Linda Holmes delivers again with another charming romance. The main character and her love interest are both characters for whom you can easily root. The peek behind the curtain of podcasting was also enjoyable! I enjoyed this book very much!

Cute story about a professional podcaster trying to position herself as a podcast host on a successful show in order to one-up her very successful ex.

Cecily agrees to a crazy new show portraying her 20 date journey to true love, coached by a big time influencer. Motivated by ambition and concern for the long term job security of her friends and colleagues, she suppresses her doubts and concerns along with her interest in a guy she keeps bumping into.

I liked the banter between Cecily and Will, and loved the relationships between Cecily and her sister, Will and his sister, and Cecily and her bff Julie. Insight into the podcast world was an added bonus.

This isn’t my favorite by this author but it’s definitely one I enjoyed and makes me look forward to her next book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the early copy.

Excellent! I love how this story started. A meet cute with a great Dane, can you even get any better?!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I was so delighted to have the chance to read and review this book early. I have loved both of her other books, and this one is my new favorite. Her characters are so real and relatable, and I loved learning the details of the podcasting world as well. The romance is sweet and believable. I loved the dog as well. A wonderful read, and one I'm sure I will be re-reading and recommending to all of my friends.

3.5⭐️

This was my first Linda Holmes book and it was a cute little romcom. Sweet, funny, and wrapped up at the end with a nice bow — exactly what I love!

What I enjoyed most was the banter between Cecily and Will. The witty conversations between the two made me laugh out loud. I could easily feel the chemistry between them.

However, I didn’t really feel like I connected strongly with any character. I wish there’d been a bit more backstory about some of the side characters. I didn’t get the feeling Cecily and Julie were as close as I was told they were, and a huge part of Cecily’s actions relied on her supposedly strong relationship with Julie.

This story talks a lot about the world of audio, which I thought would be a distraction but actually found quite interesting.

I’ve added other Linda Holmes books to my reading list thuggish and look forward to seeing her fun and unique writing style in other plot lines.

I was provided an ARC by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Linda Holmes!

To be honest, I wasn't unsure about this story at first. It just felt a little slow in the beginning. The author did a great job regarding character development! The story picks up and the "meet cute" between Cecily and Will evolves from there. Cecily has decisions to make. I would recommend!

Very happy that my first advanced copy from NetGalley turned out to be a book I really loved! The plot was fun (podcast producer gets talked into hosting a show about her own dating life) and Cecily felt so real and relatable to me. Almost too relatable… It was also cool to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes of podcast production! While you wait for this one to release in February, I highly recommend checking out Evvie Drake Starts Over and Flying Solo, also by Linda Holmes!

As a big fan of Evvie Drake starts over, I was so excited to read Back After This.

Linda Holmes writes in such a way that I felt so at ease reading this book. Cecily’s narration was so funny and likable that it made the book an easy and quick read. I would like about Cecily and her journey when I wasn’t reading. My heart was in the story with her.

I learned a lot about audio engineering while reading, but it didn’t feel like an overwhelming amount of information. Linda Holmes gave just enough information about podcasting that it didn’t feel like an info dump and it didn’t take me out of the story.

The romance in this book was incredibly cute and just felt so natural. Nothing felt forced and the overall arc of the 20 Dates journey was unique and engaging.

I ate Back After This up. 100% would recommend and can’t wait for it to come out!

DNF @ 40%

While I found this funny and the premise interesting, the execution left much to be desired.
Although the description of the podcasting and the overall show idea was detailed and fascinating, I felt like the romance had an overall slow pace. I wanted more buy in with the obvious love interest choice.
It was just toooo slow of a build. And sorry, I just didn't care about the ins and outs of everything else. I wanted to fall in love with the fmc and the love interest but not enough time was dedicated to them for my taste.

I enjoyed this book, although it was quite obvious to all (except Cecily and Eliza) which person she should date. There were many funny scenes in this book - but there were also poignant and thoughtful parts. It would make a great movie I think.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this early. Linda Holmes has turned into a must-read author for me. Cecily works in the podcast industry and is always overlooked for having her own show. That changes when her boss offers her the chance to have her own show, but the terms are less than ideal to Cecily. He wants it to be a show about her dating life complete with a relationship coach who is big in the social media world. The idea of going on 20 blind dates is painful to Cecily, but she wants to finally get the chance to have her own show. Add in Will, a photographer, who she has a meet-cute with while they're trying to chase after a dog who is on the run. Through the show Cecily is given the opportunity to figure out what she really wants as far as her career and what she's looking for in a partner (maybe she doesn't have the same priorities as the relationship coach).
Great dialogue, great secondary characters, and a very likable lead all make this book definitely worth reading!

I love Pop Culture Happy Hour, but is it bad to wish that Linda Holmes could just write romance full-time? Her third book is just as delightful as the others, this time set in the world of professional podcasting. Hardworking producer Cecily gets coerced into hosting an audio dating show that involves her working with a dating coach and going on many blind dates. But when she maybe meets someone great IRL, things get very complicated.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC of this book. Although this was a topic I didn't have a lot of interest in-I'm one of like, four people who've never listened to a podcast (although I love audiobooks) and the details about editing were not that interesting to me, I love the dialogue Linda Holmes writes! I laughed out loud multiple times reading this and interweaving in the influencer story line felt very current. I really appreciate books where I have good feelings about the character- If you are looking for a sophisticated romance with captivating dialogue you can't go wrong with Linda Holmes!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to preview Back After This by Linda Holmes in exchange for an honest review. I have been a huge fan of Linda's for a very long time. I found her through the NPR podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour and read everything she writes at NPR (please bring back the tv Christmas movie watch guides!). I don't often read romance and when I do I rarely enjoy it. Linda's work is an exception. Back After This is officially my favorite of her three novels. It is an absolute delight! This story hits all the classic rom com notes without seeming stale and Holmes infuses her sense of humor throughout. I highly recommend this to anyone needing a fun diversion.

You can count on Linda Holmes to write a solid rom-com with fun dialogue, an engaging plot, and the right amount of quirks to be funny, but also still be plausible. I love that she wrote about the podcasting world (her other job) and as an avid podcast listener, I found learning about some of the behind the scenes parts to be quite interesting. Would definitely read another book by her.

4.5 ⭐️

I looooved this book! I loved Will, I loved Buddy, I loved it all. I was rooting for Cecily and I’m so happy to see she found her happiness and her “I want”. Eliza may have had good intentions but I still think she can go kick rocks, same with Justin. Cecily’s growth throughout really hooked me, especially with Will even through their rough patch, and I thought she had a really good sense of humor being able to point out that yeah, these guys were boring and so are my answers to all the questions. Will is one of the best book boyfriends and I will die on that hill. Will + Buddy forever

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for this arc!

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was EVERYTHING. Admittedly, it did start a little slow but it was necessary to understand Cecily and all that was to come with her and her character development. Once it get's going - I couldn't put it down (I was reading it in the Costco food court!).

I kept trying to think of what ROM COM this reminded me of. It had elements of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, You've Got Mail, While You Were Sleeping, and so many others. Really, none of them really fit into the box of comparison to "Back After This" because it is uniquely wonderful while giving off the best of RomCom vibes. This left me with all the warm and fuzzy feelings and kicking my feet.

This will be released February 25th, 2025.

Thank you for this ARC! I loved Holmes debut novel but her second one fell short for me. This was somewhere in between. The love story was sweet and it was interesting to see behind the scenes of the podcast world. It did give us a HEA but it felt a little too forced. Regardless, the characters were likable and the story was unique. I recommend this for romance lovers!

This was a satisfying and cozy read. It was meandering in a comfortable way and it allowed me time to get to know the characters really well. And kept me turning the pages.

3.5/4 ⭐️ Back After This can’t compete with Evvie Drake, but I thoroughly enjoyed this heartwarming story and would encourage anyone to read it when looking for a well-written rom com and who is interested in learning behind-the-scenes some of what goes into making a successful podcast. Spoiler - it’s a lot of time and hard work! This book is funny and dispenses some pretty good advice between the lines.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. Back After This will be on shelves Feb 25, 2025. Put it on your list!