I didn’t realize when I started this book that it was a sequel to The Light We Lost- what a pleasant surprise! I simply devoured this book. Full of grief, love, hope, and beauty. A gorgeous book about moving on after death of one love and divorce of another. I loved the details of her relationship with her children.

Thank you Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for this ARC copy in exchange for my review.

This book captivated me from the beginning, and I found myself not wanting to put it down. Having read the first book, I was curious about how the sequel would unfold, but I believe the author handled it exceptionally well. I found myself secretly wishing for a mix-up, hoping that Gabe hadn't really left, but alas, that was not the case. There were a few parts in this book where I wanted to shout to the kids about how they were acting towards the adults but it eventually got worked out.I believe this book was a strong follow-up to its predecessor.

Absolutely beautiful story! It was heartbreaking and beautiful. What a great sequel. The writing was engaging and realistic. I cannot wait to read more from this author.

3.75 out of 5. It took me a while to read the Light we Lost after it came out, and i was very happy I got an arc for the sequel very soon after, therefore I could take the whole story all at once. Is it as good as its original? no! but it is a lovely book on navigating grief, growing past in and starting a new life embracing both the pain and the happiness. Also the European descriptions made me want to be in holiday in Europe exploring little coastal towns in the middle of nowhere!

Thank you Penguin Books (Putnam) for the advanced review copy of The Love We Found. The review contains some spoilers.

I had many mixed feelings seeing Santopolo had penned as sequel to The Love We Lost, as that book felt like it had the perfect (incomplete) ending — yet I was so captivated by the story I needed to know what happened next.

The Love We Found had the same powerful storytelling (the minutia and details that added richness and kept captivating me) and the same nuanced characters. Lucy is so flawed and her reactions are so real. Darren’s selfishness out of his love and insecurities were so consistent but evolved in this book. Just like the first book, I was frustrated and deeply empathetic with the characters like they were real people. And moreover, the framing device of “talking” with Gabe and the parallels with the homage to the photography exhibit (including the infamous photo of Lucy) were quite nice touch points for a fan of the book.

I enjoyed that though these stylistic and structural similarities carried through, that the theme of the book was moving forward while acknowledging Lucy and Gabe’s transcendent love. I also appreciated the “progress” was not linear and set backs that were realistic such as accepting the news of Sam’s paternity. Though the ending is similarly melancholy, this was much more hopeful and not a simple rehash or another tragedy.

My only critique is Dax’s character seemed too forward when Lucy was clearly quite vulnerable. Though he had a past of his own, there was little discussion of his journey to move forward and it seemed almost “too good to be true.” Lucy was also so passionately captured by him that I also wondered if it was a true connection.

Overall, a fitting tribute to the original story with a fresh take of its own.

This story is a wonderful sequel I didn't even know I needed to The Light we Lost.

This story is raw and has great emotional depth. I love that it is ten years later from Gabe's death and you get to know what's going on past and present within the characters life. I love the writing around grief and how it changes you and is somehow always a part of you.

Jill does a great job writing about realities of life and specifically about the choices we make in life and how every choice leads to something we experience.

All in all I loved this book and I feel like this was the closure I needed after the heaviness of the first book.

Very emotional read, but it was a great sequel! This book lived up to the first book and was beautifully written. Lots of healing within this story and I enjoyed every part of it

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was so excited to read this one, as The Light We Lost was one of the books that got me back into reading as an adult. I was hoping the sequel would help pull me out of a similar reading rut.

The best part of this book is that it was so easy to read; Jill Santopolo has a gift for making you turn a page. I felt like there were a lot of characters and I sometimes had a hard time keeping them straight; it was also had at times to suspend disbelief at some of the less realistic parts of the story. I also found some of it to be too cheesy for even the most zealous romance novel reader. However, all in all, it still pulled at my heart strings and even made me a little misty eyed at the end. Would recommend to anyone who read the first book and/or anyone who is looking to get out of a reading rut themselves.

This sequel was just o.k. I reread the first book in preparation for this but I don’t think you need to. It was interesting how Darren was made the villain of the sequel. I felt like the author was trying to justify Lucy’s cheating from the first book by showing us that Darren could be a prick? I enjoyed Lucy’s relationship with Eva and Courtney. The Dax relationship was too insta lovey for me.

5 stars what an incredible follow up to The Light We Lost. We follow Lucy and her families journey since Gabe’s death a decade ago. This will tug on your heart strings and you will surely shed a tear. Highly recommend.

Like most sequels, I wish this didn’t come to be. I found the charm and energy of the first book was lost here. Lucy and Dax felt like instalove and the sex scenes seemed raunchy just for the sake of it; they didn’t fit tonally with the rest of the book, which so heavily became about motherhood. Lucy saying she “doesn’t deserve love,” felt like a silly overdone plot line as well as the kids not supporting her. I didn’t taken anything new away from this book which is why it just didn’t feel necessary. The first was so poignant and this fell short.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was thrilled to see a sequel to The Light We Lost. It is not normally a genre I gravitate towards but instantly was hooked. This sequel does not disappoint and I read it within 24 hrs. I’m happy to visit these characters again.

This was an interesting read. I wouldn’t totally categorize this as a romance since it was more about how Lucy navigated her grief. I also wasn’t expecting the whole book to be as if Lucy was talking to Gabe. That said, if you want to know how Lucy finds happiness and love again after loss, you should read this! 😊

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published March 18, 2025.

This is the second book I’ve read by this author. “The Light We Lost” was published back in 2017. It introduced us to Lucy and Gabe. I gave it 5 stars. This book continues the story, 10 years later. But it can definitely be read independently.

Themes include grief, secrets, modern families, photography and finding love. It was a quick and enjoyable read.

I probably have read the first book 5 times because I was enthralled in the story the two main characters have. When I found out I was accpected to read the second book I immediately sat down and finished the whole thing. Even though I was excited I also was crying. A lot. All that's to say, anything Santopolo writes is amazing I love her character work and I cannot wait for the world to see Lucy have a happy ending.

The sequel we’ve been longing for! After receiving a much awaited ARC, I reread The Light We Lost to refamiliarize myself with the characters and plot. Having read both books back to back, The Love We Found perfectly tied up loose ends of book 1. Lucy has matured vastly since book 1, and places her role as a mother as the guiding force behind all of her choices now. While I was a little more Team Darren in book 1, and was initially hoping he and Lucy would find their way back together in book 2, the new love interest, Dax complements Lucy even more! Great execution of a follow up!!!!

This was a fantastic sequel. The grief Lucy was wading through felt palpable and so believable. It was beautifully written. I loved "seeing" Lucy's heart open again as she began moving through her grief. My only criticism- for lack of a better word- is that Lucy and Dax's first meeting/date seemed awfully rushed. I couldn't connect with it. That said, I think he was written as a great partner for Lucy and was definitely someone that could understand her grief. Darren still sucks, but Courtney was also a really well-written addition, She deserved better than Darren, but I enjoyed Lucy and Courtney forming a little more of a bond. Overall, I was not at all disappointed. This was a great read- especially for a sequel.

The Love We Found was the most brilliant look at life after an all-consuming, soul-crushing love comes to an end. While Lucy and Gabe’s story in the first book, The Light We Lost, may have been complicated and messy at times, it was also intensely believable and moving. Their story continues to be so authentically reflected in the pages of this book as well. In The Love We Found we get to journey through Lucy’s life a decade after we last saw her. Her story is now layered with personal growth, accountability, rediscovering passion, and bravely pursuing a new love.

The way Santopolo narrated these books, as Lucy speaking to Gabe, built so much connection to the characters. The reader easily feels what they feel, sees what they see, breaks over what breaks them. The first book had me a sobbing mess when I first read it in 2022. Before I dove into The Love We Found I decided to reread the last few chapters of The Light We Lost and I immediately cried again. In the first book you get shattered along with Lucy, and in the second book you can get put back together.

I think one of the most beautiful parts about being a reader is reading stories about people from all walks of life, perhaps people who have made choices you wouldn’t, people who experience life very differently than you do. But being able to learn about and connect to various stories, fictional or not, is a lovely privilege. The type of human connection explored in these books is so beautiful, and I’m thankful for the story of Lucy and Gabe who experienced a wildly fierce love for one another.

I enjoyed this book but found some of the writing to be distracting. Sometime prose can be a reminder that it's fiction (the language used in writing to Gabe). Some of the writing and expressions are repetitive and cliched. That being said, this novel is a good story which depicts the struggles of a family facing a difficult revelation. Santopolo also handles the topics of divorce and relationships in a way that feels honest and real. Fans of the first novel will also enjoy this one although it is not as immersive or well written as her previous work.

I loved the first book by this author and the second didn’t disappoint. To have one true love taken away in such a violent way leaves so many questions unanswered. Was Gabe perfect? Probably not but the way the author wrote the story, it was like no one could hold a candle to him. I couldn’t put the book down and finished in just a few hours. I’d love to see another book in this saga.