Longtime podcast producer Cecily Foster is excellent at her job, her love life however, is another story. After an opportunity presents its self in the form of an offer she would love to refuse, Cecily decides to use it to her advantage. She agrees to go with her boss's plan for a podcast to help her find love through the help of a lifestyle and relationship influencer that will lead her through 20 dates with 20 different men while the entire experience is broadcast for others to listen to, as long as she can secure the opportunity to help a friend keep her job and the promise of the opportunity to finally create the podcast project she wants when this experience is behind her. Although she enters the experience reluctantly, she does keep an open mind and more importantly, along the way she remembers more about who she is and how she deserves to feel in both work and relationships. I love when a story keeps me entertained in a light hearted way, but packs those lessons within the pages of remembering just exactly who you are after life has dealt you a series of experiences that knock you down. I would highly recommend Back After This for anyone looking for an entertaining, funny and thoughtful book. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing-Ballantine Books for the advanced copy, all opinions are my own.

3 Stars.

🎙️ The vibes:
- Podcasting
- Dating show
- A dog
- A sweet sister
- Chick lit / women’s fiction
- Fade to black (very vague/quick open)

🎙️ My thoughts:
I really enjoyed the awkwardness of Will and Cecily at first. And I love a dog. So obviously I loved Buddy the Great Dane.

I liked the podcasting bits but sometimes that felt like a huge portion of the book…maybe too much technical stuff on podcasting for the average reader. I found it interesting because of my own podcasting journey, but I’m not sure that others will. While we saw a lot of the behind the scene podcasting bits, we didn’t see much of the actual podcast show that the entire plot of the book is about. This was such a huge missed opportunity for me.

I liked Will and Cecily together but the conflict of the podcast really stressed me out. And some of the push and pull between these conflicts felt a little icky to me.

The way Will minimized things with Cecily was annoying. And then the way Cecily said all those super rude things about Will. I don’t know- it was hard to get past that. Do you ever read a couple that you just don’t think will work out ? That’s this couple for me.

And then Eliza- our dating guru/ influencer. It seemed like she was maybe sweet and caring sometimes but then other times she came across as a real witch. I have so many conflicting feelings about her character but overall, I was really frustrated and confused by the direction of her role.

I will say this was an interesting and entertaining read. I just had a really hard time liking anyone. I want to root for characters, while I did like pieces of Will and Cecily, I struggled to root for them or for anyone else in this book.

I don’t know that this hits open door level - but it’s a little in between fade to black and open door. Very low on spice, in my opinion, but not quite closed door. I was unsure how to label it on spice scale.

Release date: February 25, 2025.
Note- fade to black / vague open door.

Thank you so much to Linda Holmes, NetGalley, and Random House Publishing - Ballentine for the gifted copy.

*note- posted on bookbub, Instagram (posted on stories on 1/23/24 and saved permanently to my “Reviews 2” highlight reel on my profile) , goodreads, Storygraph, and barnes and noble. Links provided. Will be posted on Amazon after release date when Amazon allows me to.

4 podcaster stars

This one told me everything (maybe too much?) about podcasts and how they are created and produced. Cecily Foster is a fantastic podcast producer who also fixes everyone else’s issues. Her boss takes advantage of her, and she works all the time. She is the queen of the data storage system, though.

Cecily has ideas for podcasts she’d like to produce and constantly pitches them to her boss. He finally agrees to let her produce one if she does this one little project for him. She has to work with an influencer/coach and go on 20 dates. What could possibly go wrong here?

Cecily will host this show, so that’s a big step up. But does she buy into this concept enough to make it a big hit? And what does influencer Eliza Cassidy get out of this whole deal? Lots of exposure, that’s for sure!

While Eliza is busy vetting 20 appropriate men for Cecily to date, a meet-cute happens for single Cecily. There's a Great Dane, a caped man, and a chase through the city. As Cecily continues to run into Will, the men she dates pale in comparison.

I liked the witty banter in this one, and I rooted for Cecily to find happiness with her love and work life.

3.5 stars rounded up because she stuck the landing beautifully!

Look, I will gobble up any content Linda Holmes releases. I love her writing. She doesn’t write relatable characters, she writes characters that feel like REAL PEOPLE.

Cecily half-heartedly agrees to host a podcast wherein she will be guided by an influencer-turned-dating guru on twenty dates to find a perfect match. Immediately after agreeing to this, Cecily has a painfully adorable meet-cute with a Great Dane-chasing, cape-wearing (a hair salon cape, don’t make this weird) cutie named Will.

Yes, they hit it off, but Cecily is still on the hook for these twenty contractually-obligated dates. Does she go on said dates? Yes. Does the universe keep putting Will directly in Cecily’s path? Also yes.

The reason I’m not rating this higher is because I grew so frustrated at the story for actively working against Cecily and Will exploring their connection. I wasn’t really a fan of the side characters that I didn’t actively hate. I found myself constantly looking forward to the next Cecily/Will interaction.

In the end, I loved the strangers-to-friends-to-lovers storytelling. Watching their relationship grow was lovely. The last ~30% of the book is so real and reflective and evoked all the emotions that I’ve come to expect from a Linda Holmes book.

*This ARC was provided by Random House Publishing Group via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

3.5 stars

I really liked Will but I thought Cecily was pretty average; I didn’t find anything about her that really drew me in. I thought their meet cute was just that - cute! Unfortunately, I didn’t find many other characters that I cared for that much so I was hoping the story would pick up. I do like that we sped through the twenty dates where we got the highlights and outcomes, but without feeling like it was too much. I did think the last 25% or so picked up a bit for me and I enjoyed it.

I would recommend this book. Overall I did liked it and will continue to read books by this author.

Cecily is a podcast producer and a fixer — she’s always got exactly what you need in her bag and knows exactly how to tweak your audio edit in just the right way to make it sing. Unfortunately, she doesn’t know exactly how to fix her love life, so her boss convinces her to host and star in a podcast about her dating life.

I really enjoyed Linda Holmes’ previous two books, so I was excited to read this one. Unfortunately I did not like it quite as much as the others.

My main issue with this book was the romance was not swoony. I’m sure Cecily and Will were a nice couple, but they didn’t have the chemistry and tension I was looking for. Their banter didn’t quit snap or zing.

The story focuses a lot on podcast production, which was interesting, but unfortunately there were times the technicalities of the industry bogged down the pace. LOTS of people work together to make a podcast, but this meant there were a lot of barely-there characters mentioned frequently in passing.

The plot relies A LOT on chance encounters between Cecily and Will, which I only let pass because Cecily acknowledges the unlikeliness of this and it ends up speaking to greater themes in the book. So if you’re bothered by coincidental encounters (like… 5 within the first half of the book), you won’t like this.

There were bright moments — mostly when Cecily’s daring coach, friend, and sister help point out Cecily’s tendencies and flaws that were contributing to her issues. Overall, a fine book, but I wanted more swoon and romance!

Thank you to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for this free e-book ARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts are my own.

This book was an interesting take on modern dating, and the plot definitely opened my eyes. A dating coach? I had to Google it, and yep, it’s a real thing in today’s world. For a supporting character, Eliza, the dating coach, was way more intriguing than Cecily. Maybe that’s intentional since Cecily fits the role of someone who actually needs a dating coach.

The biggest letdown for me was Cecily’s 20 dates. They’re described briefly with her thoughts on each guy, but that format felt flat. Since the dates were recorded, it would’ve been so much better to read them as actual recordings. That could’ve shown off each guy’s personality and added a lot more humor to the story.

On the bright side, the meet-cute between Will and Cecily was sweet and well done. The dialogue between them brought out chemistry that was completely missing in her other 20 dates, where we only got her opinions of the men.

The biggest problem, though, was Eliza’s role as a dating coach. For a plot centered around this concept, there wasn’t much actual coaching. Eliza’s storyline veered off into something completely unrelated, and the dating coach idea ended up being a missed opportunity.

Still, as a meet-cute story, it was enjoyable, and you can probably guess how it ends. It’s light and fun, but I couldn’t help wishing it had delivered more on its unique premise.

I would like to express my deep gratitude to Random House Publishing Group - Ballatine and NetGalley for their generosity in allowing me to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this one. As a podcast aficionado and person who loves love, this ticked all of my boxes for a fun read. Interesting, strong woman who has friends, a job, and direction? Check. Handsome guy with a fun meet cute? Check. Dog? Check. Even the conflict in this story was, if not likable, believable. I knew pretty quickly who not to like, who to just tolerate, and who was safe. And I appreciated that we got color on the secondary and tertiary characters without the author diving so deep into their lives to be boring. (I was excited that Pete and Molly closed the loop on the double ovens!) Highly recommend this read!

This was light, fun, and (as always with Linda Holmes) so sweet and wholesome. At first, this story felt slow. There was some learning in the first few chapters about the world of podcasting. But stick with it—Cecily and Will’s non-stop, snappy banter makes it all worth it. Based on the premise, I was expecting more of a rom-com plot, but Back After This was much more character driven. The characters felt real along with their chemistry.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC!

10 stars out of 5!!!! I loved this book SO MUCH and really don’t know how to do it justice in a review. This is a “break glass in case of emergency” read it when you really really need an escape from the real world book. I didn’t want to put it down but also didn’t want to ever finish which is the best bookish problem.

Cecily is a podcast producer and gets approached by her boss to host a show where she works with a coach and gets sent on 20 first dates to find love. She is really reluctant but ends up being convinced that she needs to do it. But what if she meets someone on her own who seems pretty great?

I loved this book so much but describing the plot just doesn’t do it justice. The writing is so good - I kept highlighting parts that made me laugh out loud and I cried a little as I finished. These characters felt so real to me that I miss them now that it’s done and I’m so bummed not to be able to continue following what’s happening in their lives. It’s only January but I’m calling this now as a favorite book of 2025!! Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook to review.

I really enjoyed this book. I would say 4.5 stars and I went back and forth on which one to credit. I wish you could do half-stars. I believe Linda Holmes has become a must-read author for me. Cecily was a great heroine. She was not whiny or immature or constantly unsure of herself. She was good at her job and she knew it and liked what she did. I expected Eliza to be a nightmare character honestly, but I truly appreciated that the author wrote her as likable. I read another review that was disappointed the book didn't focus on the twenty dates from her podcast, but I for one was glad that they summarized them so efficiently and entertaining. If the purpose of the plot had been for her to actually find her person, then I would have wanted more from the dates, but the end game was pretty obvious. I enjoyed most all of the supporting characters because they were exactly that, supporting. There was no unnecessarily evil foe or ex to cause friction. There was not a ton of miscommunication that could have been cleared up with one conversation. A little, yes, but not the driving force of the plot. Maybe most importantly, there was Buddy. Who doesn't love a Great Dane? Overall, if you are looking for a book of a self-assured woman just trying to find her way and make the best decisions, this is the book for you. I do highly recommend it as a form of escapism but with heart also.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballentine Books for the ARC!

Cecily Foster, a behind-the-scenes podcast producer, finally gets her shot at the spotlight—but it comes with strings. To host a new dating podcast, she’ll have to put her own love life on display under the guidance of influencer-turned-life-coach Eliza Cassidy. Add in a charming meet-cute with Will (and his runaway dog, Buddy), and Cecily’s life gets a lot more complicated.
Cecily is a relatable protagonist—hardworking, funny, and a bit stuck in her ways. She’s great at managing others but struggles to advocate for herself, especially in relationships. Watching her navigate Eliza’s rules, her work pressures, and her feelings for Will was equal parts frustrating and rewarding. Cecily’s journey to find balance between what she wants for her career and her heart felt authentic and satisfying.
Will is an instant favorite—kind, unassuming, and endlessly supportive. His self-doubt about not having a “traditional” career added depth to his character, making his moments with Cecily even sweeter. Their banter is witty, their chemistry natural, and their shared moments with Buddy are downright adorable.
Holmes does a great job weaving humor into the narrative, with several laugh-out-loud scenes, especially when Cecily’s dates (both planned and unplanned) go awry. The podcast production details were interesting, though they occasionally slowed the pacing. Still, the character growth and tender romance kept the story moving.
Overall, Back After This is a charming read about finding your voice—both professionally and personally—and learning to ask for what you truly want. If you’re a fan of stories with complicated characters, feel-good romance, and a sprinkle of workplace drama, this one’s worth adding to your list.

᪥ RomCom
᪥ Fade To Black
᪥ Single POV

Cecily is a longtime podcast producer who has always wanted to host her own show, but she has spent her career being an all-hands-on-deck type of team player and has put all of her own aspirations, not to mention personal time and love life, on the back burner for it. Her boss finally gives her the opportunity she's been waiting for, but with a catch: first Cecily has to host a show about influencer-turned-dating-coach Eliza... and be the recipient of the dating advice + blind date setups. She goes on 20 dates as agreed, but none of them have sparks flying like the accidental run-ins she keeps having with Will, a photographer slash waiter with whom she has a legitimately cute meet-cute. Eliza (and essentially Cecily's boss) says no way can she date Will because of the show - and so Cecily has to figure out how to balance her real life feelings with professional expectations, not to mention public ones when the show goes viral. I enjoy an Emily Henry book of course, but Linda Holmes might be my rom-com favorite - like a classic, favorite movie rom-com in how there are some sticky or funny situations but it's not over the top or exhaustingly zany, the female protagonist is perfectly bookish, the couple is one you root for through and through, and the bedroom scenes are left...in the bedroom. Plus, she is the queen of writing non-cheesy banter, in my opinion. There's such a great rat-a-tat to the conversation, but nothing that makes me roll my eyes or feels totally unrealistic/slapstick, as can sometimes happen in a rom-com. She's also excellent at weaving in pop culture references seamlessly, and literary ones to boot, and I loved the behind-the-scenes of podcasting (which Linda Holmes of course knows all about firsthand). Recommend for fans of Evvie Drake, of course, but also books like One to Watch for the dating/reality show aspect, or Annabel Monaghan's books for the older/more established protagonist. This was absolutely delightful, and I am so pleased to have gotten an advance e-copy from Netgalley so that I could enjoy it sooner! ★★★★.25

It took me about 40% in to start enjoying the book. It was very slow going in the beginning. Once it picked up a little, I was more interested. I think there was way too much jargon and building of the story that made it drag. The idea was cute and I really liked Will, but overall it was just an average read.

I fell in love with this book. I think a lot of people will be able tree relate to Cecily and that's what makes a great book.
I loved the ending and how she learned from the influencer that it's ok to do what you want and love.
Highly recommend.

After loving Evvie Drake, I was so excited to get an ARC of Linda’s newest book!
I LOVED the banter with Cecily & Will, and of course Buddy was a treat!
This book made me happy and giggly. I laughed out loud many times throughout. I thought Cecily was relatable in a lot of ways. Will was lovely. Eliza was unbearable, but understandably so!
The only downfall was a little too much audio/podcast talk.
Overall, I would re-read this and recommend to others! Can’t wait for Linda’s next one!

Back After This had everything you would want in a Rom Com. It was light, cute, fun, funny and an enjoyable easy read. Our main character was smart, self aware and quirky in the best ways. As the plot progressed through the podcast she was making, i really enjoyed where things were going. The real strength is what was happening behind the scenes & I loved watching her story with Will progress. Things sort of lost momentum toward the end. The wrap up just wasn’t as satisfying as the book deserved. But as a whole it was a fun, cute, clean romance that I think a lot of people will enjoy!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.

Cecily is the yes woman at Palmetto where she works as a longtime podcast producer and audio editor. After her boyfriend leaves her and takes their show they created together to another company and another city, she's dreamed about her own show. Her boss at Palmetto barters the idea that if she does this one thing for him, she'll pilot her own show. But that one thing is putting herself out there with the help of an influencer/dating coach/selfhelp guru and podcasting it for the world to listen to. What happens when bad timing hits and you find a guy organically in the middle of twenty first dates? Chaos ensues.

I loved this book and the small twists and turns. It's a girl meets guy, girl loses guy, girl gets guy back BUT along the way, it does become a lesson in 'I want' and learning to do things for yourself and not just others.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this book! I liked the characters, especially Will. I read it in two days. It’s a cute rom-com.

Good read with real characters, witty dialogue, and all the rom-com fun! Interesting look into the world of influencers and podcast creation!