Out of all the Adriana Locke Novels and Audiobooks I've read I don't ever think I cried as much as when I cried for this one! Between Jay and Gabby the History of Love and Loss with so much grief it just makes you truly think what one makes of their life and their families! Dylan and Conner were so cute, well Conner was Dylan was more of a Jerk Face hehe! Another Book for Adriana that is a win for me!

Thank You Netgalley, Adriana Locke and Montlake for the early ARC! Publication Day is Dec 16, 2024 .

I adore Adriana Locke and read pretty much everything she writes. I know when I pick up one of her books I’m going to enjoy myself for a few hours!

Between Now and Forever was a quick, fun read! This book does deal with grief and how relationships are impacted after something traumatic happens. I liked that it showed how each of the kids dealt with the loss and differently. I loved seeing how Dylan and Jay’s relationship evolved. Carter was my absolute favorite with all of his shenanigans. He had me laughing out loud several times (especially with his baseball skills). Gabby and Jay were sweet and I loved the banter. I also enjoyed the scenes with the side characters and hope we see more of them in the future!

Overall, I recommend this book if you’re looking for a small town romance, with a single mother and grumpy neighbor.

This book is told in Gabby and Jay's alternating POV. Gabby is a single mom who moves back to her (small) hometown to raise her boys. While this is usually a go-to author for me, I just was not a fan of this book. The overall tone didn't feel like this author's voice and I really didn't feel the connection between the characters. I will note that the kids were actually included throughout the storyline - sometimes an author will introduce them but not have them involved, so that was nice to see.

Adriana has done it again!! She pulls at your heart!! Gabrielle is a single mom to two boys, who lost their dad. Jay is their new neighbor who doesn’t want anything to do with anyone. Little by little, Jay can’t help but fall in love with Gabrielle and her boys!

I thought this was a cute book. It’s about single mom Gabrielle and her next-door neighbour Jay. Gabrielle is a single mom who has just moved back to her hometown with her two sons after their dad passed away, and is working to restore the house she bought. Jay and Gabrielle’s first meeting is a funny meet-cute and the story starts from there. I thought the book dealt with the topic of grief pretty well and I liked the family dynamic that Gabrielle and her two boys, Carter and Dylan, had. Dylan was pretty standoffish at first when it came to Jay but Carter was on board for it and had some pretty funny remarks throughout the book. I thought it was a very cute small town romance and it was nice to have some older main characters who had already had some life experience under their belts. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a single-parent, small town romance that’s a quick read.
Thank you to the author and NetGalley for an advanced copy of the book.

Could this book be any sweeter? I have a toothache after reading it! The first few pages had me laughing out loud and once we meet the MMC Jay, I adored him. I really enjoyed this story and the characters. I do not envy the situation they have to overcome to be together, but it is definitely something very prevalent in every day lives. Single mom trope isn't a typical read for me but this one is super cute and I really liked Gabrielle.

Thank you NetGalley and Montlake for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Writing romance that is a second chance at love but after loss not because the characters blew their first chance is complicated.
A single mom with two sons that recently lost their dad. A man who has sworn off love because his s ex took a child he was raising away from him.
Neighbors to lovers is complicated. I’m f it blows up, that person is still RIGHT there.
I loved that her teenager did not make things easy. I also loved the friends and other stories.

This book had potential. The beginning was so fun — a hilarious meet cute followed by a ton of sexual tension. But once the tension subsided, the book got boring and predictable. I just felt like the last 50% was so repetitive and frustrating. I also did not care for how fast everything moved between the two main characters.

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

LOVE LOVED LIVED THIS SWEET SEXY SMALL TOWN ROMANCE!! such a great read!! !!! i enjoyed it so much.

so amazing

This was a cute and heartwarming story. The characters were very lovable, specially Carter omg that kid was hilarious 😆

Gabrielle is a single mom of 2, Dylan the oldest and Carter. She meets her neighbor Jay who’s grumpy & keeps to himself.

Jay has a traumatic past that keeps him from getting close to Gabrielle and her kids. I love the found family dynamics and their chemistry.

Gabrielle and Jay's story was incredible. From the moment we met Gabrielle I was in love with her. She carried so much pain in her heart. She was determined to move forward not only for herself but for her children. Jay's heart is also full of pain. He choses to live each day working while trying very hard not to feel it. Together these two are perfect for each other. Their chemistry together is HOT! They both try to ignore it but the problem with that is chemistry this intense is very hard to ignore. When these two give in they combust! Reading their story made me feel everything. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me smile and it even broke my heart. Adriana Locke did an amazing job of telling their story. When you add in Gabrielle two children, and all their friends it just made their story that much more. I am really hoping that everyone gets their own book because their are so many more stories that could be told. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A grumpy/sunshine, neighbors to lovers romance between single mom, Gabrielle and her new neighbor Jay. Jay is wary of any relationship because of his past and swears that things between him and Gabrielle will remain platonic. However, the more time he spends around Gabrielle and her young sons has wondering if there is a future with them.

This was such a sweet small town romance! It was also my favorite standalone of Adriana Locke’s. ❤️ I love Jay and Gabriella as a couple. This story has it all—banter, spice, drama, sibling love, and lessons about relationships! 😊

What a wonderful book! I love it when the man in the book says 'they already feel like mine'. They have a very interesting meet cute but the sly looks and helpful hands these two have for each other really made me devour this book. This author has a way with words when it comes to her characters. And Jay and Gabrielle are no exception. There is instant chemistry when they "fall" for each other on their meet cute.

I love the world that this author creates for us in this book and really hope there is more and if this is going to become a series. I love falling in love with the characters in her stories because she just makes everything so real and full of unexpected love!

I feel like this was a book of 2 parts. The first part, before they got together, I wasn’t too keen on. It felt like Gabrielle was throwing herself at Jay, even though he had said he wasn’t interested. Jay was also then back and forth. I did enjoy the second part which was once they got together and how Gabrielle dealt with Dylan’s grief. A first time read of this author but I would look into her previous books

I’ve read one other book by AL and unfortunately this one didn’t impress me as much. This is about Idiot 1, Gabbie and Idiot 2, Jay. Okay that’s a bit harsh, but they were both acting a bit moronic at times. A 38 year old and a 40 year old. Baby you really should be able to communicate properly by now. When they did communicate, they did it well, it just took them waaay to long to actually get to that point. If I wanted push & pull and assumptions to be made, there are plenty of romance books where the mc’s are 22 year olds. Jay needed therapy first, a woman only after said therapy. Gabbie needed family therapy first, a man after said therapy. Did ANYONE see a therapist? No.

Gabbie is a great mom. I almost started crying, imagining having such a supportive, calm and understanding mother lol. I loved seeing her take her life back, start living instead of surviving.

Jay was so sweet with both Gabbie and her boys.

My issues with this book:

- We have a seven year old kid, whose very present father died a year ago. Now he meets his mom’s ”friend” a few times and goes ”You’re practically my dad” HUH? Then we have the fourteen year old who tells Jay ”He wished they never met” and ”You’re not my dad”. 2 months later? ”I want you to marry my mom” And we didn’t even get to see Jay and the kid get along? AT ALL
- Too much was going on for those poor 200 pages. You can’t throw in several half-cooked side plots and expect the reader to be satisfied by the ending with half-done solutions and unsatisfying ends.
- The two things listed above just made it all feel very inauthentic and rushed. I needed more on page relationship development between the mc’s and between the kids and Jay.
- ”Poor boys to not have a father figure” ADRIANA what year are you stuck in? It was mentioned several times how the boys ”needed a good man in their lives”. There were ”grown man things” to be done and Jay was making a big deal out of treating a FOURTEEN YEAR OLD as an adult. Girl be so for real, that’s a kid.

Loved Carter!

It’s a sweet read. Would recommend if you’re a fan of the single mom trope. I over all liked the mc’s.

3 stars

This is a single mom falls in love with the sexy guy next-door romance. There is some good spice. Both Gabby and Jay have their own trauma that they are working to overcome from previous relationships. It highlights the challenges that single moms face when dating.

You can feel the chemistry between them from the beginning & it also starts off with a very funny scene that I loved. The spicy scenes were realllyy good, but weren’t excessive.

There is also some fun quirky friends that Gabby meets along the way with their own wild side stories.

I thought this was really good and is a quick read. I have read so many romances lately that are simply just too long & this one was absolutely perfect in length.

Thank you to netgalley for this free advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Between Now and Forever is by Adriana Locke, and it is wonderful. I love everything that Adriana Locke writes, but these stand-alones (like Nothing But It All) just have all of the feels with the sass and the spicy, too.

Jay and Gabrielle are everything you want in two main characters who have been hurt before. Gabrielle is a tough single mom who has been hurt before by the one person who was supposed to love her forever. Jay was hurt in an unimaginable way, too.

I loved Gabrielle's spunk and sass and energy. She never gives up. And when she is down, she finds a way to get past it.

Jay is standoff-ish but still friendly to the folks in town. He keeps his distance from everyone until he just can't anymore.

This book is truly everything! The feels are across the board, even making you cry! I cannot express how much I loved this story!

Gabrielle se mudo de casa para intentar darle a sus hijos un nuevo comienzo luego de que su ex muriera. La pobre tiene que estar con el dolor de peder a su mejor amigo y ver como les está afectado esa pérdida a sus hijos, sobretodo al mayor.

Jay no quiere saber nada sobre el amor, luego de que su última relación terminara mal lo último que quiere es acercarse a otro madre soltera.

Ninguno de los dos quiere saber nada sobre el amor, pero una vez que se conocen las chispas vuelan.

Estuvo entretenido, lo malo es que todo se dió muy rápido y le faltó  desarrollar mejor la relación.


Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I can't believe y'all have to wait until December to read this book! It's full of hurt, love, laughter, real life knock you down situations, and everything in between. I'm so in love with this book, it's gone straight to my “To Read Again” shelf. TBH, there aren't very many books on that shelf.

I cried ugly tears (Chapters 23 to 27, I'm pointing at you). My heart was in my throat for all of the serious scenes in this book! But as Adriana Locke always does for us, she writes a lot of hilarious banter and laugh out loud situations that is the perfect balance in this incredibly heartfelt story! I got a lot of good chuckles and a few deep belly laughs while reading this book! The internal conversations the characters were having with themselves were hilarious and gave me immediate insight into their character.

Jay's stand-offish grumpy was no match to Gabrielle's sunny demeanor and Carter's innocence. This book had me reading well past my bedtime and I loved every single page!

The attraction between Jay and Gabrielle was immediate and when they finally get together, their chemistry is off the charts. But Gaby puts her 2 sons ahead of her own needs. Always. Jay on the other hand, simply isn't ready to put himself out there again. Dylan (Gaby's eldest son) is still mad at the universe for taking away his dad. And Carter (Gaby's youngest) stole my heart in every scene he's in.

Thank you Adriana Locke, Valentine PR and Netgalley for this ARC. The above is my own and personal opinion.