Bonam-Young's book Out on a Limb was my favorite book of the summer, so when I saw that this was coming out and followed Sarah and Caleb I was really excited to read it.

Early on, I had predicted what I thought would happen -- and while my thoughts were similar to what actually happened, I was delightfully surprised by how deep this story went into the inner workings of both Caleb and Sarah's minds. Caleb is a well intentioned provider. Sarah feels like she has no direction and hasn't accomplished anything with all the traumatic events of her early years.

I liked that this book focused also on couples who CHOSE not to have children. That is a subject that is very rarely portrayed in novels.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hannah Bonam-Young for the opportunity to read this before it came out.

Out of the Woods by Hannah Bonam-Young is full of hardships, grief, fighting to be the best version of yourself, and fighting to be a better partner.

This story follows Caleb and Sarah, the high school sweethearts that were featured in Out On A Limb by HBY. We dive into Sarah and Caleb's relationship in the middle of a dinner to raise money for ALS research. It's not going great, and Caleb throws money at it to fix the issue when Sarah sees that it's going to fail.

Then we dive even deeper that Sarah isn't happy with herself, and Caleb is scared that he will lose her. Together, their insecurities have festered and causes them to tiptoe around each other.

I really enjoyed the nuances of grief and happiness and young love growing into matured love. I enjoyed the writing and the banter... Caleb spitting on it like a good boy... honestly, I just loved all of it! I loved the fight for each other, the fight to be better for themselves, and how much they love each other.

I absolutely loved “Out of the Woods”. Sarah and Caleb’s story was beautiful and they truly are soulmates. I have been a fan of Hannah Bonam-Young since I first read “Out On A Limb”. Since I read that book, I have owned every Hannah Bonam-Young book and she has a perfect view on love and knows how to show readers love. I am honored that I was accept to a get an early online copy of this book.

I once saw a review that said a book was heart warming and heartbreaking all at once and that is what this book was. I am a pretty stoic reader and this book made me teary-eyed. A LOT of this story was very similar to my own experiences and that made it all the better. A high school romance turned marriage where they still adore each but have some things to work through, um yes please. Give me that super specific plot any day of the week. Now they are trying to work through it in the wilderness and neither of them are outdoorsy? Say less. The author’s writing and wit always hit. This is my second book by this author and I will absolutely be reading more!

Hannah has once again made me cry, laugh and swoon with this masterpiece!

I read this in one sitting and could not put it down. Hannah's ability to write characters who feel so real, fully fleshed out and full of life completely drew me into the story, so much so that I finished the book feeling like I should call Caleb and Sarah to see how they're doing. This is a story that has stuck with me and I find myself itching to go reread it just to visit with them again.

As someone who also got married young, this book brought me to tears several times. Hannah takes great care with every situation she tackles in her books, but this story felt so poignantly true to my own experience of growing up and changing within a relationship and the fears that surround outgrowing the way your relationship used to function. Nothing in this book is overdone or forced and the story has time to breathe as you go on a journey with the characters. This was such a fresh take on the second chance romance, and the addition of the found family they surround themselves with just added the cherry on top of an already gorgeous story.

Thank you so so much to Hannah Bonam-Young for sending me this lovely advance copy, I will still be billing you for my therapy appointment though haha!

I grabbed this ARC because I had just finished reading Next of Kin and very much enjoyed it. When I started this book, I realized there was a first one in the series (Out on a Limb) so of course, I did have to read that one before diving in. It could definitely be read as a stand-alone though. I loved the concept of a romance novel based on rekindling romance with your spouse. I wish there were more romance novels like that. It did end up feeling a bit underwhelming when compared to Out on a Limb. The characters seemed a little flatter, not as much "heart". I definitely still enjoyed it though!

Thank you NetGalley and Dell Romance/Penguin Random House for an E-Arc to read and review. All my thoughts and opinions are my own.

Something about the early morning sunlight filtering through trees, the birds and echoes of nature closing us in some sort of bubble away from the outside world and all its realities . . . and him preventing my reading streak from ending. I am a simple creature, at my core. Give me books, sunlight, water, and a handsome man looking at me like I’m some rare jewel, and I’m all set.- Out Of The Woods, Hannah Bonam-Young.

Out of the Woods is an arboretum of love; seeing many versions of the good, the bad, and the even worse in a marriage, seeing the achievements and losses. Readers will get to see versions of Sarah and Caleb of the last 17 years of being together. It's Heartfelt and tender, yet will make you laugh and uncontrollably cry. You will fall madly, deeply in love. It was utter perfection. This is the type of book that brings comfort and warmth when you feel an unshakeable heaviness in your heart. This is the type of book that will tether an anchor to your heart and tell you everything is going to be okay, be gentle with yourself and you are enough.

- High school Sweethearts / Marriage in distress
- Reader Girl/ Nerd Boy ( With glasses, yes you will go feral).
- one week in the woods
- outdoor /tent spicy scenes
- Hot Nerdy man dirty talking ' A grown man knows how to take his time', the type you want to jump on their bones and be smitten all the time.
- Flashbacks from Highschool to now
-Mentions of Win and Bo from Out on a Limb

Mentions of death of a parent from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, medical treatments, questioning religious practices, references of alchol and drugs and accidents resulting in hospitalization.

Book review ✨ Out of the Woods by Hannah Bonham-Young

ARC 📲 PUB DATE: Jan 28, 2025 🗓️

When I first read Out on a Limb, I didn’t know Sarah & Caleb were getting their own book! So when I re-read OOAL this spring, I paid extra special attention to these high school sweethearts who were going to have their time in the sun (literally)!

This book is so special. I feel like rom-coms with the “marriage in trouble” trope aren’t very common; it’s not about the beginning of a relationship (getting to know each other, butterflies, etc)… rather, it’s about comfort, knowing each other inside out, and still wondering… “who am I truly on my own, without my other half?” As someone who started dating my husband when I was 17 and he 18, I felt seen! Long-standing love means deep connection, security, and shared history… but it also takes continued care & effort.

This book finds Sarah doubting her identity and accomplishments, and reflecting on her life since her and Caleb married at 19 years old. She wants something that is just hers, and when Caleb steps in to save the day at her fundraising event without asking if she needs help, things start to unravel.

I love that this nature-averse duo decided to take on a hiking/camping trip called “Reignite,” meant to help couples work through rough patches and come out the other side bonded and stronger than ever. It brought such an element of humor to many otherwise serious discussions. I don’t want to say too much - but this book had me laughing, crying (swipe for proof), and kicking my feet. I also adored the cameos of Win, Bo, and Gus 🥹 and related to Win being proud of Gus for pooping, that’s so real lol.

Another fave moment without context? Saving the kindle reading streak 🥹 Caleb is so sweet, soft, and thoughtful (with just enough stern brunch daddy energy…). It honestly broke my heart how low Sarah’s self-esteem was at parts of this book, but I was happy to see her build it back up slowly over time.

“If you give me the space to grow, I’ll plant myself next to you. Always.” 😭❤️🌿

All the stars!!! ⭐️

Thank you @authorhannahby and @netgalley for the advanced copy of this lovely book in exchange for my review!

I was able to read an ARC of Out of the Woods and I’m so glad I did! I haven’t read the previous novel, but that did not cause any problems in following this story of a marriage in a bit of a crisis.

I found the main characters, their conversations, their issues, and their chemistry so completely believable and real. This is a look deep into a relationship that began when the main characters were teenagers and they’re still together but trying to figure out how to grow from here, in their mid-thirties. The loss of Sarah’s mother to ALS was gut-wrenching and I thought the author did such a beautiful job of showing realistically how that affected these two people’s marriage and how they related to one another.

I’m a big fan of any sort of travel story, so the couple going on a weeklong hiking retreat with a couples’ counselor was a blast to read. I loved seeing the friendships that developed with the other couples, too. It’s definitely spicy in terms of the romance, and very well-done. I’d love to see more romances that feature couples that are already committed or married!

I love the idea of this book based on a couple that have been together for a long time and are now looking to fix something that may be slowly tearing them apart. Wanting to have something of your own is an important feeling and Sarah is looking for her thing. When her husband Caleb is just trying to help, he inadvertently starts a rift between them that has Sarah questioning everything. A week long backpacking+therapy trip is a dramatic answer to the questions Sarah is asking since neither of them claim to be outdoorsy. I enjoyed the easy-read nature of this book and the backpacking trip sounded fun to me. But the end was a little too dramatic for me, and felt a little out of place. I enjoyed so much of this book!

One of my new absolute favorite books! So much of this book was as if it was written about my own life, I related to it in so many ways. It had everything, made me feel allll of the feelings, and was perfect from beginning to end.

This was my favorite kind of second chance romance. I loved getting to see how while Sarah and Caleb were having a rocky time, they were able to grow back together and become a stronger couple than they were.

This was such an interesting approach to a second chance romance. Normally you read them and the couple has already broken up and come back to each other years later, but having this idea that they are a married couple that have been together for years and want to stay together was a very fresh portrayal of a popular trope.

I also loved that we got flashbacks to Sarah and Caleb and their relationship when they were in high school. It really helped confirm that these two characters love each other and have loved each other for a while, they are just going through a rough patch right now.

4.5 stars!

Hannah Bonam-Young has become a new favorite and an auto-buy author for me. I adored Out on a Limb, and this was a great sequel to that. I loved getting to see more of Caleb and Sarah's dynamic and getting to go inside their heads. I found Sarah to be relatable (maybe a little too much), and I thought her grief and self-doubt/anxiety was portrayed really well. I liked that every few chapters we'd get a flashback to young Sarah and Caleb, especially showing her family dynamic. It helped us understand her character better and made her grief for her mother hit harder.

I of course loved getting to see more of Win, Bo and August too. This author really knows how to write a MMC that the reader will fall in love with, and write a compelling romance that deals with real life issues that hooks you from page one. This will definitely become a book I'll read again and again. I adore this little found family group!

Huge thanks to Dell and Netgalley for the ARC!

I didn’t realize how much I needed this book at the time I read it. My husband and I just went through a funk that felt sososo similar to Sarah and Caleb’s story. This story gave me so much hope and also made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

I loved reading about how the two found each other and the fact that it not only tells their story now but also when they met. Caleb is just the absolute sweetest and such an absolute tether for Sarah when her life is spiraling, even to her detriment at times. Sarah is finally ready to figure out who she is, and Caleb is afraid of the change.

This was so good. Highly recommend. Buy a copy for your friends, too.

Wow. WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW. Miss Hannah… I fear you have joined the ranks of auto-read authors!!!

After loving Out on a Limb I was SO OVERJOYED to read an ARC of Bonam-Young’s next novel. I love love LOVE that HBY writes things that aren’t commonplace in romance books: accidental pregnancy, physically disabled main characters, and NOW a romance book about high-school sweethearts that are ALREADY MARRIED!!!

Out of the Woods hit me hard from the jump. As you may know, my husband and I met and started dating in high school (although unlike Sarah and Caleb, we waited until our late 20’s to get married). Our marriage, and us as general people, are decently different than Sarah and Caleb but MAN…reading a book about high-school sweethearts really got me in the feels.

FOR YOU BOOK GORLS: Sarah is also an avid reader and Caleb doesn’t judge her for what she reads and the little kindle moments are SO ADORABLE!!!! Hehe also HBY slyly describes certain books Sarah is reading and I was able to guess every single one of them 😈😈

Anyways if you haven’t read anything by Hannah Bonam-Young…you know what to do. Also PREORDER OUT OF THE WOODS YOU WON’T REGRET IT. Toodles 🩵

Huge thanks to Hannah Bonam-Young, Dell Romance, and NetGalley for a copy of this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

📚 Out of the Woods
✍ Hannah Bonam-Young
📖 Contemporary Romance
⭐4/5
🌶️ 🌶️

➡ Sarah and Caleb may look like they're #marriagegoals on the outside but after spending more than half their lives together, Sarah is beginning to wonder if she has her own identify anymore or if everything about her life is truly tied to Caleb. After a fundraiser in her late mother's honor goes awry and Caleb swoops in to save the day, the cracks in their relationship become so apparent that Sarah decides to take drastic measures and suggests the two join a week-long hiking trip for couples in crisis. If rainy hikes, blistered feet and an abstinence rule don't break them, surely they can rebound...right?
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🙏 Thank you to Ballantine Books, NetGalley and the author. All opinions are my own.
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🎯 What I loved: For anyone who found their partner before fully finding themselves, this book is for you! There was so much to love about Caleb and Sarah's relationship: the way they remained committed to each other even when things were challenging, that they were able to find themselves and figure out how to grow together and that they pushed themselves out of their comfort zone to better their relationship. So many romances I read are about falling in love initially and I am cheering on behalf all the folks in the back that want to see more 'falling back in love' books because seriously, it doesn't end when you say 'I do.' I also really appreciated the representation of a couple that loves each other but doesn't see parenthood as part of their journey- not every book has to have a baby in the epilogue! If you loved Out on a Limb as much as I did, you'll appreciate all the Win and Bo (and Gus!) cameos and for anyone that is a HBY stan like me, rest assured that her magic remains very much in tact after transitioning fully to being trad. published.

🙅‍♀️ What I didn't: It felt like there was a section missing after the 'crisis' and before the epilogue and I didn't get quite as much closure from the trip as I wanted. But I really did enjoy this book!
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Read if you love:
*marriage in crisis
*forced proximity
*finding yourself AFTER finding love
*camping
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See also: Something Wilder, The Bromance Book Club, Do I Know You?

A beautifully written novel about what it’s like to meet your soulmate young. Growing together isn’t easy, and Hannah put those feelings so beautifully to paper. I laughed, I sobbed.

This book is truly a work of art, perfect in every way.

I found myself deeply relating to Sarah, having in common with her that I am in a long-term relationship with my high school sweetheart. I was worried that because of how much I related to her, I would have a hard time with the story but that was not the case at all! While reading, the first reaction I had was that it was clear how much care and love this story was written with. This is a unique love story in the sense that the couple is already together before the book begins, but this story isn't lacking in any character development, tension, and plot that you may think it would. Sarah and Caleb have a rare kind of love that truly only comes once in a lifetime, and I feel honored to have read about it. They're so cute and perfect for each other!! The impact that this book will leave on me as a partner and a person in general is one like no other.

The mental health representation (in all forms!) and vulnerability that these characters show was done so well, and I honestly couldn't have asked for more from this book. This series means the world to me, and I can't wait to recommend and rave about this book to anyone who's hands I can shove this book into :)

Ahhhhh I love when I can catch up with my "friends'" This book is an amazing story (filled with all the feels and laughs!) that touches on serious issues. Absolutely love it!

Out of the Woods
By Hannah Bonam-Young
4⭐️

This was such a wild and emotional journey! Sarah absolutely stole the show, all of her worries, emotions and struggles were so SO relatable! At times I found myself not liking her because I related a little too much to some of her struggles. This was a really intense and heavy read because Sarah’s grief journey in the past and present timelines were painfully relatable and real. Caleb was such a sweet bookish husband!! I absolutely love that he packed her e-reader and a solar charger so Sarah wouldn’t lose her reading streak while they were away.

At times it felt like the book was more centered on Sarah alone rather than Sarah and Caleb’s marriage which made it feel a little more like women's fiction. One of my only other issues is that Sarah’s problems felt a little forced…I was waiting for it to be explained why she didn’t try to make a change sooner and it never came. I totally get the explanations of how life got in the way immediately after high school and in the years after Caleb graduated but there was nothing stopping her at the start of the book or even in those 5 years before.

If I haven’t read Out on a Limb first…. I would have loved this a little more. Sarah and Caleb’s story was such a good read but Win and Bo remain unmatched, probably forever ❤️

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this gifted arc!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6862683831
*will post IG @RasberryReads in December 2024* and then again in the days leading up to release