Loved this story! One of the best books that I've read in awhile. Lucy is so easy to understand and want to know more about. The emotions and relationships are felt throughout the book and I couldn't stop reading! I am going to read the prequel The Light we Lost next! Recommend.

Such a great follow up to The Light We Lost!!! I was so happy to read more about the characters and get sort of an "extended epilogue". Definitely recommend if you loved the first book!

A decade is a long time and yet it feels like yesterday Lucy lost Gabe. Finally saying goodbye is more painful than she ever imagined. Divorced for seven years, Darren has remarried and Lucy is blessed to get along with his new wife and their children, smoothly transitioning to a large blended family. A ten year commemoration of Gabe’s award winning photography book is underway and a prestigious gallery show is being organized. As executor of his estate Lucy is drawn back into her memories, literally opening boxes she sealed long ago. One day she finds an address in Rome and a drawing that mysteriously pulls at her emotions. She cannot close this chapter until she knows for sure what it all means. Whether coincidence or fate, Lucy, whose heart has been closed to even the notion of another love, meets Dax, an NGO doctor working across the globe. Wondering if things happen by chance or another part of life we simply cannot understand, Lucy wants to set things straight. She starts by deciding it is time to tell her youngest Sammy why he looks different from his siblings and who his biological father really is. Brimming with themes of divorce, motherhood, and the complexities of friendship, Lucy discovers that while it may take years, when one door closes, another truly opens. I couldn't put down this captivating sequel to my all-time favorite romance, The Light That We Lost. Thank you, Jill Santopolo, for bringing heartfelt closure to such a beautiful story.

A wonderful full circle story to the light we lost (if you have not picked up the first book stop reading and go read that now.) I truly could not put this book down, the ending was completely fitting for how I devoured this story in less than 24 hours, there is just something about the relatability and the way Jill Santopolo story tells.

Lucy is still reeling from loss, but this is a story of life, love family, and re-discovery. Truly heartwarming and worth the read, a wonderful look at life choices between fate and fact.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

I truly loved this book, and will recommend both novels as a series to all friends and family. Thank you thank you for an advanced copy so I could continue on Lucy’s life journey.

I devoured this book in 24 hours! The Love We Found begins 10 years after the last book left off. Lucy is still struggling with her grief and a lot of things in her life have changed. I’m going through a box of Gabe’s things, Lucy finds a scrap of paper with an address in Rome on it. Not knowing what it is or why Gabe kept it, Lucy is curious enough to travel to Rome to get answers. While there, she meets Dr. Dax Armstrong, who is from New York but in Rome helping refugees in Italy. Upon meeting him, Lucy begins to feel things she never thought she would again. And she realizes that there are some difficult secrets from her past that she has to face.

The Light We Lost was a five star read for me and one of those books that just stayed with me. The Love We Found is the perfect sequel to that story. It is a love story about how fate and the choices you make affect your life. I absolutely loved the way it was written, like a conversation with Gabe. It is so emotional and ultimately gives some closure to this beautiful story. I cannot even express how much i loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read an ARC of The Love We Found in exchange for my honest review.

*minimal spoilers below but some TLWL spoilers*

When I first saw that this book was coming I had said “oh! The Light We Lost is getting a little sister!” but in a lot of ways, The Love We Found is the big sister book.

This book very much felt like growing up and realizing how to make peace with the things we thought we messed up or made the wrong choice about. If Light was about the chaos of never getting it right, then Love is about making peace with the best parts of those seemingly wrong moments.

I loved jumping back into Lucy’s voice. It is kind of a wonder that despite not having been there in years it came back so quickly. It’s hard to describe the writing style. Intimately reflective and almost feels like it’s written in prose. I also loved how Jill approached guilt in this book, acknowledging there is room for blame and grace side by side. I loved that we got to see female friendships without pretense, and a love interest that doesn’t try to fix but rather wants to support. I loved a co-parent relationship not steeped in us vs them and kids with true thoughts and feelings. Courtney is a masterclass in women supporting women. She deserves everything good in this world🤌🏼

Admittedly, I am so Team Gabe™️ I wasn’t sure I could accept any new love interest but Dax felt like such a correct fit from the moment he appears that I didn’t mind watching where he and Lucy would go. I’m sure it’s by design, but he reminded me so much of what I thought Gabe would be if Gabe had been able to come home to Lucy.

There were (many) tears of course but for a lot of different reasons. Maybe it’s the season of life I’m in or the chaos of the world around us but a story about enjoying life after devastating loss and uncertainty felt very fitting. A reminder that grief and joy are neighbors and not enemies.

In this follow-up to "The Light We Lost," Lucy is now 44, divorced, and still in love with Gabe. When a secret threatens to tear what's left of her family apart, Lucy must grapple with when and how to come clean. She is also helping to put together a retrospective of Gabe's work, in honor of the 10th anniversary of his death. Her research takes her to the island of Lampedusa in Italy, where she meets Dax, an American doctor, working there.

I found the Lampedusa chapters the most interesting in the book. I had no idea that the island served as a gateway and encampment for refugees from Africa.

Other than those chapters, I didn't really enjoy the writing or the plot of the book. It felt both overly sentimental and sterile at the same time. What should have been an emotional love story felt more like a clunky diary entry. Unfortunately, I think the author did the characters from "The Light We Lost" a disservice by writing this sequel.

I didn’t realize when I started this book that it was a sequel to The Light We Lost- what a pleasant surprise! I simply devoured this book. Full of grief, love, hope, and beauty. A gorgeous book about moving on after death of one love and divorce of another. I loved the details of her relationship with her children.

Thank you Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for this ARC copy in exchange for my review.

This book captivated me from the beginning, and I found myself not wanting to put it down. Having read the first book, I was curious about how the sequel would unfold, but I believe the author handled it exceptionally well. I found myself secretly wishing for a mix-up, hoping that Gabe hadn't really left, but alas, that was not the case. There were a few parts in this book where I wanted to shout to the kids about how they were acting towards the adults but it eventually got worked out.I believe this book was a strong follow-up to its predecessor.

Absolutely beautiful story! It was heartbreaking and beautiful. What a great sequel. The writing was engaging and realistic. I cannot wait to read more from this author.

3.75 out of 5. It took me a while to read the Light we Lost after it came out, and i was very happy I got an arc for the sequel very soon after, therefore I could take the whole story all at once. Is it as good as its original? no! but it is a lovely book on navigating grief, growing past in and starting a new life embracing both the pain and the happiness. Also the European descriptions made me want to be in holiday in Europe exploring little coastal towns in the middle of nowhere!

Thank you Penguin Books (Putnam) for the advanced review copy of The Love We Found. The review contains some spoilers.

I had many mixed feelings seeing Santopolo had penned as sequel to The Love We Lost, as that book felt like it had the perfect (incomplete) ending — yet I was so captivated by the story I needed to know what happened next.

The Love We Found had the same powerful storytelling (the minutia and details that added richness and kept captivating me) and the same nuanced characters. Lucy is so flawed and her reactions are so real. Darren’s selfishness out of his love and insecurities were so consistent but evolved in this book. Just like the first book, I was frustrated and deeply empathetic with the characters like they were real people. And moreover, the framing device of “talking” with Gabe and the parallels with the homage to the photography exhibit (including the infamous photo of Lucy) were quite nice touch points for a fan of the book.

I enjoyed that though these stylistic and structural similarities carried through, that the theme of the book was moving forward while acknowledging Lucy and Gabe’s transcendent love. I also appreciated the “progress” was not linear and set backs that were realistic such as accepting the news of Sam’s paternity. Though the ending is similarly melancholy, this was much more hopeful and not a simple rehash or another tragedy.

My only critique is Dax’s character seemed too forward when Lucy was clearly quite vulnerable. Though he had a past of his own, there was little discussion of his journey to move forward and it seemed almost “too good to be true.” Lucy was also so passionately captured by him that I also wondered if it was a true connection.

Overall, a fitting tribute to the original story with a fresh take of its own.

This story is a wonderful sequel I didn't even know I needed to The Light we Lost.

This story is raw and has great emotional depth. I love that it is ten years later from Gabe's death and you get to know what's going on past and present within the characters life. I love the writing around grief and how it changes you and is somehow always a part of you.

Jill does a great job writing about realities of life and specifically about the choices we make in life and how every choice leads to something we experience.

All in all I loved this book and I feel like this was the closure I needed after the heaviness of the first book.

Very emotional read, but it was a great sequel! This book lived up to the first book and was beautifully written. Lots of healing within this story and I enjoyed every part of it

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was so excited to read this one, as The Light We Lost was one of the books that got me back into reading as an adult. I was hoping the sequel would help pull me out of a similar reading rut.

The best part of this book is that it was so easy to read; Jill Santopolo has a gift for making you turn a page. I felt like there were a lot of characters and I sometimes had a hard time keeping them straight; it was also had at times to suspend disbelief at some of the less realistic parts of the story. I also found some of it to be too cheesy for even the most zealous romance novel reader. However, all in all, it still pulled at my heart strings and even made me a little misty eyed at the end. Would recommend to anyone who read the first book and/or anyone who is looking to get out of a reading rut themselves.

This sequel was just o.k. I reread the first book in preparation for this but I don’t think you need to. It was interesting how Darren was made the villain of the sequel. I felt like the author was trying to justify Lucy’s cheating from the first book by showing us that Darren could be a prick? I enjoyed Lucy’s relationship with Eva and Courtney. The Dax relationship was too insta lovey for me.

5 stars what an incredible follow up to The Light We Lost. We follow Lucy and her families journey since Gabe’s death a decade ago. This will tug on your heart strings and you will surely shed a tear. Highly recommend.

Like most sequels, I wish this didn’t come to be. I found the charm and energy of the first book was lost here. Lucy and Dax felt like instalove and the sex scenes seemed raunchy just for the sake of it; they didn’t fit tonally with the rest of the book, which so heavily became about motherhood. Lucy saying she “doesn’t deserve love,” felt like a silly overdone plot line as well as the kids not supporting her. I didn’t taken anything new away from this book which is why it just didn’t feel necessary. The first was so poignant and this fell short.

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

I was thrilled to see a sequel to The Light We Lost. It is not normally a genre I gravitate towards but instantly was hooked. This sequel does not disappoint and I read it within 24 hrs. I’m happy to visit these characters again.

This was an interesting read. I wouldn’t totally categorize this as a romance since it was more about how Lucy navigated her grief. I also wasn’t expecting the whole book to be as if Lucy was talking to Gabe. That said, if you want to know how Lucy finds happiness and love again after loss, you should read this! 😊