I loved The Light We Lost, and for so many reasons felt I could relate to Lucy’s story. So of course I was so excited to read The Love We Found! Ten years after Gabe’s death Lucy has a call that sends her on a path that revisits her choices after Gabe’s death, her love for him, and what life has been without him there.

While I loved the story, I did feel this was a touch slower than the first. I loved the kids characters, and how Jill Santopolo wrote those subtle differences that mothers notice in each of their children. I felt as though we could truly see the families sweet routine. I don’t know that this was the closure I expected for Lucy, but it did feel right, and I enjoyed seeing her ten years later! I’d recommend to anyone who wants to know how Lucy’s doing these many years later!

WOW. This book sucked me in and I could not stop reading! Picking up from the last book "The Light We Lost" we are taken back into the journey with Lucy and her family as she lives post Gabe and experiences the continued fallout from his death and finds the possibility of love again. The entire story is as if she is speaking to Gabe and I loved this style. You could feel her passion and love and all the emotions as her and her ex deal with the continued share of the kids and the secret they struggle to share. The writing is gorgeous and pulled me into tears as you can FEEL this loss the character is experiencing. Even if you didn't read the first book (you totally should!!) you can still dive into this one easily. Highly recommend reading with tissues! Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I am so sad I didn’t love this! I loved the first book so much and re read as soon as I heard there was a sequel. Just didnt hit the same but the writing was still just as beautiful!

WOW. I absolutely LOVED this book. I really liked The Light We Lost but this one was even better, it dove deeper and really explored emotions, life’s journey and love.

*3.5 stars*

I remember the first book DESTROYING me so I was excited to see how she got on after Gabe. This was emotional but heartwarming. It was more s story of self discovery than a second romance but the romance we got was cute but wished it had been more. It almost felt too instant love once they did meet. I found this one to be quite slow and I was losing interest which some of that maybe due to my mood and life stuff going on. But it was sweet "recovery" story just not a ton to the plot. I didn't have me sobbing like the first one thankfully??! I remember being so mad at the ending to the first book so it was nice to get some closer.

A meaningful, heartfelt follow up to the book that shattered ALL of our hearts 10 years ago. It was difficult to enter back in to Lucy's world only to find she was still paralyzed by the loss of Gabe. But, it seems that Gabe was the only one that could bring her out of it, and he ultimately does when Lucy discovers the address hidden in his belongings. It felt like a weight off of the readers shoulders as well when Lucy finally opened herself up and began to truly start living again, even if it meant facing her deepest secrets.

Imagine my excitement and surprise when I saw this was the sequel to “The Light We Lost” by Jill Santopolo (which if you haven’t read that book, please do yourself a favor and have tissues ready 😭). With that being said, I went into this book with super high expectations and I if I’m being honest, I still enjoyed the first book better.

In this story it is ten years later, and Lucy receives a call from Eric Weiss (Gabe’s former editor), to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Gabe’s death. In doing so, Eric wanted some old photos that Gabe took to put into a new book to be published. While going through some of Gabe’s belongings that Lucy kept, she found an address in Italy with a drawing of a young boy on it, and she wasn’t sure why Gabe would have kept this address. With this new information, Lucy flies to Italy to do a little research of her own…

Essentially this book deals with what has been going on in Lucy’s life since the previous book, up to the present day. We learn how Lucy has coped with life, loss, grief, and secrets. I still loved Lucy’s character- but… I just feel that no book can top “The Light We Lost” (so that just might be a me thing).
The chapters in this book were nice and short (my favorite), and I was still left in tears 😭. In fact, I’m starting to think this is the only author who can make me cry ugly tears every time I read one of their stories. So for that, I definitely recommend reading this book (and The Light We Lost).

Many thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Group Putnam, and the author for an ARC of this book in which I had the pleasure of reading. Publication date: March 18, 2025

I remember when someone gave me a copy of “The Light We Lost”. It was not something that I would normally pick up on my own but since it was recommended, I decided to pick it up, and of course I cried the ugliest of tears and ended up loving it. So imagine my surprise when I pop on to netgalley one day and here is the sequel. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be able to read this ARC of “The Love We Found”, a feel-good journey of life and healing with just as many tears but for different reasons. It was a perfect way to compliment “The Light We Lost” in a new light.

This was the perfect follow up to the light we lost.

Still heart wrenching and lovely and emotional and real like TLWL but we get to see Lucy at a different point in her life, post Gabe but still very much stuck in Gabe in a lot of ways. She’s truly only human and that was very evident following her entire story. (In the best way)

I loved this 10 year fast forward. I loved reading about Lucy’s relationships with her children and how insightful the children were.

Rereading TLWL and then reading this at this current time in my life brought up a lot of emotion, making me so happy, sad and everything in between.

I can’t say much else without spoiling it but THANK YOU Jill Santopolo for this sequel.

And thank you NetGalley for this arc, truly loved this one.

I’m going to be honest, the original book has been on my TBR for a long time, so when I was approved for this, I immediately read the first one so that I could read this one. And i definitely regret it.
This had the potential to be so good. I felt the authors writing was well done, but I could not get over how it felt like it glamorized the again and that you will get a happy ending if you have an affair. If I had read the first book prior to seeing the second, I would not have read it. Darren deserved better than Lucy. Lucy was a cheater who spent her whole marriage comparing her husband for the man that left her and running to him when he called. It was an unfair and awful depiction of what a marriage is. I really hated that the underlying theme was “have an affair, it will suck for a while, but karma and earth will align to give you your happy ending eventually”
I did like the authors writing style, I think it was well done, just felt the affair was glamorized and at times, trying to justify it which was so wrong.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Putman Books for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for a honest review.

The Love We Found is the sequel to The Light We Lost, which I highly recommend you read or re-read first. The Love We Found is a deeply moving emotional story about grief and loss. This sequel also explores secrets and the impact that comes from keeping secrets from those we love the most. I found this novel to be a quick read considering the short chapters.

When I saw the author wrote a sequel to a favorite book of mine I knew I had to read it. The Light We Lost was a great book and it definitely should be read before this one. I love the writing style where she is talking to an unnamed person. ( I don’t want to give anything away.) She tells the story of moving on with her life through her thoughts and feelings of her past. The characters are well drawn and she had me rooting for each individual one. The struggles and growth of her three kids after learning a long held secret was well written. Highly recommend!
Thank you to NetGalley and the Putnam Group for an advanced eGalley of the book. All opinions expressed are my own.
#TheLoveWeFound #JillSantopolo #NetGalley

Thank you to Netgalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'll be honest - I completely forgot most of the events that happened in The Light We Lost having read it back in 2020 but this is a worthy sequel to the story. It's poignant in it's depiction of grief all the while exploring more of Lucy's healing journey from the loss of Gabe. I loved this and I love the way Jill writes - it's captivating, raw, and honest.

Thanks so much for the review copy. I enjoyed this sequel a lot. I look forward to reading more books by Santopolo.

Thanks to NetGalley and Putnam Group for this advance readers copy, in exchange for an honest review. The Love We Found picks up 10 years after The Light We Lost and follows Lucy, who is still reeling from the loss of Gabe and navigating hers and her children’s lives. The Light We Lost is one of my favorite books and so, I had very high hopes for a strong sequel. It did not disappoint!

One of my favorite things about The Light We Lost was the narrative style of the book, with Lucy speaking to an unnamed person, who we later learn to be her unborn son, Sam; The Love We Found continues in this same narrative style, with Lucy speaking to Gabe, as she works through her complex web of emotions and tries to move forward in her life. I think this style worked so well in both novels and in this book, really helped the reader better understand Lucy; this is because not only was she sharing about the events in her life but, she was also working through her questions about life, her fears, her excitement, etc. One of my favorite themes in this book were the continued questions about fate and how our choices affect our lives— whether they do and to what extent. This type of introspective thinking and vulnerability is what separates this series/book for me from others that I’ve read.

In my opinion, this is one of the stronger sequels that I’ve read, with a consistent narrative voice, a strong plot, and characters that you remain invested in until the end. I was sad to finish this book but, know that I will definitely be returning to it. This book for me, was the right blend of emotion, swift pace, and depth for me and I know other readers will enjoy this one! I would definitely recommend this romance and contemporary fiction fans, especially those who loved The Light We Lost!

I never wanted this book to end. Storytelling and writing at its finest. I love the way the book is structured. It made be laugh and tear up and I was rooting for each character! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

THE LOVE WE FOUND is another beautifully-written story by this author filled with love, grief, serendipity, healing and destiny. Even though it had been a while since I read the first book THE LIGHT WE LOST, when I started reading the second, it all came back to me and felt so good to be back in Lucy's world. I love how throughout the entire book it's Lucy talking to her Gabe, her first love who passed tragically. And it was so moving and emotional to see Lucy heal her lonely heart and invite more love in to her life. Having experienced two great loves, Lucy believes there's no chances of her finding love again so why bother trying moving on from her love and grief for Gabe?

This story masterfully shows how secrets had affect families... even if kept for best intentions, once exposed can alter dynamics and relationships forever. Lucy and Darren have kept a secret from their son Samuel, and we learn that it doesn't just affect Samuel but his siblings as well and Lucy's parents and brother. And with Lucy's family foundation is already fragile, how can she invite a certain someone (even though it's the first man that has made her feel something in almost ten years), risking it by making it even more unstable?

So real, honest, and emotionally believable. I really admired how the philosophical and spiritual themes made the story that much more meaningful, and adding that much more depth to the characters. As the story goes on, I appreciated the reminder that occurrences have to happen in life in order for things to take place. That may seem confusing to read and like it doesn't have much weight.. but for things to happen, stuff has to happen and that stuff is choices, steps, leaps we have to and end up making...and we almost find out the reason why certain things had to happen until we're lead to what it was we were looking for, or a surprise of something better. And I also really loved how it was Gabe that lead Lucy to her next love and how Gabe is still very much apart of her life.

Many thanks to Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for the ARC. Truthfully I had forgotten much of The Light We Lost but remembered it as I was reading this. This is a great sequel and I enjoyed reading it. It stays true to the characters, and I think readers who liked the Light We Lost will enjoy this. I read it in 24 hours.

The Light We Lost is one of my favorites and this is much anticipated sequel. I was over the moon excited when it was announced! And I’m so excited my little reading life made it possible for me to read an early copy!!

You should definitely read The Light We Lost before reading this!!

Much like the first it’s full of love and loss and heartbreak and it is so so GOOD! I was so happy to see Lucy’s story continued!

The Love We Lost was 1 of my fav books prior to 2020s when I became an even more voracious reader & expanded to other genres, including thrillers. I remember being emotionally wrecked as I read the final pages and simultaneously sobbed. But I couldn't really recall details of the book. I definitely needed to read the sequel as soon as I saw it posted on Netgalley. I vaguely remembered when the female character was paranoid her husband was having an affair when he was actually surprising her with a house. I reread the synopsis of the original book before continuing with the sequel. It didn't jog my memory too much and there's not much rehashing of book #1 in the sequel. I enjoyed this book for a second chance at love, ealing w long lasting grief of a loved one, divorce and what is family. I imagine Jennifer Garner playing Lucy. Not sure if having a daughter named Violet had anything to do with my casting. I couldn't congire up who would play Darren or Dax. I pictured my own primary care doctor as Gave, only a dark haired version. The book makes some excellent points. I do feel that Lucy, Dax and Courtney all come across as too perfect and unflawed characters. Even though Lucy did cheat and both she and Dax are divorced. Which is central to the plot. I read this book in 1 day. Generally sequels are nice to revisit fav characters, but I personally never find them quite as compelling or emotional as the original. I do encourage all fans of The Love We Lost to read the sequel. I rate it 4 out of 5 photographs.