What an absolutely sweet and beautiful story!

Out of the Woods follow Caleb and Sarah as they go to a camping retreat to fix their marriage. The first half of the book was gut-wrenching sad as we learn how unhappy Sarah really is and how her revelation affects Caleb. The second half of the book was full of giddy feet kicking laughter as the two communicate their wants and wishes. I absolutely loved how real this book was, anyone could go through what Caleb and Sarah went through. The emotional rollercoaster it took me in was absolutely amazing as the author took me through the ups and downs of a marriage.

I think I found a favorite romance author!

Thank you Netgalley and Dell for a ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was delightful! Sarah and Caleb are high school
sweethearts and have loved each other most of their lives. But, Sarah feels like she lost her identity in their marriage, so they go on a couple camping trip to improve their marriage.

This isn’t a traditional marriage in crisis book though. Like all of Hannah’s books, it’s filled with emotions and a lot of self identity. Sarah lost her mom at a young age and has been trying to see where her place in the world is, after losing the person who helped her orbit. I think the way Hannah touched on grief and the reality of how it always stays there, even as the years pass was beautiful.

I also loved how this couple talked through their issues. The love they have for each other is so deep and you could that they just needed some fine tuning after all those years. I loved getting to see more about Sarah and Caleb after seeing glimpse of them in the previous book.

If you loved Out on a Limb, you are going to be so happy with this book! Seeing this found family all get their happy endings was so lovely.

Favorite quote: “Failure is simply an opportunity for those who have time.”

4/5 ⭐️

Bonam-Young really knows how to take my most hated romance tropes and turn them into something wonderful. I really can't stand the marriage in crisis trope, it just lacks a certain tension for me. But like Bonam-Young's previous books there is an added level of depth to this. Sarah and Caleb have been together since they were in high school and we get to see the many ways they've grown together and apart. Their issues felt real and raw and I found myself relating to a lot of Sarah and Caleb's story. I also loved the Bo and Win cameos, it really just felt like a continuation of "Out on a Limb."

"And your heart is mine in the way that our home or our neighborhood or my favorite movie in mine. Mine but not for me alone. Your heart is mine to care for, to treasure. But it will never be just mine."

Thank you to NetGalley, Hannah Bonam-Young, and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for my early access to this.

3/5

I fell head over heels obsessed with Hannah Bonam-Young after reading her flawless romance Out on a Limb in the fall of last year. Bonam-Young expertly balances a co-parenting storyline with a beautiful friends-to-lovers romance that left me aching for more books from her and I quickly devoured her entire backlist. Now second-chance romance is my favorite romance trope (if I had to pick just one), and a huge part of that is its high-risk high reward. What makes this trope so excellent are the possibilities in weaving together the narrative of past and present and bringing readers into the fold as two characters reconcile. Out of the Woods as a whole is a wonderful romance featuring a marriage in crisis and a hiking trip a couple embark upon to see if it's worth saving. Our characters Caleb and Sarah are messy and complicated people whose lives have been entangled since they first met in high school and they don't know who they are outside of that. A wilderness retreat presents the potential for them to solve this problem and determine who they want to be - for themselves and for their marriage. Hannah Bonam-Young packs a lot into one romance, but all of it is expertly examined. Out of the Woods packed an emotional punch through its themes of grief and caregiving. I found it easy to understand how this partnership had deteriorated but also why Caleb and Sarah made such a good team. How Bonam-Young manages to do all of this and still leave the reader feeling comforted I will never know but Out of the Woods is just another weapon in her romance arsenal wielded entirely for good. Give me more Hannah Bonam-Young romances today, yesterday, and tomorrow!

This emotional journey follows Sarah and Caleb as the step out of their comfort zone to save their marriage. Bonam-Young weaves their tale in such an emotional way that pulls out tears and swooning. It's beautiful.

Five stars, this one is going to be big.

I absolutely loved this book! The storyline, everything about the scenery! So happy i got the opportunity to read it!

This was super cute. It explores marriage, friendship, and grief. I think it could have used more conflict between the main couple but ultimately I loved Sarah and Caleb. I was also super happy to see Bo and Win in this story!

OUT OF THE WOODS was charming, swoon-worthy, and laugh-out-loud funny. But don't be fooled-- it also tugs on your heartstrings. Sarah feels both stuck and lost, and that's a huge theme throughout the book. Bonam-Young takes you on a journey where you feel all of the feelings right along with Sarah.

Sarah and Caleb embark on a trip into the woods to reconnect with themselves, as much as they reconnect with each other. It's heartwarming and tears are shed with and for Sarah in so many stages of her sharing her heart with those around her. Even if sometimes it's by accident. If you're looking for a cozy little romance story, this isn't it. But if you're looking for real life in a book, and someone LIVING it with the love of their life--this is the one for you.

This one started out fine but lost me halfway through. I just didn’t get the feels from it like I wanted to. I think the writing style was good and I did like the setting and the characters. I felt like it would have been better as a dual point of view. Overall, it was just ok for me.

Wow! I love all books by Hannah Bonam-Young but this one I was truly able to relate to and loved how Sarah and Caleb were able to reconnect and reignite their love for each other. The ending was unpredictable and had me hoping for the best possible outcome which happened and I am so happy for them! I am said to no longer be in this universe but Hannah knocked it out of the park with this book!

I've never read a romance book quite like this one before. I thought it was interesting starting with the MCs not only already together, but for 17 years. I wasn't expecting such a REAL story. Normally you see the relationships bloom, and are left believing that everything will be perfect forever. This story really shows how relationships progress past that newly-in-love phase. I loved the bond you could immediately see between Caleb and Sarah. And I loved that Caleb dropped everything to have a shot at fixing their relationship. You could so obviously see when they start communicating better. The last 25% of the book really got to me. Please read this when you have a chance, you won't regret it.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the ebook in exchange for an honest review!

Huge thank you to NetGalley & Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this eARC!

After reading one of my favorite books of 2024 Out on a Limb, I was so excited that I was going to hear more about Sarah and Caleb. After 17 years together, they know each other so well and are deeply in love. They are not without their faults though. Caleb was raised to fix issues for Sarah to make her life easier. Sarah wants to try and fail on her own terms without her husband intervening. After her best friend recommends a couple's retreat to help them communicate better, they find that there is more to learn about each other despite being together for more than half their lives.

HBY writes from experience as she is married to her high school sweetheart and it shows. The struggles that Sarah and Caleb had were realistic and not overly dramatic. I appreciated that the author didn't put in a second-act breakup. There were so many funny moments to balance out the heavier topics. I enjoyed the flashback chapters since it was showing vs. telling the earlier parts of the Linwoods' relationship. I adored the side characters and how they became a found family at the retreat. I'm glad we got more Bo and Win at the end, too! Bonus points for the Taylor Swift-related title because I know HBY is a Swiftie. :)

📱𝙆𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙚 𝘼𝙍𝘾 𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙍𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬

𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠: Out of the Woods by Hannah Bonam-Young
𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙩: Kindle Copy via Netgalley
𝙍𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝘿𝙖𝙩𝙚: January 28, 2025
𝙍𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨:

“𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒃𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔.”

----------------

She does it again! Wow, what a story! I loved Caleb and Sarah a lot! They’ve been through so much together, it’s amazing how strong they are. Especially after everything that Sarah went through so young with losing her mother.

I can’t get enough of Hannah’s work. I was accepted for this ARC back in September and put off reading it until closer to release date. I also put off reading it because at the time, I had never read one of her books. Since then I have binged all her work! They all remain close to my heart. I love each and every character she brings to life.

I was leaning on giving this book a 4 or 4.5 star but during the ending the story wrapped up a couple little things nicely that I wasn’t sure was going to get wrapped up at all and when it was, it immediately bumped my rating up to 5 stars!

Thank you so much for this opportunity! I can’t wait to watch out for more of these amazing stories.

I cannot believe I got an ARC for this book!!!!! I relate to Caleb and Sarah so hard as I’ve also been in a relationship since teenage years. I teared up at so many things Sarah was going through and the journey to find themselves and still be right for each other was such a beautiful journey. I loved this so much! The side characters were so funny too.

I ate this book UP!!! It made me laugh, cry, and most importantly made me think about life and how precious those around you are.
I adored Caleb and Sarah's changing dynamics throughout the book and how their relationship was shaped and molded to fit their new lives because we all know we aren't the same at 27 as we were at 19 and seeing that on the page was beautiful.
If you haven't read Hannah Bonam-Young before, you NEED to because she write amazing books that everyone she have the pleasure of reading at least once in their life.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this book early!

This was my first book by this author and I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it - given that its about a couple with marital problems as someone about to get married (whose also marrying their high school sweetheart and is named sarah lol)

I put off finishing this book for that exact reason but once I got into it I was IN!

I laughed, I cried real tears, and now I will think about nothing else all day!

Sarah and Caleb's story is a heartfelt exploration of marriage, growth, and self-discovery. The story follows a couple who has been together since high school and married at the young age of 19. Now in their 30's, they embark on a marriage retreat, hoping to reflect on their lives, determine if they're truly happy, and rekindle the connection they once had.

What struck me most about this book is how deeply personal it felt. Having been with my own partner for over a decade, I found the story incredibly relatable. The couple's journey to balance love and individual fulfillment mirrored many of the questions I’ve pondered in my own relationship. The raw honesty in the characters' conversations and reflections was both touching and thought-provoking. I cried so many times during their conversations and at Sarah's internal thoughts about the marriage she wanted to build.

While the book is emotionally rich, it also offers moments of humor and levity, making it a well-rounded read. It reminds readers that growth is a constant process and that love, when nurtured, can evolve into something even more profound. HBY has done it again!!

Another amazing read from Hannah Bonam-Young! I loved the plot of this story; a marriage in crisis heading off on a couples retreat in the woods to work on their relationship. It was such a beautiful story and the characters/situation they're facing is very relatable.

This is the book that I didn't know that I needed until I read it. These two are high school sweethearts that are having a marriage in crisis. To save their marriage, they are attending a couples retreat to try and rekindle. I didn't find this one overly angsty, but enough that I was fully invested. I found myself cheering for the couple and wanting them to find their HEA together again. A beautiful story that just warmed my heart.

I know I shouldn’t have high expectations for a book I haven’t read yet but there hasn’t been a book from Hannah that I haven’t loved. I have repeatedly told people I would die for Out in a Limb. To say I was excited for Caleb and Sarah was an understatement. This book had so many highlighted moments. Moments of love, grief, healing, and fighting for that one true love.