📻 Book Review 📻

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest opinions.

Publication: Out now! (Feb 25, 2025)

Rating: I enjoyed it!

This was my first book by Linda Holmes and it didn’t disappoint! It was the perfect palate cleanser for me. I loved seeing Cecily take charge of getting her life together and Will complimented her so nicely.

Overall, I perfect read for the pool/beach in the summer!

For fans of:
📻 First person POV
🎧 Chapter titles
📻 Dates picked by someone else
🎧 Workplace romance
📻 Chance encounters
🎧 Golden retriever MMC
📻 Messy FMC
🎧 Closed door

🌟 What to Read Next 🌟
💫 Is She Really Going Out with Him by Sophie Cousens

4.25/5 stars

I really enjoyed this rom com that had a bit more depth to it than others I've read recently. I was also a fan of Holmes' "Evvie Drake Starts Over", so I was excited to see if this one was also a winner...it was.

There were a few moments where I was a bit frustrated with our heroine, Cecily Foster, however. While she was an intelligent, diligent and talented woman, she also came across as too much of a doormat on certain issues. Of course, as her character's growth began evolving, these issues were taken care of as she "saw the light" on several things.

The MMC (Will) was swoon-worthy and lovable as a down-to-earth jack-of-all-trades with some wandering-lust issues on the side. I especially loved how the build-up to the romance was slow and allowed both Cecily and Will to develop a friendship first.

Overall, I found this a humorous, cheer-worthy and fun read and am happy that Holmes is retaining her spot on my Must-Read Author's list.

My sincere thanks to the author, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group / Ballantine Books for providing the free early arc of Back After This for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

Absolutely adored this one!!!! As a fellow Great Dane owner, I fell in love with Buddy and was so glad to see him sprinkled throughout the book. Cecily works for an absolute drag of a boss and although she is incredibly talented, finds herself agreeing to doing basically anything she is asked, except for producing her own show. When her boss asks her if she would be interested in hosting a blind dating podcast, she thinks immediately no, but is persuaded by her boss.

I enjoyed the fun dialogue and witty mind of the main character, Cecily. This was my first by Linda Holmes and am looking forward to enjoying more of her books!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC, all opinions are my own

Back After This by Linda Holmes is the perfect book for anyone who recently loved ‘First Time Caller’. The main characters were completely lovable who fell in love over a rescue dog. After trying to find love on a podcast Cecily realized she couldn’t stop thinking about Will. Without giving away the storyline you will love being with Cecily and Will as they navigate their new friendship.
I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone wanting a good time. The spice is low that it will appeal to the masses.
I will be adding Linda Holmes to my list of authors to watch for.

Thank you, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books And NetGalley

This was my first novel by Linda Holmes, but it will certainly not be my last! Back After This was engaging from the start and I absolutely loved the premise of someone falling in love over the rescue of an escaped dog. The podcast show that had Cecily go on first dates with 20 men was important to the storyline, but it was not focused on too heavily that it became the only storyline which I really appreciated. I highly recommend this novel and I am very happy to have read it!

This book was hilarious at the start. I liked the way the plot began and felt the story was well paced. It was only the romance that I felt was lacking. Although the two characters kept meeting it sort of felt like they barely spent time together. It made it hard to believe there was anything deeper going on between the two of them. Although I liked the ending I would say it just an okay read.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

Back After This had all the charm and wit I love from Linda Holmes! The characters felt real and relatable, and I enjoyed the cozy, easy flow of the writing. While it didn’t leave as deep of an emotional imprint as Evvie Drake Starts Over, I still found myself smiling through so many moments. The podcasting element added a fresh and fun layer to the story, making it a unique and enjoyable read. Overall, I appreciated it for what it was: a heartfelt, feel-good novel!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publishers for the ARC I received in exchange for my honest review! I am a huge fan of Linda Holmes other novels - "Evvie Drake Starts Over" being a personal favorite - so I was thrilled when I heard about BACK AFTER THIS, Holmes' latest novel.

BACK AFTER THIS spins the tale of podcast editor Cecily who finds herself the reluctant star of her company's new podcast about dating, finding love, and reinventing yourself in your 30s. Cecily is paired with influencer/life coach/matchmaker Eliza who sets her up on a litany of dates, recorded and shared on the podcast. Along the way, Cecily meets someone wonderful in real life and has to decide how much she wants to trust Eliza, prioritize her work, and how much she wants to follow her heart.

BACK AFTER THIS is so much fun from start to finish, and I truly didn't want it to end! Cecily is so relatable and lovely, and her leading man is just delightful. I loved this story and Holmes' writing, as usual, and will strongly recommend it to all!

Once I truly sat down with this one, I zoomed through it.

Cecily is a podcast producer turned host when her boss encourages her to be the host and subject of a new podcast show about her dating life. Cecily reluctantly agrees and has to document her dates and work with a dating coach. Of course, along the way she meets someone organically - Will. You follow Cecily along through the podcast and her interactions with Will as she tries to figure out what she truly wants in life and whose advice she should be taking.

There were definitely moments I wanted more from some characters, but this was a fun and easy read. Relatable as well at this point of my life as I’m trying to figure out the world of dating still and figure out what I want and who I want to do life with.

Was this pretty predictable? Yes. Did I also thoroughly enjoy it? Yes. Back After This was the perfect cozy read to lighten things up in my current reads.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ballentine, and Random House for the ARC.

This was a cute romance set in the podcast world. I loved getting a glimpse behind the scenes of a podcast company. I love that it was a romance but it also had some added depth to it. Great book!

This was really cute and a balm for the soul during a very difficult time in my life. Thank you, Linda Holmes!

Cecily Foster works at a podcast company. She produces, edits, and essentially does everything to get the podcast at its best. She loves working on podcasts behind the scenes. Her boss pitches her an idea that can really bring some stability to the company and Cecily is all in! That is until she realizes she is the topic of this podcast. Cecily has to work closely with Eliza Cassidy who is a social media influencer. Eliza will be picking 20 dates for Cecily to go on to help her find love.

This now puts her dating life fully in the public eye. During all this, she keeps running into Will. Will is a photographer, who she helped a little while back chase a rescue dog. Will has been popping up in the most unexpected places. He isn’t a part of these 20 dates but somehow seems like the universe is throwing signs her way that maybe they are meant to be.

I was very invested throughout the entire book to see where life would take Cecily. It is such a light, fun story that has a serendipitous twist which I love.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

When I saw a new book by the author of Evvie Drake was coming out I immediately went to Netgalley and requested it. I was lucky to find Evvie Drake on a cruise (thank you Holland America for your fabulous library)
I got the book just days before publication, so here I am reviewing it today, publication day.
This book was very informative about podcasting and audio sound, as I never thought about the expertise needed.
Cecily Foster cares very deeply about her job as a sound engineer, and when she is roped into being on a podcast about Twenty dates she is hesitant. But an influencer and dating advice star wants her to meet twenty men, she agrees.
Coincidentally, on her own she meets cute when Will is trying to catch a Great Dane who has gotten away, she helps. They keep running into each other.
Both have exes who hurt them and so they become friends. The story is basically how they both have to overcome their pasts before they are ready. I love how Cecily grows and learns about herself, just as Evvie did.
The book takes place in D. C. rather than Maine as the 2 previous books did.
It is also fun to accompany Cecily on her 20 dates.
Both Cecily and Will have very supportive sisters who add to the story. Buddy the dog is also an adorable addition, though I kept trying to imagine him in Will's tiny apartment.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the EARC. These are my honest opinions.

Back After This follows Cecily a podcast producer as she hosts her first podcast where she follows the advice of a life/dating coach and goes on 20 first dates.
With typical romance trope bad timing she meets a guy who she is really into right before all the podcast dates start.
I enjoyed all the different chance encounters between Cecily and Will. Especially the meet cute where she helped him catch the loose Great Dane. I was happy that Will adopted the dog so he could be featured in the story but disappointed that Will change his name from Gideon to the more generic Buddy. Come on Will, I had higher hopes for you.
As Cecily listens to Eliza’s advice and works on the podcast she starts to realize that maybe her life is not making her as happy as she thought it was. I liked that Cecily was able to shift out the parts from Eliza’s advice that were helpful to her and leave the other parts behind.
This book keep me smiling and laughing. It was perfect to read on vacation and kept me turning pages.
Linda Holmes writes relatable female characters. It’s always refreshing to see a female character in romance who is not in her 20’s.

Thank you to Ballentine Books for this advanced copy from NetGalley.

Not knowing much about podcasts, I enjoyed learning more about the work involved in them. This romantic comedy places Cecily, a podcast producer for a company looking for the next big hit, as the star in a 20 blind dates podcast series. She reluctantly agrees to save her friend and coworker’s job. The dates are laughable, reminding me of the Dating Game. Just before the dates begin she sees a man chasing a Great Dane and joins in the chase to capture Buddy. Buddy and Will steal the show for me…and podcast watchers as well.
This read had a great balance of romantic comedy, interspersed with actual knowledge of what actually goes into producing a podcast. Many many thanks to Linda Holmes, Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this endearing story, published on February 25th. Three and a half stars.

Cecily Foster is an audio producer. She’s the one who takes all the recordings for a podcast and puts it together in a way that makes people want to listen. She takes out the coughing and the ums, smooths it all out with clever narration and the right ambient sounds, and finds the thread of the story that links it to the episode you listened to last week. She is very good at her job. She is less good at her life.

Cecily is a workaholic, acting as a mentor to other producers in the office, encouraging them to find balance in their lives and to chase joy however they can. But she hasn’t been in a romantic relationship in years. But her boss has a new assignment for her. There is an influencer named Eliza Cassidy who wants to add relationship expert to her brand, and the idea for this new podcast is for Eliza to learn more about Cecily, help her decide on what she wants from a relationship, and set her up on 20 blind dates. It would be a chance for Cecily to be the on-air talent for a change and could help save the company, which is struggling in the cut-throat world of podcasting.

Cecily agrees to the podcast, on the condition that she chooses her producer and, once its done, she can make a pilot for a podcast she would be genuinely happy to be a part of. In exchange for that, Cecily agrees to try everything that Eliza says and be honest about her dating experience. Big sponsorships are already on board, and they have a tight timeline, as they want the final episode to drop on Valentine’s Day. But before her first date, she meets Buddy.

Buddy is a Great Dane, and as Cecily was standing outside, he went flying past, his leash flapping in the wind behind him. Shortly after Buddy came a man in a cape, calling after him. Cecily helped the man catch the dog, and that’s when she noticed that his cape was actually for his haircut, which was only half done. He introduces himself as Will and thanks her for her help with the dog, which isn’t his. He had seen a woman calling after him and decided to be the hero and catch him.

He and Cecily exchange phone numbers so he can update her about Buddy. In the days that follow, he texts her updates. His name is Gideon, not Buddy. The woman wasn’t his owner. He’s actually up for adoption. And not surprisingly, Will is the guy who decides to adopt him. Cecily enjoys their text chatting, but she still has 20 blind dates to go on. And before she can do that, Eliza is insisting she get new photos. When Cecily shows up at the photo studio to get her picture taken, she finds the dog. The photographer is Will, and for once Cecily doesn’t hate the photo session.

On her first blind date, they go to a nice restaurant, and their waiter is none other than Will. Cecily had told her friend—who is also the show’s producer—about the dog incident. She hadn’t told her that Will was also her photographer and now the waiter on her date. So when her producer gets a quote from the cute waiter about what he thought about their date, she doesn’t realize that Cecily and Will had been flirting. But the listeners immediately choose the hot waiter over the date.

As the weeks go by, Cecily goes on 19 more dates, some more successful than others. She finds herself drawn to Will, but he’s told her that he wasn’t planning on staying in town very long, so she’s torn. She likes Will a lot, but she’s looking for someone who’s going to stick around. Plus, it’s possible that not just her career but her entire company rests on the success of this podcast. As the final episode gets closer, Cecily has to decide what she wants her future to look like, and who she wants to share it with.

Linda Holmes is back with another novel about a whip-smart woman trying to live her best life. Holmes is a podcaster for NPR, one of the hosts of the Pop Culture Happy Hour, as well as a writer, so when she talks podcasting, she knows her stuff. She says that these characters are not based on real people, so it’s not a hidden tell-all about her own podcast, but it is filled with a lot of insight about how much work goes into a single podcast episode and how exacting the producers and editors are. I’ve been listening to podcasts for years, so I found that especially interesting.

I loved this book. It brought back memories of the Janeane Garofalo film The Truth About Cats & Dogs, without all the messy Cyrano stuff. The best scenes of that movie are between Garofalo and Ben Chaplin and his dog, and the same goes for this novel. Buddy steals all his scenes (when Will adopts him, he chooses to call him Buddy over Gideon), and the dialogue between Cecily and Will just sparkles. This book is so much fun. It’s the perfect read for stressful days, or for when you’re craving a well-written rom com.

Egalleys for Back After This were provided by Ballantine Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

⭐️ 3.5

This was a cute, fun, easy-to-read romance! I liked Holmes's <i>Evvie Drake Starts Over</i> more, but <i>Back After This</i> was still really enjoyable. The characters were all likable and I loved when Buddy the Great Dane made appearances too.

Nothing groundbreaking happening here, but if you're looking for something light and fluffy (who isn't right now, am I right?) pick this up!

Back After This by Linda Holmes is a damn delight.

It follows podcast producer Cecily as she embarks on hosting a new show where a relationship coach will set her up on twenty dates. She’s excited to host, just not about the rest of it. So when she finds herself running into a twenty first guy over and over again, she’s left questioning what - and who - she really wants.

I enjoyed every moment of this book, laughed out loud the entire way through and continue to marvel at Holmes’ sublime pop culture references. It’s a smart, fun read filled with delicious banter that will keep you smiling long after you finish.

Back After This by Linda Holmes comes out today, 2/25.

A big thank you to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC!

Oh, how I LOVED this book! I was sold the moment I learnt that a Great Dane was involved in the meet cute between our protagonists, Cecily and Will, and you know what? The actual encounter was even more adorable!

As a podcast host, Cecily finally got a chance to launch her own show, where she was committed to 20 dates in order to find her one true love after breaking up with her nasty ex, who happened to be in the same industry and stole everything she poured her heart and soul in.

Enter Will, the charismatic jack of all trades who turned out to be the Great Dane chaser, the beloved waiter, and the talented photographer who seemed to come to Cecily's rescue whenever she was in desperate need of.

What I loved most about this book was the author's flawless writing and how smoothly the story unfolded. Cecily was so down-to-Earth that I realized I could easily resonate with her in so many ways, from her somewhat awkward personality to the confusion and frustration she felt during the speed dating--something I could unfortunately vouch for--she was undoubtedly an unforgettably lovable character. As for Cecily and Will, oh dear, there was so much to love about these cute lovebirds. Their funny banter, relatable characteristics, and natural chemistry were to die for and made it beyond effortless to fall in love with. These two were really precious.

All in all, I honestly couldn't recommend this book enough! Cecily and Will had grown so much with each other and they were the epitome of a perfect couple. I hoped we'd all get to find our special someone (if hadn't) in the foreseeable future just like how Cecily found Will. <3

***Massive thanks to Penguin Random House and the author for providing me with an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***

When Cecily, a podcast producer in D.C., is asked by her boss to host her own dating podcast in collaboration with a relationship influencer, her reluctance is evident.

But with her boss hinting at potential layoffs and her friend’s job in jeopardy, Cecily decides to let Eliza, the dating expert, set her up on 20 dates with men Eliza has researched and thinks would be perfect for her. But a loveable Great Dane and a cute and charismatic stranger named Will disrupt Cecily’s plan. And Cecily must decide what she really wants in life…in love and for her future.

This was such a cute read! I loved the setting of D.C., and learning about what it takes to edit and produce podcasts. Cecily’s inner dialogue was full of wit and humor. I found myself laughing at her comments throughout the book. I loved her conversations with Will, and how they both work through their own inner conflicts with what success and happiness truly mean.

This romance felt grounded and real, and I appreciated that.

And of course…I absolutely loved Buddy the dog! 🐾

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine for this gifted eARC, in exchange for my honest review.