This book started strong, and I was loving the cute, quirky Trixie. Working in an animal shelter, rescuing an injured chicken who was running loose on the streets of Chicago, Trixie seems like someone you could see being your BFF. And Bear, big and loveable yet somber, seems the perfect match for Trixie's sunny disposition. But somewhere along the way, I think this story kind of lost its way. Trixie started to grate on my nerves more and more, and I just wanted Bear to tell her to hit the road. The plot dragged a bit in the middle, then seemed to wrap up too quickly. Overall the book was just okay for me.

And I still want to know how a chicken ended up in downtown Chicago.

This story got me feeling all of the emotions! All the intricate relationships made me root for a happy ending all through out the book.
The main characters was likeable and seemingly typical until you get to.know her thoughts and worries, then, you start to hope and dream for a happy ending.
The dynamic between the main characters and the love interest was really enjoyable and the banter was very funny.
All in all this book was such a fun and light-hearted read!

What do you get when you cross a sick chicken, an under employed Carpenter, and an animal rescuer? This book is the answer.
I was hooked by the first blurb about Trixie rescuing a chicken in downtown Chicago. And the main guy is named Bear.
It’s a cute, feel good read. Surrounded by her love of all animals, Trixie will go to any lengths to save them all. Bear has four interfering sisters who put him in semi hilarious predicaments.
Swirl all those ingredients together and what you have is a cute debut sure to please any reader looking for love and animals too.

How many times have you read about a meet-cute that involves a chicken crossing the road? Well, I can attest to this being a first for me, and I loved it. This was a rather adorable grumpy-sunshine romance. You had Trixie who was rainbows and ice cream with a touch of Snow White magic with the animals. Then you had Bear with little say and no desire to people.

But looks may have been deceiving, as both were hiding parts of themselves. Trixie’s parents raised her to hide any negative feelings. She had to be smiling and “on” all the time and believed that suppressing her emotions was the only way to get people to care about her. Bear’s biological father was a toxic male who made Bear ashamed of all the things he enjoyed or cared about. Though I appreciated the author taking on gender stereotypes, I sometimes felt that the inner monologues were a bit repetitive when the personal issues were already well established.

However, there were so many delightful things in this story, I was able to overlook it.

° Lots of laugh out loud moments
° Animal antics
° Pancakes
° Chick-Chick the chicken
° Bear’s family
° Lovable hero and heroine

These two bonding over a chicken made me giddy, but I really loved seeing Trixie and Bear learning to trust and to be their true selves. A super sweet ending left me feeling lighthearted and happy, and I am looking forward to seeing what else Ohlert has in store for us.

I had this book in my TBR and biggest expected book of the year. and maybe it's one the deception, because i thought i was going to like it more, don't get me wrong, the book is good and the story is solid, is just that there is something on this book and let me with a big meh feeling, i don't know if the narration of the story or what but it ended up feeling like meh

All this book had to do was mention greys anatomy and I was sold! Both characters were endearing and I loved the heroines quirky traits! The author was also nice when I interacted with her on instagram.

Thank you for an advanced copy of To Get to the Other Side.

Star Rating: 2⭐️
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Pub Date: December 6, 2022

This book was cute, but honestly, a bit forgettable. The characters were a little bland, and the whole concept of a "rescue chicken" was just a little out of left field for me. I thought I would really like this book, but once I started reading, the book lost some of its appeal. It was a little bland, a little boring, and just kind of meh by the end of it.

It did have some cute moments, but overall, I was not super impressed with this one.

This was a cute story. Chick chick was my favorite character. She is cute. This book had several laugh out loud moment. Bear was nice and Trixie was okay. Near the end Trixie started to get on my nerves since she was so blind to what was going on. Bear's sisters actions seemed extreme. I did enjoy reading about Bear's family though.

Trixie is going about her day when she rescues you am injured chicken (you read correctly) from becoming road kill on a busy Chicago street. A stranger helps her. He’s really yummy to look at, but the slew of drivers honking make them part ways. They both figure they missed a chance, but the universe decides to help a little. Trixie’s landlord is adamant about no pets and when she finds an ad in the paper for a room rental that is perfect, she jumps at the opportunity. The ad has been placed by Bear’s meddling sisters, hoping that he’ll socialize more with a roommate. Bear is no one other than the handsome stranger! Trixie is sunshine impersonated and Bear is a cinnamon roll disguised as a grump. Soon, they’ll find out they’re perfect for each other.
Hmm, the chicken meet cute was quirky and fun, but Trixie’s obsession with the animal is way over the top. We get a little insight on why Trixie behaves the way she does, but it soon gets overshadowed by the chicken shenanigans and should’ve have been explored more.
I liked how Bear’s insecurities were portrayed. It shows how toxic masculinity can really do a number on a person and I liked how he came to terms with his own passions, though some stuff gets really stereotypical, like the beer drinking (Sweet Lord, men drink wine, people!).
I think the author has great potential. This is clearly a debut and we can see she has great ideas, but it needed some heavy editing. It is a rom com but the emphasis on the “com” brought too many silly and unnecessary plot points. I wish we got more character development rather than that.
All, in all, a sweet (yes, closed door, my friends) romance. I hope I see more of this author in the future.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you, NetGalley and the author for the copy.
Possible triggers: toxic masculinity and toxic relationship with parents

Many thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the digital review copy,

I wanted to love this book. It has cute animals and a forced proximity romance, and what more can a girl ask for? There are definitely some great laugh out loud moments and plenty of mutual pining to be had in this rom com. I also appreciated the author’s efforts to tackle the impact of gender stereotypes and how they can influence the way men and women are comfortable behaving in public.

However, there were some aspects that felt a bit heavy-handed and repetitive. In particular, both characters are explicitly working through some issues from their past. While it’s great that they’re both self-aware, their thoughts around these challenges took up a lot of space witout necessarily moving the plot or character development forward. This pulled me out of the story after a while because it became a bit repetitive, so I wasn’t able to enjoy the book as much as I wanted to.

In all, this was a cute story that delivered on the adorable animals and the occasional laughs. I just wish it was a bit more streamlined and that the characters had a bit more breadth to them. To Get to the Other Side is a great fit for animal lovers and fans of a close proximity romance with a lot of tension between the leads.

Well wasn’t this charming? Who doesn’t love a good disaster meet cute involving a chicken? This has all the fun of a cute friends to lovers story with added pop culture references and lovable cast of characters. I was really drawn right in from the start and was honestly pleasantly surprised how incredibly delightful this book was, especially for a debut!

Quirky, complex Trixie was relatable, emotionally vulnerable and sincere and I really appreciate how the author allowed us to experience her feelings so deeply. Her relationship with Bear was just precious and I was just yearning for the two of them to admit their feelings. Although TBH, I’m pretty sure Trixie loves her chicken Chick-Chick the most (:P).

I swapped between the audio and ebook for this and the alternating POV is particularly effective in this novel and both narrators did an excellent job.

Did not finish.

To Get to the Other Side started off strong, with Trixie finding an injured chicken on the side of the road and rescuing her. She needs to find a new place to stay after her landlord kicks her out for breaking the no pets policy, and she ends up with Bear—the man who helped her rescue the chicken.

So I was invested and interested at the beginning. But then it just kind of went nowhere and I got bored. Trixie is a complicated character that I just didn’t connect with; she really needs some therapy. And Bear is kind of the same, damaged and still struggling with his childhood trauma.

So both characters were just kind of a mess and I just wanted everyone to get therapy. Thanks to Alcove Press for the review copy, but To Get to the Other Side was not for me.

This was a cute story! I wasn’t in love with it while reading, but i had a good enough time! I enjoyed most of the plot and many of the characters. I just felt something was missing

The first 5 pages was cute, but it was just totally downhill after that.. I couldn’t force myself to enjoy this book no matter how hard I tried. Huge miss for me!

I thought I had sent this book to my kindle only to discover I had not and it was too late.

I love the synopsis and plan on adding this book to my collection.

3.25 This was a cute forced proximity romance that was a fun read but got a little slow in the middle. This story follows Trixie a animal lover who rescues a chicken from an intersection with the help of a tall handsome stranger, in Chicago only problem she’s not allowed pets. After Trixie takes the chicken to the vet and spends more money than she has to help her Trixie is at a loss as to who would take the chicken. That is until an apartment listing shows up that is to funny to pass up. Trixie shows up to find the tall handsome stranger or Bear as we come to know him. Bear offers Trixie the apartment and maybe a place in her heart as well.

This novel started off strong I thought the concept was interesting and the characters seemed relatable and entertaining. After about a third of the book the problems start to become a little to repetitive and it just left me not caring as much. That being said I felt this book at a strong ending as well it just really lagged for me in the middle. Saying that though I did enjoy the writing so I plan to maybe pick something else up from this author in the future. I would like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

3.75 Stars

I love the general set-up and ridiculous meet-cute and re-cute. The meddling sisters are hilarious and a random injured chicken makes for lots of comedy and heart. Then Trixie and Bear fight their attractions for so long and it’s sweet and frustrating in the right ways.

Trixie’s trust issues and ingrained trauma, to always be smiling and carefree in the presence of others, is so relatable. Though I do think, by the end, it goes a little too far. The number of ways she talks herself in circles stopped making believable sense.

I greatly appreciated Bear’s backstory and journey. Issues of perceived and expected masculinity need to be addressed more. So, to see it play out so well here was great. Though, once again, I think it started to run thin towards the end, especially since he had such amazing familial support.

There’s a lot of heat and build in these pages. Great attraction but, for once, I’m disappointed that the foreplay ended in a fade to black. I appreciate all levels of steam in romance books, but this one gave great leading tease and the abrupt cutoff felt wrong.

Still, overall, I enjoyed the themes and strong characters. Even though it fell short here and there, it’s still a great read.

*I received a free early e-copy from the publisher.

I adore this rom-com. I really loved the grumpy sunshine aspect of this book. This book has jokes in it and they were hilarious, and I loved how much the jokes added playfulness to the story. Every part of this book was adorable, and I highly recommend it. Thank you for letting me read this arc.

This was a first time read for me by this author so I didn't have any expectations when I picked this up. It was a fun, light-hearted story that was quite entertaining. The story was definitely unique and sweet and just the thing for a good pick-me-up. Trixie was a quirky and lovable character and Bear was sweet, homey, and a quiet guy who came through for her when she really needed it. Trixie had been given notice to find another place to live, and Bear's meddlesome sisters had posted an ad to rent out his spare room, which was the perfect solution for Trixie. Bear worries about keeping things platonic between them, but agrees to rent out the room to her. It doesn't take long for that platonic wall to crumble and for their feelings for each other to start to take over.
The story was cute, with plenty of fun moments that made me smile and laugh. An entertaining and enjoyable, feel-good story!
I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

Thank you to the author, Alcove Press and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The blurb begins: "Trixie isn’t exactly sure what she was thinking..." and we as a reader never really get more insight than that. This book is a combination of "quirky" female lead (aka manic pixie dream girl), grumpy and withdrawn male lead (aka misunderstood sensitive soul), love beyond all sensible budget considerations for an escaped factory chicken with the extremely original - I kid you not - name of ChickChick (I suppose this shouldn't be considered a negative, as this is what brings the two leads together and cements their relationship), lots of mention of "blue balls" as soon as female... breathes near male, and to top it all off, a truly awkwardly written sex scene. Oh, and I forgot one absolutely irritating detail: WTF is going on with substituting food for cursing (oh snickerdoodles - oh fish fingers - oh ... insert food of choice). I'm sure there are those that will be charmed by this book - I am not among them.