Thank you St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for my ARC 🩷

I was SO excited to be approved for this after recently finishing and loving Bend Toward the Sun. While this is technically a standalone book, Right Where We Left Us is a continuation of the Brady family antics and you’d be doing yourself a big disservice reading this (book 2) before Bend Toward the Sun (book 1).

I really loved this second chance romance. This book was still beautiful but slightly less lyrical than book one, which actually helped me to get more into the romance. There wasn’t as much description between interactions which helped the tension build between the leads.

It was such a pleasure to slip back into the warm, sunshine world of the Brady family and I’m already hoping we have a book three (Mal/Frankie) in the works.

Right Where We Left Us is sweet, heartwarming, a little 🌶️, and so enjoyable.

I luckily got to read an arc of RIGHT WHERE WE LEFT US by Jen Devon and the emotional rollercoaster I was on... I can't even begin to describe it. The pining... the angst... I spent a good portion reading this book clutching my heart. How can two people communicate so much but actually say so little?! Temperance and Duncan really had me frustrated at times, but the other parts had me so giddy and enamored. This book picks up right where BEND TOWARD THE SUN left off. I absolutely love the Brady family and there are plenty of family moments in this book too. Highly recommend!

thank you to St. Martin's Press for the ebook in exchange for an honest review

I slurped this up like that guy in the bathtub scene in saltburn.

4.5 stars

read if you’d enjoy a slow burn, will-they-won't-they, second chance romance with complex characters and found family. there is also a career in medicine represented very well (but the bar is on the floor in that regard). some over-complicated interpersonal conflict but within the context of convoluted circumstances, I can appreciate and respect that as part of the characters’ journeys.

devon writes beautiful imagery and poetic prose, which makes her stories even more romantic. her vineyard setting comes to life like a movie in your head, and I'm so glad we got to revisit it in her sophomore novel. speaking of which, although the books are interconnected standalones, trust me: reading book one is 100% mandatory before diving into book two. here’s to hoping frankie and malcolm are next book.

fans of more literary fiction-esque romantic dramas akin to Emily Henry and Abby Jimenez will adore.

2 stars

I thought this book looked cute, but I did not care for a single character or the romance while reading it.

Thank you for NetGalley for sending me an e-ARC of this book!

Wow. Just wow. What a great way to write a second chance romance. I started to read this, and realized that there were references I was likely missing, so I did a quick search to see if this was a book in a series. While it wasn't obvious, and these are indeed interconnected standalones, Bend Towards the Sun is well worth the read prior to getting into Right Where We Left Us. I absolutely fell in love with the Brady family and its competitiveness and love and joy in living. It is multigenerational in scope, and Devon did a great job at blending humor, longing, romance, and love into a swoony, heartfelt story. It's hard to believe this is only her 2nd published work. And now I can't wait to read about Mal and Frankie!

I loved the story! The characters had so much depth to them. I felt like they were my best friends and I was part of their situation. I could not put this book down. I love stories that have multiple characters that poor out into another book and all the dots connect. I highly recommend this story, along with "Bend Toward the Sun". This is the type of book that when you are finished reading it, you miss it. It is hard to find authors that have the talent to continuously write good stories that have great character depth. Please, please continue writing more books.

“No. It’s a boundary. I’m using my words, Dr. Madigan. Not my problem if they aren’t the ones you want to hear.”

This book was 3.5 ⭐️ for me, but I’m a round up kind of girl.

I wanted to love this book because I loved Duncan, he’s hard working, loving, an amazing uncle, everything you’d want and more. But… I found his and Temperance’s story lack luster. I still had fun reading it, I think because I loved revisiting Rowan and Harry and then being able to see their wedding. I also had fun seeing more of Frankie and Malcolm! But there were a lot of times when it came to the MC’s where to me everything felt forced and maybe a bit repetitive? I had quite a few moments where I just couldn’t get behind the conflict, where it didn’t make sense to me why this spanned over 14 years especially since their lives are so interconnected and the “conflict” wasn’t catastrophic. On a positive note, I can’t wait for Frankie and Malcolm’s inevitable love explosion.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

I will continue to be a fan of hers.
I love that I received a ARC.
I cannot wait for more from Jen Devon!!!! She will be on my auto purchase authors.

Right Where We Left Us by Jen Devon is a good fit for those seeking an emotionally charged, second chance romance that explores the complexities of long-standing, on-again, off-again relationships and the challenges of making them work.

I really love the Brady family dynamic. I loved the main characters Temp & Duncan. How they individually excelled in their careers but I felt the connection between the reader and the characters just lacked so much. The pacing of the romance was extremely sluggish. I would pick up the next book if it's about Mal however I pray it has a better pace, more depth and some more romance.

I was really excited about this book because I LOVED Devon's first book, Bend Toward the Sun, but unfortunately I didn't feel the stakes in Right Where We Left Us like I did with her debut. I loved returning to the setting though and the family!

My Thoughts

My favorite Contemporary Romance Trope is that of a second chances romance.

From the beginning I wholeheartedly was on board for things between Duncan Brady and Temperance Madigan to finally fall into place so they could have their own HEA.

Told from alternating viewpoints readers see the story through Temperance and Duncan’s perspectives while also enjoying all the moments where family and friends keep the narrative from bogging down.

Returning back to the Brady Family vineyard and learning more about the main characters as well as their supporting multitude of secondary characters introduced in the previous book Bend Toward The Sun was not always an easy read to keep track of at times.

Strongly recommend reading previous book for background setup but if you don’t hope like me you enjoy taking the journey that was 14 years overdue as a course correction for this particular couple.
[EArc from Netgalley]
On every book read as soon as it is done and written up for review it is posted on Goodreads and Netgalley, once released then posted on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles as well.

On every book read as soon as it is done and written up for review it is posted on Goodreads and Netgalley, once released then posted on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles as well.

Dnf at 63%. I enjoyed the family dynamic of the Brady family and the flowery writing…which I noticed was a complaint in some of the reviews. I honestly, just do not have a lot of patience for unexplained angst. I felt frustrated and stressed while reading this book so set it down a bit before finishing it.

TJ and Duncan have history. They spent one wonderful summer together when they were young and have been in again off again ever since. When they are forced to be around each other regularly for a summer, sparks fly and they find it hard to stay away from each other. A sweet, forced proximity, second chance romance that makes TJ and Duncan find out if they are each other's HEA.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the chance to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I grabbed this story as per the recommendation of author Sarah Adler. She advised her followers to read the first book in the series, Bend Towards the Sun, then jump on Right Where We Left Us as soon as we could!

I trust Sarah Adler's taste implicitly- and boy, do I not regret it! I'm loving this series- the Brady family is DELIGHTFUL! Even though the series centers around an established, traditional family- found family is also very profound here.

But to speak specifically to this book- it's a lovely second chance romance. There is a lot of scattered storytelling throughout- but that's what couples with a history can offer.

Again- I am in love with this series/family- and can't wait to read book 3! I'm praying we get a Malcolm and Frankie story... plus a love match for Arden would be amazing!

Overall: 2.5/5
Characters:: 2.5/5
Plotline: 2/5

Romance: 2/5
Spice Factor: 2
Themes: 2.5/5
Writing: 2.5/5
Enjoyment Factor 2/5:
Review: I love a good second-chance romance, and I was excited to dive into this book but was very disappointed. The romance felt strange and was just a vast miscommunication trope mixed with shitty parents. The pacing was all over the place, making the plot so convoluted that I could barely follow the timeline or what was happening. The spice scenes were entertaining and well done. I did not care for the characters as they felt generic and made the dumbest decisions possible. Everything was repetitive. I feel like we had the same conversations 4 or 5 different times, which annoyed me at the book. Temperance was a great female badass boss, and I wanted to explore that more through the story. Overall, I was disappointed in this book.

I enjoyed this, more than the first book I read by Devon, but my oh my it takes a minute to get into this style of writing. I found our twin main characters to be pretty insufferable by the time we finally got them together.

This felt toxic and insane and messy to me. I love a good second chance romance but it didnt quit fit the bill for me,

I was excited to read this book cause I love the cover but what I wasn’t expecting was how long it took for me to even get past the first chapter. I struggled a lot because of how worthy the writing was for something as simple as saying what was going on in a sentence or two but instead you would be bombarded with unnecessary information. I started catching myself skimming through the book which is a sign to me that I wouldn’t enjoy the book but I still tried to give it a chance but after skimming all the way to 20% of the book and still not know a single thing that’s going on I decided the book is simply not for me.

Don’t get me wrong the author has excellent dialogue between characters, even making me laugh out loud during some or even making me tear up during the speech from Duncan’s mother but that’s not enough for me to keep reading. I found the female main character’s name, Temperance, strange. I've never heard of that name and I had thought it was temper for the longest time but after reading more it had hit me that her name was Temperance. I got annoyed at how the two just ignored each other but wanted the other to come and talk to them. And the one thing that’s my fault and not the author’s is that I am not used to reading books in third person so all of that combined just made me decide to dnf the book.

This book wrecked me. I’m so glad I read book 1 beforehand. Bend towards the sun. This is the follow up romance in the same universe and having the background story really brings it to a new level.

I love how angsty the book is, how the characters are so real and flawed and perfect for each other.