this wasn’t the ending i was expecting nor was it what i wanted, but i really really enjoyed this book. it was gut wrenching for so many different reasons, but at the same time so uplifting. there were so many little bits and pieces that made me want to hug this book and these characters.

i’m an avid romance reader, as are a lot of people in this community, so i think it’s very important to note that this is not a romance book. yes there is a romantic element to it, there is romance involved, you will love the mmc, but it is not classified as a romance.

despite the heartbreak i got from this story, i absolutely adored the journey sawyer was able to take. watching her be able to live for the first time in her life was inspiring! and even though i wanted so much more, i was in love with her story!

and paxton. my lord, did he go through hell. i don’t think this man has ever had a break in his life. my heart was shattering for him 🥺

overall, i would definitely recommend this story. again, this isn’t your typical fluffy romance and i would check triggers before you crack it open, but i do hope you guys enjoy it when it releases 🫶🏻

I was super excited to get an ARC of B Celeste’s upcoming book, Past the Broken Bridges! This was the first book I read of hers, but she has been on my TBR for quite a while.

The FMC and MMC first met when they were little kids at a bridge that was close to where they lived. They became friends, but were soon separated once Hurricane Katrina came through.

The book picks up when both characters are in 21 and in college and they cross paths once again. They both have skeletons in their closet that they are unwilling to share with each other.

This story was incredibly well written and captured my interest from the very first word. I truly fell in love with the characters and was utterly devastated by the trials and tribulations they each went through. This book was so easy to give five stars to and I’m sure it will take up space in my mind for quite some time.

I highly encourage everyone to read this book! You will not be disappointed. Do make sure you have plenty of tissues ready though, because tears will be shed.

What to expect in Past the Broken Bridges:

- forced proximity
- neighbours to lovers
- childhood friends to strangers to lovers
- NA romance (set at college)
- cancer and addiction rep
- not a traditional romance (not a HEA)
- emotional and angsty tear-jerker

If you liked Under the Sycamore Tree by B. Celeste, you'll enjoy Past the Broken Bridges (even if it emotionally destroys you). It's a raw and real story of love, living life on your own terms, and loss, filled with secrets, swoon, and tears! I recommend checking trigger warnings at the book's beginning and diving in for the unforgettable journey.

I wasn't sure if I would be able to dry my eyes long enough after finishing this novel to be able to write this review on it, but here we are. I shall warn you now: plan on having a box of tissues at hand when reading this book.

'Past the Broken Bridges' is B. Celeste doing what B. Celeste does best: writing an unforgettable story of love, family, triumph, and tragedy. Sensitive readers, be sure to check out the list of trigger warnings at the beginning of the novel. I've seen some turmoil over what category to put this book into. In my opinion, 'Past the Broken Bridges' is a new adult novel that has elements of romance (and swoon worthy spice!) in it but also deals with serious topics and the story is not without a heavy dose of loss. When I was growing up, there was a popular author who wrote many stories of teens dealing with terminal illnesses - this book is the grown-up answer to those novels in all the best ways. It gave me a good dose of nostalgia when I likened this novel to ones that I had read voraciously as a young teen.

This book follows Sawyer, a twenty-one-year-old woman excited to leave the last five years of cancer treatments behind and finally start her life fresh at Louisiana State University. After abruptly departing the state due to Hurricane Katrina, Sawyer is excited to go back to the area that harbors some of her favorite childhood memories, including her friend Paxton. Once at LSU, Sawyer meets her new apartment neighbors, Dawson and Banks. Best friends for years, Dawson and Banks have made an agreement not to go after the same girl. Unfortunately, their new neighbor Sawyer is going to put that agreement to the test. What follows is a slow burn romance that will singe your eyebrows it's so hot that culminates in some spicy bedroom scenes (and for those I thank you!). This book isn't all romantic tension and young adult angst, however. There is some pretty heavy-handed foreshadowing that all may not be as it seems with Sawyer, and buddies Banks and Dawson are dealing with some tough issues as well. With all the foreshadowing, I assumed I knew how this book would end fairly early into the novel, and I could not have been more wrong. With a plot twist that I never saw coming, B. Celeste reconfirmed why she is one of my must buy authors.

The risk of having your heart broken at the end of this book is worth the reward of reading about Banks and his Birdie. Fans of B. Celeste's previous novel, Underneath the Sycamore Tree, will love this new book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloom for providing me with an eARC of this book to read.

Any story that makes me sob to the point I can no longer see is worthy of 5 stars. This is a tragic story about a girl living for herself. Sawyer has been struck with so much heart ache in her short 21 years, and she is finally able to live her life for her.

Banks is just trying to navigate college and his tumultuous relationship with his father. He isn't expecting his new neighbor Sawyer to flip his world upside-down. He skirts along with his friend Dawson while making friends and some enemies along the way.

A list leads Sawyer to break out of her comfort zone and start living. She encounters friendship, love, loss, and healing, all while losing her own battles.

Thank you to the author and netgally for the early copy

Omg this was so heartbreaking 😭😭

Wow. This story is crushing! Pull this one out when you need to feel something.

We follow our FMC, Sawyer who has been battling cancer for a good chunk of her life. She's been through four rounds of chemo and just wants to feel like a normal girl and experience life instead of just fighting for it.

Sawyer spent her early childhood years in Louisiana, but her family was forced to leave after Katrina hit and she'd always dreamt of going back. After going into remission, she gets accepted to LSU and fully intends on living her best life...

This book explores themes of chronic illness, addiction, abuse, grief, and healing. Balancing heartbreaking moments with uplifting ones. It’s an emotional rollercoaster that will stay with you long after the final page. We get to witness moments of selflessness and selfishness, making them all the more relatable.

It's a character driven story, which sometimes I struggle with a bit, but this was fantastic. I thought the characters were incredible. My favorite is definitely Banks. Oh, damn how I love him. He's so damn smart for a college guy lol. Caring and sweet. Just so strong despite all the horrors he's lived through. He just absolutely warmed my heart.

Sawyer is an absolutely amazing character as well. Such a compassionate and caring person. She sees herself as this selfish person who's always taking taking taking from those she loves, but it's the cancer. The cancer just takes and takes. She's such an empathetic and selfless person and my heart aches for her.

The story really gave me the feel of an earlier 2000's romance. I really have no idea why, but there was a sense of familiarity the entire time I was reading. That's a good thing lol it was such a comfortable story to sink into, despite the heavy subject matter.

The writing is beautiful, the dialogue between characters is sharp and natural. The story is vivid and captivating. Incredibly moving and poignant story.

I've gone back and forth on whether I want to give this 4 or 5 stars, because when I tell you I was just lying in my bed tears streaming down my face just sobbing. I think I'll settle on 4.5 stars for now.

Highly recommend for all my heart crushing, sob inducing, tear jerker loving besties!

💙Emotional Read
💙Forced Proximity
💙Neighbors to Lovers
💙Cancer Rep
💙Childhood Friends to Lovers
💙College Romance

Expected Release Date - 03/11/25

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bloom Books for the advanced digital copy, all thoughts are my own.

⋆✴︎˚｡⋆ Connect with me on Instagram ˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

3.8 rounded to 4

I like the Author’s style of writing.. emotional and poignant.. real and raw..
Sawyer and Banks are an angsty-love story.. how they both goes to Collage and meet each other and somehow they are pulled back from past time memories…
How the characters fights different battles, and not to say the heart-wrenching last chapters ..
.
What to expect:
- childhood friends
- close proximity
- angsty
- college romance

Thanks to the Author, NetGalley and Publisher for this Arc, the opinions are on my own

The heroine has been battling cancer for the past five years, and when she starts getting better, she decides to return to Louisiana—the place where she spent her childhood and where she holds warm memories. She enrolls at a university there, makes new friends, and finds herself drawn to the sweet guy who lives next door.

This book moved me and captivated me from the very first pages. The portrayal of cancer (and more) is incredibly well done—so raw and honest that I felt every emotion alongside Sawyer and Banks. The characters are wonderful, and I also really loved the heroine’s family.

While the book has a romantic storyline, it doesn’t take center stage. This is also a story about choices, friendship, parent-child relationships, self-sacrifice for the sake of others, and the consequences that come with it.

I won’t lie—this book will break your heart and leave a lasting mark on your soul. But don’t let that stop you, because this emotional story is absolutely worth your attention.

𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬:
✓ neighbors to lovers
✓ childhood friends
✓ forced proximity
✓ cancer rep
✓ emotional read

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloom Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

I think I’m gonna pass on this one…

(*thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this arc*)

. . . . .

Thank you NetGalley and Bloom books for the ARC

5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

First of all I haven’t read anything before by B. Celeste but this will for sure not be my only read by her! OMG the emotions! This book was so good it had me laughing, smiling and crying. Sawyer and Banks (Paxton) relationship spanned over a lifetime and it was beautiful to watch. The ending had been sobbing. I loved this book so much and highly recommend.

This is the first time I’ve been genuinely torn about a rating because this book is objectively good, but I reaaaally didn’t like it. It’s hard to articulate- I didn’t feel there was anything bad with the writing style and the story was incredibly vivid, but it was how the story went that I disliked greatly. It’s tough to say considering the circumstances of the characters, but they were just all too immature and selfish (seemingly self aware of that too). Things went off the rails in a way I wasn’t expecting and overall I think this is just not my type of book. Though, I can certainly say I felt strong emotions through the pages because I did cry quite a lot…but not even in a good funny way :( One final note- I do not think this should be considered a romance book. If anything, it could be a romantic tragedy. Do not read this book expecting a happy ending!


Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebook Bloom books for the arc! I would still recommend (with warning) to anyone who can handle a tragedy (sure ain’t me!)

This was my first book by B Celeste, and I WASN'T READY! This is such a beautifully written story full of hope, heartache, courage, and love.

Our FMC, Sawyer, is battling Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. She is, however, determined to still live her life and experience things as normally as possible while undergoing treatment. When her long-lost childhood friends, Paxton, comes back into her life, he becomes an amazing support system. The support Sawyer and Paxton show each other is so touching throughout the story.

B Celeste wrote these characters in such a relatable way that it feels as if she's writing about someone who could easily be part of my life. While parts of this book were heartbreaki, g there was still an amazing undercurrent of hope and perseverance. I highly recommend this beautiful story!

This book explores themes of chronic illness, addiction, abuse, grief, and healing. Balancing heartbreaking moments with uplifting ones. It’s an emotional rollercoaster that will stay with you long after the final page. We get to witness moments of selflessness and selfishness, making them all the more relatable. With its beautifully written prose, complex characters, and raw emotions, it’s the kind of book that will break your heart and put it back together again.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

I’m used to Celeste’s books being sad, don’t get me wrong. I just didn’t think this one got good until the second half. The first half was slow and just felt too childish.

I really enjoyed Banks’ character. I hope he find happiness in the end. I was so happy to see his character grow as the book progressed.

I couldn’t connect with Sawyer in many ways. While I don’t have cancer, I have an autoimmune disease that sometimes makes me want to scream or give up. I completely understand her state of mind as she tries to live what life she has left.

The ending…I’m not sure I’m happy with. I think I will grow to accept it, but at the time I was upset she never got her goodbye with her mom and brother. I didn’t think that was fair to them.

Of course I cried at the end. How can you not? I’m just happy everything came full circle.

*An ARC was received in exchange for an honest review.

Emotional, with many twists and turns, Past the Broken Bridges really touched me. I was weary going into it though, because of a similar story from this author.. not a romance.

Past the Broken Bridges by B. Celeste broke me in the very best way. It tells the story of Sawyer, a girl that had her best memories in Louisiana, before moving to New York after Katrina. She has faced the unthinkable being diagnosed with cancer and returns to Louisiana to live life, go to school and be normal again.
She befriends Banks, Dawson and Dixie. Together they have college norms- parties, crushes, heartache. They have tragedies, traumas and friendship.
B. Celeste will take you on an emotional rollercoaster of happiness, sadness, heartbreak.
I don’t want to say too much as you should experience the events as they happen on the page.
It was an unbelievable story that will leave you of thoughts of a beautifully tragic story. I couldn’t put it down!

Gotta say, I did not see this story pulling a Happy Days and jumping the shark at about 75% done, so when it happened, I had to go back and reread a couple pages to make sure I was still reading the same beautiful, heartbreaking story I had originally started. I just don’t think this is the kind of story that needs a crazy, far fetched twist to end it off. Kind of felt like B. Celeste wanted a Freda McFadden ending…but wanted to keep her signature tough, heart-pulling subjects. And it just didn't work for me. I was balling, ugly tears and everything, then was thrown for a loop and left wondering what happened….it lost a star for the ending but I’d still recommend if you are a B. Celeste fan.

Banks & Sawyer's story absolutely broke me. I honestly don't think I have adequate words to do this review justice, so all I'm going to say is this - if you love a book that will absolutely smash your heart into tiny pieces but then slowly put it back together again, then you must read PAST THE BROKEN BRIDGES.
Oh, and make sure you have some Kleenex handy to dry the tears!

I absolutely loved this at first and raved about it but the longer I sat with it the less I liked the ending and I just can’t give it more than two.

5/5!

Past the Broken Bridges?? i think i’m forever stuck at the bridges. This book tore my heart out , I laughed, I cried and I stared at the ceiling.

A dual POV where we get to see how both main characters deal with the highs and low of life at their young age, dealing with issues such as abuse, grief, Illness and addiction (check trigger warnings). Every character has their own moments and their own story within this book, I cannot wait to buy a physical copy.


Thank you to Bloom Books and Netgalley for this arc!