I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The biggest thing that stuck out to me right from the beginning was how fully developed both the main characters felt in this book. From each of their first sou chapters, they jumped off the page and were so full of personality, even the flaws. it all felt natural and unforced as Cochrun set the scene for the roadtrip.
I'll admit that I didn't read the summary that closely before requesting this ARC because Cochrun is pretty much an auto-buy for me at this point, and I was right about that! This book lives up to the others. However, if you're looking for a light-hearted roadtrip love story, this is not it! Major content warnings for illness and death. As someone who has yet to see death as closely as the characters do in Here We Go Again, this was at times a very hard read. If you are someone who has experienced something closer to what the characters to, l imagine it could be harder. There's still a lot of joy and celebration to be found throughout though, but brace yourself.
As far as the writing goes, Cochrun doesn't disappoint again. These particular characters have some affectations that were hit or miss for me. For instance, the names of famous queer people (mostly sapphics or femmes) are used as jokey curses ( if I could guarantee they fix one thing before going to print, it would be correcting the spelling of Janelle Monae’s name. Unless there's a famous queer person named Janelle Monet I'm not aware of). This just ended up being overused and by the end, I was entirely over it.
Given the darker themes, I would say this one has a slightly different vibe than Cochrun’s other work. The others touch on serious issues but don't quite confront things as head on as this book. Still, it has all the nuance you expect and the romance is just as compelling.

This was a heartwarming read. I appreciated the author’s views on the LGBTQ population, and how it was incorporated into the book.

I simply adore the way Alison Cochrun writes relationships. We meet Logan and Rosemary, former childhood best friends who now hate each other, as they take their teacher Joe traveling cross country as is his last request. In turn the reader gets a bit of forced proximity and enemies to lovers. The start was a bit slower but the last half was emotionally rich and moved at a quicker rate. I enjoyed the adventure that the road trip added to the novel. It held a certain charm into the background. I liked the relationship that developed. However, I adored the "Tuesdays With Morrie" vibe that Joe provided during the novel. He added a depth to the novel that I wasn't quite getting from Logan and Rosemary at the start. Overall, definitely would recommend this!

4.5/5 stars

I really didn't like The Charm Offensive but LOVED Kiss Her Once for Me, so I was interested to see how I'd feel about Here We Go Again. Here We Go Again, in my opinion, felt like a step back a bit. I also don't know if Cochran really sells the enemies to lovers thing for me, as these characters felt almost cartoonish in their "hatred". This book seemed like it had a lot of heart go into it, and I think fans of The Charm Offensive will get a kick out of this one.

Great for fans of The Charm Offensive, Cochran takes you on a whacky car ride through rekindled love and friendship. Worth a read for fans of popcorn romances, looking for a good time!

While the cover is definitely her most boring one, Here We Go Again is my favorite of Cochrun's romances. It's a fun sapphic romance with distinct and vibrant leads who have different personal issues. I'm like if Rosemary was butch.

Childhood best friends to haters to lovers is one of my favorite tropes and I do like my romances to have more substance than the fluffiest relationship. A rom-com about death and grief is a bet and I know it's not for everyone. i can already see tweets about why this book shouldn't call itself a romcom. I personally don't care about the particular distinction between romcom and romance.

It's very American roadtrip and as a non-Amerian it feels like it killed some of the charm (i cannot place those locations on a map) with a queer-positive message.

Logan swearing habits really got on my nerves though. Using celebrity names wasn't funny the first time and it wasn't funny the hundredth time either

I do think that the adult diaper running joke was a bit in bit taste for disabled individuals, I know it's meant to create levity in regards to a dying person but like really?

Well… I sobbed through the entire second half of the book, in the best way possible. While both main characters, Logan and Rosemary, have deep flaws that are pretty irritating, they also have their reasons for why they are the way they are, and their road trip brings them healing. But the best part of this book is Joe, their dying English teacher. His “Tuesdays with Morrie”-esque wisdom comes with a lot of humor and snark, and his hard fought life lessons bring so much depth and heart to this story.

Thank you for the eARC!

4.5/5*s

I was not expecting so much (queer) joy in a book about death. There's definitely a lot of sad and bittersweet moments in this book, but there is still a lot of levity. Joe, Logan, and Rosemary are all a little messy in their own ways, but they grow together. The romance is great, but it's not really my big take away for the book. Come for the queer cross country road trip, stay for the queer cross country road trip.

Two things I didn't love: Remy is the character I found most interesting in the book, and we don't really get to hear his story from him. There's a page or two where Rosemary talks to him, and we just get to hear her report of what he said. My other minor gripe is mentioned in a lot of the other reviews: I didn't love the "Shay fucking Mitchell!" of it all.

BUT: this is an excellent book, it is incredibly queer, and it's got all the feelings in it. Highly recommend.

Oh. My. God. Here We Go Again is another one of Cochrun's incredible works that makes you feel in the story and makes you feel for the characters. I love books where 2 people who definitely like each other are forced to go on long road trips together and inevitably end up falling in such deep smit with each other. Here We Go Again was beautifully written and such an incredible story that I devoured in a day. A must read for everyone.

In Here We Go Again, Alison Cochrun has outlined a heartbreaking story of grief for queer readers. Through Joe, we are spectators to a life full of regrets, but also a life that touched everyone around him (especially those who were "different") with love and care. While admittedly I wasn't always the biggest fan of either of the main female characters, their growth and chemistry throughout the novel was palpable and addictive, consistently leaving me wanting to know more of their story. This book ultimately left me heartbroken, inspired, and smiling ear to ear, marking it as another fabulous addition to my collection of Alison Cochrun's romances.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the opportunity to read and review Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun in exchange for my honest review. I am giving this book 3.5/5 stars.

This book is a sapphic romcom journey across the US as two former best friends, Logan and Rosemary, take their former English teacher, Joe, across the country for his last request. Joe has survived a bout of pancreatic cancer (frankly a miracle even in this age of medicine) but has now relapsed into end of life status. Logan and Rosemary are his two most favorite students who used to be best friends but now hate each other, Shocker because they were both secretly in love with each other as teens, but as young teens do they fell apart and now its 20 years later and they are enemies.

This book was honestly a chore to get through. I wanted to DNF this book several times. It was only because I loved the authors first book, The Charm Offensive, so much that I kept going, This book only became something I wanted to continue reading around 50%. that is way too long for a book to become tolerable. There were WAY too many pop culture references in this book, including name dropping Taika Waititi and misspelling his name while doing it. I absolutely agree with other posters stating how tiresome it was having Logan constantly using the celebrity first name F-ing celebrity last name. In fact it was Logans character that made the first half of this book so miserable.

Luckily the book did get better and the ending was predictable sad and emotional considering it is a story about a man dying. I will be posting about this book on my social media (TikTok and Youtube) closer to its release date as I am giving it 3.5 stars. Unfortunately, this is not a book that I would purchase for my home library and it isnt something that I can see myself ever reading again.

An excellent novel with the favorite trope. This book kept me interested and wanting more.

Thank you for the opportunity

I'm still in tears writing this. I loved this book i loved Logan and Rosemary and Joe and Remy and Odie and the pain of saying goodbye and the joy of living a life that hurts that badly to say goodbye to. I felt both Logan and Rosemary so deeply here I cannot put it into words. Everyone should read this book. This book destroyed me the way few stories have ever managed and I would kill a man to read it again for the first time.

There is so much heart in this book, as usual with Alison Cochrun book, but it was also very silly and fun. I totally bought in to Rosemary and Logan's relationship and loved the friends-to-enemies-to-lovers.

I enjoyed the exploration of many different types of relationships - romantic, friendship, mentor-mentee, parent-child - it was really thoughtful. I tend to like romances that deal with heavier topics because they feel more true to life. All along, you know Joe is dying and it is still hard to read certain parts, but I think it's important and meaningful to include.

Reading this book felt like riding an emotional roller coaster, and when you think the ride is over, they send you off again.

I’m normally not a fan of contemporary romance novels that feel too real if that makes any sense. I love reading about alternate worlds where everything is fictional and there’s no real social media platforms, or references to real life icons. I can stand this from very few authors, and Alison Cochrun is one of them.

This book was beautifully well written and I can honestly say that it is probably Cochrun’s best work so far. As a lesbian who was heavily affected and influenced by my educators as a teenager and am an educator myself now, this one was felt DEEPLY.

The characters were wonderfully written and each had their flaws, demons, and motivations in their lives. They are all full of any and every emotional you could ever feel. I can see people being off-put by one of the MCs Logan. A lot of people aren’t familiar with or understanding the deep rooted fear that comes with abandonment, mixed with neurodivergence. I think Logan was a beautifully written hurricane that not everyone will love or understand. Rosemary is a character I feel more people will be drawn to, just because she is extremely relatable. Their love is fiery and fierce, but so real and raw.

I cannot wait to come back to this book once it is released to the public (April 2, 2024), and a HUGE thank you to Atria Books for this ARC.

Okay—so this is my third book by Alison Cochrun and she is now officially an auto-buy author for me! I’ve absolutely LOVED her books so much and every time I read another, I’m stoked and happy and she doesn’t disappoint. Her queer books are amazing and in this one, the forced proximity and road trip aspects were so much fun! On the other side of the fun was real, raw emotional topics done so well and with care. I absolutely adored this book and will read anything put out by this author!

This book for me personally was just meh. There wasn’t anything that massively stood out to me, but nothing was extremely terrible.

This book had me crying, laughing and swooning. It had everything. Deep emotional relationships, witty banter between enemies and romance duh. But this book isnt solely a romance. Its a journey through their lives. Of discovery and healing and a death trip.

Rosemary is a type A, do everything by the book, no nonsense woman. Taylor on the other hand, is a golden retriever puppy and a ball of chaos. Logan truly sounds like my nightmare and dream girl all at once.

Their relationship is as complex as any best friend to enemies to lovers romance is. Add in that their favorite english teacher is dying they have to put aside their differences.

I knew before starting this I was going to cry. In fact I cried 9 times. If you ever lost someone to cancer you need to be prepared before this book. Because as much as I tried to separate my loss with a fictional one it still came barreling my chest and hit me hard. Even after 5 years I could feel it all over again. So that is my cancer trigger warning.

One thing I will say is about 60% into the book it felt like a completely different book. Almost a different writing style and less. Like the plot changed a bit but I don’t know how to describe it.

Here We Go Again is a lovely take on the “forced proximity” trope that explores self-identity, community, and finding purpose.
What sets this apart is its fragile handling of death throughout the book. As Joe is dying, we get an accurate, truthful portrayal of slowly dying, the care process, and the complicated feelings of caregivers. All of this packaged inside a heartwarming rom-com makes this book a must read for fans of LGBTQ romance novels.

Logan is having a rough day, culminating in a fender bender with her arch nemesis/ex- childhood best friend, Rosemary. The two are then brought together on the journey of a lifetime to help their teacher & stand in father figure, Joe, grant his final wish. What will they find in the journey? Or better yet, who?

A true forced proximity romance at its finest, I absolutely adored every character in this book, down to the lovely puppy who joins them for their travel. All the places they visit in this book are equally as full of character and life as the humans, which make the journey all the more fun to go on with them. I absolutely loved and devoured this book. Another great one from the author!

I laughed, I cried, I reflected. Highly suggest looking at content warnings before diving in. You won’t be sorry you do!

Alison Cochrun does it again with a stunning novel about love, grief, relinquishing control, and finding yourself along the way. Logan and Rosemary are childhood friends-turned to enemies-turned to strangers-turned to colleagues-turned to friends again and then, FINALLY, turned to lovers. Here We Go Again explores what it’s like to truly dig deep inside oneself and realize that you are worthy of being loved. Of taking up space because you can and should simply because you are human.

Former high school English teacher, Joseph Delgado, is dying. He wants one last hurrah before he kicks the can and that is to drive cross country from Washington state to Maine with Logan and Rosemary, two former high school students who turned out to be the daughters he never had. Through Cochrun’s wonderful writing, a story with grief at the very center seems to evolve into the phrase “grief is just love with nowhere else to go.”

Logan and Rosemary couldn’t be more opposites of one another. Joe is the puppeteer that fits these two women together like missing puzzle pieces. This trip is a chance for these three to spend quality time together but it’s also a ploy by Joe to get Rosemary and Logan to resolve their differences and finally admit their true feelings for each other.

My favorite part about this story is how relatable Cochrun’s characters are. How well fleshed out they are. How vulnerable they can be. How stubborn they are. How, no matter what, they show up for one another. This is what love is. What love looks like. It’s messy and real and infuriating. The love of a mentor-turned-father figure. The love of your childhood best friend-turned-partner. Through this road trip, Logan, Rosie, and Joe all discover parts of themselves that they’ve been too terrified to face. Whether that’s insecurities, mommy issues, control issues, or showing up at the art gallery of your ex-lover. This book is raw and not easy to read because it makes you reflect on your own life and your own relationships. But boy, is it worth the read. Read it, but please make sure to take care while doing so.

Here We Go Again hits shelves on 4.2.24! Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.