4.5 stars — Sweet, Soulful, and Uplifting

Out of the Woods is a beautifully written, slow-burn romance that balances heart, humor, and healing perfectly. Hannah Bonam-Young delivers characters that feel authentic and layered, with a love story that grows gently but meaningfully. I appreciated the emotional depth, the realistic dialogue, and the way mental health was handled with care and honesty. A comforting, hopeful read that stays with you.

If there is one thing I have come to expect from Hannah, it's that she is going to deliver a beautifully written heartfelt romance packed with every emotion under the sun.

I read the ARC for this beauty, and since then, I haven't been able to articulate properly how I feel.

Out of the Woods is a story about great love, binding friendships, loss, and rediscovery. Hannah manages to capture the beauty and fragility of human life; it's raw and real.

She was able to show how unfair life can be, sublime in its pain and joy that someone so kind and effervescent may still suffer. How two people can be so different, and still have their very essence meld together. Unable to identify where one soul begins and the other ends. This is two people who are madly in love, finding their way back to one another.

With the incorporation of flashbacks, we're really able to form a connection to the characters. To see the very beginning of their love story. To see Caleb come into Sarah's life and how he fit so effortlessly into their family dynamic.

Hannah proves she's a true talent and why she stands apart from the crowd. She crafts stories with her whole heart blending all life has to offer. She doesn't shy away from the realities of real life but rather embraces them.

Amazing read! Hannah never fails to make me cry. While also making me fall in love with the characters more and more each page. Definitely recommend this book.

omg this was everything i was hoping for and more. i absolutely loved sarah and caleb in out on a limb, so i was so excited for their book!! miss hby never fails because this book is a masterpiece!

i have been thinking about it since i finished it and god it HIT. being in a relationship, it’s so easy to lose yourself in the other person and sorta morph into them, but the way that sarah and caleb handle their relationship and their problems is so admirable and REAL. i love them and im so !!!!

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. This blog post includes affiliate links.
I’ve been putting off Out of the Woods by Hannah Bonam-Young because I am a WIMP & didn’t want my heart to be put through the wringer. But after hearing that this one wasn’t as angsty as I might expect, I waded in with audio & finished it last night with my tablet on my couch.

Someone else’s review said this one isn’t really about marriage in trouble, & I basically agree. Sarah & Caleb have been married since their teens, & now, years later, Sarah loves her husband but also chafes at the way they haven’t grown.
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They decide to go a wilderness marriage retreat to try to fix the tension between them.

Out of the Woods is a warm & loving portrayal of two people who really love each other but don’t exactly love every aspect of their partnership. Sarah, especially, is still processing her mother’s loss & the big effects that’s had on her life & marriage.

Throughout the book, both Sarah & Caleb work on their communication skills & expressing their wants & needs, & those conversations are portrayed honestly, with varying amounts of frustration, confusion, humor, & support.

While marriage in trouble-ish isn’t one of my fave tropes, Hannah Bonam-Young does a great job of telling what feels like a realistic story about two people in love who also have to do hard work to be their best partners & selves.
4.25⭐️. Out now!
CW: parental loss, parental tension, marital tension.

[ID: Jess holds the ebook in front of a waterfall & trees.]

A wonderful read!
This novel drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the end. The characters were vibrant and relatable, the writing was engaging, and the story had just the right balance of heart and humor. Highly recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

"I hope that if you have to rewrite your life, you won't erase my part in it, that you'll let me stay a part of your story."

A marriage in crisis meetsa weeklong marriage counseling hike in the woods. Hilarity ensues. But also heart, humility, and healing.

Sarah and Caleb are high school
sweethearts, and at the hardest time of her life, he stands beside her and makes her his wife. As he graduates college, forms a successful company, and generally excels at life- Sarah stands dutifully by his side. But after a disastrous attempt at helming a fundraiser gala, Sarah is asking herself what exactly SHE has accomplished?

I absolutely loved this book. An up close look at the ugly, raw, and festering side of a long term relationship. The growing pains that happen when two young people fall in love but still haven't found themselves. If you know you know.


Beautiful and poignant, Sarah's fear and aimlessness read as powerfully as her grief. Caleb, what an absolute sweetheart. He supported his woman the best way he knew how, and when that wasn't enough he slid his ego aside to learn how to better help. I love them.

For those who read "happily ever after" and say, "well then what?"


*thank you Penguin and Net Galley for the copy, this is my honest review

Out on a Limb is one of my all-time favorite books, so I was super excited for the follow up novel featuring Caleb and Sarah! I loved these high school sweethearts in the first book, so it was so much fun getting to know them even more.

No surprise, but I loved everything about them and this book! It was fun following Sarah and Caleb reconnecting on a couples’ retreat. The major theme of this book was about growth both personally and in relationships. Sarah’s and Caleb’s individual and collective growth was super evident and made me love this even more.

Hannah Bonam-Young is such an incredible writer!

I received this book as an E-ARC and I didn’t know exactly what to expect going into it. I loved Out on a Limb and I was scared I would just miss Win and Bo, but this book exceeded my expectations!
I don’t think I have ever related to a character more than I related to Sarah. Sarah and Caleb showed what a true and honest marriage looks like. They both showed what honest communication, self awareness, and endless support looks like in a relationship. A lot of books tend to romanticize the miscommunication and toxic parts of relationships, but this books did the exact opposite and I loved it.
Please read this book!!

I didn't realize until I started reading that this book is the same friend group as "Out on a Limb" so if I wasn't already excited to read this one, now I couldn't wait! Hannah Bonam-Young has really hit her stride as a writer with these two books. I was a little skeptical about whether the plot of this one would work for me, but I shouldn't have been b/c I LOVED it!

There's something refreshing about the idea of a romance where the couple is already together and working out a way to stay together... while also discovering more about their own growth and life trajectory. Growing together, it turns out, makes for a great romance novel!

Thank you to Dell, Hannah Bonam-Young, and @netgalley for my advanced copy.

First and foremost, I would like to thank the Publisher, author and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this Arc. Thank y’all so much!

Out of the Woods is a never ending exploration of love, identity, and rediscovery.

You get to meet high school sweethearts Sarah and Caleb Linwood, now married for seventeen years; the novel delves into their journey as they both confront personal and shared challenges.

When Sarah’s independent endeavor falters and Caleb steps in uninvited, tensions rise, prompting the couple to embark on a week-long wilderness retreat aimed at rekindling their bond.

Through moments of humor, vulnerability, and growth, Bonam-Young crafts a narrative that underscores the complexities of long-term relationships and the enduring power of connection.

This book actually spoke to me as I have been married for a decade. No marriage is perfect and I took would struggle with self identity and communication.

This book made me cry and laugh while also showing that even the most picture perfect relationships can be a rollercoaster of a ride.

Out of the Woods is an interconnected standalone set after Out on a Limb. You don't have to read the first book in order to enjoy this one, but I do recommend it because it was incredible.

Sarah and Caleb have been married for a long time and they love each other deeply. But Sarah is starting to wonder who she is outside of being his wife. The couple has grown distant since the death of Sarah's mother to ALS. They decide to go on a couple's hiking retreat to help them rediscover themselves. This was an absolutely beautiful story of self discovery and finding yourself in the face of challenges and obstacles. This story was heartwarming, heartbreaking and incredibly humorous all at the same time. I found myself laughing, crying and swooning throughout the story. I loved how the characters worked together through their issues and really put forth the effort needed to rekindle and reconnect with one another instead of letting their past get in the way of them moving forward. The slow burn between the couple was also amazing and the spice was so good. Hannah Bonam-Young is definitely an auto-buy author for me at this point and I cannot wait to read more of her wonderful stories.

Read if you like:
▪️ marriage in crisis
▪️ high school sweethearts
▪️ forced proximity
▪️ found family
▪️ emotional romance + romcom
▪️ couples retreat in the wilderness

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest opinions.

A really nice read about two people who have been married for so long that they've lost each other along the way. I really like how the author delves into the harder parts of static relationships.

This was a really good read! Very relatable. Alot of people loose who they are as a couple let alone as an individual. There was growing together and self discovery. I also love that it was set in a camping retreat!

4.5 ★ thank you Dell for the ARC! I loved Out on a Limb & felt quite similarly about this one. I have not read a lot books with the “marriage in trouble” trope but I really enjoyed how Sarah and Caleb always felt like they were going to work it out in the end and that the issues they are facing were entirely real but also manageable and able to be worked out throughout the course of the novel. I loved seeing Bo&Win&Gus again as well as all of the new side characters. The pacing was great and I loved the writing style.

this book was so fun! at first, i was almost off put by Sarah. she seemed whinny, but i am so glad that i gave her the chance to grow. as someone who also got married young, i really loved the perspective of young love growing. Sarah says something beautiful about being planted next to the person you love and growing with them. Caleb and Sarah figured out how to do just that, even when they hate the outdoors and had to camp out there for the week. i am sad to never read another book with Win, Bo, Sarah or Caleb, but this was such a good way to end their little story. i loved it.

I started the book strong, as it was normally not a trope I would read. I was going well and knowing about the thoughts of both the couple and them talking about what they want from each other to other people instead of with them. But as I kept on reading, when they would just overthink a certain thing and make it a big deal, I was like okay one time, two time. I just lost interest at the end. I love the writing of the author. I have read her previous books and loved it. I would have posted a review, but I really couldn't finish the book, and I can't publish a review if I dnf'ed. So, sorry for it. I love your writing though. If I had to rate based on how much I read I would say, it would be 3.5 starts, just for her writing instead of the actual story. <3

Have you ever cried in the woods near Forks, Washington? I have, thanks to the ARC of Out of the Woods I read while camping. I once again need to thank @hotgirlbookshelf for putting me on to Hannah Bonam-Young's books - you were right and you found me a new fave author. Unsurprisingly, Out of the Woods was another banger - further cementing Hannah Bonam-Young as an autobuy author for me. 
 
If you haven't read a HBY book, go read Out on a Limb and then pick this one up. These books were the perfect duo - all the characters are relatable, the stories are realistic and unputdownable, and the love stories are incredibly swoony. All of Hannah's writing is amazing and addictive, but something about the way she writes about her characters' experiences just really resonates with me. 
 
This story was told in dual timelines. We first meet Sarah and Caleb (in their present timeline) at a rocky point in their relationship - their marriage is in desperate need of saving. I think having the dual timelines helped define and add emotional investment to their relationship for the reader - it also added stakes for the peril their relationship was in.  
 
Even though Sarah and Caleb's marriage in the present timeline is in a rough spot, it's easy to see why they were fighting to hard to recover it. They were just so good together - with the tension that can only come from loving someone for a very long time. As they reconnected and found themselves, it was impossible to root not only for them to be happy but also for them to be their truest selves.  
 
Please take this as your sign to go read HBY's books if you haven't already - Out of the Woods was emotional, swoony, and filled with characters that are impossible to not relate to. I can't wait to read her next book!

Different from a lot of the contemporary rom coms I'm used to reading. I loved the idea of a couples retreat for Caleb and Sarah to figure their marriage and their relationship out by finding themselves in the process for each other. The characters are like able and facing real emotional challenges and figuring out how their past life experiences are shaping and molding who they are as individuals, but also weighing it with their marriage with each other. The setting makes the book feel like a huge in the rain. It's sweet with a sprinkle of spice and the side characters make you love the book even more.

Out of the Woods was a heartwarming, inspiring, and hopeful romance by Canadian author Hannah Bonam-Young. This was my first time reading one of her titles, and I'll definitely be sticking around for more! Out of the Woods is the sequel to Out On A Limb, which I haven't yet read (*adds to tbr*). However, the author does note that the books don't have to be read in order, and I can vouch for that!

Out of the Woods combines humor (think non-outdoorsy people embarking on a week-long, off the grid hiking/backpacking trip) with serious topics, such as degenerative disease, loss of a family member, marriage/relationship tensions, and trauma. However, the tone in this story is hopeful and you can expect a happily-ever-after ending... of course, with a little spice sprinkled in the mix!

Read if you like...
🌲 Hiking
🫂 Stories of friendship
🥰 "It was always you" romance trope
😊 Happily ever after endings

🙏Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for a gifted advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.