Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Here We Go Again

This was really cute. Great banter and character development. I had to speed through it on audio though because the grief and loss was too much for my mental health, otherwise this may have been a 5 star

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stardustandrockets's review against another edition

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5.0

Using famous queer people as curses aside, I really enjoyed this book. It's a heavier book than Cochrun's first two books, but has the same delightful humor.

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leweylibrary's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I read this for a book club and was so resistant because I do not like romances lol. I do largely think it was surprisingly good, I just have two main gripes really.

First, I just do not enjoy many romance tropes, especially when there's so many jam-packed into one book like this. Friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, grumpy sunshine, one bed, opposites attract, stuck together/forced proximity, second chance, 3rd act breakup, etc. It was just too much for me and I saw it coming a mile away and not in a way that was fun for me 🤷‍♀️

Second, I wish every single phrase like "Oscar fucking Wilde" with random famous gay people had been left the fuck out. Wow that was annoying and it was like every other page throughout the whole book! Cochrun tried to make it this endearing, quirky thing about one of the MCs and it just was not that at all. It took me out of the story and made me gag and roll my eyes every single time because NO ONE TALKS LIKE THAT, stop trying to make this the character's thing. We get it, she's gay, and I love her for that, but THIS? No. Stop. And it would always be used in moments when I was actually getting into and enjoying the book and then BAM, I'm out of it and annoyed.

Which is a bummer because overall I did enjoy it. I resonated a lot with the characters and some of the situations. I appreciated and loved the queer (sapphic and asexual) representation and the two very different portrayals of ADHD. Something about their relationship still feels toxic to me, but their relationship with Joe was very cute, especially as someone who also was very close with her teachers, including my English teacher in high school. I appreciated the overall message of doing bold things and living your life to the fullest because you're going to die anyway no matter how safe and secure you try to keep your life. The writing was great, and there were definitely scenes that got me choked up--even if they were usually closely followed with that damn phrase thing that drove me insane and ruined the moment. The ending is obviously sad, but not in a bad way at all.

I have a feeling a feeling the others in my book club are going to love it though lol ugh.

Coming back to say JUST KIDDING lmao they did not like it 😂 I feel better.

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fromjuliereads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I cried and teared up through the last like 70 pages 😭😭 such a good book.

I'm leaning towards 4.5 stars but also thinking f*ck it, it's 5 stars cause it's hard to make me cry with books...

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kelly_e's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Title: Here We Go Again
Author: Alison Cochrun
Genre: Romance
Rating: 5.00
Pub Date: April 2, 2024

I received a complimentary eARC from Atria Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #Gifted

T H R E E • W O R D S

Delightful • Heartfelt • Wanderlusting

📖 S Y N O P S I S

A long time ago, Logan Maletis and Rosemary Hale used to be friends. They spent their childhood summers running through the woods, rebelling against their conservative small town, and dreaming of escaping. But then an incident the summer before high school turned them into bitter rivals. After graduation, they went ten years without speaking.

Now in their thirties, Logan and Rosemary find they aren’t quite living the lives of adventure they imagined for themselves. Still in their small town and working as teachers at their alma mater, they’re both stuck in old patterns. Uptight Rosemary chooses security and stability over all else, working constantly, and her most stable relationship is with her label maker. Chaotic and impulsive Logan has a long list of misguided ex-lovers and an apathetic shrug she uses to protect herself from anything real. And as hard as they try to avoid each other—and their complicated past—they keep crashing into each other. Including with their cars.

But when their beloved former English teacher and lifelong mentor tells them he has only a few months to live, they’re forced together once and for all to fulfill his last wish: a cross-country road trip. Stuffed into the gayest van west of the Mississippi, the three embark on a life-changing summer trip—from Washington state to the Grand Canyon, from the Gulf Coast to coastal Maine—that will chart a new future and perhaps lead them back to one another.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I'd previously loved The Charm Offensive, but Kiss Her Once For Me didn't hit the same level for me. Regardless, Here We Go Again was one of my anticipated 2024 releases (hello road trip!), and it quickly rose to the top of my stack when it was recommend by a trusted book friend.

What an absolute delight!

Filled with a combination of laugh-out-loud and heartfelt moments, this story and it's characters wiggled their way into my heart as they embarked on a road trip to fulfil Joe's death wish. It's full of adventure, memories, beautiful relationships, belonging, love, and heartache. Some of my favourite moments were the van, the binder, the detours along the way, the nude painting discovery, the drag show, all of the musical moments, and of course, when they finally make it to Maine.

Logan and Rosemary's character growth felt wholly natural and the author does a fantastic job subtly incorporating their neurodiversity (ADHD and anxiety rep) into the story. I really enjoyed getting to unravel what tore them apart and slowly seeing them come together again. Their banter had me laughing often.

And then there is Joe - he was the glue holding the entire story together and I absolutely adored his character. Learning about his past - how he came to play a parental role for each of the girls and his own queerness was such a joy. The teacher/student relationship was beautiful. Of course, I cannot forget Odysseus, the cancer dog. And Remy... sweet sweet Remy.

The romance never overtakes the story, yet it's easy to see where their relationship will end up. It's really the secondary love story which had my whole heart. Stunningly beautiful! Additionally, the open dialogue on grief and talk about death was a breath of fresh air. As an avoidant society, these types of discussions are so important, yet we don't have them. Lastly, I thought it was an accurate depiction of the caregiving process and all that it entails. End-of-life care is physically, emotionally and psychologically exhausting and portraying it as such is so important.

Here We Go Again is one of those stories that made me smile through tears. There were so many beautiful moments in this childhood best friends to enemies to lovers story filled with queer joy. Found family stories have quickly become a trope I adore, and the ending was bittersweet. There is no doubt it'll be making its way onto my Top Reads of 2024 come December. Definitely bring the Kleenex for this one.

📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• road trips
• forced proximity
• life lessons from the dying
• sapphic rom-coms

⚠️ CW: cancer, terminal illness, medical content, excrement, vomit, death, death of parent, grief, abandonment, toxic relationship, lesbophobia, homophobia, outing, sexual content, cursing, mental illness, alcoholism, panic attacks/disorders, alcohol, drug use, overdose

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"He saw the way her brain worked, and instead of trying to fix it, he celebrated it."

"Hale looks even more perfect to Logan in this moment, because she looks like a flawed human being."

"Life is the prickly pear. It's always going to be a combination of beauty and hurt, no matter how hard you try to protect yourself from the hard parts. There is no way to avoid pain."

"Your brain in the most beautiful thing about you. And I'm including your soft ass in this list."

"This is love. Love is seeing perfection in every flaw. Seeing every flaw as a miracle because it belongs to the person you care about most. Love is saying, yes, still. Even after all these years."

"We're never truly safe. That's life."

Content Warnings

mamaewalk's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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maddiereadswords's review against another edition

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4.0

Listen, this book was brilliant and wonderful and heartrendingly beautiful, but also I absolutely never want to read it again ever in my life, thanks so much for understanding <3

Ok, but for real though, I loved the Odyssey of it all, and I fell in love with all three of the main characters, especially Logan and Rosemary. Their POVs and voices were always different enough that it was easy to tell who was narrating any given part. I will say, though, POV switches in the middle of chapters remain one of my most hated things, and I also have to take points off for the whole bit where the characters use famous queer people's names as expletives; it was fun at first, but the joke got old really fast. Overall though, I thoroughly enjoyed most of this book. The romance was so well-done, and it felt very earned by the end, and this is very much one of those books where even though you know how it ends, the journey was absolutely worth it. (And I LOVED how they found little pockets of queer community and belonging in places they didn't expect!!)

But that ending though...I won't spoil it, but if you read the summary then yeah you can guess what's gonna happen, and oh boy I was not expecting it to hit me as hard as it did. I was not in as good of a headspace for this as I thought I was going in, so I'll fully admit I skimmed most of the last few chapters, but it was still such a good story that I can't even knock off points for that. This truly is a rom-com about death, and even though I can't imagine I'll ever pick this book up again of my own free will, I did love the journey it took me on.

Content Warnings

sarahcothron's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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