I unfortunately hate to DNF this book, this one was not for me and that’s okay! Due to me not finishing I did not post any public facing reviews or criticism!

went into this book wondering if it was the right call for someone who has been married less than a year herself. But I figured, if nothing else, it might give me a blueprint for what not to do!
Maybe my reading circles are not broad enough but, for me, it was unusual to see a novel of this genre and storyline written by a male author – perhaps it’s social conditioning but we tend to think of books about relationships and love and marriage as being a distinctly female hunting ground.
For that reason, and the general premise of the book, I was keen to see how it played out.
Emma and Rob have been married for over 20 years when a blow-up in IKEA prompts Emma to suggest the drastic idea of taking a year-long break from each other. What follows is a novel of alternating chapters, charting the couple’s separate lives through Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer again.
Thrown into the mix is a host of characters including their college-aged son Will, Emma’s friend Kendry, Rob’s coworker Sareena, and Emma’s love (triangle) interest, Erik.
For the most part, this book flows extremely well and while there are moments, particularly in Emma’s story, where my eyebrows raised at the overexaggeration of certain interactions – my thinking immediately going to ‘this is a woman, written by a man’. But, for the most part, I enjoy the characters that Thoraval has created.
I like how he doesn’t decide to mirror their years either, because in all likelihood no two people would ever have the same experience in something like this. I did enjoy Rob’s house-building narrative, seeing it as a kind of metaphor for their relationship – good foundations, the wrong choice of showpiece, before sense prevails and the basic aura of the building is retained.
Emma’s story is a bit different, if a tad obvious, in that she questions what exactly she has done with her life, other than raise and support her son and husband. Her questions are more around whether she has ever really been seen as an individual person with her own goals and desires.
I did feel that the last chapter, with the house opening, was a bit too neat and tidy. While I get that the book is, at the end of the day, a romance, I actually would have ended it on the previous chapter, to leave a little bit of ambiguity for the reader, especially given the type of topic Thoraval was writing about.
I did appreciate that he didn’t just tick a box next to their relationship and left some question around what would happen, but the slight melodrama of the final chapter (around the house sale) all just felt a bit shmaltzy for my liking.
Nonetheless, I don’t read a lot of romance novels but I would happily read more if they were as well crafted as this one – it just didn’t stick the landing for me.

My thanks to Further Publishing for an eARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Yannick Thoraval for the E-Book. Unfortunately I had to DNF this book at 63%. This book did not do it for me since the beginning. Emma and Rob break up there is no backstory given and at 63% I still have not experienced. The book alternated between Emma and Rob but as the book progressed I didn't see anything happening that would make them grow nor acknowledge what happened in the marriage nor talk to each other nothing funny, no couples therapy. My thoughts are based on what happened in the story and don't reflect anything about the author nor the writing.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and author for an advanced copy of The Marriage Gap Year.
This book started out with the potential for me to love it. As a 48 year old woman that's been with the same man for almost 30 years I had so much empathy for Emma and Rob. Unfortunately, I really didn't end up liking either of them. Or any of the characters for that matter (with the exception of Will). Even Erik who started off great turned out to be a bit of a jerk. I didn't feel like either made any real growth (maybe Rob a little), or tried to change at all. I also didn't care if the couple decided to stay together or get divorced.
Which is good because the book ends with no decision either way, I was also annoyed that we didn't get to read about Emma and Erik's breakup. They clearly hated friends, he was at Robs work function at the end of the book. Which seemed odd for several reasons.
2.75⭐️

I just couldn't get into this book. I didn't care about the characters and was ultimately disappointed by how the story ended up. The characters didn't feel real to me, so I didn't care about their marriage. Thank you Further Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC!

In this interesting new romance novel, readers follow Emma and Rob on a disastrous trip to IKEA when Emma reveals that she has not been happy in their nearly thirty years’ long marriage and is tired of the stagnation, boredom, and frustration that has seemed to increase. As they decide to take a year apart -- no calls or texts -- and see if they can salvage their marriage, both Emma and Rob have to discover if life apart is what they thought it was or if they can reconnect with their relationship in the good years. Set in Melbourne and San Remo in Australia, readers will love this international escape and the drama and hilarity that ensues in this fun new romance novel. The alternating perspectives allow Emma and Rob to share their separate lives and perspectives of their marriage, and this really develops their relationship and the story. Their relationship is really the star of the novel, and the depth of their characters really helps Thoraval build out their relationship and plot elements. The settings and world-building are nicely detailed and complex, making these locations feel lived-in and tied to the characters in some interesting and important ways in this novel.

I really did not like this book. At all. From the start I just felt like Emma was kind of a horrible person and she doesn't show empathy or guilt about doing any of the things she does. She doesn't consider how anything could affect anyone but herself. She cheats and is just concerned with how she will move forward FROM HER OWN BAD DECISIONS with no consideration for her husband.
They should honestly just get divorced.
The premise was interesting but the way it was written didn't work for me.

This is honestly why I don't read a lot of books written by men.

I loved the premise of the book but it took me so long to finish. Reason? I wanted to DNF it for a long time. I do not shy away from an unlikeable character. In fact some times I love to read that sort of story, But the FMC is so unlikeable that I had to walk away from the book multiple times.

I will not be posting this review on goodreads as I do not want to give negative publicity.
Thank you for the opportunity to review this book. May be this one was not for me.

It took me a while to finish this one, and although I did take a pause from reading it, it’s wasn't because the story wasn't good—because it is. It’s just that the pacing mirrors real life in a way that can feel a little too real at times. Slow, reflective, and emotionally layered.

This story follows Emma and Rob, a couple who’ve been married for over 20 years and have simply… hit a wall. Emma wants more—more connection, more joy, more living. Rob, meanwhile, is tired. He’s been present, supportive, and steady, but from Emma’s point of view, he’s checked out. And from Rob’s perspective, well, he’s done his part. He hasn’t cheated, he raised their son, he shows up. But is that enough?

Their breaking point happens in the middle of an argument at Ikea—about a table, but also about everything but the table—and Emma blurts out the idea of taking a year apart. A marriage gap year. No contact. No visits. Just space. And so begins a quiet, complicated unraveling of their shared life.

The book then follows both Emma and Rob as they navigate this space separately. Emma gets her own apartment, then quits her job after a workplace dispute goes sideways (and ends in an impromptu hookup in a bathroom). Meanwhile, Rob moves into a model home and takes on a historical renovation project—partnering with a younger woman and her all-female team, which leads to some generational and gender-related tension that felt timely and nuanced, if a little uncomfortable.

The writing is strong, and I appreciate the honesty in how these characters are written. No one is a villain here. They’re just… tired, confused, and trying to figure it out. There’s not a lot of action or dramatic twists, but the emotional realism really stands out. It's a book about middle-aged love, burnout, missed communication, and what happens when two people stop growing in the same direction.

That said, the slower pace made it harder for me to stay locked in—I need to be in the right mood to pick this one up. But I did revisit, because I genuinely wanted to see where Emma and Rob ended up!

I had to DNF this book. I thought the premise was silly, and I just couldn't get into it. I didn't think believe the characters had chemistry at all.

I just finished reading this book. The plot was absolutely fantastic! It was quite the page turner, and I could not put the book down once I began reading it.

I was intrigued by this book's premise, but found it to be a let down. It became increasingly clear that good communication and being honest internally could have solved a lot of these problems, and so I found myself less and less invested in the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Further Publishing for an advance copy of this book.

This novel follows Rob and Emma as they decide to spend a year apart to determine if they should stay married. Their son has recently moved into his dorm, and they take this chance to learn who they are without the other person and re-evaluate the life they have created together.

I think this book's premise was intriguing, and I wanted to give it a fair chance, but a lot of this book made me uncomfortable. I am glad I gave it a try because it is not something I would typically pick up, but I do not think it was for me.

While Emma tried to make an effort to change her life and explore her interests that she did not feel she had gotten the chance to, it felt like Rob was doing nothing. I enjoyed the home restoration job that Rob was working on, but aside from that, it felt like all he did was drink and feel sorry for himself. These actions made it clear why Emma felt she needed a break. Although I was initially cheering them on, thinking that they would both take this time to work on themselves, I did not see Rob as deserving of Emma as the story went on.

If you enjoy stories with similar themes, you might enjoy this, but I would not recommend it if you want to try this type of book.

Personally I loved this book. It was witty and real. It felt like I was watching this book play out in my head and I found myself feeling the feels of the FMC & MMC. It was a fast paced read for me and super enjoyable.

A nicely written book about a couple experiencing a rough patch in their marriage and decided to take a year-long break from each other. Emma and Rob started living their own separate lives for a year. The book was divided into parts with different seasons. We get to know about both of their mindsets and their thoughts on the separation. The book was slow paced but an easy read. The characters were okay, I didn't love them but didn't hate them either. Through some ups and downs ,finally they found their way back towards each other. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

A couple who have been married for 26 years and has a son just going to college decide to take one year apart in hopes they will miss each other and get back together.

The concept sounded interesting. I mean who hasn't had these "what if" thoughts when they have been side by side with their spouse for so long? I was interested in reading this in hopes of getting some inspiring thought provoking lines around the expectations and reality of marriage but what I ended up getting is two points of views of very selfish thinking, the only character I liked was their son who was just spitting facts left and right about how his parents were behaving.

Anyway, this was a book I almost dropped several times and only finished in hopes of a happy ending.

The writing was good. The opening scene was raw and thrilling for what was to come but the rest of the book just didn't deliver on my expectations.

I finished it out of spite. It was bad. The main characters were so annoying and stupid and unlikeable. Especially Emma, who, even though cheats on her husband, gets mad when she sees him in a picture with a coworker. Like?

All in all, the characters were unlikable, the plot was flat, and it baffles me that this books is in the “Romance” category.

I have to give this book 1 star out of 5.

I'm at a crossroads with how to rate this. I understand the commentary is not for me; I'm part of the generation these main characters seem to hate oh-so-much. I found both main characters tremendously unlikeable, and all of the younger people are basically caricatures of Gen-Z when most of them are actually millennials anyways. I wanted a story about a couple reinventing themselves to be more independent, but it was literally just them quietly despising each other a little bit and also hating themselves while projecting onto anyone who promoted awareness, opportunity, etc. The female building team especially was somewhat offensive; why is every woman of color treated as on the offensive against white men? While writing this review, I googled the author, and I have never been less surprised to see a man's face looking back at me. I realize this review itself is exactly what he thinks of young women apparently, but it was just a middle-aged man going unchallenged by the world yet getting angry anyways and a woman just being a hater who sleeps around--but still tremendously motherly, of course, who has to use her sexuality to feel empowered.

I had a really hard time getting into this book. There are some lovely scenes but I could not connect with the characters. I found them hard to relate to and did not think they had good chemistry together

A refreshing take on the typical 20-somethings that most RomComs feature. I always look for books that feature non-traditional characters (in this case older characters) and those that feature more than just the typical tropes. This book showed how marriage is so much more than just the union between two people... and that each of them have to love and find themselves before they can love each other.

Is a marriage gap year realistic... probably not, but it still inspires lots of thought provoking ways and efforts that can renew even a longstanding relationship.

Thank you to Net Galley for the ebook.