Can I be honest? I didn’t want to like “The Love We Found” by Jill Santopolo. Her first book in the series, “The Light We Lost”, left me frustrated and somewhat angry. I had a hard time connected to the two main characters, who were pretty selfish and hurtful in a lot of their actions (from what I remember).

In “The Love We Found”, I accepted that Lucy’s character was never going to be my favorite, and enjoyed reading about her healing and grieving journey. Her trip to Italy definitely helped, along with the supporting cast of characters - Dax and her three children! Overall, this novel was enjoyable and made me consider re-reading “The Light We Lost” to see if I would like it more.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group/Putnam for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is by far one of the best books I have ever read! Santopolo shows us how to lead with love and navigate grief, love, loss, and the unknown. You root for all of the characters as you can empathize with all of them. There are times in life when you may wish you could go back and do something differently but this novel shows us how you can only go forward with love. It was difficult to put down at any point. Thank you Santopolo for all of your hard work. This was absolutely fabulous!

I didn’t realize I needed more to Lucy’s story but apparently I did. Jill Santopolo seamlessly weaves Lucy’s third chance at love into a tale that is beautiful and poignant. I love the family dynamics that felt so raw and relatable. While normally I don’t love books with mentions of COVID, this one did so in a beautiful way. Make sure to have the tissues ready because this story will have you smiling and crying.
The sequel I didn’t know I needed — and now I can’t imagine this epic love journey without it. 💫 Four stars from me! This one truly makes you believe in fate, second chances, and the kind of love that feels written in the stars. 🌙✨
Thanks to Net Galley, Jill Santopolo and Penguin Group Putnam for the advanced copy. I cannot wait to recommend this duology to my fellow readers.
Have you read this one yet? Let’s discuss! 📚💙 #GetLitWithAimee #BookReview #TheLoveWeFound #JillSantopolo #Bookstagram #RomanceReads

I was so excited to see a follow up to The Light We Lost. The book picks up where the story left off. Lucy is struggling with her grief but she has a delicate balance that’s working with her and her kids. I’m hard to feel moved and Lucy’s story again moved me. She had a great love and has now met someone that has given her that feeling we all love. Read The Light We Lost and then read THE LOVE WE FOUND! You won’t be disappointed!

10 years after readers met Lucy, Gabe and Darren, Jill Santopolo follows up with her long-anticipated sequel: The Love We Found. Adoring The Light We Lost (and heartbroken reading it) Santopolo continues to deliver. The Love We Found takes the tragic yet relatable themes of The Light We Lost and the fallout from the decisions made 10 years ago and takes readers through Lucy and Darren's and their children's current lives. With the anniversary of Gabe's death looming, Lucy feels his loss deeply. While she's built a new life for herself and the kids, Gabe is never far from her mind and she keeps her heart closed off. The Love We Found is a story told to Gabe, as Lucy is catching him up on their son Sam, what led her to the decisions she's made and the love she has found. Readers are given insight into events over the last 10 years and questions lingering from The Light We Lost are answered (satisfyingly). The novel pays tributed to Lucy and Gabe (even Darren) and to readers who have loved these characters from the beginning. Pick this novel up and set aside your day-you won't want to stop reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

Emotional follow-up to The Light We Lost. Although I liked that first book better, I liked revisiting the characters, set 10 years later. Lucy begins working on a then and now exhibit, a retrospective of Gabe's work. She often talks to Gabe and is dealing with the consequences of her infidelity to Darren. They struggle through co-parenting and deciding to tell Samuel the truth about his father. Despite her grief, Lucy shows growth and begins to see a future for herself and learns to love again. I appreciated the realistic portrayal of the complicated relationships.

What a breathtaking beautiful book! This was a very fitting sequel to The Light We Lost, one of my favorite books. It was great to see what was going on with Lucy and how she was going on with her life after Gabe.

💕Book Review💕
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Thank you so much @prhaudio for the advanced copy of The Love We Found. This was a sequel to the 2017 book The Love We Lost, which I read in college. I also forgot I didn’t like that one, unfortunately I didn’t love this one either 🤐. It was a fine romance but Lucy was pretty problematic but her ex husband really took the cake. The scenes between the two exes really got under my skin and bordered on abusive. It was difficult to read at first, but it did make me love Lucy’s character more. I think this was just a redemption for her.
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Rating- ⭐️⭐️⭐️
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Summary-

It’s been ten years. In case you’re out there somewhere. In case you’re listening, I’m here. And I have so much to tell you.

It’s been nearly ten years since Gabe’s been gone when Lucy finds a tiny piece of paper in a box of his old photos. An address in Rome. Why did Gabe keep it, and what was he doing in Italy? Lucy buys a last-minute plane ticket. Impulsive, but Gabe always brought that out in her.

Lucy’s journey to uncover Gabe’s secret leads her to Dr. Dax Armstrong, a New Yorker in Italy working with an NGO. His broad shoulders and sad, intense eyes draw Lucy in. His touch reaches her in a forgotten place—one that no one has neared since Gabe.

But her old life awaits, along with an earth-shattering decision—whether she and Darren should tell their son Samuel the truth about his father. How can Lucy move forward while she’s rooted in the past?
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QOTD- any fun weekend plans ?! We’re going couch shopping and getting a new license at the DMV 🤣

Lucy discovers a cryptic address in Gabe's old photos and it leads her to Rome and a story she never expected. In her search, she meets Dr. Dax Armstrong, a brooding yet compassionate man who awakens emotions she thought were lost. But back home, Lucy faces an agonizing choice: whether to reveal the truth about her son Samuel's real father. As fate and past regrets collide, she must decide if love can set her free or if some ties are too strong to break. A poignant follow-up to The Light We Lost, a Reese's Book Club pick and a heartbreaking story of love and loss.

4 stars!

I can't even imagine how difficult it must have been for Jill to write a follow up story to The Light We Lost. No spoilers, but for those who read it, you know why! This clever extension of Lucy's tale combines themes of loss, grief, new relationships, changing relationships, family bonds, communication, and so much more. Her persistent connection to Gabe is equal parts heartbreaking and hopeful. The focus on Gabe's photography and artistry, how it relates to Sam and how it weaves its way into Lucy's present day life, was a pleasant nod to the first story and to how the story moves forward into the future. I don't want to say too much about either book, so I'll leave it at that!

This book… oh my gosh, it was so emotional and gave me ALL the feelings. I read and LOVED The Light We Lost, and this was the perfect conclusion to the FMC’s story. It will rip your heart out of your chest, break it, but put it back together even better than before.

Such a good sequel to The Light We Lost! This was just as emotional and so well written and I just couldn't put it down.

The Love We Found, is the much-anticipated sequel to The Light We Lost. Nearly a decade after saying goodbye to Gabe, Lucy embarks on a journey that takes her to Italy. As she uncovers pieces of Gabe’s past, she is also forced to confront the emotional weight of her choices—the love she lost, the life she built, and the guilt that still lingers. This novel beautifully captures the complexities of love and how messy it can be sometimes.

Lucy carried so much guilt and shame around because of some of her decisions and I appreciated how intensely I could feel that through Santopolo’s writing. She masterfully weaves themes of love, loss, and the choices that define us, all set against the backdrop of Rome’s enchanting streets. I found myself rooting for Lucy’s happy ending every step of the way. But where does her path lead? You will have to read the book to find out!

Read if you like:
- Short chapters
- Single mom tropes
- Photography

Thank you @netgalley and @putnambooks for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

4.5⭐️

IMPORTANT NOTE: This book is a sequel & you must read The Light We Lost (2017) to be able to appreciate it. My review might seem spoiler-ish, but I promise you can find this information & more in the book’s blurb. If you haven’t read The Light We Lost, I’d skip this review AND the blurb altogether. I may not have enjoyed TLWL, but in order to recommend The Love We Found, I do have to recommend reading the first one, too.
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To be honest, I was dreading reading this because I had such high expectations for the prequel, but ended up almost hating it when I read it last month. I had to force myself to read this ARC & went in with very low expectations. Surprisingly & thankfully, I loved it from beginning to end! I’m so glad there was finally character development and I think it’s safe to say that Lucy has redeemed herself. Darren also managed to piss me off—which never happened in TLWL no matter what Lucy said to try to make him look bad—but I don’t think I can ever hate him. I feel like his reaction here was justified, but of course, it was still frustrating.

One thing that stood out to me is Lucy’s relationship with her kids. I may have had beef with her in TLWL, but I admired her so much as a mother in this book. Her kids, especially Sammy, were wise beyond their years & I loved them dearly.

The only issue I had is that there weren’t enough scenes with Dax at all. I really wish we got to spend more time with him! He almost seemed like just a side character. I think that’s why I couldn’t give this a five. Overall, I do feel like I finally got the closure I needed from TLWL.

Thanks to NetGalley & PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you to Netgalley for this arc. It was very enjoyable. I liked this book a lot. It was emotional, enjoyable and just an overall really good story.

The sequel

I'm feeling mellow. I don't want to say sad because nothing about this books= is sad in a negative way. It has a way to tug your heartstrings

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. Probably because I didn’t like the husband in the first book, I was excited for the time jump. I forgot that this book would be read to Gabe and so it took me a little to get back into that mindset.

I love that this one answered so many questions from the first book. I adored how Sammy was so sweet and young and innocent. It wasn’t as good as the first one but I do love that this wrapped up on so many questions.

The sequel to The Light we Lost and picks up the story 10 years after the death of Gabe. It shows us how Gabe is very much still in Lucy’s heart and the book is her speaking to Gabe. In 10 years she’s divorced but has yet to find a new love and feels she never will. Samuel, her and Gabe’s child, doesn’t know that Gabe is his biological father and the book delves into the complexities of how keeping that secret has affected her life and how letting the secret go changes the family dynamics. We get to watch Lucy grow and find love and it’s an amazing way to wrap up a beautiful story.
Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC!

Santopolo’s 2017 heartbreaker,The Light We Lost, remains one of my most recommended books to this day, so I was beyond thrilled to receive an advanced copy of its sequel, The Love We Found. If you haven’t read the first book—read it first! This
sequel picks up with Lucy’s life as the 10th anniversary of Gabe’s death is approaching. Now divorced and co-parenting three children with Darren—the man she married despite her enduring love for Gabe—Lucy has a fulfilling life with a great career, endearing relationships with her children and lovely friends. Gabe’s former editor has asked Lucy to assist in putting together a retrospective of his works and while sorting through Gabe’s belongings for research she discovers an envelope with a name and address in Italy. Acting on impulse, she travels to uncover who this person was and why they meant so much to Gabe. There she meets and finds herself drawn to Dax, a physician who has experienced a devastating loss of his own. I loved seeing how Lucy’s life has unfolded, and Santopolo once again presents a deeply authentic character. Throughout the book, Lucy speaks to Gabe, updating him on her life, seeking his approval, and still feeling the acute ache of his absence. At the same time, she wrestles with the decision of whether to tell her youngest son, Sammy, the truth about his parentage—Gabe is his father.
This is a thoughtful and heartfelt follow-up. Santopolo’s writing remains as beautiful and poignant as ever, and Lucy feels like a fully realized, complex woman whose raw emotions leap off the page. I loved seeing Lucy’s fulfilling life and her attempts to move on with a new love. While this doesn’t duplicate the magic of The Light We Lost, it’s an excellent sequel.

Thank you to @netgalley and @gppputnam for the ARC!

As a mom navigating the complexities of mid-life, at times I felt “The Love We Found” was written for me. I really loved this poignant sequel to Jill Santopolo’s “The Light We Lost”. Written from the main character’s stream of consciousness/point of view, I was in the reader’s head as she processed complex emotions around grief, loss, love, family dynamics, secrets, grappling with the mixed emotions around the outcomes and consequences of her decisions, rediscovering herself…. Beautifully written and well-developed characters, I will be thinking about this one for a while.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.