This was such a sweet story, even though parts of it broke my heart a little!!

Anna has spent years keeping her past buried. Gabe has the kind of life that seems effortless. Their connection is undeniable, but secrets have a way of unraveling even the strongest bonds!

This story delivers one of the sweetest “found family” dynamics!

It is a second-chance romance that does not shy away from life’s harder moments, so be prepared to shed some tears! I loved the way the story unfolded over several year.

For anyone who loves emotional, slow burn romances with heart, this one is a must read!

Thank you Nerd Fam, NetGalley and Forever Publishing for this ARC!

💭 ⓂⓎ ⓉⒽⓄⓊⒼⒽⓉⓈ
A powerful and emotional friends to lovers romance with one of the sweetest found family tropes I have ever read. I absolutely loved the characters in this book. Anna and Gabe’s chemistry was off the charts and their best friends dynamic made their growing relationship even more special. Gabe’s family was perfect and the bonds Anna formed with them were a beautiful reminder that true family is not always about blood. This book is deeply emotional filled with both heartbreak and hope. Definitely have your tissues ready for this one.

📚 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
💕Childhood best friends to lovers
❤️Age gap
🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒Found family
🔥Chemistry between characters
🔀Spans decades
💔Heartache and hope
📈Character growth
🥰All the feels

⚠️ 𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨: Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Addiction

🌸𝕄𝕐 ℝ𝔸𝕋𝕀ℕ𝔾🌸
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

💕Q U O T E: “𝒪𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓎𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓈, 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝓃𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒷𝑒𝓉𝓌𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂 𝒽𝒶𝒹 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝑒𝓉𝒸𝒽𝑒𝒹 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒶 𝓇𝓊𝒷𝒷𝑒𝓇 𝒷𝒶𝓃𝒹, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑔𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝒸𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓈𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂 𝓅𝓊𝓁𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓌𝒶𝓎 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝑒𝒶𝒸𝒽 𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇, 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒹𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓊𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝓈𝓃𝒶𝓅𝓅𝑒𝒹 𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓀 𝓉𝑜𝑔𝑒𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇.”

🙏 Thank you NetGalley, Forever Books, and Melissa Wiesner for this eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts. 💕

Author Melissa Wiesner has a way of writing a story that just pulls you in and won’t let you go. And, this is certainly the case with It All Comes Back to You. I can’t recommend this book enough. Perfect summer, beach reading! But, be ready to shed some tears along the way. With that said, I stayed up ALL NIGHT just to finish reading this book. It is that good!
It All Comes Back to You has so much going on within the story.,
Second chances
Learning to accept what life gives you
Reaching for your dreams no matter what
Showing bravery through adversities given you
Accepting help from others even though its not easy to do
A beautiful heartwarming and emotional read.
(The book cover caught my eye…just beautiful)

Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really liked this book but what really did not do it for me was almost the lack of depth it had. Everything about the premise and the characters was ALMOST perfect but it seemed really rushed in the end and the ending left me wanting for closure. It was so close to being an overall good read but unfortunately it just felt short for me which makes me sad because the development of the characters and the story itself had so much promise.

Also the lack of communication between the main characters???? so you sleep together and then say you want to communicate? wtf.

There is no such thing as a perfect book but this was still a good read.

Thanks to the nerd fam and netgalley for the gifted book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. Wow. Wow. This book absolutely broke my heart in all the best ways. I picked this up because her novel, "Wish I Were Here" was one of my top reads of 2024. I anticipated this book to also have elements of magical realism and light-hearted romance. This book is vastly different from "Wish I Were Here" and her best-known work, "The Second Chance Year," in that it contains several heavy topics (see below for content warnings), but it was just as good, if not better than her other books.

Anna and Gabe have been partnered up for a major college assignment that will determine the course of their lives - his grad school applications and her scholarship opportunities. Each week, they gather at Gabe's family home to work on the project, and eventually, their work sessions end with Sunday family dinners. Their working relationships evolves into a genuine friendship as they open up with one another about their struggles, worries, and hopes. It all comes crashing down, though, when Gabe learns one of Anna's biggest secrets and seemingly breaks her trust. As we jump in time throughout the years, we see that no matter the time or the distance spent apart, Anna and Gabe are drawn to one another. Until the ultimate secrets are revealed, though, they will keep falling apart and coming back together. can never fully be together.

Am I being cryptic in this summary? Absolutely. I just cannot fathom spoiling anything in my review - it was such a beautiful story. It's hard to capture the complexities of human relationships, and Melissa Wiesner absolutely did that in this book.

Read this book if you love:
💙 Best friends to lovers
💕 Found family
💙 Second Chance Romance
💕 Slow Burn
💙 Emotional reads
💕 Single POV
💙Time jumps

I received an eARC of this book, so it is very possible that my version is different from the trade paperback coming out on 3/18. That being said, I was disappointed that there were not any content warnings at the beginning of my copy (again, hoping that this will be different in the trade paperback). This book touches on the following topics: parent abandonment, food insecurity, drug use / abuse, addiction, Alzheimers, and domestic violence. Readers should take note of these prior to reading the story.

I will leave a review of this book on my bookstagram @thecozybookgal soon!

Love a good slow burn, friends to lovers romance and this one hit the spot. The relationship between Anna and Gabe felt organic and natural which really added to the story. This is a wonderful romance and I'd definitely read more from this author!

It All Comes Back To You feels like a departure for Melissa Wiesner, but if you are going to take a turn in writing, this is the one you want to make. The story unfolds over several years, with character build-up that leaves you turning pages to see what happens next. It's a great story with a big pay off at the end.

A gripping, emotional read about overcoming obstacles and found family and slow romance (friendship first). Great for readers who like Carly Fortune, Colleen Hoover, and Lucy Score.

I liked the progression of this story - it was written in a way where we grew with the characters and felt what they were feeling. It was easy to follow and understand why each character made choices that they did. This book was also a fantastic example of found family and overcoming abandoment/abuse.

There's an age gap between the two main characters and sometimes that trope isn't written well - in this case I think it was done in a way that feels right.

I read this book in one solid day as I didn't want to put it down. I've read three books from this author now and I have enjoyed all of them.
4.5 out of 5

wow!
I was absolutely blown away by this book!

Anna & Gabe found each other at the perfect time, everytime! I really liked how when they first meet, Melissa doesn't make it anything more than just friend because of the age gap.

I just loved Gabe's whole family! They are such wonderful, loving people and Anna deserved to have that kind of love!

This will make you laugh and cry and it's definitely a must read!!

It All Comes Back to You was a deeply emotional and bittersweet second-chance romance that kept me hooked from start to finish. Anna and Gabe’s connection was raw and undeniable, filled with longing, heartbreak, and so many unspoken truths. Their initial love story was beautifully developed, with Anna’s guarded nature clashing against Gabe’s warmth in a way that felt both frustrating and completely understandable.
The dual timelines worked well, slowly unraveling the mystery of Anna’s past while building the tension for their inevitable reunion. When tragedy forced Anna back to the place she fought so hard to escape, the emotions hit even harder. The push and pull between her and Gabe felt realistic, and the secrets they both carried made for an angsty, gut-wrenching ride.
The only reason this wasn’t a full five stars for me was that some parts felt repetitive. Still, the writing was evocative, the romance was intense, and the emotional payoff was well worth it. If you love second-chance romances with a heavy dose of heartbreak and healing, this one is worth the read!
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This novel follows Anna and Gabriel through a twisted modern day love story. And just like in real life there was moments of heartbreak, frustration, absolute head shaking moments, laughter and pure love. The emotions I felt reading this were raw and real and reminded me of bits of my own history with love. It was an easy fast paced read that I finished in two days. I genuinely loved this book and will read it again.

4.5/5🌟
I loved this book, clearly because I finished it in three days. It was a different type of romance than the typical mainstream. The book talks about a lot of different issues impacting the characters in a respectable way. Being from the Bay Area I also loved that being the setting of the story for part of the book. Overall, very cute & a good binge read.

Thanks to Netgalley & Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the arc! Really enjoyed! Great characters & made me tear up. Beautiful story.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

A beautiful story. Absolutely loved Gabe and his family. Anna frustrated me for a good portion of the book but that's understandable given her background. I can't get past the miscommunication which is the only reason this isn't 5 stars from me. Again, I get why it happened, but that's one of my least favorite parts of any book. I did love how the slow burn romance progressed through the years - a little too long in my opinion. This is a book I'll remember. My third by this author and I highly recommend her.

This book truly shattered me. While I was frustrated with Anna at times, knowing that Gabe’s intentions were always to help her, I also empathized with her perspective. If I were in her shoes, I might have felt the same way about many things. Her fixation on her mother was a painful aspect to witness as she grappled with her past.

This book offers numerous thought-provoking lessons and valuable insights. It delves into topics such as learning to trust, overcoming obstacles, finding one’s family, and accepting help, among others. I also found the characters in this book to be well-developed and relatable. Gabe’s family, in particular, was wonderful and endearing. Moreover, the characters in this book address realistic issues that many people can relate to.

“It All Comes Back to You” is a heartwarming story of overcoming challenges, demonstrating unwavering perseverance, and exploring the profound essence of family and love.

Thank you NetGalley for this Arc,


OMG this book was an emotional roller coaster.
The writi by was superb.

🧳 Luggage: Emotional baggage, unresolved past love, and bittersweet memories
💺 Seat Assignment: Right in the feels

Synopsis:
When high school sweethearts unexpectedly reunite years later—after a broken engagement and a lifetime of “what ifs”—sparks reignite, but so do old wounds. Told through dual timelines, this heartfelt novel explores fate, timing, and whether love truly conquers all.

✔ Engaging dual timeline storytelling
✔ Strong character development
✔ Emotional depth with moments of humor

💔 Regret & Misunderstandings
💞 Rekindled Romance
🎭 Unexpected twist

This book is broken into three parts. The first part Anna is 16/17 and Gabe is 21/22. I found this part to be the most interesting. I enjoyed reading about their friendship, family dynamics, and the possible futures for them.

The second and third parts are where I struggled. The second part could have been taken out. It was just a bunch of time jumps. They were kind of interesting…but I don’t think they were necessary. Especially the scene with Gabe and Nadia.

As for the third second, I liked the first half of it. The last half just seemed to be rushed with an ending that left me going “that’s it? Is there a second book?” There is supposed to be an epilogue, but the ARC copy had this missing, so maybe that wraps everything up.

I think if part two was removed, then there would have been more time to expand on the third part. Maybe Anna’s mom could have arrived earlier? The last scene should have happened way before the ending and been worked in better. It was too out of the blue and not believable.

I really enjoy books by Melissa Wiesner and plan to keep reading her books in the future.

*An ARC was received in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this book and the characters. Great writing by this author. First I have read, hopefully more to come

I loved this book and could not put it down! I love a good best friends to lover book/slow burn and this one did a really great job of it! I look forward to reading more by this author! :-)

This book touches on learning to trust, overcoming obstacles, finding your family, and learning to accept help. I also enjoyed the characters in this book. They are dealing with real life issues and Gabe's family is absolutely wonderful! This is a friends to lovers book that brilliantly showed the evolution of relationships. I appreciated how their friendship started and how each grew as the book goes on. This book is not a steamy or spicy romance, but a rewarding journey that took the characters time to build. I found this book to be heartbreaking, but also heartwarming. It was very well written and hard to put down. This was my first book by Melissa Wiesner and I look forward to reading more of her books in the future.