I actually read the first book in this series years ago and was so excited to see that there was another coming. I felt this was a great second chapter to this story. I really enjoyed that the story wasn’t set immediately at the end of the last book, but allowed some time for growth before the reader's view of Lucy picked back up. I think it was a really great full circle in a way as well just with what felt like closure for Lucy and her story as a whole.

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Putnam | G.P. Putnam's Sons, and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Years ago, The Light We Lost was the book that brought back my love of reading. I was in a rut after having babies and that book changed the way I read. The Love We Found is its beautiful sequel. I adore the characters of this story and could not put this one down.

This book was is the sequel to The Light We Lost, which I highly recommend reading first if you haven’t already. This story picks up almost 10 years from when the first book ended. Lucy and Darren are now divorced and sharing custody of their three children. Lucy finds an address in Rome among Gabe’s belongings, she decides to travel to Italy and uncover who lives there and what they have to do with Gabe. She then decides to follow Gabe’s journey, where she then meets Dr. Dax Armstrong who is also divorced and dealing with his own grief. As Lucy delves into Gabriel’s past she realizes that revealing the truth to her children, parents and brother who her youngest child’s real father is will offer her closure.

I enjoyed this sequel much more than the first book and I loved watching Lucy’s relationship with her children. I found myself connecting with Lucy’s character a little more this time. I still did not care for her ex-husband Darren. And I thought Dax was a little too perfect. The writing excellent and the chapters were short just like in the first book. You should know that I did cry in the end.

Thank you @netgalley and @putnambooks for providing me this ARC for my honest review.

I absolutely adored Jill Santopolo’s The Light We Lost. It was a beautifully written and emotionally gripping novel that resonated with me deeply, quickly becoming one of my top reads that year. So, needless to say, when I heard about the release of its follow-up novel, The Love We Found, I jumped at the opportunity to read it. I couldn't wait to be reunited with the characters and immerse myself in the continuation of their story. The Love We Found follows Lucy's life 10 years after the passing of Gabe. Initially, I was curious about how the novel would unfold, but I couldn’t have loved this conclusion more. So many loose ends tied up, and I love what Jill Santopolo had in mind for Lucy! Loved it! If you loved the first novel like I did, then you wholeheartedly NEED to read this 5-star gem! It’s the closure I never knew I always needed!

Well well well. Here we are.
Thank you so much for the ARC, this was definitely a high priority book, five star prediction for me. However it was not five stars. Things were great for the first 35-40% and then I lost interest real quick.
I still enjoyed the storyline for the most part and I'm glad we got a ending for Lucy. This just didn't hit me as hard as The Light We Lost , and I know it's not fair to compare, but I can't help it.

I would still recommend this to the group of readers who enjoyed TLWL, but I don't feel a big connection to any of the characters here.

This was just as good as I knew it would be! 5 stars. This was so emotional and it perfectly wrapped up Lucy’s story! ❤️ I ate this book up in 24 hours. I love Jill’s writing so much!

Thank you so much NetGalley for the arc.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! I finished this book in ONE DAY! I think it was the perfect conclusion to Lucys story. At times, I had tears in my eyes, as she has been through so much, and the love she had for Gabe, She finally was starting to heal, and open up again. Santopolo, is one of my favorite authors and she didn't disappoint. The only reason its only 4 Stars, is because it touched on COVID, and sometimes I get sick of reading about how much COVID touched peoples lives.

The Love We Found is an emotional story about grief, love, and family. The follow-up to The Light We Lost, this book follows Lucy through her journey of grief. After finding a hidden address of Gabe's, Lucy decides to investigate. Ten years later, Lucy deals with the repercussions of her own secrets and investigates some of Gabe's own.

The different characters were really interesting to read about, especially Lucy's relationship with her kids. The moments where Lucy reminisced about events with Gabe added depth to his character and allowed the reader to experience the grief with her.

Overall, The Love We Found was a story filled with hope and provided a solid continuation to The Light We Lost.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this ARC!

I loved The Light We Lost and consider it one of my top 5 books of all time. I recommend it to everyone who loves reading. However, The Love We Found was a bit of a disappointment for me. It started very strong for me, but I found myself losing interest as soon as Lucy met Bashir.
Once she returned home to New York I found myself still struggling to stay interested. I don’t know what it was but I just couldn’t connect with Lucy’s decisions. She seemed to be all over the place: one friend knowing her secret, one friend not knowing, to her blurting it out randomly. The ending wrapped up way too quickly. Perhaps it was because I had such high expectations for this sequel, but I found this book to be not nearly as compelling or enjoyable as The Light We Lost.




Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for a digital ARC of The Love We Found.

The Light We Lost is one of my favorite books, so I enjoyed following up with these characters and seeing where they are 10 years later. This book started off strong for me, but the story seemed to slow down in the middle, and I did start to lose interest at some points. However, the writing is beautiful and kept me reading, and I enjoyed the romance. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the arc.

Let me first say that The Light We Lost holds an honored spot on my favorites shelf. I have recommended it multiple times and have gifted it as well. I LOVE that book. I was actually rereading it via audio this summer (and Jill does a stellar job narrating) when I saw the news of this sequel and I smashed preorder with zero hesitation. My jaw hit my counter when I was approved for the ARC. And then it sat on my kindle for a few days because I was afraid it would not live up to TLWL. Unfortunately, I was right to be hesitant.

This was...not good. I connected with literally zero characters. The entire story seemed forced. Insta-love is my least favorite trope, and there was absolutely no build-up to the relationship with Lucy and Dax. The conflict at the end was completely unnecessary. Absolutely nothing was fleshed out and out of nowhere Lucy brainstorms a new TV show? I'm giving two stars because I did finish it, and I do love Jill Santopolo, but it really could have been a DNF. Once I finished I actually canceled my pre-order.

Also - I never liked Darren and still don't.

It’s rare that I love a sequel as much as I loved the first book. This book delivers! I cried so much while reading this…not only from sadness but also because there were so many times I was happy for the MC. Lucy’s heartache from The light we lost continues in The love we found but so does her growth.

I absolutely loved the format this was written in. As if the whole book is a letter to Gabe. It’s written in a way you can almost hear Gabe’s responses as she talks to him. A perfect conclusion to Lucy and Gabe’s story. But I would like to go on record that I think Darren is a schmuck.

Thank you Central Avenue Penguin Group Putnam for this Advance Readers Copy ebook in exchange for my honest review

Thank you to the publisher, author & NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book! I voluntarily read this book, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
I read The Love We Found in one day. I love the authors writing style. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the first book The Love We Lost, very well, as I read it years ago. I really enjoyed the sequel though. I feel like Lucy made some growth in the time between the 2 books. And was happy to see her finally try to move on. I found the characters and situations to be true to life, which I appreciated. Darren frustrated as much as he did in the first book and I found the instant love a little unbelievable. Overall I enjoyed this book and hope to read more by this author.

I loved the first book, The Light We Lost. There was a melodic cadence to it that was captivating. I loved this book too, but in a different way. It was the perfect sequel to an incredible story.

Thank you NetGalley & PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for sending this book for review consideration.

Jill Santopolo's novel, "The Light We Lost," is an unforgettable book about two college students in New York City on 9/11. I have always wondered what happened to Lucy and Gabe. Well, I was excited to hear that Jill had written a sequel to the book and it was fantastic!

This book picks up ten years after the death of Gabe. Lucy is dealing with motherhood, divorce, and a sense of loneliness. After being asked to help coordinate a photography show of Gabe's work, Lucy goes on a quest to uncover more about Gabe's life. In the process, she falls in love again and learns more about herself.

I was excited to read this book. It was easy to read and I fell in love with all the characters!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book before publication. The opinions expressed here are mine.

Woohoo!! At long last! It’s been seven years since the release of Jill Santopolo’s smash hit, The Light We Lost, where we fell in love with Lucy and Gabe’s story that began in New York City on September 11, 2001. Finally, the long awaited sequel is almost here! The story picks up ten years later and as much as I want to share some details, I don’t want to give any spoilers for those that never read the first book. If you already have, you may want to do a quick refresher of the last few chapters in case you forgot where they left off. I must admit I did. But in all likelihood, you WILL remember the tears you shed which left your heart ripped in shreds. I would not recommend the sequel as a standalone so if you did not read The Light We Lost, I recommend you read it first. If ever there was a story meant for Netflix or the big screen, this is it!!! So please, do yourself a favor and add this wonderful book to the top of your TBR list. I promise you’ll be happy you did. Publication date: March 18, 2025

This was a nice follow up on The Light We Lost. Definitely need to read it before this one. It's almost 10 years after the death of Gabe and this book gets us caught up on Lucy's life and where her family is now. She meets Dax on a trip to Italy and starts to open her heart to love again. Some ups and downs along the way just like real life, but a good conclusion.

The Love We Found was a good follow up to book 1 - The Light We Lost. The Light We Lost was amazing. I cried like a baby. It was soooooo wonderful and difficult and beautiful and frustrating, and I figured there would be some of that in book 2. There definitely was, and while I Dax was ok as Lucy's love interest in this book, he was no Gabe. And, with a love as big as big as Lucy's was for Gabe, it is hard to convince me that Dax was really anything special. The author wrote Gabe as Lucy's big love so it is just hard to buy anything else. The book was good overall It was enjoyable to read and brought some closure to Lucy's next chapter.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for a digital ARC of The Love We Found.

Once again, I was pulled into Lucy's story. Jill Santopolo has a way of making you grieve with her characters and root for them to find joy. I loved how the setting was ten years later and we were able to see how Gabe's loss affected the family still. It was a well-done, emotional read, from beginning to end.

I did quite enjoy The Love We Found, however, I struggled a bit with the concept of being so obsessed (I honestly can't think of a better way to describe it) with someone who was essentially never more than a good friend with benefits. Lucy thinks and speaks about Gabe as if he was the absolute love of her life, yet they were never really a couple, and she married someone else. It seems that Lucy holds on to this idea that Gabe was a perfect man who could do no wrong. Putting all this aside, I did appreciate that there was a bit of mystery to solve, a new romance to enjoy, and real life divorced mom problems to contend with.