Member Reviews
don't really know how to talk about this book. It is so much more than a sapphic road trip romance and I loved it so much.
Logan and Rosemary are ex best friends and when their former English teacher requests to go on a death trip to Maine, the two of them decide to grant his last wish and set forth on the road trip of the summer. Logan is very visibly queer and a self-proclaimed fuckboy. She doesn't really form attachments and has a history of hooking up with any available sapphic in her vicinity. Then we have Rosemary who is also a lesbian but is more straight passing. She is super femme and has the opposite history of hookups as Logan meaning she hasn't had any.
The two of them had a falling out when they were in high school and now that they're in their 30s, they are forced to confront all of the big feelings they didn't deal with as teenagers.
Let's talk briefly about Joe. Joe is in his 60s and has pancreatic cancer and it's going to die. He is out and proud and has been the entire time he's known the girls. He was their English teacher when they were in high school and has kind of served as an adoptive parental figure for both of them. They both maintained very close relationships with him after high school even though they themselves didn't have a friendship. Joe's last wish is to go to Maine to his house and he inlists Logan and Rosemary to drive him there. So they figure out a vehicle and they load up Joe and his dog Odysseus and they set out.
What's a road trip without some detours right?
This book is so much more than a rekindling of a sapphic romance. It really is a testament to living life while you have it and embracing the relationships you do have. It's about leaving life with no regrets and fostering a sense of community. It's about self love and how to empathize and embrace your own feelings and experiences.
I was a bit of an emotional mess at the end of this and I still feel like I'm not doing it justice with this review. Honestly go read other people's reviews cuz they were much more eloquent than I am. This book is so good.
Lesbian MC with ADHD, Lesbian Aspec MC with ADHD, Gay Latine SC, Gay Black SC.
Small amount of explicit content. It's like one scene and it's fairly tame and should be safe for those that prefer fade to black or no explicit.
I have loved all the books written by Alison Cochrun and this one is now my favorite. I knew by the premise that I would love this book and was so excited to receive an arc. The premise of a road trip centered book is perfect for the summer or spring. The author as always wrote such intriguing characters and amazing story line.
๐ป๐๐๐๐๐: Enemies to Lovers, Forced Proximity, Road Trip, Opposites Attract, Slow Burn, Only One Bed
Logan and Rosemary were best friends as children but turned to arch rivals. When their favorite teacher has a dying wish they both agree to take him on a cross country roadtrip all the way to Maine. The journey is a way of connecting with their inner self, with each other and getting a larger perspective on life.
What I absolutely loved about the book is the experience of the road trip. Finding themselves, caring for a dying man. The story is heartbreaking, moving, inspiring all at the same time. Loved the funny situations and painful moments they go through! This was a moving read!
You might not think two people taking care of a beloved mentor with a terminal illness could be the start of a love story, but you'd be wrong. This book is a beautiful study of life, death, pain, and joy. It's funny and it's devastating. I'm so glad that Alison is pushing the boundaries of what a romance can be.
I'm so conflicted writing this review. My heart is torn between the plot and my overall enjoyment of the book as a whole.
rating: 3 STARS
genre: romance
format: audiobook + ebook
I REALLY loved the story with Joe, Logan, and Rosemary completing their "Death Trip." Their overall dynamic and the locations that they're able to travel to together really just warmed my heart (and almost made me want to see the Grand Canyon...almost, but not quite). I have a weak spot for elderly people in my romance novels, so Joe immediately flew to the top of my favorite character list here.
The romance, however, fell really flat for me. It felt very fast and, honestly, I skipped forward through the spicy scenes because they were a bit much (that could be a me problem and not a book problem - as I've discovered I prefer slightly less spice in my books than I used to). I can't really put my finger on what about it didn't work, but something didn't sit right.
Overall, this was a cute romance. It wasn't for me, but it might be for you!
(The audiobook narration, however, was VERY good. Would listen again.)
I am a big Alison Cochrun fan, and this book does not disappoint! The three main characters were so lovable and relatable, I felt like I knew them. I was crying at several points throughout the story.
Every detail of the road trip was so vivid and accurate, I finished the book feeling so inspired to do a big American road trip! I would definitely recommend this book!
I loved this book so much!!! Romance books that make me cry, laugh, and feel way too many emotions will always be my favorite!!!
I think something is broken in me, because after reading all of the amazing 5 star reads, I just โฆ didnโt feel the same ๐ญ which completely broke my heart since I adore alison cochrun and her style of writing!
I will say, this is 100% a sad contemporary romance with a lot of grief and death scattered around the plot so please take the time and read the trigger warnings to take care of your mental health first โค๏ธ
logan and rosemary used to be best friends in school and are now mortal enemies teaching at the same school - itโs a tale as old as time! and throw in the best character of all time, joe, their former english teacher and you have a recipe for a perfect second chance romance!! except, I could NOT get over logan and rosemaryโs charactersโฆ they were unlikable and selfish towards their own hearts (from putting on a brave face and joking around to hide a broken heart to expressing little to no care about the few that actually love them) ๐ฅด I really didnโt like how logan projected her trauma and closed herself off from everyone by her selfish nature
while I understand that everyone goes through trauma differently, for a romance book, I want to be able to root for the characters, and I just did not feel that way about logan at all. the way she used others, including my sweet sweet joe, was not it for me.
speaking of joe, though, I absolutely adored him and cried so much because he SAVED the story for me ๐ฅน๐ฅฒ I wish everyone had a joe in their lives because I promise, the world would be in a better place
thank you to atria and netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
rating: 3 stars
wine pairing: finger lakes chardonnay
I swear Alison Cochrun gets better with every book! Everything about this book was great. The characters, the neurodivergent representation, the banter, everything.
I loved that it was a road trip. I loved the Gay Wagon. I love that a dog tagged along.
With that being said, this book is sad! But happy! But sad!!
Please read it!!
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC.
Alison Cochrun is a genius. I will buy anything she writes. Here We Go Again had me smiling ear to ear. Loved it.
"๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ. ๐๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ธ. ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ธ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ช๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต. ๐๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ. ๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด."
I'm a bit wrecked after finishing this book.
It pulled on every. single. heart string that I have and twisted me into a crying mess.
But like, in a good way.
Losing someone you love is truly gut-wrenching.
And as I was reading, I couldn't help but resonate with so SO much of Rosemary. It was like Alison was writing about me.
But at the same time, part of me was also connected to some of those deep-rooted feelings that Logan had as well.
This was just a beautifully written story.
But fair content warnings to all: Mentions of cancer, parental death and abandonment, and detailed caregiving.
Thank you to @atriabooks and @netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for this review!
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Ever go into a book for the summer road trip vibes but come out of it with so much more? That's this book.
Here we go again deserves all the praises and hype. It's quickly becoming my go to summer book recommendation. It gave me EVERYTHING I look for in a summer romance novel. The road trip, the beautiful outdoorsy settings, a cast of found family characters who will stick with you, engraving themselves into your memory for eternity. It's bright, sunshiney, but also tragic and gut wrenching. I'm clenching my chest where my heart is just thinking back upon this touching story.
I love all of Alison's books. They have all been 5 stars, but this one is my absolute favorite.
Thank you Netgalley, Atria Books, and Alison Cochrun for eARC.
Here We Go Again is out now.
It's been a while since a book made my cry but this one managed it.
A sapphic friends-to-enemies-to-lovers set on a road trip where Logan and Rosemary are taking their beloved former teacher turned friend to Maine. Oh and he happens to be dying of cancer, which will make you cry.
Alison Cochrun did something really special with this book. She not only manages to grow a romance against the backdrop of tragedy but explore death and dying. In a world where there have not always been visibly gay older people, it's a powerful thing to have an older queer character. There's a moment where Joe remarks about the AIDS crisis and that "gay men don't get to grow old" and I sobbed.
There's also all these beautiful little hints about how there's queer people everywhere. Even in the South where people like to pretend we aren't.
As always, Alison Cochrun's discussion of characters who are not fully allo is amazing and well done.
I loved this. It was beautiful and sad and romantic all at once
*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own."
this is my favorite Cochrun book thus far! This book had some much great stuff and the romance was great. While this is definitely a romance book there is so much more than that. This is a book about grief and self exception. This book is a love story to the queer community and queer history. This is a book about art and a book about loves beyond just romance. This book is just all around beautiful. I haven't read a book that had me laughing one minute and crying the next. This book is an absolute breath of fresh air and I can't wait to bug everyone about reading it! Please do yourself a favor and read this one. This book is definitely worth your time.
Thank you netgalley for the ARC
What a cute story. We follow Rosemary (perfectionist extraordinaire) and Logan (hot mess express) as they drive their favourite person and teacher, Joe, across country so he can die in his old home. I enjoyed the representation and diversity, but the lack of communication is always something that bothers me. Joe and Remy were my absolute favourite and I didnโt realise how much I miss going to drag shows ๐ฉ. I need to find one ASAP.
I would recommend Here We Go Again to anyone who wants a cute friends to enemies to lovers story and a beautiful message of living your life while you can.
โLife is like the prickly pear. Itโs always going to be a combination of beauty and hurt, no matter how hard you try to protect yourself from the hard parts. There is no way to avoid pain.โ
I fell in love with Alison Cochrunโs writing and storytelling when I first read โThe Charm Offensive.โ Reading โHere We Go Againโ was like falling in love all over again. This story is sentimental, funny, heartwarming, sad, and pulls at your heart strings in all the best ways. It has a beauty and rawness to it that is absolutely captivating, and it was an excellent read.
I have never wanted to go on a cross country road trip more than after reading this book!
Thank you NetGalley, Atria Books and Allison Cochrun for the ARC.
This is my second book by Alison Cochrun and I loved it more than the last. I really loved the push and pull relationship of Rosemary and Logan in this enemies to lovers, second chance romance that really asks the question of how far you'll go for someone you love. I also enjoyed the complexity given to Joe's character; who could have been written as an easy plot device, saw quite a lot of character development from start to finish. In a way, I am glad the happy ending I didn't know he deserves when I was first introduced to him in the beginning. There is spice in the book that I felt was well written. I really enjoyed this book.
Thank you Atria books for the gifted ARC.
3.5 stars
Here We Go Again is a pretty formulaic road trip romance with an added element of a beloved teacher tagging along to fulfill his dying wish. Because it felt pretty formulaic, I had trouble staying engaged throughout the whole story because parts of it felt like they all blended together. Alison Cochrunโs books always have great character development and beautifully tender romantic relationships, which were the standouts of this story. The audio was great though at times hard to tell whose POV we were hearing since both female narrators sounded similar.
Content flags: on page descriptions of death and dying; parental abandonment; on page panic attacks
Road trip novels are so much fun, and Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun does not disappoint!
Although, this story is much, much more than a road trip book to throw into your summer beach bag.
Read this novel if you like:
* Friends > Enemies > Lovers
* Second chance romance
* LGBTQIAP+ representation
* Complicated, emotional family dynamics
* Open door romance
* Laugh out loud humour
* Some truly memorable quotes
Note there is terminal illness and end of life content in this novel.
At at point in this novel, I wasnโt sure if I was fully invested and there were some things two of the main characters, Rosemary and Logan, did (or didnโt) that was a little frustrating. However, by the time I had a third of the story left, the magic of this story completely clicked. I had tears springing into my eyes (one may need a tissue or three), and by the end I had highlighted several passages, shed some tears, and realized I really really liked this story. I loved the characters Rosemary, Joe, Remi, Odysseus, and even Logan grew on me.
Thank you to Atria and Netgalley for the electronic advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.
This was one of my most highly anticipated releases of 2024 and I'm happy to say it did not disappoint! I love a friends-to-enemies-to-lovers romance and the point in where it picked up at the beginning of the book was perfection.
Alison is the queen of blending sadness, drama, and humor. She effortlessly integrates pop culture references into the foundation of the story to add light where there is dark. HERE WE GO AGAIN tackles some of her darkest and deepest pain yet. While Rosemary and Logan couldn't be more different, their common thread? The relationship their share with their favorite HS English teacher, Joe.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book! From the banter, to the deeper themes, to the LOL-moments... It was refreshing and comforting and such a sweet reminder that life is for living!