come home and wants to win Hannah back.

I wasn’t aware going into this book that it is a sequel. It’s supposed to be a stand alone but I felt confused at first about what was going on and I think I wouldn’t have been confused if I had read the first book. There were some flashbacks throughout the book that also made the storyline hard to follow.

The characters had the same argument multiple times throughout the book and it was tiring. It really didn’t seem like they had known each other their entire lives and had been in a relationship for years prior to separating. I didn’t find myself rooting for them to get back together.

I really wanted to love this and I did like some parts of it but overall, this was not for me.

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the ARC and eARC copies. I purchased the audiobook myself.

For Never & Always
by Helena Greer

Narrated by Mara Wilson and Emil Benjamin

Story Rating: ⭐️⭐️(0-5)
Narration: 🎧🎧🎧🎧 (0-5)
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️(0-5)
Steam: 🔥🔥 (0-5) Maybe more like 1.5

What I’m Starry-Eyed Over:
🤩 These narrators have gorgeous voices, are easy to listen to, and very well cast.
🤩 The book cover—it’s irresistible.
🤩 LGBTQIA+ representation is beautifully written.
🤩 Jewish traditions, celebrations, and culture is interesting and fun.
🤩 Carrigan’s—I love the setting of an Inn and the event planning and hosting.
🤩 3rd person dual POV—we definitely need both perspectives about their time apart.
🤩 Past and present chapters with lots of history. Childhood friends-to-lovers and second-chance romance. It builds the longing of wanting them to be together.
🤩 The bet and idea of the dates.
🤩 I’m so glad they went to couples’ therapy.
🤩 Change (that oh my gosh moment) and working things out.
🤩 I just love the friends/side characters, but you might need to read Season of Love to appreciate them.

What I’m Wishing/Dizzy About:
💫 Second chance romance does this to me, but it felt a little too heavy, serious, and sad for how I like to feel in my books.
💫 I didn’t feel as immersed as I’d hoped, more like being told Levi and Hannah’s story.
💫 I was hoping for more fun and to laugh more.
💫 A little too closed door. I just didn’t feel their attraction and physical attraction.
💫 I’m just not sure I believe in the HEA.
💫 My mind (and heart) is still whirling about the whole Cass treating Levi poorly.