I could not get enough of this book! It started off a little cheesy and insta-lovey, which isn't my favorite of the tropes out there, but it worked for the story and the naivety of young 21-year-old love. Parts 2 and on is where the story gets really good. They meet years later after a missed connection in their 20s. The yearning and the longing for them both wanting for this to work is where it gets fun. I loved the power dynamics between Ellie and Ash. He's the heir to the estate, while she is the paid help. It leads to a lot of bumps in the road. There is so much drama and twists, and I loved the journey. Paige Toon never misses in pulling at your emotions and leaving you wanting to turn the page.

Read if you like an Insta-love romance with a lot of emotional turmoil. Thanks to the publisher for ARC in return for an honest review. This book releases on 4/15!

3.5 ⭐️s rounded up
My second read by this author and although I enjoyed this read it just felt a bit slow to me. I really liked the beginning and the end the most. Not usually being a huge fan of the insta-love connection, the way this love story evolves over many years made Ash and Ellie’s love story much more believable. I found myself frustrated with Ellie’s character and her constant overthinking. I also didn’t love the whole Ellie/Ash/Becca triangle and how Ash handled it.
Overall, there’s still a lot to like about this story (traveling, gardening, stargazing) if you don’t mind a slower paced, mostly closed door romance that drags over the span of many years.
Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for an advanced copy of this book out April 15, 2025!

What If I Never Get Over You is an upcoming contemporary romance from Paige Toon.

The story centers around the theme of three days to fall in love, 6 years to forget. Ellie and Ash meet in Portugal while endeavoring on their own separate interrailing trips through Europe. They fall for each other quickly and then lose touch.

Do they find their way back to each other? Have their family and life circumstances changed? Would their lives even fit together if they did start something again? You’ll have to read to find out!

Some details I loved:
🇵🇹 Travel
🐉 Welsh landscape
🪴 Horticulture
❤️‍🔥 Strangers to lovers
💐 Second chances
🧠 Healing from trauma

Sometimes the characters are frustrating. I wish they would change their priorities or communicate better or see what’s so good in front of them. When I look at Ellie and Ash through the lens of trauma, I have grace for their shortcomings and can understand their motives.

This story has amazing depth and detail. I wish I could put some quotes in here, but alas, I have an uncorrected proof.

I give it 5 ⭐️! You can read it on April 15th in the US and April 24 in the UK 🥰

Thank you to Paige Toon, Penguin and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

#whatifinevergetoveryou #paigetoon #penguinputnam #book #arcreview #romance #contemporaryromance #emotionalromance #wales #britishliterature #booksta #bookstagram

Paige Toon is one of my favourite romance authors but this missed the mark for me- but probably because it was heavy on the insta-love and I couldn't get why she was so obsessed with this guy she had spent a few days with. It also felt very YA even though it was labelled as an adult romance. Miscommunication is one of my biggest gripes and this had a lot of it in it.

I’ve been a big fan of Paige Too ‘s other books and this one was just as brilliant. I expected this to be an emotional read and I’m very happy with how much this wrecked me. It was a little predictable and had a third act breakup, but I still think it was perfect. The details were so good, the plot and pacing were well done, and I was truly rooting for Ellie and Ash to end up together! I liked the time jumps between parts and felt like this was a book I could read all at once. The beginning hooked me right away, the middle was fun and dramatic, and the ending was incredibly sweet and moving. I loved aspects of the dry humor, grief and tragedy, and personal growth present in this book. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this and will highly recommend it to everyone.

What If I Never Get Over You completely consumed me—I made the mistake of starting it at 9 p.m. and, of course, read it in one sitting. That’s just how captivating Paige Toon’s storytelling is.

Ellie and Ash don’t have a slow-burning connection; they ignite. Their first meeting is electric, their second just as intense, and by the third time, it’s clear—they were always meant to be. This book doesn’t just rely on fate; it lets us see what happens when love is stripped of all the outside noise, leaving behind something raw and undeniable.

The settings, from the sun-soaked streets of Lisbon to the lush gardens of Wales, only add to the magic. I love a saga-esque romance, but only if it’s done like this—fast, fierce, and unforgettable. Paige Toon outdid herself, and I already know I’ll be re-reading this when it officially comes out—and probably listening to the audiobook too.

“Follow your own path. Life is too short not to do what you love. You and I know that better than most.”

What If I Never Get Over You by Paige Toon is a swoon-worthy new contemporary romance about meeting “the one” while interrailing and having a whirlwind romance, only to lose them when no surnames are given. When Ash and Ellie meet in Lisbon, while both grieving their best friends, sparks fly – and their lives change forever.

Ellie is the daughter of shoulder-rubbing parents who own a furniture conglomerate; she is a people pleaser but wants to escape from under her parent’s rule and be a gardener – with her hands in the soil. When finally taking a leap of faith and landing a gardening job in Wales, six years after meeting – and losing – Ash, he comes back into her life like a whirlwind, and the burning chemistry is still there, but everything has changed.

This was my first novel by Toon and I really enjoyed it; I definitely will be reading more of her books in the near future. Not knowing what to expect, I did find this book to be more in the YA demographic. While I absolutely loved all of the characters, I felt Ellie had some communication issues that could have solved multiple problems here, and I admit, Beca irked me at times!

However, I literally had a moment in this novel where my heart was out of my chest – so worried and wrapped up in Ellie and Ash’s future that I had to go to Goodreads to see if I could find out if it was a HEA … which I never ever do! Ellie and Ash felt so real to me, I was invested, and I was patiently trying to wait for a “The Notebook” (at the dock) moment that I couldn’t stand the anticipation of (possibly) getting there.

And lastly, I have never heard of the band Catfish and the Bottlemen - I really liked their song Twice! Thank you, Toon, for putting this in the playlist! (In addition, I had no idea what interrailing meant either!) This will be a popular book for young and old alike, teaching you to be grounded, appreciative, and to follow your heart at all costs. If you want a good romance novel that covers roughly 10 years seamlessly, this is for you! 4.2 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for this all-consuming, heart-gripping ARC! All opinions are my own.

“And I remind myself that we do swim in rivers, we do watch the stars, listen to birdsong and the sound of the rain. We live good lives, do good things and appreciate every moment.”

Tropes:
Amazing Locations (Europe)
"Forbidden" Love
Insta-love
Second Chance Romance

I enjoyed this book! I LOVE books that are set across multiple locations. So Ellie and Ash meeting while Ellie is on a Europe trip is right up my alley!

And then the way Ellie and Ash meet back up? No spoilers but wow, so well done.

The evolution of their story was definitely a roller coaster! I loved the backdrop of the gardens, Toon is so descriptive, and it really adds to the story.

Overall, I liked this book. I didn't love it, as it felt more YA than I had planned, but I did enjoy it, and think others will too.

I had a harder time loving Paige Toon's newest release. She is a great writer, but I didn't connect with the two main characters Ellie and Ash. It could be because they start out much younger than I at the beginning of the story and I felt like Ellie made some bad choices throughout the story. If I were her friend I would've been encouraging her to move on from Ash. This won't stop me from reading more of Paige Toon's work, the problem this time I think was me!

Thank you to @netgalley and @putnambooks for providing this eARC for my review!!

Pub Date: April 15, 2025

⭐️: 3/5

This was my first book by Paige Toon, and while I know she has written a lot of books that people LOVE, I just didn’t love this one. I have to say, What If I Never Get Over you had a pretty strong start. It follows a really linear progression, with some time periods being focused on more than others, but there’s no back and forth in time. I think that it worked for the story being told, but also if there was more of an “in the past” and “in the present” element, I think it may have had the potential to have a more emotional impact, and maybe would have helped draw a cleaner comparison between the past version of the main characters of Ellie and Ash and their present, supposedly (although I’m definitely not sold on it) more mature counterparts.

The start though really had me interested in the book, because it brought up those wonderfully nostalgic, bittersweet, and even a little bit sad recollections of being really young and meeting someone you connect with in a short period of time, and forming a deep connection with them that you just always remember. There’s something magical about it, which I think was captured pretty well at the beginning of this one. As it went on and the characters supposedly aged up, the plot started to lose me. It started to be a little too wordy with descriptions and background, and even as adults, it trended more YA than I was expecting.

It more or less went downhill for me from there. Ellie gave big “not like the other girl” vibes, which was off-putting and annoying. Ash was clueless and immature, and their interactions were so overly dramatic that it was hard to read sometimes and then the ending really lost me. Anyway, this was a quick read and it was overall pretty cute, but not one of my faves.

From the very first chapter, I was sucked into Ash and Ellie’s story and couldn’t put it down.

Ellie is backpacking through Europe chasing a childhood dream, when Ash walks into her life and changes it forever. Three days in Lisbon with this man, is all it takes to form a life-long bond that they both change their futures for. They plan a life together, until all the odds stack against them.

Again and again over many years, Ellie and Ash will face turmoil and pain trying to make this relationship that they know is written in the stars, work. At what point do you stop fighting it and give up? At what point do you give up everything for the one you love?

This book is an emotional rollercoaster that I would definitely ride again and again!
The three days they spend together is exciting and emotional. It takes you right back to those first love feels. If you have lost a close one this novel will also hit home with all the feels of grief and the toll that can have on a person. Then once all the odds are stacked against them you feel it too. The anger and frustration on why their relationship will never work. By the end, I was a sobbing mess of gratitude.

There is a couple trigger warnings that are touched on but are not on the page and don’t go into great detail. If you are sensitive to trigger warnings, look those up!

Thank you to Net Galley and Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review, it was an honor.

I had loved Seven Summers by Paige when I read it last year so I was super excited to see she had a new release coming out. The beginning of this book sucked me in. We have Ellie and Ash who meet when they are both solo traveling in Lisbon. She spend 3 days together and Ellie develops a crush fast on him. She is originally supposed to be going home after those 3 days but Ash convinces her to extent her trip with him. Except when she goes to meet him he is nowhere to be found. Flash forward 6 years later and she obviously runs back into him. For me personally this was way to insta lovey. I had a hard time believing that after meeting this guy for only 3 days she would then spend 6 years still hung up on him. Although I liked the beginning of this story the rest fell flat for me.

I feel that the marketing so far for this novel is quite misleading, as the content was very much YA and not an adult read. Luckily, I didn't go into this with many expectations so I still had a fun time reading it, however, the publishers and retailers should definitely reconsider the categorization and marketing for when the book is released. The characters and the writing didn't feel all that special, but it was a cute second (ish) chance romance with a twist. I think Paige Toon is still a great writer, this one just fell flat for me, and maybe felt a bit rushed a mismarketed like she had to meet a deadline.

Paige Toon delivers on emotional romance. The storyline contains self discovery, troublesome familial relationships, and several turning points. I am not a fan of the insta-love trope but enjoyed how the plot progressed. A solid choice for a quick, beachy read.

Thank you to NetGalley and GP Putnam’s Sons for the digital ARC. All opinions are my own.

Started out a little slow for me but I became invested. Definitely leans YA but a fun read for sure!

I received a free copy of, What If I Never Get Over You, by Paige Toon, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Ellie decided to spend some time riding the rails through parts of Europe. Ellie thought she would see beautiful places, eat great food, but not fall in love. This was a nice read about love and travel and family.

📚ARC BOOK REVIEW📚
What If I Never Get Over You by Paige Toon
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

💐I discovered Paige Toon last year when I read and fell in love with her book, Seven Summers. I wasn't quite sure her next book could live up to it, but I was so happily surprised to discover that I loved this one just as much! It definitely didn't have quite the same emotional punch, but it stood on it's own merits and I devoured it in one day.

💐Ellie and Ash meet in Lisbon and spend 3 magical days together. They plan to meet in Spain a week later but Ash doesn't show. Six years later Ellie has landed a job as gardener at a sprawling estate in Wales. To her shock, Ash shows up. But things are different for both of them and Ellie questions whether those three days really meant as much as she thought, and as outside forces work to keep them apart, it becomes apparent to her that their love might not be strong enough to endure.

💐I first have to say that I enjoy an insta-love trope. I know others don't. But for me, it's fun and I have no problem buying into feelings and emotions after only a short time. The author's description of their time together was absolutely beautiful. And when the scenes shifted to their time at the estate, her descriptions of the gardens were written so well that I could see them perfectly in my head. Paige Toon is such a talented writer and her words never fail to stir so many emotions in me.

💐As for Ellie and Ash themselves, both characters had flaws, but I loved them so much. I understood them and why they did what they did, even though there were times when I wanted to scream at them for their choices.

💐Truly, I have to say that this author has the ability to break my heart like no other, but she also manages to put it back together in such a beautiful and profound way that I find myself thankful for the broken-ness. Ellie and Ash needed to go through everything they did in order for the book to reach it's resolution, and I was so happily satisfied at the way their story wrapped up.

💐I highly recommend this book, especially if you like:
🩷Insta-love
🩷Storyline that span years
🩷Second chance romance
🩷Characters from completely different worlds
🩷"Forbidden" love

💐Thank you to Netgalley and Putnam for the e-arc of this book!

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley for review. My opinions are my own.

5/5 stars

This book. Let me tell you what. I have never read any Paige Toon books but after this emotional rollercoaster, I must read every book that she has written.

There are so many twists and turns in this book. I can’t say anything else because I don’t want to ruin it… suffice it to say… I am a fan.

I was fortunate enough to receive an early copy of this book from NetGalley. I am so thankful to be able to read another of her books.
I first met her writing through Seven Summers and absolutely loved it and cherished the story.

This book was no different. The highs, the lows, the off chance of meeting each other and the way life gets in the way. The wrong time, right place and vice versa. I cherish this book not only for the real life story but for the setting of it. I loved the small piece of Wales that I have been able to see in my lifetime and I hope to see more one day.

I plan to swim in more rivers, look at the stars more, listen to birdsong, and listen to the rain more 🩵

The pair meets under humble circumstances interrailing in Lisbon, bonded by a loss of their childhood friends, loneliness, and a desire to escape their roots. I enjoyed the setting, descriptions of the Welsh countryside. I appreciated the astronomy visuals and connection to nature.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin for the opportunity to read and review this book.