Absolutely adored this book! This story follows Sarah and Caleb, who we met in Out on a Limb, after they just had a major argument. To help save their marriage, they go to a wilderness retreat for a week.

This book was the romance book I didn’t know I needed! Hannah did such an accurate depiction of navigating grief, communication in long term relationships, and how ultimately choosing yourself makes you a better partner. Go get this when it comes out in January!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

I loved getting to read more about Sarah and Caleb. Their story was so touching and heartwarming. Hannah can never disappoint.

Hannah Bonam-Young is quickly becoming one of my favorite romance authors. I really enjoyed Out of the Woods. I don't like second chance romance books, but I do appreciate the occasional "working on your marriage" book. My only complaint about this book is that I do feel like they resolved their issues kind of quickly - I felt like there was maybe more for Sarah and Caleb to process from 10 years of marriage. But I did love their banter and interactions - I loved the small enclosed group and the members were fun. Again could have had even more from them - especially Maggie.

This book is very unique compared to most romances I’ve read, because the two main characters have been together for nearly 2 decades and are going through a rough patch in their marriage. I loved the relationship between Sarah and Caleb, the flashbacks to include the early days of their relationship as well as her mom, their friendship with Win and Bo, and the idea of two not-so-outdoorsy people going on a camping marriage retreat. This book is funny but also touches on some heavier subjects like grief. My favorite kinds of books are the ones that make me feel something and this book definitely made me tear up. The only thing I didn’t like about this book is the conflict in the beginning that led the couple to go on the retreat in the first place. To me, it seemed like it was more so an issue that Sarah needed to address herself rather than something that would cause such a strain on their marriage. Overall, I loved this book and would definitely recommend it.

The review will be published on Goodreads onJanuary 28, 2025
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My rating: (3) ⭐⭐⭐

Out of the Woods is part of a series of interconnected standalone books, starting with the first book, Out on a Limb. Sarah and Caleb are the "happily" married best friends of Win and Bo, the protagonists of the first book. As mentioned in the book’s Foreword, I’d recommend reading Out on a Limb first, but it’s absolutely not necessary to enjoy Out of the Woods.

My undeniable favorite was Caleb, who is the embodiment of a “green flag.” Caleb is the perfect combination of strength and vulnerability. He’s loyal, caring, intelligent, and funny.

I really missed having Caleb's POV in the book because some moments would have been interesting to see from his perspective. At times, Sarah’s behavior toward Caleb seemed harsh and childish. Also, the events in the book happened too quickly. I would have preferred more backstory in the present. And the more I think about the spicy scenes described, the more questions I have.

I also really enjoyed the groundedness of the story, the imperfection of the characters, and their "flaws" and vulnerability. This book serves as a reminder that to move forward, you need to let go of the past and not drag it into your future. Dwelling on "what ifs" doesn’t lead anywhere good. It also shows that a beautiful picture on the surface can hide thousands of different emotions, not always positive—pain, fear, and doubt…

I recommend this book to readers who enjoy Ever After Always (Bergman Brothers #3) by Chloe Liese.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dell for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Plot? 10/10
Spice? Well done, 10/10
Vibes? Immaculate

It is so refreshing to have an ACTUAL HEA that doesn’t require miscommunication and other typically negative tropes. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes those are great, but HBY writes fights and things more realistically, which endears me more & more to her writing.

Love Sarah & Caleb’s progression & seeing them do the work to get them back to people they recognize and appreciate each other even more ❤️❤️❤️

I had a great time reading this book. I loved Out on a Limb and it was fun to see Win and Bo in this story. This book was funny and heartwarming. It was so fun watching Sarah and Caleb’s character progression as individual people AND as a couple. This is amazing read for anyone who has been with their partner for years and it looking to reignite that spark. After years of being with the same person there’s still so much more to learn. There wasn’t a single thing I didn’t like about this book. Thank you ❤️

Another solid book by this author! After reading and loving Out on A Limb, I knew I wanted to get my hands on this author's latest book? because I felt I would enjoy it also. I'm so glad I did. This was such a quick, easy, and enjoyable read. It can be read as a standalone, but I'd recommend reading Out on A Limb first, not because you necessarily have to, but you'll be missing out on a great book if you skip over it.
Hannah's books remind me alot of Katherine Center's writing. They have characters with alot of depth and emotion like Center's do and even this book reminded me of Happiness for Beginners by Center. Not because they had similar plots, but because they both used hiking and the wilderness as the main setting and background to help the characters' with their soul searching and grief. I'd highly recommend picking this book up when it releases.

**Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced copy of this book and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion. I am posting this review to my Goodreads account immediately and will post it to my Amazon & Instagram accounts upon publication.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dell for the advanced copy!

Wow, wow, wow. I truly wish I could put into words how much this book means to me and how much I connected to it. Where to even begin? I was highly anticipating this book as Hannah Bonam-Young is one of my favorite authors and I have loved everything written by her. I read Out on a Limb when it was first indie published and re read it earlier this year. I loved Bo and Win and was so excited to see we were getting a story focused on Sarah and Caleb.
I have such a soft spot for Sarah and Caleb and their relationship and where my connections start. I am with my high school sweetheart and he’s become my partner in every sense of the word (an engagement is on the horizon) We met in our senior year of high school and has been together ever since. I could relate to so many things Sarah was going through, not to discredit these relationships but it’s hard to discover who you are as a person when you’ve spent your adult life with a partner. Sarah’s struggle with discovering what her “thing” is and not just being a stay at home wife. Trying to do things for her and not just for Caleb. I recently moved states in a sense for my boyfriend’s job, as rewarding as ever in the end for me, it was scary but that was a choice I had made putting his needs first. The similarities didn’t stop there but I don’t want to spoil other aspects of the book. Both Sarah and Caleb’s character development and relationship development was done so well and felt so raw and relatable.
The side characters at the camp were so special and I love that we got to know them too. Win and Bo’s cameos were everything to me of course.
I wish I could accurately get across how relatable this book was to me and how I’ve never felt so seen before. This is definitely in my top 5 of the year and I will be talking about it A LOT before it comes out in January 2025!
Thank you Hannah Bonam-Young: you get it

Thanks again to NetGalley and Dell for the advanced copy!

I loved the duel timeline, great characters that are lovable with real problems, and the humorous parts woven into the otherwise serious story. I chuckled, cried, and self-reflected throughout the entire story. This is my first Hannah Bonam-Young book, and I am now a fan! I can’t wait to read Win and Bo’s story (even though it came first).

Wow, I didn't think Hannah Bonam-Young could top Out on a Limb but she did it. And this comes from someone who typically doesn't love second chance romances. We were introduced to Sarah and Caleb in Out on a Limb (Sarah is Win's best friend) as the couple friends to Win and Bo who have been married since their early 20s. This book follows Sarah and Caleb as they go on a couple's camping retreat in the woods and try to reconnect with themselves and each other. Through flashbacks of them as teenagers, the reader is given the full history of their relationship. This book felt like therapy to me. I love that Hannah captured the complexities of growing individually together and how sometimes life can get in the way of prioritizing that. I love a romance that has great character development and Hannah nailed that with Sarah especially. This is my second Hannah Bonam-Young book and she is now an auto-buy author for me and I am eager to read her previous works! Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing, and Dell Romance for this e-ARC. I will post a review on Instagram (@bookologist_phd) in January.

˚˖𓍢ִ໋`🌿:✧˚ Thank you to NetGalley and Dell for the opportunity to read & honestly review this early ˚˖𓍢ִ໋`🌿:✧˚

A Note from the Reviewer:
🏞 I'm going to try to review this without getting too personal. However, I am nothing if not an overshare-er, so I apologize in advance. 🏞

What I Liked:
🏞 The flashback scenes of Sarah and Caleb's relationship when they were younger and how it laid the foundation perfectly for the people they became.
🏞 The side characters and the influence they had. Seeing Sarah and Caleb bond with the other hikers was nice to see because they gained other perspectives from those people.
🏞 The love that never wavered between Sarah and Caleb. This was handled in such a mature, thoughtful way and it just felt so real.
🏞 The tension. Anyone who has been in a relationship for a LONG time has had those dry spells. But when the dam breaks, boy does it break.
🏞 How in touch Caleb was with his emotions throughout Reignite. It was eye opening to see him have this realizations in real time and actually made me feel some sympathy toward my own husband.
🏞 Everything. I liked/loved everything.

Final Thoughts:
🏞 As someone who met their person young - this book felt scary to read. Marriage in trouble is a terrifying trope and I was scared I would read something so deeply personal that I'd never recover; and I did. But it wasn't in a bad way. This book made me realize that everything I have felt and have been going through doesn't have to be an isolating experience. Hannah Bonam-Young wrote such an amazing example of what it feels like to be so deeply in love with your partner, but still feeling empty. Going on this journey with Sarah resolved some things in my own life; or at least helped to. This is a book I will be thinking about for a long time, and I suggest everyone reads it when it comes out.

There were a lot of things I loved about this novel. There such tender moments, humorous moments, real moments. It shows that marriage isn't perfect but that it can be worth saving. But....
Honestly, I couldn't stand how ungrateful and harsh Sarah was. Caleb was an absolute DRRAM of a husband. The more I learned about their love story the more her stance to simply divorce him made NO sense.
She was blaming the ONE person (besides Win) who stuck by her, understood her in her time of grief, never complained, did everything to make her happy....for making her feel unaccomplished?
Excuse me but quitting school was your decision. Not finding a job was your decision. Getting married a joint decision. It was just sad how she put her insecurities and self doubt all on Caleb.
During their wild journey he learned to maybe speak up for himself too and maybe do a little LESS for his wife to give her room to grow. Which is valid! Loved that. Just hated how for granted and small she made Caleb feel and how ready she was to give it all up.
I've seen marriages were the men ACTUALLY suffocated their wives and made them feel insignificant enough to feel they were nothing without them. Caleb wasn't that man. I'd take a Caleb in a heartbeat 🥹😍
That being said, the arguments and desires felt legit and real. The frustration of taking city people and taking them camping made for fun times and the side characters were a riot 😂
Also loved the friendships old and new and how even the counselors were shown to be imperfect humans but with wise advice 😊

I love everything this woman writes!! I hadn’t ever read a romance book with a couple trying to save/revive their marriage without some period of time spent separated/divorced, so I was curious how it would be handled. And I really enjoyed it! I’m such a sucker for a road trip/adventure/nature-centered novel, so this was right up my alley. I also really appreciated how she dealt with grief and how it can manifest in such different ways for people. Out On A Limb is still my favorite of her books (and I absolutely LOVED getting more of Win and Bo in this one!), but definitely recommend this one too.

As an Amy March girl (and someone who has no idea what they want to do with their life 👀), this hit home. I normally don't love second-chance and fixing a marriage kind of plot but I loooved this. Sarah is such a grief-stricken and lost person at the beginning and throughout this you get to see her heal, help someone else heal and find out what she wants to do with her life. She's so strong and I wish I could be more like her. I cried waay too many times reading this. And Caleb..he's a very good boy. Also I met Hannah while I was reading this and she's the most lovely and funny person ever.🩷🥾🐿️🍃🏕️

Thank you for the ARC! It was an honor to picked and I can’t wait to have the physical copy in hand to display on my shelf.

The story was very relatable to me as I was also married at a young like Sarah and Caleb. I did start wondering to myself if I have done enough with my life like Sarah was questioning. I really liked that bo and win were included in the story line. I haven’t read a book before where the characters were already together and married. There no break up at all by the way. I think Sarah had a touch of undiagnosed adhd for how often she would zone out during conversations. I get it, I’m the same way but it got to be a little much half way through. Now the ending took me for a ride. Still no break up, just everything comes full circle. I did enjoy the dual timeline and it was some very nicely.

This would be a reread for me in the future!

⭐️⭐️⭐️½

I thought I was going to love this one. Like Caleb and Sarah, I have been in a relationship since high school. It's interesting that people sometimes comment on how easy our relationship must be since we've known each other so long. This book illustrated the point that every relationship requires work. No matter how long you've been together, every couple can grow in communication.

I'm not sure why, but I had a hard time connecting with Sarah in this book. In Out on a Limb, I thought she was funny. But I kind of feel like she worked better as a supporting character. She was not likeable on some levels and I felt like Caleb was too good for her. Hannah Bonam-Young does an amazing job of writing male main characters with heart and who will make you swoon. I just kept questioning why Caleb loved Sarah so much in this book.

Nonetheless, I love Hannah Bonam-Young's writing. And the sex scenes in this book get an A+!

Steam level: 🔥🔥🔥
⚠️: cancer, death of a mother, grief

Thank you Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC! This was absolutely incredible! I adored how Hannah Bonam-Young was able to take such big topics and allow the reader to feel so many emotions. I was sucked into the story from the start! This book had me laughing and crying and I couldn't put it down. I really appreciate how throughout her stories she writes such powerful messages that leave you feeling so strong. This book was perfect. Out of the Woods publishes on January 28, 2025.

**ARC Review**
1. Thank you to Hannah BY, Netgalley, and random house publishing for this ARC. To receive an ARC from my favorite author…. Mind blowing
2. Holy shit. Out on a limb has been my favorite top 5 books since I read it, but this one is honestly rivaling for that spot. As a married woman who has experienced communication issues, this hit the nail on the coffin. I FELT their problems and related on such a real note. I loved watching Sarah and Caleb fall back in love again. I’ve never cried so much AND laughed so hard during a book.
Hannah, I love love love you and I love the way you write. There’s a rawness to your stories and characters that are so relatable. I can’t thank you enough for writing a story like this bc it’s not something that’s often written about.
Anyway, NO NOTES!!!!!!!

⭐️: 5.0
Kindle

- marriage in crisis
- high school sweethearts
- first love
- second chance

5⭐️3🌶️

“That’s my good wife.”

“It’s been a very long time since I fucked you quickly, baby. A grown man knows how to take his time.”

One thing about me? I’m a sucker for a second chance, marriage in crisis. Sarah & Caleb were each others first loves back in high school, and have now been together since they were fourteen years old. But, they’re both starting to realize that they’re not 14 anymore, and what worked for them before doesn’t necessarily mean that it’ll still work for them now as Sarah is beginning to question her life’s purpose.

As Sarah is trying to talk to her best friend to figure out what to do, Win suggests they attend a week long couples retreat/camp to help learn how to better communicate and listen to one another. Will they use this time to reconnect and grow their relationship? Or will their time together really cause them to grow apart?

THANK YOU THANK YOU to Dell, NetGalley, HBY, and the rest of the publishing team for this ARC!!