Cover Image: Here We Go Again

Here We Go Again

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Member Reviews

Alison Cochrun!!! Instant read author for me - her romances hold such a special place in my heart. This book was so sweet and gut wrenching. The two leads’ relationship with their ailing ex teacher was the standout.

Very cute romance and a true friends to enemies to lovers. Only qualm was some of the dialogue, namely using celebrities’ names in place of “Oh God!” will never not make me cringe.

Loved the story and loved the love emanating off each page.

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Ellen "f*cking" Degeneres, I loved this book!

It's no secret that I love a sapphic romance, but Here We Go Again wasn't really about that... I mean it was, but it also wasn't in the most wonderful ways.

This story is about the dichotomy of living: beauty and pain, comedy and tragedy, life and death. This was one of the funniest, saddest, most loving, honest sapphic fiction stories I've read. I'm honestly at a loss, just read it. It's funny and heartbreaking in all the ways that life is, but it maintains such a buoyant sense of hope and progress throughout.

I mean, yes, on the surface it's an opposites attract, besties to enemies to idk what, sapphic, neurodivergent love story, but it's also a love letter to found family, community, and prickly pears.

Ughhh... just read it.
It's so damn good.

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A.fun romance between two female friends who grow up together and end up working together. Suddenly, they find themselves traveling and slowly falling in love. You find yourself rooting for the characters and find yourself heavily invested in the storyline. You don't want to miss this one.

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Guys, I UGLY CRIED with this one. Read the content warnings.

I adore Alison Cochrun and everything she writes, and Here We Go Again was no different. It was the sapphic, rip-your-heart-out romance I needed to get my 2024 started off right.

Here We Go Again is a friends-to-enemies-to-lovers romance, which is not usually my thing. I don't usually like it when we have an off-page history between the two MCs, but it worked here. The two MCs were best friends, inseparable when they were younger, but then youthful drama and hurt feelings drove them apart. However, their romance feels like almost a secondary character at times to the relationship these two women had to their older friend and mentor, who is dying of cancer. This book is all about their last hurrah, their last adventure together, and that's where the rest of the love story lies.

I'll admit, I had trouble reading this book at times. I was mournfully listening to Van Morrison in the background while reading (just get Into the Mystic ready), and just, like, pondering the meaning of life. You know, super chill and relaxing vibes, over here. Here We Go Again will just do that to you.

While I had a mini-existential crisis, I really appreciated the deep, thoughtful writing from Alison Cochrun and how she also managed to interject some very spicy scenes and some humor as well. The romance grew and grew over time, and I really appreciated these two together. I do think that their relationship wasn't quite as meaningful to me as their relationship with Joe, but that would be hard to top.

In truth, Alison Cochrun did something special with this story. It was a hard journey for me, personally, but I'm really glad I took it.

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This is my first by this author but definitely won’t be my last! I’m always down for a road trip romcom. The angst and the pining were at all time highs in this book and I’m here for it!

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You With a View meets The Celebrants

Synopsis: Logan and Rosemary used to be best friends until a kiss the summer before high school changed everything. They went from rivals to nonspeaking coworkers and now they are forced together on a cross country road trip because it is the dying wish of their lifelong mentor.

Thoughts: I praise Alison Cochrun for writing such an uplifting romance even when death was a large focus of the plot. The sadness felt more healing than heavy and there was so much love and humor sprinkled in. The road trip adventures made the story so much fun, especially because many of the places I never been to myself and quickly felt transported. While I loved Logan and Rosemary both separately and as a couple, I will say that Joe was my favorite character in the book. I loved how he played matchmaker and had a special and open bond with both girls. As for the ADHD representation, I loved how this book focused on a character whose diagnosis looked a bit different than what is typically portrayed as she was attentive and organized but had hyper fixation.

Read if you like:
-Sapphic romances
-Best friends to enemies to lovers
-Road trips
-ADHD and anxiety rep

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5 stars

You will weep. That's all there is to it. And if you don't, something is...broken.

Alison Cochrun's third book is perhaps the most surprising. Yes, it's a fantastic queer romance. It also centers on a death journey. There are highs and lows and happy tears and sad tears and past and present, and as several of the characters learn, we're never really safe and protected in life, and your heart won't be safe and protected during this read, either. That's why you should race to devour it.

Logan and Rosemary were best friends in childhood, became enemies, and now they are teachers at the same school that they previously attended. They share a storied past and a cantankerous present, but their most important connection is Joe, a former teacher, who took them both under his wing and subbed, in many ways for their respective absent parents. Here it comes, though; Joe is dying. His most recent demand? That the three of them - along with Odie, his hilarious dog - take a road trip from Oregon to Maine where he can die in a seaside cottage he has owned for years.

Is this road trip simple, straightforward, ever going to plan? No, no, and TBD. What readers CAN expect on this road trip includes but is not limited to every emotion available, deep realizations, and a story that will last in hearts and minds. This is a great romance, but it's also way more.

I really love _The Charm Offensive_ and thought that one might be unbeatable, but I think - for entirely different reasons - this is my new favorite from this author. Get your tissues ready and enjoy the journey.

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A funny, sweet, heartbreaking novel. A meaningful ode to the queer elders in our lives. I'll read anything Alison Cochrun writes.

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I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The biggest thing that stuck out to me right from the beginning was how fully developed both the main characters felt in this book. From each of their first sou chapters, they jumped off the page and were so full of personality, even the flaws. it all felt natural and unforced as Cochrun set the scene for the roadtrip.
I'll admit that I didn't read the summary that closely before requesting this ARC because Cochrun is pretty much an auto-buy for me at this point, and I was right about that! This book lives up to the others. However, if you're looking for a light-hearted roadtrip love story, this is not it! Major content warnings for illness and death. As someone who has yet to see death as closely as the characters do in Here We Go Again, this was at times a very hard read. If you are someone who has experienced something closer to what the characters to, l imagine it could be harder. There's still a lot of joy and celebration to be found throughout though, but brace yourself.
As far as the writing goes, Cochrun doesn't disappoint again. These particular characters have some affectations that were hit or miss for me. For instance, the names of famous queer people (mostly sapphics or femmes) are used as jokey curses ( if I could guarantee they fix one thing before going to print, it would be correcting the spelling of Janelle Monae’s name. Unless there's a famous queer person named Janelle Monet I'm not aware of). This just ended up being overused and by the end, I was entirely over it.
Given the darker themes, I would say this one has a slightly different vibe than Cochrun’s other work. The others touch on serious issues but don't quite confront things as head on as this book. Still, it has all the nuance you expect and the romance is just as compelling.

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This was a heartwarming read. I appreciated the author’s views on the LGBTQ population, and how it was incorporated into the book.

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I simply adore the way Alison Cochrun writes relationships. We meet Logan and Rosemary, former childhood best friends who now hate each other, as they take their teacher Joe traveling cross country as is his last request. In turn the reader gets a bit of forced proximity and enemies to lovers. The start was a bit slower but the last half was emotionally rich and moved at a quicker rate. I enjoyed the adventure that the road trip added to the novel. It held a certain charm into the background. I liked the relationship that developed. However, I adored the "Tuesdays With Morrie" vibe that Joe provided during the novel. He added a depth to the novel that I wasn't quite getting from Logan and Rosemary at the start. Overall, definitely would recommend this!

4.5/5 stars

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I really didn't like The Charm Offensive but LOVED Kiss Her Once for Me, so I was interested to see how I'd feel about Here We Go Again. Here We Go Again, in my opinion, felt like a step back a bit. I also don't know if Cochran really sells the enemies to lovers thing for me, as these characters felt almost cartoonish in their "hatred". This book seemed like it had a lot of heart go into it, and I think fans of The Charm Offensive will get a kick out of this one.

Great for fans of The Charm Offensive, Cochran takes you on a whacky car ride through rekindled love and friendship. Worth a read for fans of popcorn romances, looking for a good time!

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While the cover is definitely her most boring one, Here We Go Again is my favorite of Cochrun's romances. It's a fun sapphic romance with distinct and vibrant leads who have different personal issues. I'm like if Rosemary was butch.

Childhood best friends to haters to lovers is one of my favorite tropes and I do like my romances to have more substance than the fluffiest relationship. A rom-com about death and grief is a bet and I know it's not for everyone. i can already see tweets about why this book shouldn't call itself a romcom. I personally don't care about the particular distinction between romcom and romance.

It's very American roadtrip and as a non-Amerian it feels like it killed some of the charm (i cannot place those locations on a map) with a queer-positive message.

Logan swearing habits really got on my nerves though. Using celebrity names wasn't funny the first time and it wasn't funny the hundredth time either

I do think that the adult diaper running joke was a bit in bit taste for disabled individuals, I know it's meant to create levity in regards to a dying person but like really?

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Well… I sobbed through the entire second half of the book, in the best way possible. While both main characters, Logan and Rosemary, have deep flaws that are pretty irritating, they also have their reasons for why they are the way they are, and their road trip brings them healing. But the best part of this book is Joe, their dying English teacher. His “Tuesdays with Morrie”-esque wisdom comes with a lot of humor and snark, and his hard fought life lessons bring so much depth and heart to this story.

Thank you for the eARC!

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4.5/5*s

I was not expecting so much (queer) joy in a book about death. There's definitely a lot of sad and bittersweet moments in this book, but there is still a lot of levity. Joe, Logan, and Rosemary are all a little messy in their own ways, but they grow together. The romance is great, but it's not really my big take away for the book. Come for the queer cross country road trip, stay for the queer cross country road trip.

Two things I didn't love: Remy is the character I found most interesting in the book, and we don't really get to hear his story from him. There's a page or two where Rosemary talks to him, and we just get to hear her report of what he said. My other minor gripe is mentioned in a lot of the other reviews: I didn't love the "Shay fucking Mitchell!" of it all.

BUT: this is an excellent book, it is incredibly queer, and it's got all the feelings in it. Highly recommend.

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Oh. My. God. Here We Go Again is another one of Cochrun's incredible works that makes you feel in the story and makes you feel for the characters. I love books where 2 people who definitely like each other are forced to go on long road trips together and inevitably end up falling in such deep smit with each other. Here We Go Again was beautifully written and such an incredible story that I devoured in a day. A must read for everyone.

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In Here We Go Again, Alison Cochrun has outlined a heartbreaking story of grief for queer readers. Through Joe, we are spectators to a life full of regrets, but also a life that touched everyone around him (especially those who were "different") with love and care. While admittedly I wasn't always the biggest fan of either of the main female characters, their growth and chemistry throughout the novel was palpable and addictive, consistently leaving me wanting to know more of their story. This book ultimately left me heartbroken, inspired, and smiling ear to ear, marking it as another fabulous addition to my collection of Alison Cochrun's romances.

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Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the opportunity to read and review Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun in exchange for my honest review. I am giving this book 3.5/5 stars.

This book is a sapphic romcom journey across the US as two former best friends, Logan and Rosemary, take their former English teacher, Joe, across the country for his last request. Joe has survived a bout of pancreatic cancer (frankly a miracle even in this age of medicine) but has now relapsed into end of life status. Logan and Rosemary are his two most favorite students who used to be best friends but now hate each other, Shocker because they were both secretly in love with each other as teens, but as young teens do they fell apart and now its 20 years later and they are enemies.

This book was honestly a chore to get through. I wanted to DNF this book several times. It was only because I loved the authors first book, The Charm Offensive, so much that I kept going, This book only became something I wanted to continue reading around 50%. that is way too long for a book to become tolerable. There were WAY too many pop culture references in this book, including name dropping Taika Waititi and misspelling his name while doing it. I absolutely agree with other posters stating how tiresome it was having Logan constantly using the celebrity first name F-ing celebrity last name. In fact it was Logans character that made the first half of this book so miserable.

Luckily the book did get better and the ending was predictable sad and emotional considering it is a story about a man dying. I will be posting about this book on my social media (TikTok and Youtube) closer to its release date as I am giving it 3.5 stars. Unfortunately, this is not a book that I would purchase for my home library and it isnt something that I can see myself ever reading again.

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An excellent novel with the favorite trope. This book kept me interested and wanting more.

Thank you for the opportunity

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I'm still in tears writing this. I loved this book i loved Logan and Rosemary and Joe and Remy and Odie and the pain of saying goodbye and the joy of living a life that hurts that badly to say goodbye to. I felt both Logan and Rosemary so deeply here I cannot put it into words. Everyone should read this book. This book destroyed me the way few stories have ever managed and I would kill a man to read it again for the first time.

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