I couldn't finish this book - there were too many cliché moments between the characters that became frustrating.

So I wanted to like this. A quirky woman and a hot mystery guy find a stray chicken in the middle of the city she lives in and takes it home. Instead of finding literally any other home for it, she gets kicked out of her apartment and ends up living with the hot mystery guy. Love ensues.

She made so many silly decisions that I didn't love and it was hard to root for her. Spending $3,000 on a chicken's medical bills that forces her to take on multiple part time jobs probably makes her a better person than me but bless her heart, it was too much. I thought the chicken, named Chick-Chick unfortunately would be a cute side plot and it was a huge plot point through the whole thing.

The alternative curse words drove me nuts. It was supposed to be charming and I was not into it. They kept edging around Trixie's trauma and Bear's father as far as things that majorly shaped them into the adults they were and it started to bug me after a while that we didn't get to it quicker.

Thank you to Netgalley and Alcove Press for a copy in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.

I'm sad to say I wasn’t a fan of this book. The romance didn’t do anything for me, Trixie was a pretty annoying character and why was the love interest named Bear?

I truly felt nothing for these characters or for the story. And I know this book is one I’m not going to remember in a year from now.

However, the only thing I will remember about this romance was that our female protagonist had a chicken for a pet.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Great book, good storyline. The book was cute and I enjoyed reading it over a holiday break. The characters made you care about them and the story they were going through. It caught my attention from the beginning and kept me reading quickly.

Truly just so fun and insane but in the best way. Also the. cover is just perfect., Thank you to Alcovefor the advanced copy

This was such a cute romance book. I mean the main character literally has a pet chicken that she rescues in the first chapter so if that doesn't hook you, then I don't know what will. I loved how it was roommates to lovers which I always adore as well.

If I had to sum this book up in one word, it would be quirky. I mean that in the least ironic way possible. This romcom was sweet and cute with the perfect dash of spunk to give it some humor.

With a (literally) colorful cast of characters, readers are sure to get drawn into Trixie and Bear’s love story. This is a strangers to roommates to friends to lovers romance. I would give it a spice rating with only 1 or 2 closed door scenes. The emphasis on this story is the emotional relationship between the characters and their personal development.

A kooky chicken and meddling siblings keep this book light even with heavier lines that address an obsessive need for perfection. Anybody who has felt like they have to pretend to be happy to make others like them will relate to Trixie. Her repetition that “everyone liked cheerful people,” really hit home for me. For all the people who were told they were too sensitive growing up, Bear and Trixie will be there to comfort you in this book.

Overall, this was a great read that I plowed through. With lovable characters and spunky animals, this romcom is sure to make you smile, but only in the realest of ways.

A big thank you to Kelly Ohlert and Alcove Press for giving me the chance to read an ARC of this book! Please know that all opinions expressed in this review are my own.

When Trixie saw the chicken run in front of her car, she didn’t stop to ask herself why the chicken was crossing the road. She just jumped out of her car to run after it And when she realized that she was making other drivers upset, a stranger stepped in and stared menacingly towards them, giving Trixie a chance to grab the chicken, put it safely in her car, and get back into traffic. She took the chicken to the vet for some much needed care, but she couldn’t completely put the handsome stranger out of her mind.

Bear grew up in a house full of sisters, and while he is good at construction and remodeling, his chosen career hasn’t made him very happy. He lives alone, and while he is often interrupted by one or more sisters dropping by, or his best friend Ryan who lives next door. But his sisters think he needs more, so they take action on his behalf, putting out an ad for a roommate without his knowledge.

When Trixie sees the ad that’s gone viral on the internet for the room in Bear’s home, she had to jump at it. She didn’t know him or his sisters, but she knew she needed a new place to live. Her landlord had put her foot down on all the stray animals that Trixie had try to sneak into her apartment. But while she could take the cats and dogs to the animal shelter where she worked, they didn’t have a place for Chick-Chick. If Trixie wanted to keep taking care of her new chicken, she had to find them a new place to live.

When Bear found out that his sisters had placed an ad renting out his spare room, he’s livid. He sends away all the strangers who have suddenly called or texted or just shown up at his place. Well, all but one. That lovely woman he saw chasing a chicken across the street had taken away his power of speech that day, and she did it again when she showed up to look at the room. He couldn’t say no to her. And he found that he couldn’t kick her out days later, when he found out that she had moved in the chicken along with herself.

Trixie finds herself feeling very comfortable in Bear’s home. They start spending time together, watching television and drinking wine, and she finds herself torn. She wants to lower the walls that she’s built up around her heart, but she built them there for a reason. The last time she let herself think she had made a genuine friend, she had been devastated. Bear doesn’t seem like he would hurt her, but she thought that last time too. Can she really open herself up to the possibility of a friendship with him, or even more?

Bear has spent most of his life fighting the voice of his birth father in his head. He’s been mocked and bullied to the point where he’s hidden his true self away. But he feels more like his true self around this strange woman who wants to save a sick chicken and keeps standing on one foot like a flamingo. Can he trust her not to mock him and his real dreams, or will she turn out to be like the others?

To Get to the Other Side is a sweet rom com about two people who were emotionally abused as children and trying to overcome the effects of that as adults. Their struggles to connect with each other despite their battered hearts is a testament to their feelings for each other. But mostly, this book is just a pool of sweetness and charm for me. I had to read this one slowly, because there was a lot going on in the rest of my life, and dipping into this book a little at a time was sweet relief from all the stress and chaos.

I saw the cover of this book, where Trixie is running around after a chicken, and I was immediately interested. I wanted to know more about this chicken, and about the woman. And the more I read, the more I loved it. There are so many surprising moments and so many sweet details. There are some steamy scenes, but mostly, this one is sentimental. It’s adorable, it’s funny, and it’s romantic, but you also have to be prepared for a chicken to steal almost every scene she’s in.

Egalleys for To Get to the Other Side were provided by Alcove Press through NetGalley, with many thanks.

I just reading about main characters rescuing any animals. It shows they have an heart. And that's not something we cannot deny.

Trixie may be messy whenever she rescues an animal but she can't deny her passion in saving them. And she is more than determined to provide them a home when she gets kick out of her old place. She may be shock how much she enjoys her new place with Bear. And she can't deny her attraction for him. She is going to try her best to stop it since they both live each other.

if you love reading about roommates romance with forced proximity trope, then this book is for you.

The first book I was ever approved for on netgalley and I loved it! I felt so close to this book because I've never heard of the author or the publishing company so I felt honored that I got approved! This book is a story of a new unexpected love. A must read.

The premise was cute, but I couldn't connect with the characters. For a story so driven by characters, neither main character was believable, and that made it hard to get into it.

Thank you to Alcove Press and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t do this often, but I have DNF’d at 25%. The premise of the story was cute, and I had high hopes for the book. However, the insta-love was simply too insta for me. Trixie’s quirky personality is overdone. And Bear’s instant specialization of virtually everything that Trixie does made this cringe-worthy for me. Many will love this book, I am not one of those however.

I wanted to like this one, but I found it really hard to get into. The writing felt a bit flat to me, sadly!

Cute rom com featuring a chicken! I liked the first few chapters but felt it dragged a bit in the middle. Trixie is a certified animal lover but I thought she went a bit too hard over a chicken. It was a bit implausible that said chicken was allowed to roam the house, seeing as how chickens poop all.the.time!

Bear, her love interest, is a big bear of a man (pun intended) who was quite ok living the bachelor life, until Trixie showed up. Theirs was a slow burn romance, so slow that Bear's sisters had to jump in and give him a push in Trixie's direction.

Overall I enjoyed reading about Bear's family and watching how he opened up to the possibility of romantic love.

So there’s this injured chicken, it crossed the street, found by a girl and from there, a love story begins. I knew from the start that it would be a very light read. The beginning was slow for me. I don’t know why, but it took me days to even finish a few chapters. But I finally got into it, and kept reading until it was done.

The cover could’ve been better but I love the colour scheme. The characters are very relatable and that’s something that I appreciate in a rom-com novel. Even the supporting characters are very likable. Both main characters have their insecurities and personal struggles. The story is very cute and predictable, but I like how it tackles a family issue, and insecurities, Their interaction with each other and with their friends and family are very entertaining. As much as I understand where Trixie is coming from, I still get very annoyed with how she treats Bear. I love the character development of Bear, he is already an amazing human being, to begin with, but his self-acceptance opened up better things for him. I just wish it was the same for Trixie.

It is an enjoyable read toward the end for me. Short and sweet A good read if you are struggling to accept or love yourself. A great book for animal lovers as well!

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick and easy read. I think the author definitely struggled to make the characters relatable. It was a lot of stereotypical tropes thrown together to make us feel sorry for the main character, but I just didn't connect with any of them.

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

3.5 stars!

This book was a great insta-lust, forced proximity, roommates to lovers story.

Trixie has trust issues due to her overbearing parents and a nasty two-faced college roommate who destroyed her reputation and stole her boyfriend. A lover of all animals, Trixie ends up accidentally adopting a stray chicken that crosses the road and needs medical attention. While trying to catch the chicken in the road, she meets Bear, the quiet, handsome man who helps calm the cars honking for Trixie to get out of the road.

Bear has been hiding his feminine side all his life due to her masculine driven father. To overcompensate he works in construction rather than help to run his mothers floral shop. He drinks beer he hates rather than wine he prefers. He puts on baseball games rather than binge the greys anatomy episodes he actually likes.

Once Trixie’s landlord notices her chicken, she has one week to move out. She finds a roommate ad in the paper that Bear’s 3 sisters put in without his knowledge. Frazzled, Bear scares away the people showing up and calling
him, he is about to have words with his sisters, until Trixie shows up and Bear can’t say no to the sweet girl he met the other day.

Soon, roommates turn into friends and eventually lovers. Very cute family dynamics and great way of tackling toxic masculinity. The sex scenes or dirty talk were a big awkward, but the characters are awkward, so it works.

Thank you Netgalley and Alcove Press for this title in exchange for an honest review

Forced roommates and a hottie named Bear with a pet chicken. Yes please!!!

Trixie is a mess. I loved loving Trixie. She gave her whole heart. The chemistry from her and Near was just so magnetic!

The chicken literally got to the other side of the road in this one and it was such a ride!

To Get To The Other Side was a cute, easy to read romcom. I enjoyed the characters and the added bonus of caring for a chicken way more than I anticipated I would. However, I feel like the story had a few too many plot lines going at once. I think the characters would have been more loved and easier to connect with if a few plot lines had been dropped in lieu of more character development. Overall, I think this was a good debut novel with a lot of potential! Just could have benefited from a bit of story editing to make it more cohesive.

Strap in, because I have thoughts. Lots of thoughts. I was hoping this was going to be a Sophie Kinsella/Shopaholic-esque romantic comedy, where the heroine is getting herself into sticky situations and it's funny. It is not that. Nope.

I thought this was going to be a review where I complained about the excessive amount of quirkiness in this book, but actually I think that the bigger problem is that neither the Hero or the Heroine are functioning adults in any sense. And it's not just that they're flat characters, with very few personality traits, it's also that the way that they behave in pretty much every situation that they are put in is not that of a rational person. Mix in the various issues that both of them have and they're not just a bad fit for each other, they're a bad fit for anyone to spend any time with ever.

And don't get me started on the fact that Trixie (rhymes with Pixie which should have been a clue/warning) mows him down with out of control dogs that she's walking and he breaks his ankle and it's treated as nothing/a charming personality quirk. Or that the chicken she's rescued has pretty serious health problems and she's dropping thousands of dollars on vet care and never considering whether this is in the best interests of the bird. I could go on. But it would be spoilers - as would the really weird stuff that I ended up googling as a result of reading this. And honestly, I cannot bear it any more.