I loved the premise of this book, finding love again after 40 years apart. I love stories with older protagonists. This was ok but a little too saccharine for me. I predicted the secret and when it gets exposed everything is just smoothed over quickly with no real conflict. It’s a nice romance but it doesn’t go in depth with any of themes it has. There is some issues with addiction in the book but it glosses over it and makes it seem like tackling his addiction will be no big deal. It actually kind of reminded me of Ryan Stradal with its characters and Midwest lifestyle. I loved aspects of it but I like my reads a little more raw and gritty and not so sweet with happy endings so probably just a preference thing. If you like romance especially with older more mature characters I think this will be a hit with you.

I am a fan of Nickolas Butler, now having read 4 of his books. Each is quite different and this is another I would not have expected from him. That is one of the things I enjoy about his writing. I read an E-ARC from NetGalley due out Feb 15 2025 for an honest review. The release date is no surprise as this is a romance, it might be labeled a Second Chance Romance but I found it to be a late in life, coming of age novel and working to get a relationship right this time romantic trop.

It is the story of Charlie and Vivian. Married and divorced young. Charlie, now retired and in his 60's returns to their small town in upstate Wisconsin hoping to find Vivian and to reconnect in some way not knowing what he will find. Charlie has done all right for himself but this one part of his life haunts him and he wants to see if there is any chance of setting things right. Yet while Charlie has good intentions he has not really changed in important ways. Vivian is skeptical and has baggage/problems of her own.

It is a heartwarming story and like romance stories has its own happy ever after but Butler does pack much more into the telling. I felt it did look at some of the problems older couples can face in renewing a relationship from younger/wilder days but at times felt like it lacked a little of the drama and attained its HEA (happy ever after) almost too easy thus the 4 stars. Good story telling and certainly the excellent, easy to read writing I've come to expect from Butler. I just wanted a little more drama to spice up the tale.

Nickolas Butler can write about human emotion, redemption, and relationships like no one else. Another heart warming story of love and forgiveness.

This book was so sweet. A second chance romance that felt very authentic and nostalgic. I loved reading about the perspective of this older couple giving love another shot, and how they handled past regrets and missed opportunities. I couldn’t help but to root for all the characters and to love all their parts including their flaws.

A Forty Year Kiss is a second-chance love story. Vivian and Charlie were unhappily married for four years. Forty years later, Charlie inherits a farm nearby and decides to move in an attempt to rekindle his relationship with Vivian.
Vivian and Charlie are both in their sixties, and both deal with real adult problems, including alcoholism and financial issues. While they are both excited about the potential that this rekindled relationship may have, they are each grounded in their own lives. This creates for a story that feels honest to the experience of long-term love and relationships.
I personally did not have trouble with the lack of quotation marks -- I have read several Sally Rooney books before where she makes the same choice. However, I did find that sections of inner character dialogue could become quite repetitive, particularly in the chapters with Charlie's perspective at the beginning of this book.
I think that I also came into this book with a different genre expectation than I received- based on the description I expected more of a contemporary romcom style story with older characters. However, what I received instead was a (beautifully written) slowly paced work of literary fiction. Altogether a touching story, just maybe not what I anticipated.

A book about second chances. Will resonate with readers in the second half (or third) of their lives. Wondering if the publication date being near Valentine’s Day being a coincidence. Don’t pick up this book looking for gritty realism. It’s sweet and maybe a little too saccharine if one is cynically minded. Thanks to NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

4 stars! It’s a true tale of “the one that got away” and second chances. I immediately connected with the feelings of past relationships, regret and enjoyed the character growth.

This is a light, romantic journey! Thank you for the advanced copy!

Middle of the road romance book for me. It’s got the cute time jumps over the 40something year marriage but I kept expecting something big and dramatic to happen and it just didn’t.
I did love the second chance romance, my fav trope, and the older love aspect was great since it’s not seen too often in romance books.
However, I didn’t really like the writing style of not using quotation marks during the dialogue. It had me confused and lost most of the time and I felt like it took me out of the story.
Overall, this was a good romance about second chances, older love, hard life navigations like addiction, and coming back to where you were and finding yourself through all of that.

I had my doubts about liking this book at the beginning. However, as I got to know the characters, I found I really liked the couple. It was a refreshing change to read of mature people. It must be true that you are never too old to find love again.

As romances go, this was a nice change of pace, a gentle, second-chance, later-in-life love story with believable characters and just enough tension to keep the pages turning. The writing was beautifully descriptive and heartfelt. It was my first time reading this author, but won't be my last.

Charlie and Vivian, both in their 60s, were married for a hot minute 40 years ago. Now, Charlie's back in town, hoping to rekindle that old flame. Sounds like a recipe for drama, but not exactly, and that's what makes this book so unique.

The Good Stuff
It's super refreshing to see a romance that's not all about twenty-somethings figuring out life. Charlie and Vivian have been around the block a few times, and it shows. They've got real-world problems like dealing with alcoholism and money troubles, which makes them feel like actual people.

If you're into small-town vibes, especially in the Midwest, you'll eat this up. The author really brings Wisconsin to life. I happen to love very vibrant/alive settings so this felt like a huge plus for my reading experience

The Not-So-Great Stuff
Some readers found the writing a bit confusing at times, especially when it came to figuring out who was talking or thinking what, and I have to agree.

While we get to know Charlie pretty well, Vivian's backstory feels a bit thin in comparison.

The Verdict
All in all, "The Forty Year Kiss" is a sweet, honest look at love later in life. It's not your typical romance novel full of drama and unrealistic expectations. Instead, it's a story about two people with a lot of history trying to figure out if they can make it work.
If you're in the mood for:

Realistic portrayals of relationships
Stories featuring older protagonists
A cozy Midwestern setting
Second chance romances

Then this book might be right up your alley. It's set to hit the shelves in February 2025, just in time for Valentine's Day, a perfect read for mood readers!

I quickly became invested in the lives of the characters in Nickolas Butler’s new novel. When Charlie and Vivian meet up for the first time after their divorce the emotions are raw and palpable. It didn’t take long to connect with them. The journey they have individually been on, past secrets, and hurts had me pulling for them. A sweet romance that pulls at the heartstrings.
Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Love, once lost, now found is the theme in The Forty Year Kiss. The concept of this book is appealing. The road not taken does seem more wide open now through social media. I would give Butler five stars for writing a book on this subject but only three in its execution. Long, rambling thoughts that repeat, repeat, repeat. Endless paragraphs of kissing. One character well developed, the other more of an outline. The haphazard use of quotations to separate dialog from thoughts.

Forty years after their divorce, Charlie Fallon has decided that his first wife, Vivian, is the one and only love of his life. He’s is retired now and rudderless. He moves back to his hometown to a family house he’s inherited and reaches out to his first wife, Vivian. The book opens with their first meeting (date) after they’ve lived apart for a lifetime.

Both Vivian and Charlie feel a bit shell shocked from the way their lives have unfolded. Charlie, retired from the railroad has three ex-wives, no children, no direction. And he is an alcoholic. Vivian lives with her daughter and two grandchildren in a ramshackle house. She’s had more to recover from than Charlie but what we know about her is that she wants to be careful before dismantling the calm, if lonely, life she now has.

Charlie overwhelms her with his passion, his talk, his desire, and his money. He wisely invested in the stock market and that has made him rich. She has not forgotten the pain and tumult from their four-year marriage. He was a self-centered, aggressive alcoholic that made her miserable. Yes, she might still have loved him but couldn’t sustain a life with him. In addition to that, she has had trauma in her life since Charlie.

Can desire to change be enough? Can love make that happen? Vivian is a fully formed character. You know her and feel what she’s endured and why she is reluctant. I didn’t feel Charlie had the same level of care to make the reader understand his intense need for her after so much time has passed.

If you are a romantic and want to read a story that underscores that it’s never too late to change your story, this novel is for you.
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Many thanks to Netgalley and Landmark/Sourcebooks for the opportunity to read and honestly review the advanced readers copy of this novel.

It was a slow start for me but once it picked up I truly enjoyed it. A great 2nd chance romance. It made me think if I'd wanna wait that long to rekindle a relationship with someone after that many years. I wouldn't, but still makes to you think.

This is a different love story with a refreshing take on relationships with real life characters. Vivian and Charlie were married forty years ago for four years. Charlie decided to attempt to reconnect with his lost love and see if he can rekindle their feelings from a past life. Both of them have their secrets and struggles as they begin to date again. The story captured my interest as wondering if their relationship would succeed. I enjoyed the voices of both of them as they laid their hearts and feelings on the line.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced eGalley of the book. #AFortyYearKiss #NickolasButler #NetGalley

I really enjoyed this book. It kept me engaged and it only took a few days to read. I think this is going to be a good book club option for several clubs. I plan recommending to my book friends and I look forward to reading more by this author.

This novel is sentimental and sweet - capturing the emotional experience of an estranged couple, formerly divorced, who reconnect 40 years later and find love and fulfillment. The author effectively alternates the POV between the two characters, providing insight into their thoughts, feelings and character growth as the relationship progresses. The voices are distinct and the inner dialogue effectively written to capture the fleeting emotional impulses, the appeals to logic, and the desire for redemption that each character experiences in turn. I really enjoyed this couple and appreciated their shared willingness to take a risk in the hope of a better future. There were several attempts at sexy scenes in the book which fell flat. Remove the sexual language (especially the slang) and the bedroom descriptions and leave more to the imagination; the book doesn't need them and would be more charming without.

Nickolas Butler’s A Forty Year Kiss is a beautifully crafted, emotionally resonant exploration of love, loss, and the passage of time. Known for his ability to capture small-town life with an acute sense of place and character, Butler returns to Wisconsin to tell the story of Charlie and Vivian, two individuals whose love for each other, though tested and seemingly extinguished decades ago, has never fully died.

The novel centers on Charlie’s return to his hometown after forty years, driven by a longing to reconnect with Vivian, the woman he divorced after just four years of marriage. This setup allows Butler to explore not just the nature of second chances, but the complexities that come with revisiting the past—especially after a lifetime of other relationships, personal growth, and long-held regrets. Butler’s depiction of the characters’ emotional journeys feels deeply authentic, grounded in the messiness of real life rather than the neat, tidy resolutions often found in love stories.

One of the most compelling aspects of A Forty Year Kiss is how Butler portrays the passage of time. Forty years is a significant gap—enough time for both Charlie and Vivian to have lived entire lives apart, shaped by new partners, experiences, and heartaches. Butler doesn’t shy away from the difficulties of trying to bridge this gap. Charlie and Vivian are not the same people they were when they parted ways, and the novel carefully navigates the tension between their shared history and the individuals they’ve become in the decades since.

Butler’s writing is elegant, lyrical, and imbued with a quiet wisdom that adds depth to the narrative. His descriptions of Wisconsin’s rural landscapes and small-town atmosphere create a vivid backdrop for the unfolding drama, but it’s his keen insight into human emotion that gives the story its emotional heft. The dialogue between Charlie and Vivian is laced with the pain of old wounds and the tentative hope of rekindling something lost, creating a rich emotional tension that keeps readers invested.

The novel also thoughtfully explores themes of forgiveness, redemption, and the power of memory. As Charlie and Vivian navigate their reconnection, they must confront not only their shared history but also the ways in which they’ve changed over the years. The regrets, mistakes, and secrets that have accumulated over forty years form a crucial part of the story’s emotional landscape, adding complexity to the idea of rekindling love after such a long absence.

While A Forty Year Kiss is undeniably a love story, it’s also a meditation on the ways in which time can both heal and exacerbate old wounds. Butler skillfully balances the romantic elements of the story with a deeper exploration of how love evolves—and sometimes survives—over the course of a lifetime. The novel asks important questions about whether we can truly pick up the pieces of a broken past, and whether love can endure the weight of time and distance.

If there’s a minor criticism to be made, it’s that the pacing can sometimes feel slow, particularly in the middle sections as Charlie and Vivian dance around their unresolved feelings. However, this slower pace also allows for a more reflective and nuanced exploration of their relationship, and patient readers will be rewarded with a deeply satisfying emotional arc.

Final Thoughts:
A Forty Year Kiss is a tender, reflective story about the enduring power of love and the courage it takes to face the past. Nickolas Butler has crafted a novel that is both intimate and expansive, capturing the complexities of second chances and the bittersweet nature of time’s passage. With its lyrical prose, well-drawn characters, and profound emotional depth, this is a love story that lingers long after the final page. Fans of Butler’s previous work, as well as readers who appreciate thoughtful, character-driven narratives, will find much to admire in this poignant tale of rediscovery and redemption.

The entire book was enjoyable to me. It was nice to see two real people get back together. It was energizing to see subjects like alcoholism, financial hardships, Down syndrome, unintended pregnancies, and reunions with family as well as regrets, forgiveness, and renewed love. The narrative ends suddenly but in a very charming way. Hooray for Vivian and Charlie!

I want to thank Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review A Forty Year Kiss by author Nickolas Butler.
A couple marry very young, divorce and find each other forty years later.
This is a feel good story!
The book publishes 02/04/2025.