If you're in the mood to cry at increasingly prolific rates with each chapter until you’re a desiccated husk in your bedroom, THIS IS THE BOOK TO DO IT!!!! (In the BEST WAY!)

I knew Hannah Bonam-Young would be an auto-buy author me after the utter masterpiece that was Out On a Limb, but I genuinely think she outdid herself with this one. Where Out On a Limb was the most beautifully romantic, precious, sweet experience from start to finish, Out Of the Woods gets real, it gets raw, and it gets deep into the weeds of long-term relationships, growing together, and growing apart — on TOP of a hefty dose of Coping With Parent Loss.

It’s a book about grief, about change, about how to grow together with someone long-term while also growing differently, and how to honor all versions of yourself and your partner while you go. Prepare to weep endlessly into your own hands over two high school sweethearts in the midst of an intense marriage in peril trope. It hits like a gut punch, and makes for an unputdownable, deeply cathartic read.

Despite the heavier themes in this one, Hannah still manages to make you go from ugly crying into laughing crying in the space of a page, somehow making this feel comforting and joyous while also being utterly devastating. It’s nothing short of witchcraft, and Hannah, I worship at your altar!!!!!!

I'm OBSESSED, I loved every second of this, and I’m desperate to get my masochistic hands on whatever she writes next. I AM READY TO BE HURT AGAIN, HANNAH.

Pick this up if you’re in the mood to cry, if you married your high school sweetheart, or if you just love love and the exploration of it from a more delicate angle than just falling in love for the first time. It’s beautiful, it’s nuanced, and it’s touching — sometimes like a hot brand of agony!!! — but touching nonetheless.

And if you miss Win and Bo, fret not — there are plenty of precious cameos in this one to soothe your trail-weary spirit.

Here's what I'll say: Hannah Bonham-Young does not have a cringey bone in her writerly body. On paper, there should not be anything particularly engaging about a struggling couple going on a marriage retreat in the woods. AND YET. Sarah and Caleb were such a fun, relatable couple, and even in their really tough moments it was so refreshing to read about a marriage of people who genuinely like each other! I've never read a romance about a couple who is together for the duration of the story, and I loved it. This is a story about growing together when it would be easier to grow apart, and about how fun and delightful and sexy a healthy longterm relationship can be.

I absolutely loved this book. It was emotional yet funny! I adored Sarah and Caleb ::swoon::. This book hit on so many important parts of relationships and growing together. I loved this book!

I don't usually read the marriage in trouble romance and this was my first book from this author and safe to say, not gonna be my last!

I was hooked from the starting. I think that's part of the problem why I don't read this trope cause until i know the couple is good and happy together, I can't put my kindle down. That applied here too! This book was very realistic and touching and I loved how both of them had faults and they learn to accept it and move on happily! Definitely a must read!

I LOVED this book! If Hannah writes it, I will read it! From the beginning I loved the characters and plot. The blurb was the thing that brought me to this book & it did not disappoint.

Sarah (fmc) had lost her mom when she was in high school and has been with Caleb since high school. As she continues to grow up she realizes that she doesn't who she is without Caleb. As she tries to make a project of her own, it fails and it causes her to question everything with herself and her marriage. With these events they decide to on a grueling hiking trip to help guide them through these issues. On that trip, Sarah finds that she hasn't truly grieved her life on how it was supposed to go, the things that Caleb do for her to ensure happiness, and that she needs to fully focus on herself and her future. Reading through these stages of what they are going was so bittersweet.

This book seriously resonated what I have gone through in my life. I had lost my father to cancer when I was 15 and I was dating my husband then too. I solely relied on him to get through the hardships of my life and have continued to be my best friend to today. I've always done the right thing but never fully considered what I truly wanted in life. Not only that but we have gone through the hardships of marriage like this boo. It might've been a story but I know that Hannah Bonam-Young resonates with this story as well as it felt so real to what I have been through. Hannah you have seriously done it again and I loved every bit of this story. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC to review.

Out of the Woods was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025. It did not disappoint! Caleb and Sarah learned so much from their adventure together. I felt like I was going on their hiking/camping journey with them. The story had so many hidden meanings sprinkled throughout. It was a breath of fresh air to read this book. It was filled with emotion, love, adventure, and comedy. It was perfect! Please read as you will not regret it!

Out of the Woods is a heartfelt exploration of love, identity, and the complicated reality of long-term relationships, and the work required to maintain a meaningful connection over time. This book is so much more than a love story—it’s stunning, emotional, and a deeply relatable story that had me completely captivated.

This book follows Sarah and Caleb Linwood, high school sweethearts who, after seventeen years of marriage, find themselves questioning their individual identities and the state of their marriage.

When life, doubts, and unspoken struggles begin to pull them apart, they embark on a week-long wilderness retreat designed for couples facing challenges trying to reconnect and rediscover themselves. And what follows is a raw and beautiful journey of self-discovery, healing, and rediscovering what made them fall in love in the first place.

The wilderness setting adds an extra layer of symbolism: sometimes, to find your way back to each other, you have to get a little lost first. And love isn’t always easy but is always worth fighting for because love isn’t just about finding each other—it’s about choosing each other, over and over again

This book had me feeling everything—from laughter to heartbreak to hope. From the witty banter to the gut-wrenching emotional moments. If you love stories with deep emotional connections, second-chance romance, characters who feel real, and stories that make you reflect on love and commitment, this one’s a must-read!

Sarah and Caleb are high school sweethearts who married very young, mostly because they were in love, but partially because they each needed a family. This book explores what a rut in that relationship looks like many years later. I do think this book had a lot of interesting insights about long-term relationships and alternative types of therapy, however I found the stakes to be pretty low which made it hard for me to get invested.

So I originally got this book on NetGalley and was so excited because I have loved the few books that I read from Hannah Bonam-Young and this one has already been pretty popular from what I have seen on "bookstagram". I wasn't too much a fan of the premise of this book, though. The main couple is already together and for me, that makes it a bit more predictable. You don't get many books like that, though, where the main couple is already together. So I started reading in December 2024 and got about 11% into it when I decided that I simply wasn't invested enough or enjoying it like I was other books and I would put it on pause until I was able to get the audiobook when it came out in January. I don't know what it is, but sometimes audiobooks make the books more enjoyable or even easier to read, too. So I finally picked the book back up February 2024. Yikes. BUT, some simple notes are that I thought this one was okay, not as good as the first one "Out Of The Woods".
I liked that Caleb brought her ereader on their "vacation" so she would not lose her reading streak! Thats so sweet, and would be so me, too.
How Hannah Bonam-Young writes her characters and how they talk to each other is so perfect. They speak with such kindness and great communication.
But for some reason, I just didn't feel so attached to these characters. I felt like the premise was relatable in a way but at the same time the female main character was looking for problems constantly, so that was off-putting to me. I don't know, I don't have a ton of notes but it was a good book for the most part, I just wasn't pulled to it personally and it definitely wasn't a favorite. There was at least some character development, as they developed and grew together as a couple.

Out of the Woods was everything that I was hoping for and so much more. I love how you still get glimpses of Caleb and Sarah from Out on Limb. The characters are written so well that it makes you want to care for them. A special thank you to Netgalley, Hannah Bonam-Young, and Random House Publishing Group for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Absolutely love every thing Hannah writes, with this being included. She makes you deeply care about her characters and how their plot lines progress. Loved this!

I started Out on a Limb and never finished it. I know, I know. What can I say. I'm a mood reader. However, the little glimpses I got of Caleb and Sarah, I knew I wanted their story. I loved them immediately. When Hannah decided to write their story, I was excited but then hesitant because it was advertised as a marriage in crisis. They were so happy in OOAL, so I wasn't sure if I wanted to see them go through hardships.

I'm so glad I gave this book a chance though. I would say this book is more about Sarah and less about their marriage in crisis. This is about her questioning her life and if she's accomplished enough after going through a terrible tragedy in her early 20s and subsequently getting married young. Sarah's story felt so relatable to me. I took lost a parent at an earlier age than I would have expected. It's hard not to wonder what your life would be like if that person were still here.

This book was about Sarah rediscovering herself, her and Caleb reaffirming their love for each and just real life.

I loved every bit of it.

Where do I begin?

Well to start, Hannah’s writing always makes me feel like I’m wrapped in a weighted blanket of comfort. As a reader you get a great blend of heart, humor and depth.

I definitely resonated with Sarah in my stage of life. Hannah are you my FBI SPY?! but in honestly it was great to dive into Sarah’s character after seeing glimpses of her in “Out on a Limb”

Highly recommend you pick up this book yesterday.

4.5/5 ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️
3/5 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an Arc in exchange for a review. My year has been made 😭

Absolutely obsessed with this book! Out of the Woods is a raw, emotional, and unexpectedly funny take on the marriage-in-crisis trope. Sarah and Caleb have been together forever, but when Sarah starts feeling lost in her own life, she drags them on a wilderness retreat to figure things out. Cue therapy hikes, forced proximity, and ALL the tension.

Hannah Bonam-Young delivers her signature wit, swoon-worthy romance, and a brutally honest look at love, identity, and growth. The banter? Perfect. The emotions? Gut-wrenching. The chemistry? Off the charts. Plus, the found family vibes with Win, Bo, and Gus were everything.

Heartbreaking in the best way but so full of love. If you love marriage in crisis/second-chance romance, forced proximity, and a good cry with some laugh-out-loud moments, this one’s for you!

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

I really enjoyed this second chance romance. Sarah and Caleb were characters that I wanted to see happy and I was rooting for them the whole time. I think the characters were both complex but relatable; Sarah's journey to discovering herself felt super authentic.

HBY has done it again. Just like every other one of Hannah's books, Out of the Woods is delicate, emotional, and feels unabashedly real. Featuring the best friend side-characters from Out on a Limb, Sarah and Caleb have been married since they were practically children and for the most part it's been happy. But when some personal setbacks bring up long-buried feelings, these two indoor cats join a week-long hiking trip to try and save the marriage they both dearly want. This book deals deeply with feelings of grief, guilt, and inadequacy, so if you are in a tender place right now you might want to tread carefully but also know that there are no more tender hands to hold you while you process big feelings than a HBY book. Drink this book: Enjoy with a really nice bottle of Champagne!

I love a marriage in crisis trope and this one didn’t disappoint.

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sarah and Caleb are from Out On A Limb but this is a few years later. Caleb is successful in his career and Sarah is a wife at home unsure about what her calling is. She’s struggled since losing her mom and is finally trying to figure out what to do. But Caleb is happy with things as they are and they have to find a way to get back on the same page. To do so they go in a marriage retreat camping in the woods.

This book is sooo much deeper than just a marriage in crisis. Sarah lost her mom to ALS and the book covers that.

I was really looking forward to this book coming out and it didn’t disappoint. I loved Out On A Limb and really loved this one. Sarah and Caleb really love each other and it shows throughout the book. While Sarah’s problems of being a rich wife with no purpose seem frivolous it’s a fair problem.

I think my two complaints that made me dock a star was just that I didn’t love the epilogue a ton and I thought the book took a deeper turn. Which was great just unexpected.

Rating: 4 stars!

Sarah and Caleb. Love you both. The bond between two high school sweethearts going through the challenges of life. As someone who enjoys a lot of outdoor adventure style books, I loved the focus of this book being a hiking/camping couples bonding trip. The flashbacks broke my heart, but the way the characters lean on each other makes it all worth while.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

I absolutely loved this book! The author tackles some really heavy topics, yet still manages to make me giggle! The writing is super engaging and flows so smoothly that I just kept turning the pages. This one hit especially close to home for me since I’ve been with my high school sweetheart for ten years, so a lot of the relationship dynamics really resonated. On top of that, it delves into the impact of medical issues on families and how kids can end up taking on way too much responsibility. Emotional, funny, and so real…I couldn’t put it down!