I LOVED Here We Go Again! This was one of my favorites of 2024 (and arguably one of my favorite romances of all time). I have every intention of reading all of Alison Cochrun's other books now.

What I loved (the most, because honestly...all of it):
- The FMCs. I loved Logan and Rosie so much. They were both complex, nuanced characters who had distinct strengths and flaws, and who both grew tremendously over the course of the book. I also loved their friends-to-enemies-to-lovers relationship ARC (and the chemistry--whew!)
- The supporting characters. I dare you to read this book and not fall in love with Joe Delgado and his story. But honestly, almost all of the characters we run into throughout the story bring something unique and valuable to the narrative.
- The setting. I'm a big fan of a road trip story, and this one is done so well. Cochrun really captures the feelings of what it's like to be on the road (the excitement, the adventure, the awe, the anxiety, the exhaustion, the boredom).
- The neurodivergence representation
- The mental health representation

Thank you so much to NetGalley for my advanced digital copy.

While I recommend this book wholehearted to anyone who loves a good contemporary sapphic romance, I particularly recommend it to teachers. As an English teacher, I felt *seen* by Alison Cochrun.

One of the things that Alison Cochrun does well is create such relatable characters that you can't help but fall in love with, and root for them. Here We Go Again is no different than her other novels when it comes to character likeability and their growth. Emotional and heartwarming, Here We Go Again is a great sapphic romance. Full of sassines, laughter and a little sadness, and a little irritation, the book takes the reader on a journey of feelings.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity to read and review honestly an advanced digital copy.

I loved this book! These characters were so nice to spend time with, and I was sad when it was over. Another great book by Alison Cochrun. Thank you to NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book.

Alison Cochrun is such a powerhouse of an author. This one made me laugh and cry and the story is just so, so so, so good. I highly recommend ALL books by Cochrun, but this one really tugged at my heart.

I read Alison Cochrun’s previous book, Kiss Her Once for Me, and liked it, but I was not expecting to love this one quite as much as I did. Some of that is for reasons that will translate to many other readers, and some of my enjoyment comes from it combining my own random interests. Either way, I highly recommend this one, even if you have no experience teaching high school English and aren’t also contemplating getting assessed for ADHD.

Just as high school is such a pivotal time of life despite being only four years, my three years teaching and learning to teach had a permanent impact on me. I may not have been a high school English teacher for long, but I think some part of me always will be—and it’s still my back-up career. During those years, it completely consumed me. I would lay awake at night trying to figure out how to be a better teacher. My practicums were the most stressful times of my life. So it won’t come as a shock that I deeply related to this story about three high school English teachers. Unsurprisingly, Cochrun used to be a high school English teacher herself. (It’s also dedicated to teachers: “For all the queer educators out there. You save lives simply by showing up. Thank you. And for every queer teenager who became a little too attached to their English teacher. I see you. I love you.”)

Logan and Rosemary are rival English teachers at the same high school, but once, they were best friends. Then one kiss ruined their relationship, and now they can’t stand each other. It doesn’t help that they are classic Type A (Rosemary) and Type B (Logan) teachers, each judging the other for their opposing styles. How did they end up in the same profession? When they were teens, the only person who saw and accepted these two struggling queer and neurodivergent teachers was Joe, their Mexican American, openly gay English teacher. In their conservative small town, Joe was a life-saving presence for them, and they both followed in his footsteps.

Joe isn’t teaching anymore, though. He’s only 64, but years battling pancreatic cancer has ended with him being recommended hospice care. Both Rosemary and Logan have been helping take care of him, but he has a deathbed request that will be a lot more challenging to fulfill. He wants to die in his cabin in Maine, and he wants Logan and Rosemary to drive him there. Together.

Because the two of them can hardly be in the same room together, the idea of being in the same car for almost a week seems impossible, but they can’t ignore Joe’s pleas for them to make up and help go out the way he wants to. Besides, Rosemary has—unbelievably—just been laid off and doesn’t have a guaranteed job to go back to after the summer, so she needs something to keep her anxious brain occupied. So, she makes a giant binder of travel plans and convinces Logan to get on board, and off they set: a dying man, two mortal enemies, and a dog, all crammed in a van together.

I love a road trip story, and just as you’d expect, being in a confined space together forces Logan and Rosemary to communicate. There has been a lot of miscommunication between the two of them over the years, including Logan believing that Rosemary is a tight-laced, high-achieving, heterosexual neurotypical person with everything under control. In reality, they’re both neurodivergent lesbians, and Rosemary manages her anxiety with a desperate need to try to be in control, with a plan for everything.

The two of them haven’t been friend since they were 14, but neither of them moved on in the nearly two decades since. Rosemary keeps so busy with teaching that it allows no time in her life for dating, while Logan keeps her relationships to casual hookups only.

Logan planned to graduate and travel the world, having big adventures. But when her mother left her dad, she was determined not to do the same thing, so she’s been living with him ever since. This road trip is the first time she’s really left their small town.

As they travel, the two of them continue to butt heads, but they also reluctantly reconnect as adults—and finally address what actually happened the day they kissed. Logan’s instincts to run away from conflict mean that it’s not so easy to repair their relationship, though, especially when Logan refuses to grapple with Joe’s imminent death.

In the acknowledgements, Cochrun calls this a romcom about death, and that is accurate. I appreciated that it doesn’t have a particularly romantic view of death. Rosemary and Logan have to change Joe’s diapers as he howls at the indignity. Death is not a quiet, noble affair. It’s prolonged and painful—both for the person dying and their loved ones. There is a little bit of “Tuesdays with Morrie shit,” as Joe refers to it, but it’s not cloying.

(Spoilers, highlight to read) I also thought the first sex scene—Rosemary’s first time having sex—was especially well done. They both go very slowly, with clear consent at all times. It’s sweet, and since I’ve had some sex scenes completely turn me off of the book recently, I was glad to see it treated with such care.(End of spoilers)

A lesbian road trip romance + ruminating on death + both characters having ADHD + all the main characters being high school English teachers made this a home run for me, but you don’t have to have my exact configuration of interests to enjoy this friends to almost lovers to enemies to lovers romance. And yes, I cried.

Official content warnings: This book contains references to an off-page death of a parent due to overdose, and it includes the on-page death of a parental figure.

2.5 stars
Rosemary and Logan are former high school best friends who had a falling out but are now connected by their jobs as high school English teachers and their terminally ill former English teacher. They take him on an end of life road trip over summer break. I was excited for this book as I love road trip books and want to listen to all the sapphic romances. Unfortunately, our female main characters were both very emotionally immature and felt more like caricatures for the first half of the book. The connections felt more genuine by the end of the book but it was just non-stop drama up to that point. The terminally ill mentor’s story was also full of more drama and miscommunication. I keep writing in my reviews that contemporary romance is my favorite genre when it’s done “right” but when it’s full of drama, secrets and lies between the main characters, it ruins the whole concept of HEA. I don’t understand how most consumers want this level of drama in their romance books. I really hope that relationships out there aren’t this dysfunctional. We need more genuine sapphic romance novels where the drama is from outside of the main couple so we can root for them from start to finish.

This one was cute but a bummer. The girls were kind of awful to their dying professor who travelled with them.

W O W.

This book was an emotional rollercoaster and chock full of good lessons. I loved both FMC's and loved watching them reignite their friendship, and then their romantic relationship down the line. Both Logan and Rosemary are flawed humans rather than caricatures, and the journey they go on with their mentor and friend Joe was both heartwarming and heart wrenching at the same time.

I can confidently say a book hasn't touched me like this in awhile, and it's one that will stay with me for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review,

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Here We Go Again is so much more than the cute cover and loopy script title. Even the blurb doesn't give this story the justice it deserves. Here We Go Again is about love, and loss, and learning about who you are and realizing that you are deserving of things you have in life even if you do not think you deserve them.

Logan, Rosemary, and Joe embark on a cross-country roadtrip to bring Joe to his cottage in Maine one last time. Joe, Logan and Rosemary's former English teacher is dying from cancer and asks his two favorite former students (who were each other's former best friend) to help him. What ensues is a story filled with love, grief, joy, sadness, and reckoning. These characters are all so dynamic as each has to face their past regrets, mistakes, and unresolved feelings. Alison Cochrun possesses the unique talent of taking something utterly heartbreaking and turning it into a story where I could be laughing hysterically on one page and be sobbing by the next. I think anyone who reads this book would be able to see at least a little bit of themselves in each of these three characters. I know they are characters I will not be forgetting any time soon.

Alison Cochrun has a knack for writing books that manage to feel cozy in the midst of chaos. Here We Go Again is a road trip story about second chances and lost queer love that felt completely unpredictable but ultimately right from one chapter to the next. I loved every second of it and cannot wait to recommend it to my colleagues, my past (graduated) former students, and my LGBTQ+ romance book club.

don't really know how to talk about this book. It is so much more than a sapphic road trip romance and I loved it so much.

Logan and Rosemary are ex best friends and when their former English teacher requests to go on a death trip to Maine, the two of them decide to grant his last wish and set forth on the road trip of the summer. Logan is very visibly queer and a self-proclaimed fuckboy. She doesn't really form attachments and has a history of hooking up with any available sapphic in her vicinity. Then we have Rosemary who is also a lesbian but is more straight passing. She is super femme and has the opposite history of hookups as Logan meaning she hasn't had any.

The two of them had a falling out when they were in high school and now that they're in their 30s, they are forced to confront all of the big feelings they didn't deal with as teenagers.

Let's talk briefly about Joe. Joe is in his 60s and has pancreatic cancer and it's going to die. He is out and proud and has been the entire time he's known the girls. He was their English teacher when they were in high school and has kind of served as an adoptive parental figure for both of them. They both maintained very close relationships with him after high school even though they themselves didn't have a friendship. Joe's last wish is to go to Maine to his house and he inlists Logan and Rosemary to drive him there. So they figure out a vehicle and they load up Joe and his dog Odysseus and they set out.

What's a road trip without some detours right?

This book is so much more than a rekindling of a sapphic romance. It really is a testament to living life while you have it and embracing the relationships you do have. It's about leaving life with no regrets and fostering a sense of community. It's about self love and how to empathize and embrace your own feelings and experiences.

I was a bit of an emotional mess at the end of this and I still feel like I'm not doing it justice with this review. Honestly go read other people's reviews cuz they were much more eloquent than I am. This book is so good.

Lesbian MC with ADHD, Lesbian Aspec MC with ADHD, Gay Latine SC, Gay Black SC.

Small amount of explicit content. It's like one scene and it's fairly tame and should be safe for those that prefer fade to black or no explicit.

I have loved all the books written by Alison Cochrun and this one is now my favorite. I knew by the premise that I would love this book and was so excited to receive an arc. The premise of a road trip centered book is perfect for the summer or spring. The author as always wrote such intriguing characters and amazing story line.

𝑻𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒔: Enemies to Lovers, Forced Proximity, Road Trip, Opposites Attract, Slow Burn, Only One Bed

Logan and Rosemary were best friends as children but turned to arch rivals. When their favorite teacher has a dying wish they both agree to take him on a cross country roadtrip all the way to Maine. The journey is a way of connecting with their inner self, with each other and getting a larger perspective on life.

What I absolutely loved about the book is the experience of the road trip. Finding themselves, caring for a dying man. The story is heartbreaking, moving, inspiring all at the same time. Loved the funny situations and painful moments they go through! This was a moving read!

You might not think two people taking care of a beloved mentor with a terminal illness could be the start of a love story, but you'd be wrong. This book is a beautiful study of life, death, pain, and joy. It's funny and it's devastating. I'm so glad that Alison is pushing the boundaries of what a romance can be.

I'm so conflicted writing this review. My heart is torn between the plot and my overall enjoyment of the book as a whole.

rating: 3 STARS
genre: romance
format: audiobook + ebook

I REALLY loved the story with Joe, Logan, and Rosemary completing their "Death Trip." Their overall dynamic and the locations that they're able to travel to together really just warmed my heart (and almost made me want to see the Grand Canyon...almost, but not quite). I have a weak spot for elderly people in my romance novels, so Joe immediately flew to the top of my favorite character list here.

The romance, however, fell really flat for me. It felt very fast and, honestly, I skipped forward through the spicy scenes because they were a bit much (that could be a me problem and not a book problem - as I've discovered I prefer slightly less spice in my books than I used to). I can't really put my finger on what about it didn't work, but something didn't sit right.

Overall, this was a cute romance. It wasn't for me, but it might be for you!
(The audiobook narration, however, was VERY good. Would listen again.)

I am a big Alison Cochrun fan, and this book does not disappoint! The three main characters were so lovable and relatable, I felt like I knew them. I was crying at several points throughout the story.
Every detail of the road trip was so vivid and accurate, I finished the book feeling so inspired to do a big American road trip! I would definitely recommend this book!

I loved this book so much!!! Romance books that make me cry, laugh, and feel way too many emotions will always be my favorite!!!

I think something is broken in me, because after reading all of the amazing 5 star reads, I just … didn’t feel the same 😭 which completely broke my heart since I adore alison cochrun and her style of writing!

I will say, this is 100% a sad contemporary romance with a lot of grief and death scattered around the plot so please take the time and read the trigger warnings to take care of your mental health first ❤️

logan and rosemary used to be best friends in school and are now mortal enemies teaching at the same school - it’s a tale as old as time! and throw in the best character of all time, joe, their former english teacher and you have a recipe for a perfect second chance romance!! except, I could NOT get over logan and rosemary’s characters… they were unlikable and selfish towards their own hearts (from putting on a brave face and joking around to hide a broken heart to expressing little to no care about the few that actually love them) 🥴 I really didn’t like how logan projected her trauma and closed herself off from everyone by her selfish nature

while I understand that everyone goes through trauma differently, for a romance book, I want to be able to root for the characters, and I just did not feel that way about logan at all. the way she used others, including my sweet sweet joe, was not it for me.

speaking of joe, though, I absolutely adored him and cried so much because he SAVED the story for me 🥹🥲 I wish everyone had a joe in their lives because I promise, the world would be in a better place

thank you to atria and netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

rating: 3 stars
wine pairing: finger lakes chardonnay

I swear Alison Cochrun gets better with every book! Everything about this book was great. The characters, the neurodivergent representation, the banter, everything.

I loved that it was a road trip. I loved the Gay Wagon. I love that a dog tagged along.

With that being said, this book is sad! But happy! But sad!!

Please read it!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC.

Alison Cochrun is a genius. I will buy anything she writes. Here We Go Again had me smiling ear to ear. Loved it.