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!

I didn’t think I’d love a Hannah Bonam-Young book more than Out on a Limb, but honestly? Out of the Woods absolutely blew me away!! I did not want to leave! HBY writes such tender, heart-warming, and realistic stories with such care, it’s truly a pleasure from start to finish! She is definitely one of the best romance writers of our generations, and I can’t wait for People Watching to come out next! Already recommended this to a few patrons at work, and they also fell in love with her (and her characters)!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for an ARC! I fell in love with Win and Bo in "Out on A Limb" and was ecstatic to hear we got to dive into Caleb and Sarah's relationship! Witnessing their beginning in high school allowed me to relive meeting my own husband in high school. Their story was a combination of heartache, romance, and laughter! Their chemistry and love for one another made this book a 10/10!

Thank you SO much to Dell for giving me an e-ARC of my new favorite book ever. This book was SO insanely good. Hannah Bonam-Young's writing is nothing short of mesmerizing. I loved Out on a Limb, but there are almost no words to describe how much I absolutely adored Out of the Woods. Hannah's comedic timing was excellent and the way she grapples with such existential issues was so incredible to read. This easily could have been a romance I got irritated with - with Sarah having a life crisis because she got married at such a young age and feels like she doesn't have anything of her own to be proud of. Even though it was a romance book and the happy ever after was guaranteed, I love that Hannah made sure we knew that Sarah would choose Caleb every single time, and that her crisis was because she felt like she never formed an identity outside of her marriage where she had to rely on him so much, and it was never about Caleb himself. She wanted Caleb AND to figure out herself. Her talks of divorce and leaving were always framed as him getting tired of her or something along those lines, not because she ever wanted anyone—or even anything—other than Caleb. She just always wanted HIM, she was just afraid he didn't want her once these issues came to light and just going down this spiral of questioning in her life.

The flashbacks were SO well done. Sometimes in romance books, flashbacks feel clunky, but Out of the Wood's flashbacks were some of the best I've ever read. Sarah's relationship with her mom was so beautiful and I loved the way it colored the present as well. Everything about this book was perfect. Every sentence was perfect. The end was perfect. I cannot recommend this book more!

I knew I was going to love this book just based on how much I adored out on a limb, but wow this book blew me away!! Caleb and Sarah are soulmates in every sense of the word. The longing, the desire and love that surrounds these two was so dang good. And that scene in the woods??🤭🔥👀 I’m not an outdoorsy gal but maybe I should be after that😂🤭

This was such an emotional read and I loved every minute 💚 If you haven’t read this book yet this is my plea for you to read it because the love I felt in this book made me swoon🥹🩵

Hannah!! Omg!! I swear every single thing she writes is just fantastic in every possible way.
I laughed, I cried, and I felt every single thing that Sarah and Caleb did. This is such a beautiful story of learning to love yourself while also making sure you’re loving your partner as much as you can, and vise versa. It was such a unique setting and the pacing and execution were just flawless.
Hannah is definitely one of my grocery list authors now and I cannot wait to read every single other book she ever writes because I love her!

Marriage is not a walk in the park or woods 😉.
Love is hard work and a choice we make in life. It’s ups, it’s downs and it’s all kinds of emotional crap in the middle.

It’s easy to quit but it’s much harder to work for the love you believe you have

So realistic and loved it

Cute but not for me. I was bored. I really wanted to love this one especially having just read Out on a Limb and LOVING it. I’m not sure if I just couldn’t relate to the marriage aspect of the story? But sadly I couldn’t connect with the story at all.

Maybe I missed it from the first book but I thought Sarah and Caleb were a solid couple, so when this book came out that they were going on a marriage retreat in the wilderness I felt a little confused.

Overall 3 stars. Wasn’t my favorite but could have been worse. The writing was there and overall story. I sadly just didn’t connect or relate.

I loved this book so much. Sarah and Caleb are the absolute easiest couple to root for. Both of them are such genuine people. I could feel the tension between them in the beginning of the book and it was painful because I just wanted them to be happy.

But I think the story behind their relationship and the conflict that arose was both realistic and heartbreaking. I could immediately relate to Sarah and understand her fears, as well as Caleb and how he didn’t quite realize they’d stalled.

I just really loved this story. This is a more introspective, character driven book and I think it was so well done in conjunction with the outdoors couples retreat. I loved the side characters, the humor, and the beautifully sad flashbacks to Sarah’s memories of her mother.

There were so many little parts of this book that brought tears to my eyes. Hannah’s writing feels like chatting with a best friend. I’m happy to say that I loved this book and can’t wait to continue making my way through all of her novels.