This is a fun I’m very heartwarming road trip romance that has second chance romance with ex childhood friends. Logan and Rosemary are both teachers at their alma mater, and both seem to be stuck in their lives. They have avoided each other since they had a falling out before starting their senior year of high school. When they’re mentor and favorite high school teacher is found to be sick. They go with him on a road trip that changes all their lives, I really liked how while they were traveling, they started to realize their misconceptions of each other and of themselves. The road trip itself was a wonderful backdrop for this beautiful story.

This is my second Alison Cochrun novel and once again it didn't disappoint. I'm usually not one for 3rd person writing but I didn't find it hard to get into this novel. I can't remember the last time I fully sobbed while reading but even from the synopsis you know how the story ends but I think even knowing the end you still fall in love with all the characters and their own quirks.

I loved that it was friends to lovers(ish) to enemies to lovers. Seeing how they went from best friends to not speaking to each other even while working together set a good foundation of tension for their roadtrip.

This is an emotionally charged road trip across the country to fulfill a dying wish, and a chance for love.

Here We Go Again is friends to enemies to lovers for two former best friends. These ladies have had one-constant cheerleader in their corner, their high school teacher, and NOW he's dying. His one wish, take him home to Maine. The girls embark on a cross-country journey, stopping along the way in unsuspecting spots for reconnection, found memories and new friends.

The star of novel is man called Joe. He' given his life to his students and the small town he's lived for years. Now faced with death, he decides home is a cottage he has in Maine, and that's where he'll leave this earth. He's a genuine human-being, seeing the world in its true state. I'd welcome a prequel of his story, especially his time in NY and Maine with his true love.

Thank you, Atria Books

Thank you to NetGalley, author Alison Cochrun, and Atria Books for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

This book emotionally WRECKED me!!! I have been so anxiously looking forward to this read, as I still think about Kiss Her Once for Me on the regular ever since first reading it. This was exactly up my alley being a queer road trip novel, filled with plenty of heart and life, even when dealing with the difficult topic of death. This book is very clear from the beginning that death would be a prominently plot point, so content warnings up front if this is sensitive for you. It doesn't shy away from it at any point and often is handled in a humorous way, yet I still found myself crying so much over it that I had to STOP READING IT at work and finish it in my car, so I could cry in peace. It is rare for a book to affect me to that extent, so you know there is something special here. I adored each and every character in this novel (especially Joe), and for as sad as it is, there is so much happiness too. Getting to see Logan and Rosemary's relationship rekindle and develop was a treat, and I loved their mutual and individual relationships with Joe as well. There are plenty of road trip antics that are described in such clear detail that it feels like I was there too, and it made me want to get on the road immediately. One major downfall for me though, that I would be remiss to not critique due to how much it bothered me, was the use of gay celebrity names as an exclamation. It is used SO often throughout the book by both Logan and Rosemary that it is extremely distracting and cringey. Once you get past that though, this is a lovely, lovely story that is SO much more than a romance and is instead a love letter to queer love of ALL types and ages that is going to stick with me for a long time.

*I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

The perfect queer summer road-trip romcom! The dynamics in this book were wonderful, and exactly what readers have come to expect from Alison Cochrun. This book was sad yet hopeful, devastating yet funny, and explores the dynamics of friendship and grief so intricately. This book will resonate with SO many people, it's going to be a heart book for people out there and I hope all of those people find it and love it.

The blurb accurately sets up the story. Logan and Rosemary were fast friends till they were 14. Now they are both high school teachers in their hometown yet haven't spoken to each other in a decade. When their beloved mentor and former English teacher Joe asks them to drive him cross country they can’t refuse him his dying wish.

This sets up a close proximity, friends to enemies to romance adventure. Rosemary and Logan both have their issues. Rosemary is brilliant but has the need to control everything around her to keep her anxiety and ADHD in check. Logan is the opposite. She also suffers from ADHD but she is impulsive and unable to commit. Her mother leaving her when she was 11 has made her not want to get attached to others as a way to protect herself. The road trip is a chance for both women to learn more from their mentor and to let down their guards and find the feelings they once shared. Because the book is not only about the romance but is also about learning about their teacher and preparing for his death this falls more into a general fiction with romance category.

I loved this book more than I expected. The characters are memorable as are their adventures. It has a good mix of heart and humor even as they face a hard situation. I would have liked to see more intimacy on the page for Logan and Rosemary. Their romance is almost overshadowed by the relationship they each have with Joe. But this is an easy book to recommend. It made me think of teachers and others who have had great influence on my life and if I would take part in this kind of adventure for them.

Alison Cochrun is one of my must read authors and she really knocked it out of the park once again with her sapphic road trip romance about death. That's right, death is a huge part of this novel that made me laugh and cry at equal measure. Rosemary and Logan were childhood best friends when something happened in their teens to cause them to no longer be friends. The only thing they have in common is their beloved english teacher. Although now grown ups and working together, the two of them don't speak until brought together once again when their teacher tells them he's dying and his last wish is to drive from the pacific northwest to his cabin in Maine.

What follows is a funny and tender love story that shows how much joy can come from living life until the last moment you absolutely cannot. Rosemary and Logan are opposites while also having a lot in common and it is so much fun to go along with them as they make many detours on the road to enlightenment. I really loved this look at so many places in the country that are beautiful and hidden and how queer people everywhere still exist outside the major cities and communities we hear about.

I'm still on this journey with Cochrun and can't wait to see what she does next.

Thank you so much to Atria Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow 4.75/5 stars I loved this book. I love Alison Cochrun and this book just cements that for me. This is a sapphic romcom and queer found family and death road trip all in one. It made me laugh and literally sob and just made me feel all emotions in the best way. I felt so seen by Logan and rosemary both and loved Joe and Remy so much. I would recommend this book to almost anyone, but especially fans of Casey Mcquiston, Ashley Herring Blake, and Nina LaCour. The only reason I’m not giving this 5 stars is because the bit about using celebrities names as swear expressions was way overused. Otherwise, I loved this. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the arc!

Here We Go Again is a beautiful novel written by Alison Cochrun. So beautiful, in fact, that I couldn't finish it because it hit too close to home with my own husband's cancer diagnosis. While I felt that Alison weaved in a beautiful tale for all her characters, Here We Go Again was a bit too emotional for me and I needed to protect my mental space.

What I Liked:

I know that when I pick up an Alison Cochrun book that I am going to fall in love with the characters she has created. Logan, Rosemary, Joe, Remy, and Odie easily burrowed their way into my heart. The characters are flawed, layered, lovely and infuriating all at the same time, which makes them so very real.

I knew from the synopsis that this book was going to make me sob, and boy was I right. The discussion on grief, on mourning someone who is still in front of you, of the toll of caretaking on the caretakers, and on regrets was so poignant. A box of tissues was absolutely needed while reading.

While a lot of this book is heavier, there were so many fun moments that had me laughing, light moments that made me smile, and tension filled moments with Rosemary & Logan.

What didn’t work for me:

Absolutely nothing.

At this point, Alison Cochrun can do no wrong for me. This is the 3rd book I’ve read by Alison & all of them have been between 4&5 star ratings. This book was the most emotional of the bunch for me and I could feel the sadness and the humor that bled through the pages right into my soul.

I was extremely heartbroken for Logan, Rosemary, Joe & Odie as they navigated what death was going to look like for Joe, all while honoring his life and taking him on this road trip, which was both idiotic and necessary. Logan & Rosemary were the perfect balance of responsibility and fun that he needed. I loved the element of second chances for both the girls & Joe as they went along their journey and I wanted to squeeze them all so hard whenever times got tough on the road.

This book is both uplifting and extremely sad so please be aware of the content warnings & treat yourself with kindness if you are a caregiver of someone with a life-ending illness.

This is a story about taking a second chance on yourself. Logan and Rosemary were best friends as children, finding security in a friendship that eluded them in so many other aspects of their lives.  But then an incident right before the start of high school tore them apart.  They spent high school openly hating each other.  

When Rosemary returned to their small town and became a teacher at their high school when Logan also worked, their animosity continued or perhaps even grew — driven in part by the fact they seem to be complete opposites.  Rosemary is type A, likes to have a plan for everything, and is not one for relationships.  Logan, on the other hand, is impulsive and prefers to seem like she does not care about anything, including the many people she's found herself in a relationship with.

When their favorite former teacher and mentor shares that he has only months to live and that he wants to spend his last days taking a road trip to Maine with both of them, they feel like they cannot say no.  So Logan and Rosemary pile into a van with their dying mentor, his dog, and a lifetime of resentments.  As they travel across the country, the three find themselves on a trip that will change them, individually and together, forever.  

I really enjoyed this book.  I am a huge fan of the author's two previous novels, so I was excited to read her latest — and it exceeded my high expectations. Like the author's earlier works, this book is a highly engaging romance where the two characters must overcome barriers to being together that are largely of their own creation.  The author does a terrific job of depicting how their path back to one another is not just about overcoming miscommunications, but confronting aspects of their own pasts that they have never really processed.  Within this romance is a powerful story of found family and loss.  As Logan and Rosemary struggle with what they mean to each other, they are also saying goodbye to the surrogate parent who played a significant role in shaping who they are as adults.  And I appreciated how the story of Joe, their teacher, also was fully realized.

Very highly recommended!

I feel like the concept of death and romcom might be a hard sell but it’s Alison Cochrun so obviously it’s gonna be amazing.

Sapphic+childhood besties-enemies-lovers+ forced proximity

Like come one some of my favorite tropes with a huge dash of rip your heart out feelings.

Logan a self proclaimed fuckboi and Careful to the point of maybe a bit uptight Rosemary were childhood besties until high school and then went 10 years not speaking until they both ended up teaching at the same school with a bitter rivalry. They come together when their beloved high school English teacher requests they take him across the country on a road trip to lay him to rest on the east coast.

I loved how well the humor and drama and sass mixed in with the grief and impending death of their mentor. It also had me wanting to do a roadtrip to the Grand Canyon and other places. I really enjoyed this book.

Thanks to netgalley and atria book for an eARC.

Nothing like a book that gives you a good cry! In this queer rom-com, Logan and Rosemary are childhood best friends-turned-mortal enemies as adults, both teaching at their alma mater outside of Portland. One of the big reasons—staying close to their former teacher Joe who is battling cancer. When he announces he’s dying and wants to road trip to Maine for one final adventure, he recruits Logan *and* Rosemary to take him, much to their reluctance. In a road trip of detours, new and old love, and blowouts (more than one kind!) it’s a cross-country trip of a lifetime as they say goodbye to Joe.
I love Alison’s novels and as a former Amarillo & Albuquerque resident now in Portland, I truly enjoyed some of the adventures and research that went into this.
Thank you to Atria Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

My third book by Alison and I swear her writing just keeps getting better and better!
Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun is an emotional queer rom-com following once childhood best friends who drive their former teacher across the country.
A phenomenal enemies to lovers sapphic romance.
I loved this book. It was seamlessly and so very beautifully written. The characters felt so real, that I’m still convinced that they have to be real people.
And the romance? Lord, this was the sweetest, but most realistic, romance I’ve read in years.
This was a journey I wished didn’t end so soon!

Thank You NetGalley and Atria Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Sapphic road trip??

Count me in.

This book was a fun time, it gave very much rom-com vibes and would be a perfect summer read. I highly recommend this if any of those words are green flags for you.

Thank you to netgalley & the publisher for my arc copy.

Add this book to your list if you like
- road trips
- subtle Taylor Swift references
- queer representation
- mental health representation
- teacher role models
- laugh out loud witty banter

Two enemies embark on a road trip against their will, united by their admiration for a former teacher who had a profound impact on both their lives. As Rosemary and Logan journey across the country they are forced to confront their past mistakes, and how they impact who they are today. This book does handle some hefty topics including cancer, death, grief, but as always Cochran does so with such depth and gentleness, mixing all of it together with a hefty dose of humor to get you through. Keep some tissues nearby because this one was a tearjerker for me!

Thanks to @netgalley and @atriabooks for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The world is a scary place right now but this will have you restoring your faith in humanity a little bit; though it may be through fictional characters I guarantee you it won’t feel like they are.

Rosemary and Logan used to be best friends but now are more enemies and haven’t spoken in decades. But when their beloved former English teacher and lifelong mentor tells them he has only a few months to live, they’re forced together once and for all to fulfill his last wish: a cross-country road trip. Stuffed into the gayest van west of the Mississippi, the three embark on a life-changing summer trip—from Washington state to the Grand Canyon, from the Gulf Coast to coastal Maine—that will chart a new future and perhaps lead them back to one another.

Told in dual POVs this one will have you smiling, laughing, crying and basically on the biggest emotional roller coaster of your life. The banter was top notch and I was cracking up at the celebrity/pop culture references Logan would cry out instead of cursing. The plot was just downright hilarious but then we did a 180 and I was bawling by the end. Yes it’s funny but there are so many important but very hard topics covered in this that will have you doing your own self reflection. I loved all of the characters so much and this one will be in my thoughts for a very long time.

Grab your tissues, buckle up and enjoy the ride.

Alison has done it again with another stellar read in Here We Go Again.

If Alison Cochrun was a musician, I’d be saying, “the hits just keep coming”. This book is definitely a chart topper. If books were albums, this is the kind of book you’d put on repeat in the car and belt out the lyrics to. It’s that good. While this is only her third book, I can say with confidence that Alison has quickly become one of my most favourite authors.

Once again we have terrific characters. So well developed, complicated, and still somehow likeable and relatable. While both ladies here are teachers, they couldn’t be more different. Rosemary is a buttoned-up perfectionist. She plans everything down to the last detail with colour coded charts and can’t live without her laminator. Logan, on the other hand, is a bit chaotic, more of a fly by the seat of your pants type. And the two ladies don’t like each other much. They were best friends as kids but now can’t stand each other. The one thing they do have in common is their friend and mentor Joe. Joe is another wonderful character. Larger than life, and gayer than Elton John, he is so unapologetically himself. You can’t help but love him and immediately understand why he is so important to both Rosemary and Logan. So when he tells them he is dying, doesn’t have long to live and needs them to drive him across the country, you can understand why the ladies are conflicted. They both want to be there for Joe, but don’t want to be trapped in a vehicle with each other. Ultimately Joe convinces them and the trio heads off on an epic road trip.

One of the things I love about Alison’s books is that she explores health issues through the eyes of her characters. In this book, we’re looking at neurodiversity, specifically ADHD. Both Logan and Rosemary have it, but experience it very differently. I loved this detail as it highlighted for me the diversity that exists within that one diagnosis. I actually learned a lot about ADHD, especially through Rosemary’s character. I had no idea ADHD could even look like that.

Just in case the book jacket description isn’t clear enough, this book has some sad parts. Everyone has to deal with the fact that Joe is dying and death is discussed at length. I felt Alison dealt with this masterfully.

The love story between Rosemary and Logan is done in a really unique way. This isn’t a typical enemies to lovers, although fans of the trope will find elements of it. We get some of the banter and the teasing you might expect but mostly these two tiptoe around each other. Their relationship develops in a way that feels like a gentle unfolding rather than a slamming realisation. It feels realistic and I loved every moment.

Here We Go Again proves Alison is a master of her craft; definitely not a one-hit wonder. It is a very worthwhile read.

I was kicking my feet giggling through most of Here We Go Again. It read like a movie and I could picture the death road trip the whole time. Alison is so descriptive with her story and I felt like I was there. It is my top book I've read this year!!!