Very well written book. Really enjoyed this author, would definitely read more by this author and recommend on my book IG

A cute coming out and coming of the age novel, I do like seeing just love stories and not coming out ones. But I do understand the importance of them since some people in the LGBTQ+ community still can't be out and open.

The homophobia was a bit triggering for me, but again I understand why it is there for this stories purpose.

The story is about out main character Janey. She lives in a small town with very strict parents. When she discovers that she is gay she doesn't know how to come out and risk losing everything that she cares about so she stays in the closet, and that is the way that she has lived for years. The reader gets to feel Janey's pain as she wants to live her true life without hurting the ones that she cares about most. When a front band comes back to town Janey is ecstatic because the lead singer is the woman that Janey has been pining over for her whole life. When they finally meet up again after all that time Janey realises that Elise is gay and out and very proud of it which leaves things shaky for Janey. How can she be with the woman that she loves and accept the life that is meant for her when she is still denying that part of herself? I've never read any books like this before so it was very interesting to see the reasoning behind Janey wanting to stay in the closet. I know that things like this happen all of the time but its very sad to actually get to witness it. I found the story a little short and rushed and I wished that I was able to get more of a background on our main characters. I felt like they were only there for their love plot and they had no real background, however I guess that is to be expected in a novella. Cute story nice and to the point and I'm glad that I got the chance to check it out even if it was a very quick read.

When I picked this one up, I didn't realize it was a novella. I probably would have still grabbed it, but you have to be really careful when writing a short story. Lowndes does a decent job with not giving too many details so it makes it a smooth read.

So we all know coming out is rather difficult for some and easy for others. I am not sure what has kept Janey in the closet this long. She did manage to tell her parents she was gay, but when they reacted negatively she stepped back in the closet. Seems easy to just walk away from that small town and be different, after all she did have the opportunity. In walks Elise who she was in a relationship back in HS. It is clear that Elise still loves Janey and Janey loves Elise, BUT Janey can't let go so easily and rejects Elise. Honestly, why Elise sticks around and still hopes for Janey to change is beyond me. Either way the way this romance is put together makes it "work" but that doesn't mean that it's a good thing. For me Janey's attitude takes away from the romance being better.

3 stars.

This arc was provided by netgalley and the publisher for an honest review.

I wanted to like this book but I think it was a little too YA for me. I couldn't relate to the story and therefore couldn't find any real interest in it. The premise was a good one (although done many times over), and the writing was okay. The book just didn't reel me in.

𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆.

This one is so short, I really don’t have much to say about the characters and their chemistry together and I don’t think romance was the primary focus either. It is essentially Janey’s coming out story and how lacking the courage to come out to her parents had cost her her first love. That would be Elise, the musician and high school sweetheart who wrote her a love song that turned into a big hit. When Elise returns to visit their hometown for a bit, Janey now faced with the same question she had once chosen to put aside - Should she avoid disappointing her parents once more or follow her heart and come clean this time?

Some of us have similar coming out stories of our own and some of us are still struggling with it today. Sometimes all we need is that push for us to be ready to come out and the end result might not be as bad as what we think it would be...

This is first and foremost a story about coming out.

There's many hardships that deal with this subject, and we see that in books. This book used it's own approach in the feelings, thoughts and all the relationships involved in coming out. I really enjoyed seeing the relationship between the two main characters develop throughout the story and how the main character was battling an internal battle that finally gets set free.

Thank you to NetGalley and Nine Star Press for the earc in return for an honest review.

(actual rating: 3.5/5)

'You Know I'd Never' is, at its core, a coming-out story. I went into this thinking that it would be a second chance romance, which really didn't do it justice.

Janey is stuck. Stuck in her small hometown, stuck in the closet, stuck since she broke up with her girlfriend, Elise, who went on tour, but is back. Janey's forced to realize that if she wants to get back together with Elise, she's going to need to stay true to herself.

Ultimately, while this was an enjoyable read, it was very fast, borderline rushed. I do understand that Janey and Elise were in love five years prior to this novella, but their relationship isn't very developed in the novella itself. I would have preferred something that showed them together, or something else of substance.

I loved how the author chose to portray Janey and her struggles with her identity, and her parents' inability to accept who she was. I think it's something a lot of the queer community faces - closeted, and resenting yourself for being unable to have the courage to just unapologetically be yourself, no matter what others think, say, or do.

Overall, while this wasn't the second-chance romance that I was expecting, it was still a pretty wholesome coming-out story, and I would recommend it as such. I would definitely have enjoyed it more if it was longer and if certain aspects of the book were more developed, but it's a quick read that mostly accomplishes what it was aiming to do.

The story follows Janey, a 23-year-old woman who seems to have settled into a life in her tiny hometown with no plans of coming out to her homophobic family. When Janey's ex-girlfriend Elise, a musician, returns to her hometown, she is forced to face their past feelings and relationship.

This book piqued my attention because of its interesting premise. I enjoy reading books that have musical elements to express the character's thoughts and feelings. Second-chance romance appeals to me as well.

I like how the author was able to make me feel the character's struggles as she comes to terms with what she has to do in order to get out of her current situation, be who she is, and live a life that she has always wanted.

Since this is a novella, the plot progressed at a fast pace. However, I didn't feel like I was given enough encouragement to root more for their relationship. I wish we could've heard more about their backstories such as how they met and fell in love to convince me that they were really meant for each other. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed reading this one.

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have to admit I was attracted first by the cover. As a big music fan, I'm a sucker for stories involving musicians and rock stars and tour life and roadies, you name it. Then I was happily surprised to find out it was a coming out story!
I could write a thousand words on why I didn't like the writing style and the fast (too fast?) pace of the story, but let me tell you it is unnecessary here. Because coming out stories hold a special place in my heart, I couldn't care less about how well it's written. These stories are important, and i wish I had more of them to read when I was a teenager struggling with my true self.
Even though most times I felt annoyed by Janey and her incapacity to recognize she was just afraid to come out, I could also strongly relate: it is so much more comfortable to stay in the closet when you're afraid of people's reactions. But as Kara Lowndes wonderfully said it in this book, coming out isn't about other people. Coming out is about you only. And what people make of it is their problem.
Reading this was triggering for me at times, and I almost shed a tear towards the end, which means this book did its job well. It's a quick read too, and I'd recommend if you like lesbian love stories (warning though: explicit sex scenes which were unnecessary in my opinion).

I should preface this review by saying that I read this book because I thought it was going to be a second chance romance about a 23-year-old girl and the one that got away. Instead, it was more of a coming out story with the love interest being more of an instrument in this coming out tale. I also didn’t realize it was a novella or I probably wouldn’t have read it at all. Second chance romances have to be done in a certain way for me to really like them and that cannot be done easily in a novella.

Janey and her girlfriend, Elise, broke up 5 years prior when Elisa left to go on tour with her band. Janey wouldn’t out herself and go with them so she’s been stuck in her hometown since then. It’s now five years later and she’s still stuck. She’s also still living in the closet because she’s too afraid to come out to her homophobic parents.

Elise comes to town to do a series of concerts and Janey is confronted with their past and her feelings that have never gone away. Elise coming back to town really messes up with Janey’s life as she knows it. She’s made no plans for herself besides working at the local grocery store and seeing Elise again is forcing her to confront all the feelings she’s kept pushed down.

I don’t mind coming out stories, I just didn’t realize this was one of them. This is told from Janey’s first-person point of view so you get to see exactly what she’s going through. Janey is full of internalized homophobia and self-hate. She’s scared and anxious about everything coming-out entails. Unfortunately, this all you really get out of this story. It’s rather short so there’s just not enough time for much else to happen.

There’s not enough information on her relationship with Elise to really have me rooting for them except being told that they’re in love. Elise is used as a reason for Janey to come out to her parents and get out of the rut she’s found herself in because she realizes she doesn’t want to lose her again.

Unfortunately, I can’t recommend this as a second chance romance. I do recommend it if you’re looking for a positive ending coming out story.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and NineStar Press in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a sucker for a good musician f/f romance and unfortunately, this isn't it. It felt really short, the characters felt one-dimensional and I just couldn't connect with it at all.

Caught a grammatical error fairly early on. Book was much shorter than I expected which didn’t leave room for much character development.

I'll make a confession: I rarely read FF romance books, because I either relate to the characters, and that hurts, or I get jealous of them for one reason or another, and that hurts too. And in this book, I have found so much of myself in Janey that it left me breathless. All that fear, all the sinking into the comfort of what you already know instead of taking any risks, all the worries and the dreams of something bigger and better while you don't know if you could ever deserve it... It hit right home. And let me tell you, coming out is one of the scariest things. This book worked with that topic bravely yet delicately, and all of it seemed and felt real, making me think that the author is either also queer and went through this, or did their research about this. It felt awesome and validating. Janey was a great narrator, and all the emotions she went through, good and bad alike, were expressed honestly.
There were several typos and a couple of grammar mistakes as well, which gave me the idea that maybe the author isn't a native English speaker - but as a non-native English reader, it didn't bother me much (not as much as if I had read the book in Hungarian), I just felt like pointing this out, since it may be a good idea to let a native speaker read the book and correct those few mistakes because the book actually goes public (or get printed, if there is a printed edition planned to be released).
All in all, this was a rollercoaster ride of emotions, the good kind, and I was glad to be able to experience it. And I wish everyone could have a friend/supporter like Bess in their life.

The book "You Know I'd Never" by Kara Lowndes is about Janey, who lives a small life in her hometown and is not outed, while her ex-girlfriend Elise gets around and celebrates success with her band. Elise comes back for a few gigs and of course the two run into each other again.

For my tastes, the story was a bit short and felt like it showed us little of the big picture, it was more of a zoom in on a few days that we experience together with Janey. The story was told in first person perspective, which gives you a lot of inner dialogue to read. I would have liked to see a bit more dialogue between the characters, also to bring in a bit more dynamics and spice. But that is purely a matter of taste.

Otherwise, the book is written fluidly and can be read through easily. Even if it did not meet my taste, it will certainly find its fans.

I received a copy from netgalley in exchange for a an honest review.

I’m a sucker for the second chance trope and occasionally like musician romances, so of course I picked this up. While this has both of those, this is more a story about coming out.

There’s always some rationale for why the couple had to break up initially, and what’s changed to make their HEA possible now. In this case, the entire conflict revolves around Janey being in the closet. When Elise left town with her band five years ago, Janey didn’t go. She couldn’t even really label Elise as her girlfriend, then, and felt she’d be better off without her. The first time she tried to come out to her parents, it went very badly, and since then, she’s so deep in the closet that she can barely function. Even thinking the word “lesbian” in her head is enough to derail her. Her only friend is her fifty-something coworker Bess, who works at the local grocery store with her, and Janey does her best to see her parents as seldom as possible. But with Elise and her band back in town for a series of benefit concerts, Janey’s forced to confront her feelings for her and how they haven’t changed. But has Janey changed enough to give their relationship a try this time?

“I guess I’ve been…good,” she replied, after a long pause. “How about you?”
I considered the honest answer: that I was still working in the same store I had been in high school, that I was still living in the same town, that I had basically retreated back inside the closet after she had left because it was easier than being out.”


The novella is told solely from Janey’s POV, so there’s a lot of confusion and fear over her sexuality, over how Elise will treat her when she sees her again, over how her family and Bess and the town will treat her if she works up the courage to come out. But Janey and Elise together are absolutely wonderful (complete with steamy love scenes). I really wished there’d been more about their high school relationship because I think it would’ve cut some of the angst down a little and given me more reason to root for them. As for the present, I liked how Elise was willing to give Janey space, but still set the boundary that she wasn’t willing to be with someone who was still in the closet. And while it does take the shock of realizing she’s going to lose Elise again to give her the courage to come out, I think, in reconnecting with Elise, it had also showed Janey how much of her self she had pushed down and ignored. Once she’s able to acknowledge that piece of herself, she realizes how much she’d imprisoned herself. It was lovely to see her free and happy and willing to take risks at the end, though again, I wished there had been a bit more of it.

I had to double-check that the book is set in Massachusetts because there were a couple of odd word choices that made me think this was set in the UK. Nothing major, but still a bit jarring to have things like “tutted” and “taxi cab rank” alongside “high school.”

“Baby,” she reminded me, the first time she had called me that in years. “I wrote a song for you. I don’t think it gets much more cheesy than that, now, right?”


Overall, this is quick novella, and I think I’ll check out the author’s work in the future.

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The story is about out main character Janey. She lives in a small town with very strict parents. When she discovers that she is gay she doesn't know how to come out and risk losing everything that she cares about so she stays in the closet, and that is the way that she has lived for years. The reader gets to feel Janey's pain as she wants to live her true life without hurting the ones that she cares about most. When a front band comes back to town Janey is ecstatic because the lead singer is the woman that Janey has been pining over for her whole life. When they finally meet up again after all that time Janey realises that Elise is gay and out and very proud of it which leaves things shaky for Janey. How can she be with the woman that she loves and accept the life that is meant for her when she is still denying that part of herself? I've never read any books like this before so it was very interesting to see the reasoning behind Janey wanting to stay in the closet. I know that things like this happen all of the time but its very sad to actually get to witness it. I found the story a little short and rushed and I wished that I was able to get more of a background on our main characters. I felt like they were only there for their love plot and they had no real background, however I guess that is to be expected in a novella. Cute story nice and to the point and I'm glad that I got the chance to check it out even if it was a very quick read.

I thought we were past the time when coming out was the whole story. I guess maybe we’re not, or not all of us are.

Janey is drowning in (mostly polite) homophobia and guilt for not being brave enough to fight it and stand for herself. For some reason – because she’s not ready? because it comes from her parents? because it’s insidious? – she can’t find a way out and it seems to have seeped in every layer of her life, even as her first love, Elise, manages not only to be out and proud but also to live her dreams. When Elise’s band comes to town for a series of concerts, Janey tries to ignore the fact that the only woman she ever loved is within reach for the first time in years.

This novella is told in first person from Janey’s point of view so get prepared for a fairly high level of self-loathing. You’ll also get to live the feeling of relief and freedom through her eyes, so there’s that. And you know, I like the idea that coming out of the closet is something you do for yourself, but sometimes, being in love is the little push you need to feel strong enough to do it. In Janey’s case, it’s even more than that. She tried and failed. She has given up on herself, she doesn’t think she’s worth the effort, or deserves to be happy or whatever. When she finally succeeds, she’s not doing it for Elise but she couldn’t have done it without Elise.

I liked Janey and Elise together, I liked Elise a lot, and I would probably like post-coming-out Janey too. I I wish there had been more to the story than the hell of the closet and the journey to coming out. With more body, this novella could have become a more exciting novel with characters whose personality went further than being out or not.

I received a copy from the publisher and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

This is another similar book to quite a few I’ve read recently - a interesting premise and full of promise, but it doesn’t quite put all the parts together to connect for me.

Janey has been stuck in Clitheroe all her life. She has a job in the local grocery store, is firmly stuck in the closet and lost the only love of her life when she made the choice to stay in their small town when her girlfriend went on tour with her band.

Elise, the aforementioned ex-girlfriend has been absent for years but is now returning to town for some benefit concerts and appears to want to do everything she can to reconnect with Janey.

It will probably sound a little silly to say this, especially as an English person, but this novella is very English in it’s attitude. I’d like to think this version of homophobia doesn’t ring true anymore but it’s still pretty common, especially in small towns and from my own personal experiences, it felt quite authentic in that regard. The descriptions of things are also very fitting for an English setting and almost had a feel of nostalgia to them for me personally.

The writing holds up pretty well but the novella length doesn’t give this story the full chance to grown in my opinion and I think I’d have liked it more with a full length and the chance to see them fall in love at the beginning. I’d be interested in more of this kind of work from Lowndes though.

I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I always love a good coming out story, with emphasis on good. This one ticks all the boxes on paper, but in reality, it's all just average.

Janey is stuck, stuck in her small town, stuck in life, and stuck (dare I say locked) in the closet. At 23 she has no idea what she wants to do with her life and when her ex's band pops back in town for some charity shows she is even more lost. Always denying her feelings, having let Elise go on tour and let their love go 5 years prior Janey gets even more confused and lost. Elise is part of a very successful band, their greatest hit, a song Elise wrote for/ about Janey. Elise is out and proud and can't be with someone in the closet, but Janey doesn't dare to feel like herself, even though she doesn't recognise this version she is playing either. When Janey and Elise reconnect it's like they haven't been apart all these years.

With this story being a novella I think you miss a lot of the backstory that would make the relationship believable and have you rooting for them. I can see how they are sweet together but I just miss a little something to make me feel it and believe it. Content warning for homophobia (Janey's parents).
To me, this was an ok read, but where I tend to remember bits and piece or just an entire story and how it made me feel for a very long time, this is one I will probably forget about in a day