this was not a romance. this was a book trying to be eloquent and cool and it was just not. the insta-love was a put off and the public sex…ew. i’m sorry i wasted my time.

I am genuinely upset at myself for sticking through this book and not DNFing earlier. I stuck around because the book was marketed as "For fans who loved all the angst and tension of Magnolia Parks with the sun-kissed vibes of The Summer I Turned Pretty" and I was so concerned. I know Magnolia Parks has a huge following, but if the angst and tension of this book resembles Magnolia Parks, I don't think I will be reading Magnolia Parks either.

What was the plot of this book? I got no plot, just VERY stereotypical toxic behavior from the main characters. Toxic behavior is fine if you at least address the situation, but nope it was a free for all at the end. The story lacked consistency and could have benefited from a few more rounds of review and edits.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book.

I was so excited to pick this up after following the author’s writing and publication journey on TikTok but ended up super disappointed.

It felt like a big rip off of Ana Todd’s After book, just set in Italy and written way worse. The sentence structure was clunky and hard to read, I had to reread many lines over and over again because it seemed like they weren’t even edited.

The characters felt underdeveloped, especially the relationship between the characters. I think insta love can be great when written well, but these two people just saw that the other person got hot after 7 years and decided they wanted to smash.

The overall plot felt very jumbled together, no real cohesion and a bunch of random scenes that maybe the author just wanted to sprinkle in because she was bored. The ending was so extremely unsatisfying. You could tell the author was going for something deep and meaningful and lifechanging but it fell extremely flat.

One of my biggest issues was the selective use of contractions. There was probably an even split of “I’m” and “I am” and it really took me out of the story. I understand SOMETIMES using “I am” to really emphasize a point or something, but here, it was done all willy nilly and left a sour taste in my mouth.

Especially in the first 75% of the book, it felt like I was just reading for the sake of second hand embarrassment. Yeah, he was saying he liked her, but his actions made it very clear he wasn’t interested. It was embarrassing for her, and I did not want them to end up as a couple in the end.

The interiority was also selectively sparse. We spend a majority of the beginning of the book in Mag’s head with her freaking out about being a virgin, then she has sex and has no inner monologue thoughts about it at all. Yeah, yeah, yeah, virginity is a construct, but you don’t have a single thought about having sex with the love of your life for the first time???

Overall, this very super rushed and I was extremely disappointed. I could tell from page 1 that this was a dud and I only finished so I wouldn’t ruin my netgalley return rating.

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever for the arc

I should've checked the reviews before requesting this book. I am utterly dissappointed. The premise sounded really cute. Unfortunately, I couldn't help but cringe as I read this book. I could barely get through it. It seemed to be like a bad fan fiction of sort. I really hate to review books negatively, but this one just didn't sit well with me, unfortunately. And I'm sorry.

Theo and Magdalen have both returned to their small town (Chivasso, a main character in the book in its own right) for the summer wedding of Magdalen's sister. Both of them left the town (read:fled), presumably for their studies. But, as the story unfolds, you realize that they were also running from their complicated family dynamics and hunting childhood traumas.
This was a great summer romance/best friend's brother (and also brother's best friend) novel! It was definitely a slow burn and seemed like it took a while to get to the romance, even though there was definitely yearning and long looks leading up to it. When the romance finally blossomed, though, it was scorching hot!
This novel has all the elements of a summer romance: yearning, mild obsession, urgency, youth & beauty, LUST and drama.
There were a few things off-page that the book alluded to that I felt would have lent to the depth of the story but overall, it was lush and descriptive and encapsulated the desperation of first love. There was the proper amount of angst and wild assumptions that captured the passion of the characters and made them really feel alive. I enjoyed the characters and the complexity of the families. I loved the imagery of an Italian summer and the seduction of the culture and art that goes with that.
This will definitely get a re-read and I hope that we get to see these characters again in a later novel because I need more!

Having followed the author on Instagram? I was expecting a different book. That’s not to say this wasn’t cute. It just wasn’t the book I was expecting. I love the trope of a brother’s best friend and I love spending a summer and Italy. Sometimes the miscommunication in this book got a little too confusing for my liking.. I have high hopes for the author in the future and hopefully will pick up her book as well!

Thank you #netgalley for the ARC and exchange for an honest review

I was confused from the start and couldn’t get into this book unfortunately. I had a hard time connecting to the characters. DNF.

Yeah no. I decided after reading so many bad reviews I wasn’t going to waste my time on this.

Thank you for the opportunity but I don’t have the capacity right now

As my reading/listening journey came to an end, I was left feeling underwhelmed by I'll Look for You, Everywhere.

I consumed this book in two different formats, and I preferred the audio performance over the written format. I felt the performers chosen we well suited to their characters. They each had a young, fresh sound and delivered the story well. Unfortunately, the story itself left something to be desired.
The dialogue was stilted and and it took a while for the story to really grab and hold my interest. I felt the characters were well described but didn't show significant growth. The romance between Magdalen and Theo was lacking a fully developed believable connection. The miscommunication trope was prominent when it came to the conflict, and while I understand that due to their young age, this is realistic in part, I grew tired at its overuse.

I didn't love the open ending, I much prefer a true HEA or even HFN when reading romance, but I do feel like this was the appropriate ending for this story, these characters, and where they're at in the present.

I wouldn't read this book again, but I understand it is the author's debut, and I'd be willing to give their future work a chance should they write and release more novels.

TBLB Story Rating: 2⭐️
TBLB Audio Narration Rating: 3.5 ⭐️
Spice Meter: 3🌶

______
*Complimentary ARC & ALC for review provided by Grand Central Publishing | Forever Romance and Hachette Audio. All opinions expressed here are honest and entirely my own.

TW/CW: Child abuse; emotional abuse

Genre-
Romantic Fiction
New Adult Fiction

Tropes-
Childhood Friends
Brothers Best Friend
Summer Love
From the same small town

While I did enjoy the story and found the writing style easy to read and compelling, drawing me in right away, I couldn’t shake the feeling that not much really happened.

The initial connection between Theo and Magdalen felt forced and rushed, lacking a gradual development of their relationship. I did appreciate Dante and Anika, though I suspect part of that was because the author didn’t delve too deeply into their internal thoughts. With Theo and Mag, however, I grew increasingly frustrated by the end. Their arguments felt abrupt and disrupted the story’s flow, and it seemed like each conflict boiled down to the same tired miscommunication.

The ending did redeem itself a little, adding some depth, but it came too late to have the desired impact. By the time the twist revealed itself, I had already figured it out, so the shock factor was lost.

In the end, it was a decently enjoyable read, but one that left me wanting more

Based on the summary and the extra dreamy cover, I was expecting a second chance slow burn romance with all the angst of being away from each other for 7 years. While the summary did mention university student, I anticipated grad school, so maybe a bit older. But within the first few chapters you learn that not only has it been seven years since Magdalena has seen Theo, turns out he left for undergrad when she was 13. I'm all for an age gap/best friend's brother and 5 years isnt much, but with that context it just feels icky.

I anticipated a story where I'd be immersed in the setting of a small village in Italy where everyone clearly knows everyone. And truly, minus a sentence here or there in Italian this book could have taken place literally anywhere And the reader is left to decide when the book is taking place (likely the early 90s).

I love a story that gets you all in the feels and with two characters who clearly have past hurt i had high hopes for some hesrt break and it getting put back together but the switch between both points of view is SO choppy it's hard to get invested in each of their individual stories/pasts and want to root for them collectively as a couple.

While I can't DNF a book, I did come close to just skimming the last half, but instead I powered through because I was hoping it would get better. Between the insufferable side characters (seemingly the most unsupportive 'found family' ever), very immature MCs, a story where I couldn't really tell what the plot was supposed to be about past hurt that is never resolved and very serious topics just glossed over, this book ultimately was not for me.



Thank you Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC in exchange for my review!

I'll Look For You Everywhere is perfect if you're looking for an angsty Italian summer with young and in love locals. Magdalen and Theo are both home in Italy for the summer for Maggie's sister's wedding. Theo being gone for 7 years and Magdalen a year studying abroad. Theo is her best friend's older brother, as well as her brother's best friend. You would think that growing up with tight knit families that lived next door, they would be familiar with eachother, however the contrary, this is the summer where everything changes.

I really did enjoy this angsty read. I loved the Italian setting and how it felt so local and not a mainstream summer vacation abroad. The dual POV brought great perspective, especially to the mind of Theo who I got so frustrated with sometimes. I swear Magdalen was probably singing Hot N Cold about him all the time. But his actions felt real with all the drama that came with it. The trauma those two both carried was a lot. I would have loved this book even more if it had an epilogue, and not left off where the book ended. Otherwise I did enjoy the ride this book took me on.

Read if you like:

• Best friends brother
• Angsty summer romances
• Italy
• Close families

Thank you NetGalley and Forever for an eARC of this book in exchange for my opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hachette Audio, Forever Publishing & Cameron Capello for the chance to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book has me questioning: what actually defines an HEA (Happily Ever After) ending? At first, I felt like arguing that this can't be categorized as a romance with such an open ending. But maybe my first inclination is wrong.. definitely something a book club could have a great conversation about.

The miscommunication trope is prominent in this story simply because it's a coming of age- early-ish 20s story about two people unsure of themselves and even how to communicate. The angst, immaturity and misdirection of the MCs makes complete sense and is a function of the story.

I really wanted to like this book, just from the title and cover picture alone but it wasn’t it from me. It was very inconsistent and wasn’t holding my attention really. I’m not sure if it was the writing style or what but I wasn’t fan.

I wanted to like this book, but I really struggled to connect with it. The main characters weren’t very likable, and the male main character was especially awful. There was little growth with the main characters, and I couldn’t enjoy the book because of how awful Magdalen was treated by Theo. If you enjoy stories where the wounded guy constantly is cruel to the woman and keeps pushing her away, then this book is for you. I received an ARC, and this is my honest review.

Cameron Capello's I'll Look for You Everywhere is a mix between Andre Aciman's Call Me by Your Name and Sally Rooney's Normal People with its attention to the Italian culture and a coming of age story. If you're looking for a lighthearted romance, this is not the book for you. That's not to say you shouldn't read this book. You should, but prepare yourself for a bit of heartbreak.

Magdalen Savoy (Maggie) and Theodore Sinclair (Theo) both left Chivasso for different reasons. Maggie feels invisible in life. Theo wishes he was invisible. Maggie and Theo both reluctantly return to Chivasso for the wedding of Lucia, Maggie's sister. With one look shared between Maggie and Theo, a summer of longing is set in motion.

Intertwined with the story of Maggie and Theo confronting their demons is a story of family and friendship and how sometimes we overlook the bad parts of people just to hold onto them for a bit longer, incurring irreparable damage along the way. This book portrays love in all its glory and its downfall.

Thank you Forever and NetGalley for a chance to read Cameron's debut novel. I look forward to seeing what she writes next.

One of the things I found most fascinating with this story were the recurring themes of longing and self-loathing within both leading characters.

Magdalen has low self-esteem, which can be expected from growing up with a mother who constantly belittles her. She also often mentions a coldness about her that seems to follow her around and which she thinks affects the others around her and makes them distance themselves, especially in regard to Theo.

The fact that everyone around her are unable to see the signs of her depression and subtle self-harm is just further implication that no one has bothered to actually look at her, see her; they all remark on her thinness, to which Magdalen’s excuse is that she doesn’t much like the food in England, when in reality she would spend days rotting in her bed, crying.

Theo resents the influence his father has over him, fearing the similarities that grow with age. He is traumatized by his childhood, by what he knows and has kept hidden within himself for years; he alone bears responsibility for his family’s secrets. Because of this he has run away, only to return home for the very same reason as Magdalen: a wedding.

The return to Chivasso is what throws these two troubled souls together. For the first time, both of them are experiencing what it is like to love, but it isn’t easy, as they attempt to recover and reconcile their pasts with their presents. Theo thinks that by loving Magdalen he has destined her for ruination, and yet she is perfectly happy to be ruined, if only by him.

I found this novel reminiscent of Sally Rooney’s works, particularly Normal People, where there is a constant struggle between loving oneself and loving another. It grapples with how to be broken and still love like you aren’t.

Although this story is marketed as a romance, it felt more like romantic literary fiction (this is also how I like to classify Sally Rooney). There is an introspective intensity to the writing that explored humanity and intimacy in ways that felt much deeper than typical romance novels. It’s not just about love and healing your heart, but also healing yourself, your soul; it’s about letting someone else go in order to be better for them and for yourself.

I’m sorry but this book was not for me!! it was unbearable because of the inconsistently and the writing style. .

If you want a tension-filled romance set on the Italian coast, this book is for you! Magdalen is going home from school at Oxford for her sister’s wedding in Italy and feels a pull towards Theo, her best friend’s brother who has not returned home in years. Theo and Magdalen both have trauma to work through while they struggle not to act on their feelings for each other.

This book is 100% for all the readers who grew up on Wattpad, and I mean that in the best way! Each page is filled with tension and catching storytelling.
I was immediately hooked by the writing style throughout the book, especially Carmen's use of such an atmospheric setting.

My main struggle with this book was the side characters, including both families. They all felt somewhat one-dimensional to me, and I wish that Magdalen and Theo had more support from their families. Maggie and Annika had some sweet moments in their friendship, but I would have liked to see more. The same goes for Annika and Theo.

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately, this just wasn't for me.

I found both main characters (and side characters too) to be quite annoying and immature. Theo, in my opinion, is emotionally unstable and extremely toxic with his back-and-forth pushing of his lust-filled relationship with Magdalen, who is also way too forgiving of his behavior.

All in all, this book was just too horny and lusty for me to even find the book enjoyable.