X This was a beautifully laid out story of growth, grief, found family, and love. I went into this story blind as I had not read “Out on a limb" and fell in love with Sarah and Win's friendship. The love between Sarah and Caleb is beautiful and jealousy inducing. I'm not usually a fan of the past, present, past layout of stories, but Hannah did it so well. There were parts that felt so raw and vulnerable with the characters as well as some fantastic laughs. The banter! Caleb is adorably dorky. It was nice to see a couple in love work through their communication issues and grow together.

I really enjoyed Out of the Woods. It’s not common to find a romance novel about a couple who is already married. I loved how Bonam-Young put Sarah and Caleb in a completely uncomfortable and out of their comfort zone situation. There was humor, sweetness, and raw emotion.

In the author’s note (at the beginning), she recommends reading Out on a Limb first. Not necessary, but recommended. When I read that, I stopped and grabbed the audiobook for Out on a Limb. I’m so glad I did. Not only did I love Win and Bo’s story, but I think it did provide extra background, context and enjoyment when reading Out of the Woods. If you read Out on a Limb first, you will be thankful you did.

Special thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the digital ARC via NetGalley.

3.75 rounded up! Have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this one. To start, HBY is one of my favorite authors and I absolutely adore her ability to create the sweetest most comforting yet grounded stories. Her capacity to create a cast of characters that you feel like they're your friends is truly delightful. To start, I am admittedly not the biggest fan of the marriage in crisis trope. Despite that, I still read this one with an open mind. My personal critiques were not with the trope specifically. I struggle with stories that have time jumps though I will say I think the ones here provided a stronger context to the central relationship. Despite that, I felt a bit disconnected from Sarah and Caleb. I think in part it is because we get to see so much of Sarah's struggles and her internal world and Caleb is just there. He is a supporter and is in her corner but I didn't feel all that connected to him. I think this would have benefitted from some sort of inclusion of his POV because other than the sparse conversations the characters had together we know so little to be honest and even still a lot of the conflict resolution happened off the page. I just was left wanting more heart to hearts and more of that rekindling. Marriage in crisis is quite the difficult trope to really nail because the stakes are so high especially in this case of high school sweethearts who have been through so much together that unfortunately I was left wanting at times. That being said, I still enjoyed this book overall and really loved being able to see more of Win and Bo's life outside of OOAL.

Hannah Bonam-Young is continues to be a fabulous author who has the unmatched ability to create the sweetest most comforting yet grounded stories. Her capacity to create a cast of characters that you feel like they're your friends is truly delightful.

HBY can truly do no wrong. Every single book of hers is a master piece and this was no different. Caleb and Sarah were so so funny and sweet and swoony and everything you want in a couple. The depth that this couple knew about eachother was so evident and they were so special.

I want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
4.5⭐️!!

oh wow where to begin!! This book was so heartbreaking and than beautiful and than I was smiling and than I was sniffling with tears. I felt so many emotions it was a frkn roller coaster😭 Sarah and Caleb were the frkn cutest ever. They said “I love you” and “baby” in like every chapter and I melted. I especially loved the outdoor scenery and this group they joined to try and heal their marriage and learn how to better communicate their feelings with one another it was so wholesome everything that we learned❤️ this book was all in all amazing❤️

This book was really beautiful, and felt very representative of getting married young and growing into your actual self later, something I empathize with.

This was so heavy. It was definitely not what I was expecting from this one but I still enjoyed it like the other books. Hannah has a way with humor that is unmatched. I love these characters so much and enjoyed having this time with them again.

Links to come.

Hannah Bonam-Young is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors! I loved Bo and Win and their story, but was nervous to read about Sarah and Caleb. I did not want to see them struggling! But WOW, this was a breath of fresh air. It was refreshing to read a book about a couple who loved eachother so much, but were struggling to navigating how their internal changes impact their relationship. I would say this book is a must read for all couples who married young! I will read anything HBY writes!!!!

This was so so so good. Before I get into it, thank you netgalley and dell for the opportunity to read this advanced copy. 4.5 ⭐️

This is the first romance book I’ve read where the couple is already married and have a history together. Sarah and Caleb hit a rough patch of their marriage where they both feel contention on where they have landed in life. So, they go on a week long excursion in the woods with other couples, led by a couples counselor and outdoorsy duo.

The story is so much more than just “let’s go to the woods to solve our problems.” It explores loss of a parent when you’re a teenager, complicated in-law dynamics, learning how to change with your partner as life progresses, how to handle loss of faith, and when horrible things happen and put life into perspective.

I enjoyed out on a limb and didn’t have high expectations for this one, but it blew it out of the water. This is almost as much women’s fiction as it is romance.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25 stars- full review to be posted on bookstgram & goodreads next week!

Finished it around 3 a.m. today and all I got to say is this book was too raw, realistic and beautiful!😭💙 I loved reading about Sarah & Caleb, them trying to mend their relationship and also learning about eachother all over again and trying to change themselves for each other for the better. They made me giggle like a teenager, and they made me sad at so many moments.🤧 I just wish I could give the biggest hug to Sarah for going through so many things at such a young age 🥺🫂❤️‍🩹 Also the characters like, Nina, Helen, Libby, Yvonne and all the others from the camp were so good! And meeting Win & Bo again with their baby girl Gus was EVERYTHING!!🥹💗 Overall, the epilogue ATE, it was so wholesome!!!🫶🏻💘

Thankyou to the Author, the Publisher and Netgalley for this beautiful ARC inexchange for an honest review 💌

I have head such great things about this author, and I was excited to dive into this ARC! I have to say I’m not sure what I expected, but this was very different from my expectations in a great way. I LOVED that it was a romance about a couple that are already together and had been for over a decade. I enjoyed having them grow with their communication and work on reconnecting with one another. This was such a real and relatable read that it was almost difficult to get through at times as it hit close to home for me and had me reflecting on my own relationship. I ONLY knocked off a star because while I know it’s totally valid and that she is absolutely allowed to feel the way she did, something about Sarah getting mad at Caleb for helping with the fundraiser rubbed me the wrong way. The fact that he could just donate that amount of money in an attempt to make her happy and honor her mother when most people don’t make that in a year- and she got mad- just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Thank you for the author and publisher for this ARC.
When I saw this book show up on NetGalley, it was an immediate request for me because I LOVED Out on a Limb by this author.
Although I did enjoy this read, it was not quite as much of a win for me as the aforementioned.
The first half of the book was heavy, beautiful, and mostly enjoyable (although I’m typically more of a rom com girl - life is sad enough as it is, sometimes I have a tendency to avoid stories that tend to linger is sadness for too long). The second half of the book started out great, we got to some spice, it was fantastic, but the last fourth of the book (on my opinion) drug on.
There was a plot with a side of seven other side plots, and IMO it made this 336 page book seem a lot longer than it was.
I empathized with Sarah but also found her to be annoying a lot of the time 😂. All in all, I missed Win and Bo.
This book had a lot of potential but fell a little flat for me by the end. 3 ⭐️

Hannah did it again. She turned my heart into mush and then repaired it again with her beautiful and talented words. Caleb and Sarah's story was everything and more one could have expected from the snippets we saw in Out of a Limb. I expected a young and wild love, but she hit me harder than I expected. The way she handles Sarah's conflicts with her being made me feel so heard and seen. Being with your partner for a long time can take a toll on you and she voiced so many personal concerns. As usual, she makes us think in a deeper way that usually make our emotions bubble up against our will haha. This is not your regular romance story, but for me it was so comforting to read something this unique and to remind me why I love my partner so much.

I really enjoyed Out of the Woods, but Out on a Limb is still my favorite Hannah Bonam-Young book.

Out of the Woods was so raw and real. Sarah and Caleb's struggles felt so authentic, and I loved seeing them work out their problems and come out stronger together. However, I wanted to relate to the characters more. Perhaps it's just the place I'm at in life or the fact that my circumstances aren't the same, but I was left wanting a bit more.

I would absolutely recommend Out of the Woods series to my friends, though and I can't wait for what's next from HBY.

Hannah Bonam-Young has done it again. This book was at times bittersweet and silly, which is a wonderful combination.

They're are genuine healing properties in this book. I think Hannah is a GIFT and her books are also MASSIVE GIFTS. I was moved by the characters and their journeys, as a couple - growing together in love, but also as individuals. I cried, i'm not ashamed to admit it. As someone who was with their high school bf for many, many years, aspect of this story really resonated with me. I felt seen and understood, it was so relatable and inspiring. The characters were honest, the story was grounded and I LOVED that it ended with such a strong message of gratitude.

This was one of the best books i've read this year and i'm extremely thankful for my ARC <3

5/5

Rating: 4.5⭐️

I’ll admit, I initially found it hard to connect with the characters (a marriage-in-crisis storyline isn’t my favorite trope). However, this book completely won me over. The author’s writing is both engaging and heartfelt, tackling heavy themes with such grace and beauty. I especially appreciated the way Sarah and Caleb’s relationship evolved, as they put in the effort to acknowledge their flaws and honor each other’s needs. My only critique is that the resolution of their marital issues felt a bit rushed.

Despite that, I thoroughly enjoyed this book—it made me laugh, brought me to tears, and left me feeling uplifted. I’ll definitely be recommending it to others. 💕

Thank you to NetGalley and Dell Romances for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Out of the Woods featured Sarah and Caleb Linwood, Win's married best friends in Out on a Limb . Sarah and Caleb have been together for over seventeen years and although they are still wholeheartedly in love, Sarah has been feeling a bit lost recently.

Caleb adores Sarah, he has been her protector and savior for a long time, but Sarah is beginning to wonder who she is outside of relationship with Caleb. After a failed event leads to the biggest argument in their marriage, Sarah and Caleb join a wilderness retreat meant to help couples reconnect.

Away from everything that is comfortably familiar about their daily lives, Sarah and Caleb are forced to confront some difficult truths and have some painfully honest conversations about their hopes, dreams, and expectations for their shared future. Through grueling hikes and intense couple's sessions, Sarah and Caleb experience a great deal of emotional growth and strengthen their relationship.

Out of the Woods featured a marriage in (a bit of a) crisis, but one thing that was never in question was Sarah and Caleb's love for one another. I loved the communication, the open discussions about grief and loss and therapy, and the small glimpses of Win, Bo and Gus.

Hannah Bonam-Young continues to impress and to write about the type of romance that I love to consume.

Thank you Netgalley and Dell for a chance to read and review this ARC!

This was incredible. Hannah Bonam-Young has quickly become an auto-buy author for me (and I don't have very many...) after only reading 2 books of hers. I loved getting to know more of Caleb and Sarah because we didn't get too much in Out on a Limb, and it was especially nice getting to know more of Sarah's background and their relationship as a whole. This was dual POV between the present and the past which I thought was done well.

This book deals with raw feelings of unhappiness, grief, and healing. Hannah Bonam-Young does such a fantastic job at balancing these tender, heart wrenching moments with witty comments and jokes. Honestly this was an emotional rollercoaster but in the best way. I cried more times than I want to admit.

It's hard to put into words exactly how much I loved this book. I can't think of a single thing that I didn't like or thought needed improvement. Everyone needs to read this and Out on a Limb because they're truly amazing books.