Jen Devon is SPECTACULAR and I’ll never understand how this author and her books seem to fly under the radar. I was obsessed with Bend Towards The Sun and Right Where We Left Us has captivated me just as much. This is an EXCELLENT second chance romance and honestly is the template for the trope. Won’t stop screaming about this author and cannot wait for the next book!!

5 outstanding stars!!

Unfortunately i made the decision to DNF this book after multiple failed attempts to consume. I hope to pick it up again at a later time.

What strikes me about Jen Devon’s books is how full of angst her love stories are. It was true for “Bend Toward the Summer”, and equally so for this second chance romance. Again, this story takes place at the Brady vineyard in Pennsylvania. I really like all the characters from this clan, introduced in the first book. Temperance and Duncan were in love as teens, but have been estranged in recent years. Well, when they’re not spending the night together. This is a story where both characters need to deal with their own personal challenges and be honest with one another before they can choose to be together again. While the pacing was at times slow, this was a beautiful love story.

Thanks to the publisher for the gifted copy.

This is a great pick for everyone who loves slow-burn and second-chance romance, add found family and a beautiful setting.

This book follows a Temperance and Duncan, and their on and off again love story. There's a lot of everything between them: the pining, a lot of backstory, the banter is amazing. It's clear that the chemistry has always been there, but they never truly gave in.
And now that a very special occasion brings them back together, the past memories and the connection surely can't keep them apart any longer.

This book was emotional and beautiful. There were so many sweet moments, the longing and the angst were just amazing.

I just wish I'd read "Bend Toward the Suns" before this one as I feel it'd probably give me even more of a backstory of Temperance and Duncan, but still it was a very enjoyable read.

I loved the first one in this series so much that it saddened me that I did not enjoy this one. The characters felt completely different than who we met in book 1, when I was really excited for their storyline to continue. I was unfortunately not impressed.

4.5 stars

I, E-Reader Addict, do solemnly swear, that if I am so lucky as to be granted an ARC of the next Jen Devon book I will NOT procrastinate my reading of it.

I’m not sure what my deal has been lately, but books have NOT been interesting me lately. Which has made me drag my feet starting new books. And boy did that bite me in the butt this time because DANG this one was good and sucked me in hard.

Which is surprising because I’m not generally a fan of angst for the sake of angst - and there was A LOT of that here. Duncan and Temperance Jean spent a clandestine summer together when they were eighteen, but have been doing a cat and mouse thing (each taking turns playing cat and mouse) for the past 16 years - ever since Duncan cut things off after that long ago summer. Now they try to give each other a wide berth despite getting thrown together over the summer, once again, with the wedding preparations for Duncan’s brother and TJ’s best friend (Harry and Rowan from Bend Toward the Sun).

Turns out, Duncan’s reason for darting away from Temperance all those years ago was quite the reason - and not some stupid, misguided “I don’t deserve her” malarkey. Like, a real doozy of a reason. The author did an amazing job of building the tension, showing the longing, giving the reader SO MUCH chemistry. I don’t usually like a slow burn but this one was fantastic. I despise non-communication (especially in adults), but I was completely able to let that go this time…

As with Bend Toward the Sun, the author’s prose has a poetic quality to it. Again, she did an amazing job with her world building, and the dialog is fantastically witty. But that world building becomes a double edged sword - the Brady family is large and it can frequently be difficult to keep track of who is who and doing what with whom. Not helping the situation is that Right Where We Left Us is clearly a sequel to Bend Toward the Sun, but they aren’t
marketed as a series. I read Bend Toward the Sun (albeit almost two years ago) and was often confused by all the characters, so I can only imagine how confused new readers must be.

I said in my review for Bend Toward the Sun that despite the things I didn’t enjoy about the book, I think Jen Devon has a lot of potential - and her sophomore offering confirmed that for me. And I still hope there are more books, one for each of the Brady siblings!

* thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Noooooo this was not the book I was expecting to read. Way too many characters, never fully understood why they couldnt be together. Glad when it ended!

I thought this was such a beautifully written story! Temperance and Duncan’s second chance was all I hoped it could be and more. I felt the heartache right along with them in the beginning!

was sitting at 3 for a while with this one but everything just dragged on so much. I loved Rowan and Harry's story in Bend Towards the Sun, so I was hoping I would love this one as well, but it fell so flat for me. The idea of a second chance romance is great if the characters actually decide to be in a relationship for more than the last 10% of the book. There was so much back and forth and I couldn't get over the push and pull. Everything was so long I didn't even feel like this deserves an HEA. I couldn't believe it took me this long to read but I was so disconnected from the story and the characters. I also feel like there were so many background characters that were unnecessary to the romance. Overall, I should have dnfd and I'm not sure I enjoyed anything about this book. Thank you to St. Martin's press for the e-ARC to read and review!

I’m not normally a fan of angst. I enjoy happy fluffy books. However this book had me in a choke hold. Will I be able to read this book again?. Probably not any time soon, I don’t have the emotional capacity yet.

My biggest complaint was all the side characters I had a hard time keeping track of whose who.

Jen’s writing is captivating. It’s a very slow burn which is normally not for me, but I still really enjoyed this!

Like many others have said, I didn't know that this was the second book and I wish I would have known beforehand so I could have read the first book prior. I think that if I would have, that I would have known what was going on a lot better. Because of the error, I felt like there was a big disconnect for me. so I highly suggest if you're picking up this read, to make sure you read the first one first so that you know what's going on. It makes HUGE difference! With that being said, I felt like the book was slow moving and I did not enjoy the third person writing style. While not the book for me, I feel like fans of second chance and angsty romance would enjoy this.

A lovely second chance romance! Full of love and great characters!
Duncan and Temperance have one of the best dynamics I have read in a romance. I could feel their pining for each other through the pages.
I also loved their growth individually.
This book is a perfect read for fans of cozy romances

Bend Towards the Sun was one of my favorite books of the year when it came out, so I was so excited to read this one!

I love Jen Devon's writing, it's beautifully done and her character work is wonderful. The way she makes the location feel alive and like a character itself adds depth to her stories! However, something didn't quite work with this book for me, and even though I finished reading it a few months ago, I can't quite put my finger on it. Because there were parts I loved, and I have so many highlighted lines! But something about the timeline and the organization of the story just didn't click into place. It felt like we were dropped in the middle of something, and it wasn't quite second chance but it was? It's like I can see what she was trying to do, but it fell short for me in its execution.

Will I keep reading everything she writes? Absolutely! This just sadly isn't quite on the level of BTTS for me.

Rating: 3.5/5

Thank you to SMP Romance for this advanced copy.

Right Where We Left Us, much like Jen Devon's debut, has strong foundations but left me feeling like something was missing. I’ve mulled over this review for weeks because, while part of me loved this book, I also found myself rereading passages, feeling like I’d missed something. Perhaps it’s the overly lyrical third-person narrative that didn’t quite resonate with me.

A family tree would have been helpful to keep track of all the characters. The sheer number of family members added to the confusion, making it difficult to remember who was who and how they were connected. You can't dive into this book completely blind. While it's marketed as a standalone, it doesn't entirely read that way.

Temperance and Duncan had incredible tension, both emotionally and physically. The angst was palpable, and their connection was so strong that you genuinely felt for them. The novel also offers some truly beautiful quotes. However, the flip side was that Temperance kept rejecting Duncan, creating a cycle of breakthroughs followed by reversions. This back-and-forth sometimes felt like emotional whiplash, and not always for the best reasons.

I had some of these same feelings with Bend Toward the Sun, but since that was a debut, I chalked it up to first-time growing pains. Maybe third time’s the charm?

Gimme any Jen Devon book and I know I'll devour it, getting swept away by its sweeping cinematic set up and a story I cannot do anything but get lost in.
Right Where We Left Us is a slow burn, second chance romance with lots of tension and big emotions that just pulled on my heart strings.

Even though it's the second book in the series, it can totally be read as a standalone - by why would you?! Grab the first book too!

I felt this book could have had a tad better pacing (being faster in some areas and linger more in others) so I deducted half a point to rate this romance at 4.5/5 from an otherwise truly wonderful read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for allowing me to read this book ahead of its publication date.

This is a cute forced proximity and second chance romance. It is a beautiful live style win deep works in the families. It was warm and fuzzy read.

I'm a huge fan of second chance romance so I was really excited to read this one! I only wish I had read the first book (Bend Toward the Sun) beforehand. All in all, this was a decent read with a lovely HEA ending :)

3.5 stars rounded up

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for access to the e-book in exchange for an honest review.

Such a good read that I enjoyed! I'm so glad that I got the chance to read it early and will definitely be recommending it to multiple people who enjoy these types of novels. I enjoyed the characters and especially enjoyed the writing by this author. I'm excited to see what the author comes out with next as I'll definitely be reading it! Thank you to the publisher for my early copy of this book!

Jen Devon’s Right Where We Left Us follows the tempestuous, on-again, off-again love story between former secret teen lovers Temperance Jean Madigan and Duncan Brady as they’re forced together for a summer wedding at the Brady’s Vineyard. After years of being virtual strangers engaging in small talk, adversarial banter, and messy secret hookups every now and again, can they finally get things right this summer?

Devon’s beautiful writing and storytelling, vibrant with details, makes it so easy to visualize every scene, making you feel present with the characters experiencing every moment with them. She excellently develops her characters through clothing, appearance, mannerisms, quirks, interactions, and conversations. Despite how thoroughly she dives into her characters' physical, emotional, and thought worlds, Devon doesn’t waste words. She shares her characters’ knowledge of each other and intimacy through colorful, natural-sounding dialogue peppered with snarky banter that perfectly suits her characters, multilayered story, theme, and setting, and contributes to her rich world-building, character development, and the flow of the novel’s scenes and pacing.

Duncan’s and Temperance’s lives are intricately tied because of the connection between their hearts, souls, and bodies, but also because their siblings are married, and friends' lives are also romantically tied. So, even if they wanted to avoid being around each other, they couldn’t. Devon develops and explores Temperance’s and Duncan’s relationship—passionate, sexy, and full of so much chemistry—through banter, interactions, and memories that are emotional, intimate, funny, sensual, and steamy. They have a lifetime of moments and knowledge of each other that have become a part of who they are, linking them together. Duncan and Temperance have a shared sense of humor. Their eyes are always on each other, and their physical attraction and awareness are like a live wire constantly drawing them back to each other. As much as they love each other, their relationship is so messy, rife with unresolved emotions and problems.

Right Where We Left Us may be the best-written second-chance romance I’ve read. It’s multilayered, sweet, passionate, sexy, steamy, funny, and full of rich moments between Duncan and Temperance that show how they're meant to be together. These two have never stopped—and will always—love one another. They just needed time and life experience to grow into the people they needed to be and mature to live together with the intensity of the love and connection that they shared, especially considering the external pressures that Duncan’s family’s business and Temperance’s relationship with her parents were exerting on them.

Sweet, steamy, funny, sexy, nostalgic, emotional, romantic, and fast-paced, Right Where We Left Us is a beautifully written love story perfect for fans of first love, friends-to-lovers, on-again-off-again, small-town, forbidden love, secret lovers, and second-chance romance.

St. Martin's Griffin provided an advanced reading copy via Netgalley for review.