What an absolutely beautiful read!! After loving Before We Were Strangers by Renee earlier this year, I jumped on the eARC of This Used to Be Us. The story follows Danielle and Alex, who after 22 years of marriage and 2 kids, are getting a divorce. They begin to unwind their routines, find their independence post-divorce, and learn what they really want out of life.

So yes, it’s a depressing topic 😅 but was written so well and was an engrossing read that kept me extremely invested in what was going to happen, and if Danielle and Alex would find their way back to each other. I devoured this book - it was one of those books that I picked up any free moment I had, and easily finished within 24 hours.

Also, as a proud (new) owner of a record player, I loved how records and music weaved throughout the story and how music took Danielle and Alex back to moments in time of their relationship.

This is a great read for fans of After I Do and Before I Let Go, and I’ll be shocked if this book and Before We Were Strangers aren’t in my 2024 top ten at the end of the year.

This Used To Be Us shows the raw ups and downs in a marriage. It shows the fairytale doesn’t last forever. The honeymoon phase is just that… a phase. The entire book as well as the characters were relatable. I just wasn’t prepared for my heart to break.

This was my first Renee Carlino book and I’m so ready to read more by this author! I’m not sure I’ll ever stop recommending this book!

I made the horrible mistake of reading this book at work. About three chapters in I knew I was going to cry. I fell in love with both of our main characters, and their love story. Watching it come together while simultaneously watching it fall apart was heartbreaking. And I won’t spoil the end, but I did ugly cry at work. A lot. This sort of reminded me of a Taylor Jenkins Reid book, but that’s an absolutely good thing, since I love her too.

This author has always managed to tweak my heartstrings with her writing. This book definitely was no different. This story follows Danielle and Alex as they struggle through a crisis in their marriage. Such a crisis that they believe the only way to resolve their issues and find some semblance of happiness again is to divorce. It was so heartbreaking because you see how happy they were in the beginning of their relationship and you just wonder what can go so terribly wrong that a couple can't find their way back. As the story unfolds, you gradually find out what things occurred and how they each handled or didn't handle things. They often didn't turn to one another when they needed to and eventually let a chasm develop between them.

I found some things in the book to be quite poetic - - the book begins with Dani hearing Alex's morning routine and resenting him for it. The book ends with her appreciating his morning routine and the sounds he makes and no longer resenting him. I just thought using this same scene and showing how different Dani's emotions are between the beginning and the end was really touching.

This is a beautiful love story about two people who struggle through the realities and ugliness of life and try to find their way back to one another. It's a story of life and all of its ups and downs. You'll definitely need some tissues for this one.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

Dani and Alex are middle-aged parents of two teenagers who have become "stuck in a rut" in their relationship. It has progressed into spite and resentment, so much so that they are in the process of trying to finalize a divorce. There have been many life factors that have built up to this point, and no amount of therapy has been able to resolve the issues.

They agree to a living arrangement where their boys will continue to live at home and they will each split the week with one of them staying at the house while the other stays at a nesting apartment they cohabit and then switch off the rest of the week.

With time apart, newfound freedom of single life, and complications of dating, they both find themselves reminiscent of the past and begin to realize what it was about each other they were attracted to in the first place.

This story had me choked up so many times. The tears were streaming down my face. Dani and Alex will take you on an emotional rollercoaster. Their passion is very well written. Whether it's frustration and anger or loving so hard, the author captures these moments with her writing and makes you feel all the emotions. The character development was outstanding, realistic, and made me love both Dani and Alex from start to finish. If you're looking for a good tear jerker, this book is for you.

I am so happy that the world gets a new Renee Carlino book! I read Before We Were Strangers (a rare 5 ⭐ read back in the day for me) and Swear on This Life (3 ⭐) by Renee Carlino years ago. I have been waiting for a new, buzzworthy one from her for ages! This Used To Be Us is her latest and much like her previous stories, it is super emotional and follows a couple through many years of their relationship together. 

I've seen some reviews that were upset about the ending. I thought it was fantastic. What I did not think was great was the first 15% of the book. I almost DNFed because it put me in such a bad mood. The two MCs basically sling venom at each other and are horrible to each other. It made the good moments later on kind of hard to believe. 🤷🏼‍♀️ But I am glad I pushed through because it was a really raw, realistic look at divorce and co-parenting.

Thank you to #netgalley and for the early copy. It made me cry!

Dani and Alex are middle-aged parents of two teenagers who have become "stuck in a rut" in their relationship. It has progressed into spite and resentment, so much so that they are in the process of trying to finalize a divorce. There have been many life factors that have built up to this point, and no amount of therapy has been able to resolve the issues.

They agree to a living arrangement where their boys will continue to live at home and they will each split the week with one of them staying at the house while the other stays at a nesting apartment they cohabit and then switch off the rest of the week.

With time apart, newfound freedom of single life, and complications of dating, they both find themselves reminiscent of the past and begin to realize what it was about each other they were attracted to in the first place.

This story had me choked up so many times. The tears were streaming down my face. Dani and Alex will take you on an emotional rollercoaster. Their passion is very well written. Whether it's frustration and anger or loving so hard, the author captures these moments with her writing and makes you feel all the emotions. The character development was outstanding, realistic, and made me love both Dani and Alex from start to finish. If you're looking for a good tear jerker, this book is for you.

This is a wonderful book about two people who have been married for 22 years and their marriage is unraveling. I loved that the story is about people in their 40's because it made it that much more relatable to me. The couple decides to share an apartment, taking turns there so the children don't have to switch houses in the divorce. The characters are beautifully written and wonderfully flawed. They both do some soul searching and find themselves looking to their past, thinking about what went wrong. Keep the tissues handy through this book. Renee Carlino knows how to write a story that evokes such emotion. Highly recommend this book.

The last two Carlino books I read I couldn’t put down. One of them I read in just one evening, I was addicted. She quickly became an author I want to read everything by. So when I saw this one coming, I think I actually squealed, I was so excited. As I get older, I am finding that I really like stories of older couples or divorcing couples or relationship in trouble couples. They feel real and tend to add more emotion, which I like. For a few reasons, this book just didn’t work for me. The pacing was off to me and it kind of just felt all over the place. I loved the reflection each couple goes through, I really liked the dual POV, her writing was great, and I liked the longer time span. I could have used another 100 pages to focus on the last 30%. Really make me bond to those characters more, something I struggled with earlier on in the story. And without spoilers, the ending just did not work for me with the pacing. I want to say more but don’t want to spoil anything but if you’ve read it then you know!

Before We Were Strangers ★★★★★
Swear on This Life ★★★★★

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the early access!

This Used to Be Us is a raw, realistic, relatable, and honest story of love, marriage, and divorce. The characters are in their 40s, and this is for a more mature audience. Dani and Alex make a lot of mistakes and are incredibly flawed. I was completely invested in their journey. This story is an emotional rollercoaster. You will laugh, but trust me, you will need tissues. Seriously, you will. While I don’t always enjoy the ‘marriage in crisis’ trope, I love second-chance romance stories, and I felt the author did this trope justice. I loved the inclusion of music and the vinyl record notes. This is not a typical romance story, and it’s best to go into this book without any expectations. This Used to Be Us is a well-written, heartbreaking story that will definitely stick with me for a while. I am new to Renee Carlino and look forward to reading more of her books.

One of the most gut wrenching, heartbreaking and emotional books I’ve had the privilege to read. Seriously Top 5. This is one I will forever cherish and will definitely read again!!

Renee’s writing is chef’s kiss 😘 🔥 I found myself laughing and crying throughout the entire book and I just devoured it. I didn’t want it to end.

This storyline was such a great reminder for married couples, couples, singles, human beings (!!!) that one single person cannot and should not be everything to you. Remember who you are and whose you are, no matter how in love and obsessed you are with your partner. Make time and prioritize yourself along with your relationships. And learn how to communicate effectively and in a healthy way with your partner. It was heartbreaking to read how, after they were divorced, they finally told each other how they felt and what they struggled with during some of the toughest seasons they went through during their marriage. Being able to be vulnerable and honest in your marriage/relationships in those seasons is SO IMPORTANT.

I can’t express enough how much I loved this book. It was beautiful. 💛

Ugh wanted to like this book more as I love Renee. However I just didn’t love the characters and didn’t care much happened. Then when I started to care didn’t love the depressing curveball that was thrown. So the book was just overall sad

I wanted to like this book so bad but it reminds me too much of a different book I read that surrounds the idea of divorce. I thought the book was well written, I just don’t think the divorce topic is for me (maybe because I’m newly engaged)

I love Renee Carlino's writing, characters, and the way she shows love between them. Such a beautiful but sad story. Ending was heartbreaking.

If there’s one book I’m convinced each person needs to read to come up with their own opinion, it would be this one.

Granted, I feel that way about every book, since everyone has their own preferences, but this book has me feeling torn in too many ways to make a decision even for myself.

I found myself distracted while reading because the characters typically seemed stunted in how they interacted with one another as well as with others. This extended from just dialogue to also inner thoughts, and at first I thought it was a stylistic choice between the two newly divorced main characters, but eventually it felt that way with nearly every interaction they had.

I also went into this book figuring it would be a second chance marriage romance. I assumed that meant they’d get divorced and realize how much they missed one another, only to come back to one another by the end. And to some degree, this happens, but not before they throw themselves at other people—people they don’t even necessarily like—along the way. These interactions truly bothered me and made me realize I wasn’t really rooting for or liking either of the characters.

I picked up this book because I absolutely LOVED Renée Carlino’s SWEAR ON THIS LIFE. I have others by her I’m excited to read as well, and I was hoping this would also be one of the ones I devoured…but unfortunately, it wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I finished it, but I had a bad taste in my mouth as I did. And also? As many other reviews have noted…even if you find the course of the relationship and divorce realistic and enjoyable to read, you might be royally pissed by around the 91% mark of the book when everything gets thrown upside down.

“I actually really like you, which I think is just as important as loving you.”

It’s important to note that this is not a romance novel. This is a women’s fiction novel. So don’t go expecting a happily ever after, or you’ll be sorely disappointed.

I loved the relationship Renée crafted for both Dani and Alex—the profound, heartfelt, deep love they shared for 22 years. I wanted more of that story, personally. I wanted their love story. Not their lost story. But this was beautiful in its own way, too.

“I guess we had to get a little lost to find each other again.”

CW: loss of a parent, divorce, miscarriages (off page, but discussed), fatal illness

I delayed reading this because I saw reviews complaining about the ending compared to the quality of the rest of the book. Now I get it. I had a hard time liking the characters to begin with and I found the whole story quite depressing. And the end, tbh, blew. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this copy for read and review

This Used to Be Us by Renée Carlino is a wonderful book about love, divorce and the joy of rediscovery; it touched my heart. I smiled often, laughed out loud and cried- may want a tissue or two handy. It is a celebration of life, family, the strength of the human spirit, grace and love. Thank you to NetGalley, the Dial Press and Renée Carlino for the opportunity to read an ARC of This Used to Be Us; my review reflects my honest opinion. 4.5 stars.

Renee Carlino does this to me EVERY TIME! She sucks me in and then plays with my heart. In the case of Alex and Danielle, we follow a two decades long love story. Sure there's a divorce thrown in there (and it's a significant part of their journey) but throughout it all, what you see is love despite all of the frustration, annoyance, and hurt feelings of it all. I liked how we got to see it all--all the love and all of the things that make marriages so difficult. We saw the goodness in them and the not so good things about them, which made for fully developed characters. Neither Alex or Danielle were wholly good or bad, just regular, flawed humans that got to the point where they didn't *think* they loved each other anymore. Tricks on them, they really did love each other, they just couldn't stand each other sometimes and they beauty of this book is that we get to see why. We see how the small things become really annoying things they can't get past. We see the real and perceived burdens they each felt. And we get to see what happens when you don't communicate well...and we see it all through flashbacks and present day events.

As Renee Carlino is known to do, she reels you in, gives you hope, and then hurts your heart. This Used to Be Us is no different. The ending was just so bittersweet...and that's all I'll say about that. It's been way too long since we've had a new read from Renee Carlino and I hope this means she's back in writing mode and working on something new for us.

I read Renee Carlino’s story Before We Were Strangers and absolutely loved it. There was no doubt that I was going to pick up this book as well. The story follows Dani and Alex who have finally decided to get divorced after 20 some years of marriage. The majority of this story follows how they navigate life, each other, and their family as a divorced couple. The story is about second chances and how they find their way back to one another. I was really enjoying the story until about the 90% mark. With three chapters left in the book, there is a huge twist and I felt like I was reading a completely different story. It changed the story and then the book was finished before I even knew it. I didn’t love or hate the twist at the end, but would have preferred to have the last 10% stretched out a little longer. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the advance reader copy.

I loved this book! It's well-written, enjoyable, and a great read. Renée Carlino did a great job of writing in a way that captures the readers attention, and makes you not want to put it down until you're finished! I would highly recommend it!