Here We Go Again

4.25 ⭐️

What a heartfelt story about love and loss. If you love a romance with some serious topics thrown into the mix, check out Here We Go Again!

Rosemary and Logan were best friends as middle schoolers then they became enemies. While they both have a soft spot for their beloved teacher, Joe, they’re tasked to work together and take him across the country 18 years after their fall out. While Joe is at the end of his life, he shows them how to make the best of the time you have.

I love the characters that Alison Cochrun made with this story. The dual perspectives are so unique and real that it makes all the grief that much more authentic. Such a better sweet story.

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

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-f/f contemporary romance
-friends to estranged to lovers
-death roadtrip
-opposites attract
-ADHD rep
-second chance elements

Gosh this book was complicated in the best way. Logan and Rosemary were a lot of firsts for each other including their first heartbreaks. But as adults they are both teachers back in their same small town, and both best friends with their former English teacher. But when its time to admit his cancer is terminal, the three embark on a roadtrip.

This book deals with so many complicated topics - end of life care, neurodiversity, and just realizing you are enough. Logan and Rosemary were such opposites and had great banter as they both knew exactly what buttons to push. But neither wanted the other to hurt, which its impossible not to as you watch one of your favorite people die. This was such a journey and such a ride as these two finally get out of their way, with great music references and just incredible dialogue. Logan and Rosemary's love story is so soft and well earned as they both battle inner demons and deal with the inveitable.

Another banger from Alison- it’s clear after reading this book that I’m a fan of her work! She is three for three with me! I always buy the books I love in paperback, and I can’t wait to add Logan and Rosemary to my shelf!

4.25 🌟

I read this book in my flight and I shouldn't have because 😭😭😭.

I loved all of the main characters in this book - uptight Rosemary, scatter brained Logan... and Joe, oh Joe. While this is a friends to enemies to lovers troupe, my favorite love story in this book was the love between Joe and the two girls. The fun they had on the roadtrip was the 🍒 on top!

Thanks, Netgalley for the ARC of this book!

3.5 stars!

This story was really something! It was a beautiful story about grief. It was a comedic story about road trips. It was a (mostly) realistic look on personal growth. All of those aspects were real wins for me.

But with the wins comes some losses, and for me the loss in this book was the character Logan. I found her a bit insufferable. I didn’t like the way she talked most of the time, her random exclamations were annoying after the the millionth time, and her constant reference to being a “fuckboy” grew old QUICK. Because of all of this, I was constantly taken out of what was otherwise a very good story.

Logan aside, the rest of the characters were wonderful and as a whole I had a pretty good time!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria book for an advanced copy of this book! Here We Go Again drops April 2!

Here We Go Again

Here We Go Again has
📍The Gay Mobile
📍Friends to enemies to lovers
📍Frank depictions of caregiving without being too graphic
📍Only one bed (a few times)
📍Auto-repair shop shrimp
📍Old love and new love


I don’t know why road trip books always involve death, but here we are. I, personally, enjoy a good death cross country road trip book and this was the epitome of that, with a bit of a twist (the death doesn’t take place before/at the beginning, but at the end.) We get a little slice of so many locales across the US that it felt like we were traveling with them. (As a person from MS, Ocean Springs was described one million percent accurately, so I fully believe all the other depictions are perfect as well 😂).

Anyway.

Here We Go Again was the queer road death road trip book of my dreams, leaving me sobbing from about 65% onward.

Logan and Rosemary are teachers in their hometown in the PNW. Their former teacher, coworker, friend, and sort of extra parent Joe, has a dire cancer diagnosis and wants to go on a cross country road trip to his old house in Maine. Logan and Rosemary have hated each other since they were 14, but they used to be best friends.

Logan is a quintessential fuckboy, never letting herself care so she won’t get hurt. Rosemary is my obsessed with controlling every aspect of her life. Joe is the queer English teacher all of us weird kids wish we’d had in high school.

On their trip, Rosemary and Logan revisit their past hurts and find their old friendship again. And they find more even as Joe finds his old love again before the end.

Highly, highly recommend if you enjoyed Mrs. Nash’s Ashes, You With a View, or anything by Anita Kelly or Ashley Herring Blake. Bring tissues on the ride.

*I received a copy of this book for review through Netgalley, this is my own opinion. Thanks to Netgalley and Atria books for the ARC!

(Here is my goodreads review since they didn't post together for some reason! https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6224848087)

A great road trip novel - romance, adventure, a dog! This combines childhood “my perfect person” love with enemies to lovers with “only one bed” with probably another great classic trope, and I love those fun mixes. Adding the road trip, all the places I now want to go (the BBQ joint is real, I checked!), and the second romance underneath it all? So fun, I loved it.

For some reason I could NOT get into this book. It took me weeks to read and I never really wanted to pick it up. I debated DNFing, but I love this author and I wanted to see the story through. And then I got to the 80% mark and absolutely fell in love. And proceeded to cry my eyes out for a good 30 minutes as I finished the book.

All that to say, I’m hoping the disconnect I had with the book in the beginning is just a me thing. This could’ve been one of my top reads of the year if I had maybe read it at a different time or really stuck with it and had this story be my main focus. But, alas, that wasn’t in the cards for me so we’re sitting at 4 stars strictly because the ending wrecked me.

This is not a spoiler. The story revolves around a death road trip. You know what’s coming. And you can get as prepared as you need to get, but if you’ve ever experienced grief or death of a close family member then this book will destroy you as it did me. It will also heal you and give you hope and make you think about life and the way you’re living it. Everything else that happened was just a bonus and a way to get us to know and love the characters.

Read if you like:
🌈 LGBTQIA+ rep
😭 crying
😤 rivals to lovers
🤭 second chance
🫂 found family
🐶 dogs
🚙 road trips

TW: death, grief, parent abandonment, alcoholism

Here We Go Again should be sold with a box of Kleenex and some chocolate attached. I loved everything about these characters and the sad sad journey they had to go on even when they were annoying and stubborn. The addition of the giant dog helped with adding humour where needed. My only critique has to be the way Logan uses random celebrity names all the time with her swears, it really got very annoying but as a character quirk it was one I could live with. Great summer read when you just need to get a years worth of tears out in one go.

I knew from the first chapter that this was going to be an emotional read and it was, but in such a good way. Childhood friends to enemies take their former high school English teacher on a road trip across America as his dying wish. We see the pain and grief of losing someone you love and the emotions of reconnecting with someone you once loved. I loved so much about this book, from the characters to their relationships with everyone both romantic and not to the road trip and all the troubles that may come with it. It is full of love and emotion and living and dying and what it means to love and care for others. While it is so sad and about death there is also so much love and life in it.

Overall, I loved this emotional read and highly recommend it!

Read if you like…
•hate to love
•childhood friends to enemies to lovers
•wlw
•road trips
•emotional reads
•🌶️

This book!! Such an adventure, full of laughs, tears, Van Morrison jams, sunrises, drag shows, and tender moments.

Childhood best friends turned bitter enemies, Logan and Rosemary, are brought back together by their former English teacher and mentor. He is dying of cancer, and his final wish is for the women to drive him across the country from Oregon to Maine so he can pass away in his cottage by the sea in Bar Harbor. They agree but quickly realize their opposite personalities (and former friendship implosion) might lead them to strangle each other before they’ve even left Oregon. Rosemary has a trip binder, portable laminator, and label maker and has carefully crafted a strict itinerary while Logan wants to follow Joe’s every whim and side-quest despite his health limitations. In a hilariously gay van, this trio plus a dog who failed his ‘support animal certification,’ embark on an epic adventure to the Grand Canyon, Mississippi Bayou, and eventually to Maine. The forced proximity and frequently only one bed motel rooms force Logan and Rosemary to confront their shared past while relearning one another. The trip also forces each to reevaluate their current life path compared to the dreams they once shared as teens, and to work through their own’s traumas of growing up queer. Joe’s deteriorating health leads them to conversations about regrets, life’s purpose, and making choices that bring one joy.

Cochrun’s portrayal of ADHD in both of her neurodivergent main characters is amazingly relatable and a great reminder of how it impacts people differently. Her banter is always hilarious, and I had tears from laughing over their barbs and arguments. And then, the tension!! So much tension and vulnerability between the women as they share their perspectives on their past relationship and what ‘went wrong’ as they explore a reconnection. And JOE. What a treasure. As a former high school teacher myself, I have so much respect for how Joe was a safe space for Rosemary and Logon as queer teens and the role he played as a parental figure for all his students.

This is a book that stays with you for weeks after reading. A book that makes you reflect, dream, and mourn. I need an on-screen adaptation immediately!! However, while this book is a rom-com, being a care-taker of a dying parent figure, as well as sensitive themes of family rejection, homophobia, addiction, and panic attacks are explored, so please check a full list of content warnings and read with care.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for my early copy in exchange for my review. I will absolutely be purchasing my own copy on pub day April 2nd.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.!!

I am in awe of Alison Cochran yet again. When I read The Charm Offensive back in 2022, I was unaware it would be one of my favorite books and she would be one of my favorite authors. After reading this book, I am fairly certain that I am in love with her writing and will read absolutely everything she puts out.

This story deals with grief in a way that truly affected me. Some of us can’t face it and run away. Hiding in our emotions and unable to connect to anyone around us. Others want to be in complete control of the situation.

Rosemary and Logan are two women from the same small town. Both dealing with their own hang ups from the past, they used to be best friends. Now both teaching at their old high school, they absolutely despise each other. The only thing they have in common is their high school English teacher Joe, who became a father figure to them both and saved them when they were struggling.

Joe is such an amazing and remarkable character. The more time we get with him the more I was dreading the end. He was such a sweet and charming person who really cared about and loved Logan and Rosemary. Rosemary needed a father and Logan needed someone who would choose her as she was. The adventure the 3 (and Odi) go on was an odyssey of first times and experiences that made my heart swell and smile. This was also probably the funniest book I’ve read in a long time. Alison’s humor was absolutely spot on. Even in moments where I wanted to sob they’d say something great and I’d laugh through my tears.

This is an excellent book and I can’t recommend it enough. Although it is hard at some parts, they are necessary in life. Embrace the hard with the beautiful. This book also encourages me to try to go for my dreams and that it’s never too late. We can all go back to what we truly loved. I’m crying as I write this review so ima stop. But I loved it yall.

If the phrase “death trip romcom” gives you cognitive dissonance, you’re not alone. How could a story about two women driving their dying mentor across the country to die be anything but sad, let alone romantic? But in her latest, Here We Go Again, Alison Cochran has managed to not just pull it off, but tell a gorgeous story, weaving humor and a steamy second chance romance into a story that’s both heartrending and hopeful. Their mentor is going to die, this is never in question. And Cochran uses a deft hand in balancing gallows humor with the grim reality of caring for a terminal patient. Both FMC’s are disasters- former best friends still nursing wounds inflicted upon each other in a classic panicking gay teen miscommunication- and as they work through their confusion, their gear, and their ever-present grief, their slow burn rekindling isn’t just a welcome reprieve. It’s necessary. As the trio get closer to the end, it’s obvious that their mentor needs the hope of seeing his girls being okay before he can finally let go. Anyone who has lost a loved one in the slow and torturous grip of cancer knows exactly what to expect and Cochran handles the inevitable with grace and sensitivity without pulling the lens away. Having cared for a parent with brain cancer, and sat beside her in her final moments, I’ll admit I skipped a couple pages ahead while I waited for my eyes to clear. And yet the story isn’t depressing. It’s hopeful and light as the characters all find solace by the end, and realize what it means to truly love someone so hard it hurts. Give this book all the stars and make sure you preorder it.

This book was an emotional rollercoaster for me. I was experiencing so many different feelings while reading.

The humor in this book was very hit-or-miss. During the middle portion of the book, I found myself growing disinterested in the road trip, feeling disconnected from the characters activities and losing investment in their journey.

Some aspects of the story feel forced, such as Logan’s incessant use of celebrity names in place of curses, which quickly becomes grating.

While the themes of Joe's storyline adds depth to the narrative, it often overshadows the central romance between Logan and Rosemary which left me wanting more from the romance. The romantic relationship between Logan and Rosie started too early in the story, and I didn't really feel connected to them despite their earlier friendship and love for each other. There was an excessive amount of miscommunication between them, this trope was used too frequently, making it feel unnecessary and repetitive.

While I found the characters likable, I longed for deeper exploration into Logan & Rosemary's backgrounds, traumas, and teenage friendship to provide a more nuanced understanding of their motivations and complexities.

Thank you so much to Atria Books for providing this ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

Ex-friends and current enemies, Logan and Rosemary, can’t seem to stay out of each other’s orbits. After a dramatic end to the school year, they are tasked by their former English teacher, Joe Delgado, to take him on his “death trip” after being told he only has months to live.

Despite Rosemary’s meticulous itenerary, the cross-country roadtrip takes many unexpected twists and turns. Proximity to each other and Joe’s declining health force them to confront the past. Joe also faces his one regret in life, leading to a lovely story nestled within the larger plot. Cochrun makes a point to show that queer joy can be found everywhere despite some places in the U.S. attempting to take that joy away.

Here We Go Again is Alison Cochruns most emotional rom-com yet. It will leave you with a healthy dose of wanderlust and understanding that for some people, the hurt is worth it. If you’re favorite kind of romantic comedies also make you cry like a baby (which this book made me do twice) then Here We Go Again is the perfect book for you.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t quite have words for how much I love this book.

Logan and Rosemary were best friends in middle school. An incident the summer before high school turned them into rivals. For ten years after high school, they didn’t speak. Now, in their 30s, they agree to go on a death trip with their mentor as his dying wish. They are forced together for what is supposed to be a simple 5-day trip, and they soon realize maybe they have more to work through than the grief of losing their lifelong mentor.

This book was, in a word, incredible. I very much enjoyed ‘The Charm Offensive’ so when this book came up I knew I wanted to read it. I was absolutely blown away by the weaving of this story. I laughed and cried the whole way through. Cochrun made me feel so connected to these characters so that every part of them felt embedded in my heart.

The mental health and grief representation in this book was done so well. The way it was weaved together was perfect. How different people process their grief and how their mental illness can affect that process is something that is so important to talk about and Cochrun did a phenomenal job.

Tropes:
Childhood friends to lovers
Second chance
Opposites attract
Found family
Forced proximity

Content/Trigger warnings:
Death of a parent (off-page)
Death of an important figure
Cancer
Addiction
Abandonment

I was so excited to get this arc (out in April) after reading Kiss Her Once for Me last year, and it didn’t disappoint. Road trip rom com about death? Sign me up. This book is heartwarming and sad, a story of relationships past and present, and a wonderful tale of grief and second chances. It’s a unique rom com in that we almost get two love stories in one, and a focus on other relationships that are prominent in our lives.

Our FMCs can’t be more different when we meet them, arch enemies from their youth, but bound by their love of one high school teacher whose changed their lives. What ensues is the most hysterical of road trips across the country in the gayest van with a large dog, a cancer patient, and two woman who can’t decide if they want to devour one another in the best or worst way. It did get a tad slow for me at some parts, and you do have to get past the use of queer icons as expletives 😂 I laughed, I cried, and I really want to go on a road trip now.

This book is perfect for the lovers of opposites attract, second chances, and forced proximity. Bonus for the additional found family vibes we get with Joe. I can’t recommend this one enough!

This book follows Logan and Rosemary, two teachers who idolized and adored their high school teacher. He’s dying of cancer and wants one last road trip to die on his terms.

I spent the last chunk of this book in tears!!!!! Grief is my lifeline. It’s so weird to say. But I cannot stop connecting to books so deeply entrenched in grief. I know it’s because I lost my dad young, and I’ve been losing people since then. I didn’t properly grieve as a child because I was too busy being grown up and strong for everyone else. I know this about myself. But when the grief is so prevalent and a focus of a book, I automatically am drawn to it.

This book told a love story between two women, but also a love story of deep friendship, adoration, found family, and love lost. Remy and Joe’s second chance had my heart warmed. The nude painting scenes had me cracking up. The vulnerability in this novel was great. I really enjoyed it and I’m so glad I read it.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t even know where to start with this book…. It hit me right in the feels. We all have a teacher that we absolutely adored. For Rosemary and Logan that teacher was Joe. But Joe is more than a teacher, he’s family. He stayed in their lives as they grew up and now he’s dying. And he’s asked them to help him on his death trip. Unfortunately, Logan and Rosemary absolutely LOATHE one another and are hesitant. But it’s Joe’s (literal) dying wish, so they decide to come together for this road trip for Joe. Rosemary who needs binders and labels with schedules, and free spirited Logan who enjoys pushing Rosemary’s buttons. These once childhood friends quickly realize what caused them to stop talking as kids just may be the reason they need each other as adults. With multiple stops along the way everyone on this death trip learns more about themselves and who/what really matters in the end. Even though the storyline is awfully sad, Alison Cochrun made this book downright hilarious and relatable. Given the subject matter I thought this would be a lot sadder book to read than it actually was. The journey was beautifully written and the characters reasonably balanced the joy and sorrow they faced in the book. It was also great reading about two main characters with ADHD and how it is represented in them reflects that it may not be the same for everyone. #NetGalley #NetGalleyARC #ARC

I’ve never been in love before, but I’m pretty sure it feels like this.

I absolutely adored Here We Go Again, a sapphic rom-com that explores grief, reconciliation, and redemption. I have read another one of Cochrun's books, and liked but didn't necessarily love it, so I went into this book with an open mind, and I'm certainly glad that I did!

Here We Go Again follows Logan and Rosemary, childhood best friends turned enemies turned coworkers, who reunite when their beloved high school teacher is diagnosed with a terminal illness. When Joe - their former teacher - asks them to take him on a cross-country road trip to Maine (from Portland), the women have no choice but to grant his dying wish.

I absolutely loved this story, for so many reasons. Logan and Rosemary were complex and believable characters who drew me in, and I was rooting for each of them, both separately and to get together, already! Joe's journey is an incredibly touching one as well, which really ties the entire story together. I loved that Cochrun not only dives deep into the relationship of the characters, but also explores queer history and different meaningful aspects of the LGBTQ experience. Cochrun perfectly balances humor and heart, and this story is as sweet and funny as it is meaningful.

Thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Alison Cochrun for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.