I’m DNFing this book… at least for now, at 28%.

I usually love Alison Cochrun’s books but this one just isn’t working for me. I’m having a lot of trouble even tolerating either one of the main characters (especially Logan, she’s just not clicking for me) but I was willing to stick it out for Joe. We love Joe but I feel like Joe would tell me to put the damn book down.

I might come back to it later, I might not. Who knows.

This is a book about grief. Yes, its about the grief of knowing that a loved one will die soon, but its also about the grief of a lifetime of "what ifs" and looking back on your youth. It's about the grief of knowing you've made mistakes you're not sure you can repair. It's about the grief that queer people experience when we realize that the world is not built for our love and we must find our own spaces.
 
Honestly, I would have rather read a story about two former friends that accompany their former English teacher with no romantic subplot. I think the story about Joe and his life and Remy was beautiful, I think the reflection on what it means to be a teacher that doesn't have children was stunning, and I think the reflections on dying and being out for the previous generation of queer people was beautiful. 

Rosemary was an empathetic character who I enjoyed, but Logan was...pretty terrible to be honest. I didn't fully believe the romance and I'm not sure if I can imagine the characters truly living an HEA.

The narrative of this book was great, but the romance fell flat.

Cochrun’s romances always contain emotional and sometimes sad subplots and this book is no exception. I love how she was able to blend the story Logan and Rosemary falling in love with the real-life trauma of losing someone you love. I love opposites attract romances so I really enjoyed how Logan and Rosemary learned to embrace each other’s quirks and make room for each other in their lives. While the tone of this book is more serious than a lot of romances, there was plenty to laugh about and I loved the road trip aspect.

This is an outstanding book that I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend. It’s a sapphic second chance romance road trip book that’s alternately sad and funny.

Logan and Rosemary were childhood best friends. They knew all each other other’s secrets,hopes, and fears until an incident just before high school started drove them apart, all the way to the present day where they are both high school teachers at the same school.

They both really care about one of their gay former teachers named Joe. He’s got cancer and asks them to drive him cross country to his cottage in Maine. They both initially refuse because they can’t imagine being in the car together for a long time. Rosemary is anxious and uptight, she’s a planner and comes up with a detailed binder. Logan is looser and less worried, and comes up with an embarrassingly gay painted van.

As they drive cross country, taking detours, they rediscover the things they liked about each other as kids, but can they overcome their differences?

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley, I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book was everything! All the feels. All the romance. I laughed, I cried, and I can’t wait for my next road trip to Maine.

I don’t think I’ve ever bonded with a character so quickly as I did with Rosemary. She is decidedly indoorsy, risk-averse, and a virtual ball of anxiety. She also loves a good color-coded binder. She’s just like me for real😂 Logan was just as lovable and absolutely the perfect match. I can’t talk about Joe without bawling, but he has my entire heart.

I cannot stress enough how perfect a book this was and how it felt like Alison Cochrun squeezed every last drop of heart and soul into it. Just go read it already!!

Thank you so much to Atria Books and Netgalley for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

Here We Go Again follows the story of former friends turned rivals, Logan Maletis and Rosemary Hale, who reunite as adults after a decade of silence. Tasked with fulfilling their dying mentor's last wish for a cross-country road trip, they confront their past and explore a future that might just bring them back together.

Going into this, I was prepared for a story tinged with sadness. I found that the story read more like contemporary fiction than romance. To my surprise, it felt more like contemporary fiction with romance playing a secondary role. The representation within the novel were highlights for me. Interestingly, I found the side characters to be more compelling than the main characters. Joe’s character and his backstory were so intriguing that I wished he had his own perspective. I wasn’t a fan of Logan and Rosemary. Logan came across as immature, acting like a teenage boy, while Rosemary seemed too rigid for me to truly empathize with her struggles. The chemistry Logan and Rosemary wasn’t there and difficult to believe. Though I received a complimentary copy from the publisher, I ended up listening to this on Everand. The audiobook narrators chosen did a fantastic job bringing the story life and enhanced my reading experience. Overall, I gave this three stars.

What Alison Cochrun manages to do with this book is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Seriously, a book about an end-of-life cross-country road trip that manages to be poignant, sad, funny, and heartwarming all at once shouldn't be possible, yet somehow Cochrun is able to pull it off and then some. The heart of this book, for me, is Joe, the dying teacher who means so much to our lead characters, Logan and Rosemary. How Cochrun writes Joe - his humor, his pride, his love for others, his regret - is beautifully well done, and seeing how Logan and Rosemary come together despite their animosity to fulfil his dying wish of traveling from Oregon to his former home in coastal Maine was a rewarding journey in every sense of the word. I've read all of Cochrun's books and her writing and plotting has never been better.

So why only 4 stars? While this book is beautiful, at its heart it is meant to be a romance, but unfortunately, the romance between Rosemary and Logan never really clicked for me. Friends to enemies to lovers is a trajectory I can get behind, but I think it didn't quite work for me here for a few reasons. Rosemary and Logan are 13 years old and best friends when something happens and they don't speak for almost two decades before they both end up teaching at their old high school, after which their only communication is arguing. While Cochrun handles their adolescent exploration of their feelings for each other and as well as their sexuality very well, it's hard for me to feel invested in 20 years of longing and animosity when they were barely teenagers when they had their falling out. I don't mean to invalidate the feelings of teenagers because of course they are valid, I just love angst in these types of stories, and teenage angst just typically doesn't hit for me in the same way. Similarly, the reason for the conflict between these two just didn't land for me as the impetus for this years-long feud. Finally, their connection as adults just didn't spark for me, and that's okay, because there is enough to recommend this book otherwise, and what works for me might work for someone else.

Thank you to the publisher for an e-arc! All opinions are my own.

This novel is told from the viewpoints of two women, Logan and Rosemary, who were best friends when they were young, then high school enemies, and then a decade or so later, when Rosemary returned to their small Oregon town to become a teacher at the same school where Logan teaches, enemies again. But then Joe, the teacher who mentored them and they are both super close with, lets them know he is dying - and that he wants the two of them to take him on a cross country road trip to his place in Maine. Despite Joe being in bad shape, the trip affords the three the chance for plenty of adventures, as well as a chance for Logan and Rosemary to confront what happened between them and whether they can return to being friends, or maybe something more.

In her acknowledgments, Alison Cochrun describes this book as a “sapphic road trip rom com about death” and that pretty much hits the nail on the head! And somehow all those disparate elements manage to work, creating a book that is both funny and sad, and romantic too.

4.5 stars

"Life is the prickly pear. It's always going to be a combination of beauty and hurt, no matter how hard you try to protect yourself from the hard parts."

A beautiful sapphic love story, a cross country road trip, and grief. This book was beautifully written about a very tough subject matter. All the characters were written with the most care and they became so special to me throughout this book. Its very hard to write a love story that has you on the verge of tears for most of the book, but I think Alison has managed to do just that.

Things I loved:
-the celebrity name swears
-Odie, the cancer dog (or maybe horse)
-nude paintings
-the drag performance

Pub Date: Out Now!

This eARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

(4.5 stars)
This book made me absolutely sob, which is something I rarely do while reading. Gorgeous love letter to teachers.

I’m not someone who loves pop culture references in books and this was heavy with those, so that wasn’t my favorite. And one of the main characters got on my nerves a bit.

But none of that took away from me adoring this.

📚I first fell in love with Alison Cochrun’s debut novel, THE CHARM OFFENSIVE. Then she published the wonderful KISS HER ONCE FOR ME. Now I’ve read HERE WE GO AGAIN, and I’m in love yet again. I read this incredible novel a few weeks ago, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. You can see the publisher’s synopsis above. What you can’t see is how this friends-to-enemies-to-rivals-to-strangers-to-enemies-to-friends-to-lovers road-trip sapphic rom-com is so much more than that. It’s kind of a life-changer.

🐶The truth is that Maletis and Hale both really love their high school English teacher and they are willing to put their ancient misunderstanding-fueled feud aside to grant Mr. Joe Delgado his dying wish. A road trip ensues the likes of which you have never seen. There are not only forced detours and minor and grave illness and borrowed gay van troubles (the van says “The Queer Cuddler” and there’s a 🌈) and questionable food choices. There are also careful conversations and mutual pining and ONLY ONE BED and a long-lost lover (not what you think) and the kick-ass “cancer dog” named Odysseus, of course.

🥹And Logan and Rosemary become friends again and then more than friends and then there are so many complications but they’re all important for every character’s arc - the main characters as well as indomitable and demanding Joe and Joe’s beautiful beautiful Remy. (You will cry.)

💃🏻This book is not only a love story, or even two love stories. It’s a life story, it’s a death story, it’s a love-conquers-just-about-everything story. It’s about loving yourself and giving yourself and other people a chance. It’s about second chances and kitchen and car and Moon dances and lifelong romances.

🤣It is also effing hilarious and has about a million music references - these two features are my kryptonite in every literary universe. Just see how many “Janelle fucking Monet” and “holy Dickensian antihero” and “in the name of Shay Mitchell’s legs”-type exclamations you can find. (You will laugh hard.)

🎶And Van Morrison and Shania Twain and N’Sync and Kylie Minogue and Miley Cyrus and Taika Waitati. And label makers and binders and naked paintings. This book has it all.

🫶🏼It’s a gorgeous novel, full of queer joy and enough pop culture and literary and English teacher references to keep me happy for a long time. Read it. You’ll be glad you did. And Alison, there you go again. 🥰

🙌🏻Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC and to Atria Books/Simon and Schuster for the gifted final copy.

I really enjoyed this book. It was different than anything else I've read recently. I couldn't put it down! I will keep an eye out for this author's future work!

I absolutely loved The Charm Offensive and Kiss Her Once For Me, so when I saw a new Alison Cochrun book coming out I was super excited!! Unfortunately, this one just wasn’t a match for me and I decided to DNF at 27%. I think the biggest disconnect for me was with Logan - she seemed so immature for a character in her 30s. I assume there will be growth through the book but I found I wasn’t wanting to pick the book back up and wasn’t enjoying spending time in this world so for me that’s the sign it’s time to stop. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook to review. I’m still looking forward to whatever Cochrun writes next!!

Here we go again, indeed! Alison Cochrun continues to be one of the only contemporary queer romance authors worth reading. This story, much like Cochrun's others, had me laughing at the snappy banter, crying as the character's vulnerabilities surfaced, and absolutely sobbing at the end because of the pure heart in the this story. I cannot recommend this book, and author, enough! In particular, Here We Go Again was meaningful because of the depth and breadth of relationships that are explored.

📚 Read if you like: contemporary romance, dual pov, opposites attract, sapphic romance, only one bed, roadtrips, sobbing your face off

Transparently, I was not prepared for this. I thought it would be a fun sapphic road trip romcom, which is absolutely is, but it’s also so much more. This book made me openly weep in public on airplanes and in airports (literally… swipe for the sobbing 😭😂). I laughed out loud at so many of the references and funny moments. There’s also some top notch banter!

This book is a love letter to the queer community. The queer references and history intertwined throughout were magical and heartbreaking and a good view of what a queer person goes through as they grow up and come out.

It’s also about grief and life long regrets and forgiving yourself and giving yourself permission to try again and to reach for more, even when it’s scary. It’s an ode to loving someone important to you and going through their death (not the two MCs). It’s about love.

Please read this book. It will break your heart. It will put it back together. 😭🥰

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was so cute, emotional, poignant, and I had an absolute blast reading it. I’m a sucker for a well written LGBTQIA+ book, and this was no exception. It was funny, endearing, and I didn’t want it to end. Highly recommend!

My favorite Alison Cochrun yet. SO funny, and SO queer, and SO deeply moving all at once—this is just such a special book.

Having read and loved Alison Cochrun's The Charm Offensive, I jumped on the opportunity to read Here We Go Again. Its a sapphic romance based on a road trip between the two female main characters (childhood friends to enemies/rivals to lovers) and their dying professor. I appreciated the representation in this book and the main characters- lesbian, demisexual, neurodivergence (ADHD,anxiety). My favorite part of the book was Joe the professor and his relationship with the main characters, who made them seen accepted and encouraged them to become high school English teachers themselves. The issues I had was mainly with the pacing- the middle of the book dragged a little for me, and the constant pop culture references/ the main character cursing using the name of famous LGTBQ icons "MIley fucking Cyrus" etc. Other than that it was a cute story, equal parts funny and emotional.

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review**

What a beautiful book!
I liked Kiss Her Once For Me but I LOVED Here We Go Again. This novel is so full of heart and emotion, lighthearted and deep. I loved the relationship this two old “frenemies” shared with their high school English teacher- that feel like such a true to form young queer experience (connecting with a teacher) and, while entirely heartbreaking, their “death trip” was such a precious experience and memory-maker for the whole crew. I said goodbye to my sweet grandma in 2022 and I’d give anything to take her on an epic roadtrip. Thankfully, she’d seen most of the US and the national parks, so it felt special to revisit those places through Alison Cochrun’s writing.
This is just a seriously wonderful book that I’d definitely recommend widely. There’s addiction issues, dealing with death & loss, coming out, roadtrip mishaps, unrequited love, finding oneself. Just so many beautiful and deep topics with some light moments to balance it all out. I laughed, I cried, and most importantly, I loved.

I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did, and I am so grateful that I had the chance to read it. Everything about this story was beautiful and heart wrenching and queer and joyful and I couldn’t think of any other way to explain it to somebody else.

As a queer educator, I loved reading from this perspective. I teach elementary, so my representation of queerness in the classroom is a bit different than that of a high school teacher, but it did make me smile to see this story portrayed.

Logan and Rosemary are perfect for one another, but the Joe and Remy love story is what sent me into a puddle of tears. Pure love that forgives and moves forward is so rare and I loved it. That, and the love Joe has for his girls. Plus, Odie… a pup in mourning is too much for me to process!!

Will definitely be recommending this to my friends! Will 100000% be buying myself a copy as well. Can’t wait to see what comes next!