3.25⭐

Featuring ~ dual 1st person POV, debut, forced proximity, roommates to lovers, slow burn, no steamage

Trixie & Bear
Bear is real mad at his sister's for posting an ad for a room for rent in his house without his permission, but when Trixie comes around looking to move in he starts clucking a different tune.
Trixie is used to being disappointed by her family, so she doesn't think Bear would be interested in her. Slowly they start enjoying each other's company and help each other to work through their issues.

Okay, so I am an animal lover, but Trixie went way above and beyond for a chicken and it started to be a bit much. Going into debt and needing to work like 16 jobs to pay the vet bills is crazy talk. I liked the thought process behind what Bear built for Chick Chick, it was kinda weird, but a cute grand gesture. I loved how she worked at the animal shelter too. And what kinda nod would it be to chickens without the inevitable joke at the beginning.

Overall, a sometimes cute and funny debut that I liked well enough.

I was fortunate enough to receive a kindle copy and the audiobook to review. I tried both on for size and either worked well.

Narrated by Stefanie Kay and Paul Heitsch for 8 hours and 55 minutes, easy to follow at 2-2.5x. They did a lovely job.

I had both the ebook and audiobook for this one. Here are the things I really enjoyed:
- Dual POV: It is always a hit for me when books are dual POV in general, but I find it especially helpful when the book is dual POV when I’m listening to narration. It was easy to follow who was speaking or whose thoughts I was hearing.
- Light read and listen: This was a story without heavy drama and I found it easy to get through.

The MMC had more dimension and was navigating through a complicated background. I had a harder time figuring out the FMC. It was harder to connect with her and I didn’t find her all that relatable.

Overall a read I felt mostly neutral about.

First I would like to thank Alcove Press for a copy of the book for my honest review.

I found this book through following the author on Instagram. I was lucky enough to be a part of her cover reveal campaign and I was so excited to read the book.

This is a sweet story about Trixie, local animal shelter employee, and Bear, resident grumpy construction worker, who meet in a hilarious way, become roommates and then really get to know each other.

What I loved:
- Chick Chick, an unconventional house pet who is a key to Trixie and Bear's meet cute
- Grumpy/Sunshine trope, its one of my favorites and it is done so well in this story
- He falls first, this is always my favorite type of stories cause I just love the inner monologue of the men who can't figure out how to tell her how he feels
- Side characters, Bear has a lot of sisters and a funny neighbor who all know how to push his buttons which results in a lot of hilarity
- Growth, even though this is a romantic comedy I do appreciate that with each other's support Trixie and Bear are able to overcome some childhood traumas

There are cute animals, attractive men, medaling family members, light romance and a HEA. For all of my romance readers, I would absolutely recommend this book for you!

Thank you so much @AlcovePress & @NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 06 December 2022)

SYNOPSIS | Trixie needs to find a new apartment as her landlady refuses to let her keep a chicken that she is rehabilitating there. Bear is being forced by his sisters to rent out his spare room so when Trixie shows interest, it seems like a perfect fit.

WHAT I LIKED:
- that the story explores gender stereotypes

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- the story is essentially 300+ pages of Trixie & Bear not communicating with each other
- insta-love is not a trope that I enjoy reading
- Trixie is the definition of the manic pixie dream girl trope (I get it, she is quirky, lets move on)
- neither characters family traumas were explored in enough detail for me to be invested

Rescuing animals is not unusual for Trixie. She does work at an animal rescue. But when she encounters a chicken crossing the road in Chicago, she is slightly taken aback. A strange man helps her but then disappears. Soon after, when Trixie and the chicken find themselves looking for a new place to live--thanks to her landlord enforcing the "no pets" policy, even when the pet in question is a recovering chicken, she answers an ad only to find Bear, the mysterious man from the street, would be her new landlord.

The only problem is, Bear didn't actually place the ad. His sisters did. Still, he can't turn away Trixie, for whom he felt an immediate attraction.

At the same time, Bear's mother announces her intention to retire from her flower shop. Bear has always loved the business, but his father bullied him into believing the flower business wasn't manly enough.

Can Trixie and Bear both overcome their insecurities and act on their mutual attraction?

This romance has some trite, overdone tropes, but Trixie and Bear are both so lovable and vulnerable (despite their inexplicable affection for the chicken), it's difficult not to enjoy this story. #ToGettotheOtherSide #NetGalley

I was absolutely loving this until about 85ish% when Trixie got super annoying and over the top. Bear is a national treasure and should be protected at all costs. He is the biggest cinnamon roll of a hero and is really the star of this book. I was loving him and Trixie, their friendship and the slow burn of their romance. Understandably, Trixie had some trauma from past relationships which caused her to not let people get too close and hide behind a forever-happy facade. But some things go down and this defense mechanism was just taken too far for me. Trixie was ridiculous and she was fortunate Bear stayed around. Bear’s family and their meetings plus chick-chick were some other highlights, but unfortunately as a whole, this just fell flat for me at the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for an advanced copy. My thoughts are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley, Alcove Press, & Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.

DNF @ 5%

Some books you can tell pretty much immediately that the narrative voice isn't going to work for you, and this was one of them.

A really lovely book to read. The characters and setting were very well spoken about and likable in every way. Recommend thi with 5 stars


Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for this ARC

I thoroughly enjoyed myself reading this book! It's filled with humour.

Bear is an introvert and rather stays at home than going out. He struggles with the predjudice some people might have about the things he likes to do (or even drink).

Trixie is a very bubbly and kind person. But her kindness is sometimes more a shield to hide behind.

They both grow during the story and I liked the progress they made.

I also liked Bear's family and the way they where looking out for him, in a little extreme way sometimes 😄.

Pretty soon in the story there is already some tension building between Bear and Trixie, but they deny the attraction at first.
What follows is a slow-burn romance between them.

The chicken "Chick-Chick" makes it a unique story and is a reason for some funny scenes. I like this different element in the story, but sometimes the love and care of Trixie for the chicken feels a bit much and unrealistic.

The story has a dual-pov from Bear and Trixie, I really liked that.

So if you like a funny, sweet, slow-burn story with a chicken, a roommate situation, a kinda grumpy, pancakes baking, Grey's Anatomy loving guy and a animal loving, quirky, ray of sunshine girl....than this is the book for you!!

This book starts out with the female mc finding an injured chicken in the road and the male mc coming out to check to make sure she's ok. Cut to, they start living together because she needs an animal friendly place for the chicken and his sister's posted his house online since he needs money and friends.
This book was a little unrealistic, like the fact that this woman spent over $3k on a chicken ! It was also just somewhat bland, I would've enjoyed a bit more drama or action I suppose. Overall it was fine, I didn't hate it but I didn't love it by any means.

2.25 stars for this forgettable grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity, strangers-to-roommates-to-friends-to-lovers book that had way more potential than what we were given in this miscommunication-filled, tries-too-hard-to-be-qUiRkY romp.

"To Get to the Other Side" by Kelly Ohlert obviously involves a chicken, right? Did you get that from the title? If you didn't get it straight away, you may have gotten it from the thousand or so odd references to all things chicken. Trust me, I got tired of that damn chicken reeeeeeeal quick. It made me want to eat Chick-Chick (seriously...that's its name) for dinner. #sorrynotsorry

Trixie is....sort of the worst? She's big on trust, but the second time she meets Bear, she literally omits the fact that she owns a whole ass chicken to get in good with him so she can use him to rent a room in his house. She also seems to keep up appearances only so she doesn't do anything to jeopardize her room in his house. Uhhh, ok? Big turn-off early on for me. Trixie is a bleeding-heart animal lover, that much is made clear, but she is willing to go into debt for....a chicken???? I get loving your pets, but there's a limit to the madness. Trixie's life is full of unresolved childhood traumas, and despite knowing this, it seems she has little to no compassion for Bear and his traumas unless they benefit her in some way. Her entire personality stated grating on me around the third chapter. She tries so, so hard to be plucky that it made me want to DNF this book. In lieu of curse words, she says stuff like "oh almond butter!" or "oh fish fingers!" or "oh snickerdoodle!" instead. She constantly stands on one leg like a flamingo. She always wears mismatched socks. She plasters on a big, fake smile in her bright, sunshine-y clothes and swears no one can tell that she's miserable because, apparently, everyone wants to see someone smile, no one wants to see someone be miserable. SEE!? SHE'S ~*UNIQUE and QUIRKY!~* Apart from this one personality trait, she's as dull as a bag of rocks and is in desperate need of some therapy. She and Bear have virtually no chemistry with one another. All of their interactions are driven by lust, not love. They have one spectacularly awkward, brief sex scene with one another to explore their feelings, and even that falls flat. I just didn't buy them together.

In the end, I was not super engaged with "To Get to the Other Side." The characters are not particularly well-written despite hundreds and hundreds of pages that might tell you otherwise. Skip this one.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kelly Ohlert, and Alcove Press for providing me with an ARC copy of this book! All opinions are my own, and I was not compensated for my review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Alcove for the eARC in exchange for a fair review!

Trixie doesn't have a plan when she stops rush hour traffic in Chicago to save a chicken, but when it results in her looking for a new place to live she needs to get one and fast. Enter Bear, who likes to keep to himself thank you very much unless it includes his raucous family. They promise each other to keep everything platonic and stay just roommates...however, it turns out co-parenting a chicken is an aphrodisiac.

I initially requested this book because the premise sounded so adorable and I'm a huge fan of the roommates-to-lovers trope, but that sort of fell apart in the second act. This book is a dual POV and it seemed to suck all of the tension out of Trixie and Bear's relationship (and there should have been plenty). Both characters felt two dimensional to me and not lived in nearly enough, which made their wishy washy attitude about their relationship (at one point Bear seems to go from "maybe I need to move on" to "this is the love of my life" a little too quickly) that much more grating.

To Get To The Other Side by Elle Cook
3.5 stars

The story starts out when Trixie pulls over to rescue an injured chicken that she sees on the side of the road, and Bear stops to help her. They go their separate ways and assume they’ll never see each other again. But when Trixie tries to sneak the chicken into her apartment, her landlord gives her one week to find somewhere else to live. Bear is a quiet man who loves his solitude, but his three meddling sisters think he’s lonely, so they put an ad in the paper that he’s looking for a roommate for his spare bedroom. When Trixie answers the ad, she is surprised and delighted to find that the handsome stranger she met on the side of the road could be her new roommate.

This was a cute, clean, low-angst story. It’s a second chance, close proximity romance between two quirky characters who both struggle with some mental health issues. Their mental health struggles were well executed, and they have some great banter while trying to fight their attraction to one another for the sake of their living situation.

While I liked this one, I didn’t love it. There is a ton of miscommunication going on here, and while I understand why Trixie has such a hard time communicating her feelings, it doesn’t make it any less frustrating. Trixie has a lot of issues stemming from how she was brought up. Her parents taught her that if she was ever anything but happy or if she didn’t smile enough, then people wouldn’t like her. She also let a betrayal by her college roommate keep her from getting close to anyone, and instead of having meaningful relationships, she has tons of shallow ones.

The chicken thing was cute at first, but it started to get old when Trixie became obsessed with “Chick, Chick” and taking care of him was draining her financially.

Bear grew up in a house full of toxic masculinity where you’re supposed to “be a man!” He was humiliated by his father for helping his mother in her flower shop and for being good at creating arrangements. Because of this, he hides his distaste for beer and his preference for watching t.v. dramas instead of sports from his friends and family members. I thought this was a great representation of how men in society are supposed to act to be considered masculine and how it’s hurting young boys. And again, while I understand why he acts the way he does, his odd behavior and closed-off personality got old after a little while.

Overall, this was a good read for fans of clean romance and forbidden roommate romance. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the advanced copy. To Get To The Other Side is available now.

This was the most adorable roommates-to-lovers and grumpy/sunshine read! I loved Trixie immediately, but Bear, not so much; though I think it was more likely due to the fact that I just did not care for the male narrator. Normally I’m swooning for the MMC but this time I would periodically get annoyed with him. I did, however, enjoy how he started to come out of his shell after meeting Trixie and navigated his social anxiety. His sisters (and the chicken, of course) were also great supporting characters! Definitely pick this up if you swooned over Nick & Jess from New Girl or you enjoy heartfelt, hilarious romances. 4.5/5⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley, Alcove Press and Dreamscape Media for the ALC.

A clean romcom with super likable characters! Love the setting in that wasn't NYC or London like so many others. A great slow burn.

3.5🌟.

This was such a sweet read. I loved the familial bond in this one. They were huge, meddling, hilarious and so supportive of each other.
Bear a grumpy, surly construction worker is at crossroads when he meets heroine Trixie who is exactly opposite of him. Bubbly, friendly and overall a sunshine girl. I liked that they became friends first then lovers. They both positively influenced each other’s lives.

I was entertained by Trixie’s pet hen Chick-Chick. she was the conduit between them.

It took me me a little while to immerse in to the story and did get fed up with Trixie’s actions in the last part. Mostly because Bear was such a sweetheart.
Overall a good and entertaining read with low angst and close door love scenes.

Recommended.

This story was extremely cute and enjoyable with a really fun main character and a supportive and fun site family. If you like grumpy x sunshine trope and the roommate/I’m gonna be your boyfriend kind of stories this is going to be perfect. We follow Trixie the main character as she navigates through life and does all the silly things and meets with Bear and then the rest is history. The chemistry has started off a bit slowly and I could not get into the story until the half of the book was red but by the end EyeKeem to like this really fun couple and how their relationship has developed.

Conclusion: always stop in the middle of the road to pick up a chicken, wink wink :)

🐚 𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖 🐚

4.5 ⭐

𝗧𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀: grumpy x sunshine, roommates, strangers to lovers, friends to lovers

This book was definitely interesting and unexpected.

The story begins with a chicken running on a very busy road. Trixie immediately stops noticing it and tries to catch it. Bear is the only one of the people who stops and bothers to see if everything is ok.

After a week they meet again, but now as roommates. With the arrival of Trixie in Bear's house, his life changes. He is much more talkative, he is no longer so grumpy in her person, and he finds a role in his life after Trixie opened his eyes. I liked how Bear's family was close to him and showed him their love and concern for him.

The chicken was an addition to the story, an unexpected addition!

Thank you Kelly Ohlert, Alcove Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This books was fine. It took me a while to get into it, it just started off so silly. The main characters were both likeable, although they both (especially Trixie) really needed therapy that wasn’t discussed at all. The shared trauma over difficult parent/parents was interesting an although it was a little extreme, it wasn’t unrealistic. I didn’t feel much chemistry between the main characters and even though it may technically slow-burn, it didn’t feel as anticipatory as a good romance should. The best thing about the story was the relationship between Bear’s mom and stepdad. Also, I hate the name Trixie! Considering how her parents are described, it doesn’t make sense that they’d name her that.
Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for providing me access to this eARC for my honest opinion!

To Get To The Other Side by @kellyohlert is the story of Trixie and Bear - two people who meet on the side of the road while Trixie is trying to rescue a loose chicken and then as a matter of pure randomness, end up as roommates. This was just such a fun, sweet romcom. I loved the dynamic between Trixie and Bear (and really, Bear was just the best roommate/boyfriend), I loved Bear’s sisters so much and I even loved Chick Chick, the chicken. This was definitely a story of getting a second chance at life to find yourself and do what makes you happy and in the process, find happiness and love.