Jill Santopolo’s *The Love We Found* is a poignant, sweeping tale of love, loss, and the complicated journey of moving forward while honoring the past. With its evocative prose, richly drawn characters, and a story that tugs at the heartstrings, this novel is a deeply emotional exploration of grief, second chances, and the enduring power of human connection.

At the center of the story is Lucy, a woman still tethered to the memory of Gabe, the man who captured her heart and left a void in her life nearly a decade ago. When a mysterious address in Rome is unearthed in a box of Gabe’s old photographs, Lucy embarks on an impulsive journey to uncover the truth behind his secret. It’s a move that feels reckless but undeniably cathartic—an opportunity to reconnect with a part of her past she hasn’t been able to let go of.

Santopolo masterfully portrays Lucy’s emotional struggle, balancing her yearning for closure with the realities of her present life. Her journey to Rome is as much about uncovering Gabe’s story as it is about rediscovering herself. The vivid descriptions of Italy—its sun-drenched streets, bustling piazzas, and timeless beauty—provide a stunning backdrop for Lucy’s soul-searching, adding depth and texture to her emotional odyssey.

Enter Dr. Dax Armstrong, a compassionate and enigmatic figure who becomes both a confidant and a catalyst for Lucy’s healing. Their chemistry is palpable, a blend of cautious intimacy and undeniable connection. Dax’s own sadness and emotional depth mirror Lucy’s, creating a bond that feels authentic and profound. As Lucy begins to open her heart again, Santopolo delicately navigates the complexities of new love while honoring the shadow of her past.

What sets *The Love We Found* apart is its exploration of the ripple effects of loss. Back home, Lucy faces a life-altering decision: whether to reveal the truth about Gabe to her son Samuel, a choice that could redefine her family’s future. Santopolo handles these moments with grace and sensitivity, capturing the weight of Lucy’s choices without tipping into melodrama.

The pacing is perfectly balanced, with moments of quiet introspection giving way to revelations that keep the story compelling and emotionally resonant. Santopolo’s writing is lyrical and evocative, drawing readers into Lucy’s world and making her heartbreak and hope feel deeply personal.

*The Love We Found* is a beautifully crafted novel that speaks to the resilience of the human heart. Jill Santopolo captures the messiness of love, the ache of loss, and the redemptive power of connection with an honesty that lingers long after the final page. Perfect for fans of emotionally rich stories and second-chance romances, this is a five-star read that will leave you both heartbroken and hopeful, a testament to the fact that even in the face of loss, love can still be found.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance review copy in return for an honest review. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. I was honestly really excited for this sequel but it really didn’t hit for me. The writing between the first book and the second was drastically different. This book was also way more of a cookie cutter arc which made it more boring than the first one. I also really couldn’t connect with Dax much at all and the first book was closed door romance and this one simply was not. lol

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam | G.P. Putnam's Sons for allowing me to read an ARC of The Love We Found by Jill Santopolo, in exchange for my honest review.

3 1/2 stars

I'm a little mixed about this. I absolutely love Jill Santopolo's story telling and writing.

I loved the realistic portrayal of grief; however, this was not fresh grief, it was 10 years later. I think I might have felt differently if it had been 3 or 5 years later.

Lucy seemed very obsessed, self-centered, and a little selfish.

With that being said, I will read both books together to see if it flows better for me.

Rating: 4.2

Jill Santipolo does a lovely job of giving closure to those who fell in love with Lucy and Gabe’s origin story in The Light We Lost with her follow-up novel, The Love We Found. The Light We Lost absolutely gutted me as I truly fell in love with Lucy and Gabe’s love story. I was left wanting after that catastrophic ending. I love the continuation of realism that the sequel The Love We Found provides and the real life scenarios that many readers can relate to. I genuinely loved following along with Lucy’s recovery from Gabe’s passing and learning how to love again. This novel gives readers the closure they were seeking in The Light We Lost.

Rarely do I find a sequel right on par with or maybe even better than the first, but the Love we Found is one of those rare finds. An easy 5 star rating for this beautiful love story. I got the ARC before reading the Light we Lost and decided I better read that first. It was so gorgeously written and heartbreaking- I immediately was thrilled to start this one and it did not disappoint. We start off 10 years after the first ended, with Lucy talking to Gabe. Lucy is an imperfect person, as we clearly learned in the first, but my goodness is she not a perfect mother. I was blown away by the scenes with her children. The respect and love she gave to her children made me want to be like her and that just made me love her even more. I will for sure be recommending this series to friends. I felt heartbroken from the first book, but just like Lucy, I felt healing was possible. I truly adored the ending of this amazing story. Again 5 stars! Thanks to the author, Net Galley, and penguin group for the ARC. All thoughts expressed are my own.

I wish I remembered more of The Light We Lost (it's been a while since I read it!), but this took my back into such a happy place. I love Jill Santopolo and would consume everything she writes.

Ten years later, Lucy is still rocked by the death of her first love. It's unfortunate her family ended up broken, but something beautiful can come from something broken. You can't move on to healing without letting go. Lucy's path to healing goes through all the emotions but ends with a new perspective and love.

It's been 9 years since Gabe died. One day, Lucy receives a call from Gabe's old boss Eric, wanting to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Gabe's death by publishing a new book. As Lucy digs through Gabe's things, she finds a picture of a boy along with an address in Rome. She books a flight to Rome to do some investigating, and this trip is full of new discoveries and new opportunities and may turn her world upside down.

My review does include spoilers. I enjoyed this book for the most part. I wasn't expecting The Light We Lost to have a sequel and was pleasantly surprised when I saw this book. I will say that I was SO pissed at Lucy in The Light We Lost, and I have very conflicting thoughts about this book. Going to start with the good things, I LOVED the blended family, Courtney seems to be amazing, strong friendships, the positive impacts of therapy, and parenting and co-parenting. My goodness, I loved the way Lucy approached parenting, I don't agree with some of her other decisions, but she always put her kids first and I loved seeing this throughout the book. I'm also very happy to see that she told Darren the truth about Sam and eventually told all of her kids the truth about Sam. Dax seems too good to be true, what a sweet man. Now, the bad. The book got a bit repetitive at times, I know that grief is different for everyone, but I felt like everything in Lucy's life came back to Gabe, and I'm not sure how healthy that is long term. Lucy is also a very privileged woman who doesn't seem to know how lucky she really is to have had 2 great loves, 3 wonderful children, and wonderful friends and family. I just want to yell at her sometimes and tell her to quit being a brat. Overall, this was a feel-good story, and I really enjoyed the parenting aspect of this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC!

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.