This is a bit different as it is a romance about a married couple, but it’s also so much more than that. It’s a story about finding yourself, dealing with grief, and growing together. I loved these characters, and I felt for them immediately as I started reading. I could relate to them on many levels and I was cheering for them the whole time. I loved the flashback chapters of their love story, and I loved their now, as they navigated their issues, and fought together to become better versions of themselves, to become stronger, for their relationship but also for each other. I highlighted so many quotes and I had shiny eyes for most of it. It was just a beautiful story.

I have been with my husband for 20 years and I often feel like we too had to grow up together. We weren’t as young as Caleb and Sarah but still young! I feel like this book spoke to my soul.

Hannah has done it again! I was so thrilled to get an ARC of Out of the Woods, as it was my most anticipated book of 2025, and it did not disappoint. The love that Sarah and Caleb have for each other is so real and raw. Their struggles to find themselves both as individuals and in the context of each other are so well written and incredibly moving. I cried. I laughed. I blushed. Mostly, I just felt. This book is full of feelings like grief and love and real depictions of both. I loved every Win and Bo moment and the way that all of them honor Marcie’s memory. HBY is an incredible author, each of her books is individual and unique and worth every second it takes to read it. Five stars all around

Wow! To be completely honest when I started this book and saw that the marriage was strained, I was hesitant about it. I kept thinking how depressing this would be to watch a marriage crumble. I was totally wrong.

A kind of dual timeline helps you see Caleb and Sarah’s journey from teens to the present and helps to explain the many feelings clouding their relationship. Are parts sad? Definitely. Are parts fun? Totally. Is it a really beautiful story that gives you hope for change and love? Absolutely.

Bonus points for Win and Bo (and baby August!) from Out On A Limb…the sisterly bond and friendship between Win and Sarah is utter perfection and Bo and Caleb play Dungeons and Dragons together…so you know they are amazing. The four of them together are just everything you could ever want in a friend group.

I have nothing but praise for this book. It was just downright lovely. ♥️♥️

What can I say aside from that this was everything I wanted and more. This book was incredibly relatable and real and raw and showed such a hushed up side of marriage and I loved that it showed that divorce isn’t always the way to go. This was filled with Hannah’s typical humour but filled with so many tender moments. I quite honestly ate this book up.

However in saying all this…there was something missing. I could never put my finger on what was missing….just that I needed something that wasn’t there. The book was still as wonderful as I could have hoped and expected but just…something wasn’t there that should have been.

4.5 ✨

Have you ever read a book that you knew just a few chapters in that it was going to be a new favorite?? That was this book for me.

Out of the Woods so perfectly captures the complexities of marriage, purpose, and grief. It feels so raw and relatable in a way that only a romance book like this can 🥹

At first glance, this book is a marriage in crisis, which pulls you in with the intrigue of “oh, what happened? how will this all work out?” But as you read, you quickly realize that there is so much more to this story than just the present moment. This book so beautifully explores the complexities of loss and having to grow up too fast, while also falling in love young and trying to figure out what you want with your life. (Out of the Woods has flashbacks sprinkled through out the story, and I have never read a book that so perfectly places past stories like this one does.)

Also, I know that “marriage-in-crisis” can feel like a scary label for a trope, especially in a romance book, but with this book, I wasn’t worried about their marriage? I felt like the tension centered more-so around their inner conflicts/insecurities and processing those things. And truthfully, this just felt so real and healthy, and I am thankful for how honest this book was. Sarah and Caleb are both such sweet and imperfect characters that are processing a lot and working through it. They love each other so much, and you can’t help but also love them 😭

Out of the Woods was beautiful and lovely. I wept. I laughed. I couldn’t put it down. I will probably re-read it again so soon because I still am thinking about it!!! Gosh, this book has solidified Hannah as one of my new autobuy authors, and I just can’t wait for everyone to experience her writing 🥹

Thank you @authorhannahby and @dellromance for this early copy of Out of The Woods!!! :)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you @berkleyromance for this ARC!

I don’t know how Hannah does it, but every single book of hers pulls such raw emotion from me. Out of the Woods took it to another level. I was heartbroken, laughing, sobbing, and ended it feeling pure love.

✨Caleb and Sarah are high school sweethearts. They’re each other’s person and the love they have is raw and real. I’m also married to my high school sweetheart, so I found their relationship and feelings so relatable. It’s hard when you’re in a routine for so long and life happens and causes change.

✨I loved Sarah’s self discovery journey and learning what she truly wants for herself. Her character showed how grief comes in waves and how change can be scary or rewarding. I loved that Caleb’s love for her was steady and unyielding. He is 100% down for his wife and the only thing he cares for his future is that she’s in it. I loved that his character had a tender and vulnerable side.

I JUST LOVE THEM

✨ I loved this audiobook. Victoria did an amazing job with the characters and playing out their emotions. I could feel their excitement, anxiety, and grief. I was crying in certain parts, and hearing her tell the story led me to full on sobbing.

Out of the Woods has:
⛺️ One tent
💚 High school sweethearts
👓 Caleb wearing glasses
📝 Self discovery
💛 Grief & healing
🌊 Playful banter
🪵 Couples retreat
🐿️ “I’m yours”
🤎 Flashbacks
Ps, we got multiple Win and Bo cameos

It’s out today!

HANNAH GIRL YES this was beautiful. Hannah is a fantastic writer, I felt ALL the emotions from the characters as if I were them. This was effortlessly impactful and so real. Caleb and Sarah’s relationship was written SO WELL, all of the challenging messy pieces as well as the peaceful and beatitude moments.

Out of the Woods by Hannah Bonam-Young
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
336 pages
Published today January 28th, 2025

Caleb & Sarah are high school sweethearts. They have been each other’s constants for the last 17 years, through the ups & downs in life. Sarah begins to wonder- “Who am I without my other half?” She sets out to plan an amazing fundraiser to bring awareness to ALS, an awful disease that took her mother away too soon. Unfortunately, the event is a flop & Caleb steps in to save the day. A fight leads to tension between the two. To work through their troubles, Sarah & Caleb go on a hiking trip to work through their rough patch. Are they out of the woods yet?

This book 🥹 I devoured this book. Hannah Bonam-Young knows how to tug at your heart strings & make you feel like you’re with the characters on their journey. I loved learning about Sarah & Caleb in Out on A Limb, another 5 star read for me! I loved the dual timelines & learning more about Caleb & Sarah throughout their journey. What a gem of a book!

Read if you like:
✨High School Sweethearts
✨Found Family
✨Overcoming Grief
✨Dual timelines

Thank you @netgalley @authorhannahby & @dellromance for the eARC of this amazing book!

#dellromance #hannahbonamyoung #outofthewoods #romance

I’m speechless omg 🥹😩❤️‍🩹
I had the chance to read an e-arc of this book in November thanks to Netgalley and Dell Romance and I fell in love with this story!
This book is not the usual love story but it is a journey (literally a camping in the mountains) to discover yourself and your lifetime partner. We read so much about falling in love, but how do you stay in love? Or fall in love again? And this was something explored in this book, and it was explored in the best way possible.
I loved the main characters so much. I enjoyed the fact that the main focus for Sarah and Caleb was relearning to communicate and rediscovering themselves as both individuals and a couple. It was truly amazing! Sweet, steamy and very mature!
And Caleb was so hot… and he wears glasses 🤭
•
If you loved Out on a Limb you can’t miss this new book! Hannah Bonam-Young always manages to deal with complicated themes in an impeccable and clear way giving life to real and relatable characters and stories.

Out of the woods explores the complexities of long-term relationships, particularly when identity and independence come into play. It's a story about rediscovery, love in its many forms, and the importance of confronting uncomfortable truths to move forward together. Getting to learn about both Sarah and Caleb both as individuals and as a couple helps keep you rooting for them. I absolutely cried while reading this because I grew so attached to the characters.

Oh my god, this was such a lovely read! I recently read Out on a Limb and loved it, so I was incredibly excited to get my hands on this, and it did not disappoint. Hannah Bonam-Young has the ability to take tropes and plot lines I don't normally enjoy (ex. pregnancy trope for Out on a Limb) and write such an incredible story with them that I can't help but love them, and this book was no different.
I'm usually a romance girly, but I have a really hard time getting into romance books where the romance part is already established (like second-chance trope, etc.). However, reading about these two finding themselves and putting their relationship back together was just as special and heart-wrenching as any good story about falling in love, and I loved every minute of it!
While this is technically a standalone, I think having the previous knowledge of these characters from Out on a Limb made them even more special. I absolutely adored getting to see another side to Sarah outside of the perky and loving best friend, and found her journey of self-discovery to be very relatable and well developed.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Ballantine Books (Random House Publishing, and Hannah Bonam-Young for this ARC!

🌱 “If you give me the space to grow, I’ll plant myself next to you. Always.” 🌱

🏕️ Marriage in Crisis (or Woman Experiencing an Existential Crisis lol)
🌱 Dual Timeline
🏕️ High School Sweethearts
🌱 Geeky Boy x Reader Girl

After reading Out On a Limb last year (and loving it like everyone told me that I would), I was really looking forward to Sarah and Caleb's story. They were such lovable side characters, that I really was interested to see what was in store for the two of them.

The thing was... I didn't expect this. Now don't get me wrong, I did not in any way hate this book. I found elements of this rather compelling actually. The thing was is that I expected this to be a traditional love story, similar to Out On a Limb.

However this is not Win and Bo's warm and fuzzy story about falling in love with a person you just recently met. This isn't necessarily even Caleb and Sarah's love story either. This Sarah's and her alone.

This is Sarah's story of grief & pain. A woman's story of finally wanting more for herself. (Oh & Caleb is there too, and he's cute lol). Because of this though I'd personally consider this a women's fiction story first, and a love story second. Which is all fine and good, but again not what I expected.

A much different vibe and general and I would recommend people go into this with an open mind and just no expectations.

With all that being said, let's get into what I liked about this...

I'm not a wife, and haven't been in a long term relationship like Sarah has been with Caleb. But her story of being stuck in the same moment in time for years on end and waking up one day and wanting more for yourself, but not really understanding what that "something" may be is HIGHLY relatable. Also the backstory with her mother, and the grief being so immeasurable that she can't get past it is also something I think a lot of people will understand.

The way that Sarah would react to things was at times really hard to read, but those were also the times that I saw myself a lot in Sarah (whether I liked it or not 😅). It was realistic at the end of the day and that gave me more hope in the end when Sarah inevitably turns things around. Hope that if Sarah can turn it around, maybe someone like me could too 🥹

But enough being sappy... the last (but not least thing) I enjoyed about this was OBVIOUSLY Caleb. Another lovely man written by Hannah Bonam-Young. I wish we could have seen a bit more of his own personal struggle, but I really enjoyed his character overall.

I'm just going to end this off by saying again, this was not what I expected (broken record I know). It's impossible to follow up a book like Out On a Limb. This tried its best to do so, but at the end of the day it fell a little flat for me on the romance side of things. But it did end up tugging at my heart strings in an unexpected way, so it made up for it in the end.

Look, Hannah is the best and there's just no disputing that. This book was so steamy and sexy and angsty and heartbreaking. I loved watching Sarah and Caleb find their way back to each other. I loved the side characters, I loved the setting. The whole thing is a masterpiece!

And of course we have another HBY banger on our hands. Out of the Woods surpassed all my expectations that I had when we first learned we were getting Sarah and Caleb's love story. I DEVOURED this on my honemyoon and was like "not now new husband, I'm reading about another hot husband trying to woo his wife again." I actually loved reading the marriage in trouble trope on my honeymoon because it reminded me of all the beautiful aspects of being married, but the struggles as well and how you can lose each other in the day to day.

When you find your person young, like I also did, its tough knowing that you of course are going to grow, but does that mean you are going to grow with the one you love? This was something explored in OOTW that I adored. We read so much about falling in love, but how do you stay in love? Or fall in love again? Or learn more about each other during each new phase of life? Hannah explores this SO WELL and I just felt so seen and comforted reading this book.

Some other things I adored about OOTW:
The intimacy of a couple who’s been together so long and knows each other (and each others' bodies) so well
Loved the setting, this camping trip was out of both of the main characters' comfort zone and that was needed in a story like this.
The flashbacks, they painted a picture of these two characters and how their lives and dreams intertwined from an early age.
Great portrayal of how young people can handle so much and be “mature” beyond their years but that just means

I can't recommend this book enough!

Thank you so much Hannah and Dell for the ARC!

After seeing Sarah and Caleb in Out On A Limb, I was very excited to see their story come to life. This was a cute story and I thought the author did a good job of showcasing the troubles and fear that can arise in a marriage after being together from such a young age. I know this is being advertised as a marriage in crisis but at no point did I think that Caleb and Sarah were headed for divorce which is something I actually really liked. I enjoyed the fact that the main focus for Sarah and Caleb was relearning to communicate and rediscovering themselves as both individuals and a couple. And, I felt that this was done well in their story showing both the messy parts and the good parts of their relationship.

This was sooo sweet and just what I needed! I really enjoyed the plot they had to come together in the woods to help rekindle their relationship!

This was such a funny and good time!!

Hannah definitely knows what she is doing in the kitchen!!

Rating 4/5

Expected publication date: 1/28/25

In HBY fashion this sweet romance was Everything. I fell in love with Caleb and Sarah in Out On A Limb, but this book made me love them both even more. I love how she made them so real. How miscommunication and wrong love language can affect a relationship. The way HBY made them struggle to be able to come to terms with what’s happening. The grief, the frustration, the settled feeling you get in real marriage, she brought it all and made this book so relatable. The way I silently cried bc of the way Sar and Cay felt so close to my life. I hurt and loved and laughed and felt right along with them, both.

If you loved Out on a Limb, definitely read this one as well. 😭😭😭

I found this book at the worst point of my life. My sister had recently passed and I was worried about her not seeing our wedding, only for my wife and I to elope without her there. I have been having some issues communicating with my wife, and I felt myself, the ugly part of myself, relate with Sarah. Seeing the process of them build their relationship back up felt like a warm hug.

Hannah does it again.

Thank you to dell publishing for giving me this book in return for an honest review.

If you know me, you know Out on a Limb is one of my SOUL books, and I was STOKED to get my hands on Out of the Woods as soon as possible. Guys, this was absolutely beautiful! I loved every second of this raw & real story. AND THE SPICE?? YUM.

Sarah and Caleb decide to go on a wilderness marriage retreat to reignite the spark in their marriage. It was full of real and raw conversations that make you think. Relationships are hard, and they take work. This story was a beautiful depiction of forgiveness. Of showing up for those you love. Of not giving up. Of giving your best to the people who deserve it. I laughed, I cried, and I fell in love with these characters even more.

What’s inside 👇🏼
⛺️Soulmates
⛺️Growing Together
⛺️Marriage in Crisis
⛺️raw & real love
⛺️Forced Proximity
⛺️”Good Boy”

Happy release day Hannah, this is a beautiful work of art!

Hannah Bonam Young is such an underrated author. She has a way of writing books with such heart, emotion, and often tells stories that many others shy away from. From disability rep to mental health rep, the foster care system, and the loss of loved ones, she handles these delicate topics with such grace. It’s a beautiful thing!

I absolutely loved Out on a Limb! Winn & Bo’s story was so unique and heartwarming. It was exciting to see Sarah and Caleb get their own book! And our favorite characters from Out on a Limb make many appearances too – YAY! I definitely recommend reading OOAL prior to reading Out of the Woods. While yes, this can be read as a standalone, it’s so much more enjoyable to have a backstory on the characters.

Out of the Woods was a deeply personal read for me. I related so strongly with Sarah. As a woman who also lost her mom (who was her best friend & entire world) in her 20’s, it was very cathartic to read of Sarah’s struggles. It can be hard to figure out where you fit in as a woman in today’s world. It’s not easy as an adult to make friends, and there’s many times I’ve questioned the decisions I’m making. Am I going down the right path in life? Adulting is HARD! Over time, you drift away from people you thought would be in your life forever. Experiencing Sarah and Caleb figure out where they fit in life and with each other was emotionally gripping.

If you’re looking for a beautiful love story, full of heart, grit and life’s realities – this is absolutely the right book for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing – Ballantine / Dell for the opportunity to read this digital ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.