Here We Go Again
Ratings18
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings18
Average rating3.9
The author of the “sexy, insightful, and utterly charming” (BuzzFeed) Kiss Her Once for Me returns with a new queer rom-com following once childhood best friends forced together to drive their former teacher across the country.
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.
Reviews with the most likes.
This book was an emotional rollercoaster for me. I was experiencing so many different feelings while reading.
The humor in this book was very hit-or-miss. During the middle portion of the book, I found myself growing disinterested in the road trip, feeling disconnected from the characters activities and losing investment in their journey.
Some aspects of the story feel forced, such as Logan's incessant use of celebrity names in place of curses, which quickly becomes grating.
While the themes of Joe's storyline adds depth to the narrative, it often overshadows the central romance between Logan and Rosemary which left me wanting more from the romance. The romantic relationship between Logan and Rosie started too early in the story, and I didn't really feel connected to them despite their earlier friendship and love for each other. There was an excessive amount of miscommunication between them, this trope was used too frequently, making it feel unnecessary and repetitive.
While I found the characters likable, I longed for deeper exploration into Logan & Rosemary's backgrounds, traumas, and teenage friendship to provide a more nuanced understanding of their motivations and complexities.
Thank you so much to Atria Books for providing this ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
This wasn't for me. I love all of Alison Cochrun's other books so I expected to love this one too.
Logan and Rosemary both bugged me (they were caricatures) and frankly the book had too many references to butts, diapers, being smelly, and sweatiness for my liking.
We kept being told how the main characters feel (or felt) but it felt like we never saw it.
oh my god i have so much to say but not enough room to say it i loved this book so much i can't even take it it was so good im gonna explode
I cried like 3 times. The biggest 5 stars ever
I saw myself a lot in Logan and Rosemary. Their personalities, their ADHD traits (which can and do differ for a lot of ADHDers), how they saw themselves/their traits. I loved how Logan was brash and how she put this air of not caring about what others thought of her – when really, she did. And then Rosemary with her over-preparedness, making sure every little thing is absolutely perfect. Like, wow, Cochrun, how dare you see into my heart like that. But also thank you very much and I love you a lot.
If I begin to think too much about Joe I might start crying and not be able to finish the review. He was my favourite, and such a fun character. He could quite easily have you laughing a ton the one sentence and in the next sentence have you near crying. I felt for him and his story because it is such a difficult time of your life – when you're nearing the end. You might think you didn't do everything, get to know the right people. Have regrets, things you'll miss doing. However, Joe didn't think of those throughout the book. He focused on what was good in his life, what he enjoyed doing, what mattered for him.
Most of the plot is them travelling and sight-seeing (which was very cute and funny) but it's also a lot about Rosemary and Logan trying to come to grips with Joe's death. He's a big part of their lives and not having him physically there anymore – it's a big adjustment for them. And myself too because I was hoping throughout the entirety of me reading the book that he would stay alive.
This wasn't exactly a natural childhood-friends-to-lovers, which is why I liked it all the better. Give me a romance that takes a while to get there, one that's not straightforward, one that takes a while to get to. But most importantly, show me a love that is real. Logan and Rosemary absolutely had that. Even when they were fighting I was thinking “I can't wait to get to when you admit you like/love each other” and still I didn't want to skip a single page because I wanted to see all the steps and stages they had to take.
