I give this one all the stars! So freaking good. Renee Carlino’s writing is just an experience everyone needs.

Thank you to Netgalley and RH for this ARC.

Renee Carlino is my favorite romance author, so I was salivating at the prospect of reading this book. What I love about Renee Carlino that was true for this book, is that she writes adult romances. I don't mean 22, I mean 30's and 40's. Next, she specializes in second-chance romance, and they're always so emotional.

This story is about a couple that divorces after 22 years together and 2 children. It was raw and emotional and everything about this story felt true. The whole time I wanted Dani and Alex back together, but even more, I wanted to understand their 'why'.

I was gripped and invested instantaneously and my heart broke and healed along with the characters. The ending was gut wrenching, as you can expect from RC.

Ugh, another BEAUTIFUL and relatable romance from one of my favorite authors of the genre. Loved that this story was more about older adults and navigating a marriage vs. the young love stories in her previous books. Pulls at your heart strings and makes you fall in love with the characters!

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to preview this title. I am a HUGE fan of Renee Carlino and when I saw this title I clicked on it regardless of the synopsis. That was my mistake. This one hit a little close to home for me personally and was hard to read. At some point in the future I may try picking it up again, but right now I just can't finish it. In the future I will read synopses regardless of who the author is. Lesson Learned. I wish Renee nothing but tons of success with this book and all her endeavors!!!

Another great book by Renee .it will make you laugh,cry and sometimes mad but it’s about how a couple grew apart by then remember the things that brought them together and the way she writes it you are rooting for them. If you read her books you will love this one

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review-
You won’t want to miss this book- it was thought provoking, heart breaking, humorous, and full of love!
22 years of marriage- how can something so beautiful change? How can things we loved about each other now bother us?
Dani and Alex have been married 22 years with two sons. They are not happy and decide divorce is their option. As they begin dating they find no one compares to what they had. Can they put it back together? When a crisis happens - what will happen?

This is a book that was hard to put my feelings for into words at first. I’m a big fan of Renee Carlino, this had the familiar and comforting tone that made her an auto buy author for me almost instantly.
I just want to say, as a Danielle that almost exclusively goes by Dani and who has issues with thanksgiving, parts of this, even before The Twist™️* (more in this later), were a little jarring to me 😅
Also, marriage in trouble isn’t a genre I usually gravitate to as someone who’s been married <4 years with no kids yet, but I think that part of this story specifically was handled with care in every detail. I hated seeing these two apart and some of the things they did were hard to read, but it was all so real feeling. Alex and Dani are two people who belong together, which made them compelling and I caught myself thinking about them between reading often.
The Twist™️, I went through a lot of emotions and continued to go through more emotions hours after I finished it. It’s not the ending I was expecting, hoping for or even want, if I’m being totally honest. The overall takeaways are powerful and beautiful, so I understand why the story went the way it did, but I felt kind of blindsided by it.
That being said, I’m going to think about this story for a long time, and I can see myself reading this at a different time in my life and rating it 5 stars.

Ooff! Renne Carlino really knows how to pack in the emotional punches with her newest novel, This Used to Be Us. Danielle and Alex are separating after many years of a tumultuous marriage. Told in alternating viewpoints and various timelines, readers are given a front row seat to their initially passionate love that grew stale and turned to resentment over daily household chores and the monotony of raising two teenage boys. For any woman in a long term relationship, particularly one that involves raising kids, will resonate with various pieces of this story. It was cringe-worthy and romantic, all wrapped into one. I was often sad, watching them fall apart and then find pieces to put back together. Perhaps Carlino’s greatest message of all was that to be a good partner, we first must be the best version of ourselves!

A sincere thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. What an emotional story... I'm unsure of how I feel about the ending.

This was such a great emotional and relatable read! I loved having an older protagonist and felt the relationship and romance was written so real. It was sadder at times then I expected but I loved it. I will have to check out more by Renee Carlino in the future! Will be purchasing to add to our library.

Renee Carlino is one heck of a writer. Her past books that I have read are all amazing. Her latest book was no exception. Dani and Alex were both flawed, yet easy to relate to at times.’ I loved how Dani was with her young sons. As the book went on, I found myself becoming increasingly attached to Alex and especially Dani. The ending was definitely not at all what I was prepared for. It was very emotional and written well. I don’t want to say much more, because of spoilers- but I finished this 24 hours ago and Dani, Alex, and their sons are still on my mind.

Side note: This would have been a 5 star book for me but I really hated one scene in the book where the character of Brenda was rude to a young boy in the book and basically ignored him when he was only trying to be party of the “family”
It didn’t appropriate for a grandparent to be rude to a young boy for no good reason, Part of me feels bad for complaining about the scene, but it rubbed me the wrong way. Aside from that one scene this book was excellent.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the arc.

I rated this 4.5. Beautiful writing. I got hooked into Dani and Alex’s relationship right away. Carlino had an accurate portrayal of a marriage in deep trouble. Then she slowly brought them back together only to have Dani die!!!!! I couldn’t believe that twist. Great read.

Have tissues handy! Alex’s and Dani’s relationship was real- emotional, passionate, and messy. I really connected with the characters and was rooting for them the whole way through. I appreciated reading from both perspectives and loved reliving their memories with them. It is refreshing to also read a great and well written love story about a couple in their 40s! I definitely recommend!

I have long been a fan of Renee Carlino's books and have been eagerly awaiting an announcement that she would be releasing a new one. This is Carlino's first release since 2019 and it was absolutely worth the wait. This book was so well written and powerful, it broke me and make me feel whole again. I only hope I won't have to five more years for another book from her!

Wow. I’ve read almost all of Renée Carlino’s books. I fell in love with her writing years ago so when I saw this new one, it didn’t even matter what it was about. I had to read it.

We enter Dani and Alex’s broken marriage right in the heart of the anger, resentment, sharp words thrown at each other and full on bitterness. We’re shown the heartbreak of finding a new normal, the uncertainty of being with someone other than your spouse of 22 years and the roller coaster of emotions once a divorce is finalized. While the whole situation is sad, watching the characters grow and find themselves again was worth it.

It’s hard to say I “enjoyed” this book but I certainly couldn’t put it down. I found myself reading at 2am and thinking about these characters when I wasn’t reading. And the ending…what a wildly emotional ride this book takes you on! Do not pass this one up. It’s easily Renée Carlino’s best book!

Thank you Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the chance to read this book a little early.

This story had a very familiar tone to it but I can't place where I may have read something like it before. Passion and marriage and parenthood and divorce are all subjects that interest me. This book had all of those pieces. Carlino wrote great, realistic characters and dialogue. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Danielle and Alex are going through a divorce. A long, drawn out divorce. The last few years sleeping in separate rooms and avoiding any intimacy whatsoever - it is finally time to cut the last threads of marriage. They decide on a nesting apartment - a current concept for yuppies - to not disrupt their boy’s lives while the adults manage the shuffling of their responsibilities and the children remain coddled and comfortable. Dani is a successful screen writer in the volatile world of Hollywood. After suffering a severe writers block she has stumbled upon a huge winner. Alex is a physical therapist running his own clinic. Twenty years ago they were deeply and wholly in love, the perfect couple, building a home and the life they had always dreamed of. A love they imagined would get them through the many ups and downs of life. But after two unfortunate miscarriages, caring for Dani’s sick mother and a continuous flow of blame they have finally admitted defeat. Narrated by Dani and Alex’s acerbic conversations and sad little notes left on album sleeves, the reader witnesses the details of their topsy turvy marriage, divorce and unfailing commitment to their children. Somehow, no matter how hard they try to stay apart they are like two magnets that continue to find their way back together again. Heartbreakingly beautiful and well written, there are huge life lessons buried beneath the banter and I can’t say more or it will spoil the read! Releases in July. A must for your summer TBR!

Heart wrenching and tragic romance about a crumbling marriage/divorce and a couple falling back in love. Thanks for the arc

I enjoy books about struggles in relationships and figured this one would be about a couple struggling through divorce and finding their way back to each other. Well, it absolutely was that but the last 10 percent of the book takes quite a turn. Highly recommended but expect quite an emotional ending.

I'm basically writing this reviewing waiting for my tear duct reservoirs to replenish themselves. And apparently, I'm finding out that having your heart ripped out by a Renée Carlino novel isn't a rare occurrence!? We let this woman just roam free in these streets???? 😭 This is my first book of hers and I definitely think I'm a masochist because I may just come back for more.

If I could describe this book in one word, it would be cathartic. It was so beautifully and painfully written, I couldn't bring myself to stop reading once I got started. I will say, that for a good chunk of the book I thought that Alex and Dani were equally insufferable. While I did appreciate having both sides to this story, they were honestly both extremely mean (towards each other) and unlikeable. My own heart was going into fight or flight mode during some of this post-divorce interactions. I was almost like GIRL, pick yourself up and leave this man for good 🤧 but the scary part is that any married couple, who have been together for anywhere upwards a decade+, will probably not find any of this surprising. It was an oddly comforting knowing this wasn't just dramatized fiction.

I especially enjoyed the little extra touch of adding Dani's love for music and the vinyl record notes 🥲- and how a certain song transported the story to an alternate pocket of time and glimpses into why these two fell in love in the first place and what went wrong.. by the end I was weeping, rightfully so. This one is released in July 2024 so you have time to prepare your tissues!

Thank you Dial Press & netgalley for the early copy 🫶🏼