It’s been 10 years. One day, Lucy finds a tiny piece of paper in one of Gabe’s boxes of old photos. An address in Rome. What does this mean & why did Gabe save it? Lucy impulsively buys a flight to uncover Gabe’s secret. This journey leads Lucy to meet Dr. Dax Armstrong- a New Yorker in Italy working for NGO. He affects in her ways no one has since Gabe. Lucy feels a tug to her past & leave her between a rock & a hard place.

I am obsessed with this series! Jill Santopolo knows how to rip your heart into a billion pieces & then mend it back together. She has a way with words like no other.

"The Light We Lost" is a book that I cannot stop thinking about. When I found out there was a sequel, I did not hesitate to read "The Love We Found". The story is set ten years after the original, and it fills the reader in on Lucy's life over that time frame.

This book deals with death, divorce, grief, and postpartum depression. It is beautifully written, and I strongly recommend it to anyone who liked the first book in the duo.

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

First I would like to thank Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC of this novel.

This is the long awaited follow of to The Light We Lost and while there were some parts of that novel I didn’t love I was really excited to see where this book took Lucy all these years later and honestly I really enjoyed this one so much more then the first.

While I don’t love the structure of these books and how they are all written directly to Gabe I really enjoyed seeing Lily move on and see her life after her divorce and with her kids. I think the first book spent so much time and focus on Gabe this one really helped by putting that on the back burner and focus on the other aspects of Lily’s life.

I also really like seeing Lily move on from Gabe and being able to find love again all while keeping Gabe’s memory alive.

If you enjoyed the first book in the series I highly recommend checking out this one.

3.5/5 stars rounded up to 4 for this review.

I read and loved The Light We Lost long ago. At least I remember loving it but looking back I'm not sure if I really did. Unfortunately, this long-awaited sequel did not work for me. It was boring and melodramatic, and I hope that others love it, but sadly I am not in that camp.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

In the words of our MC, this was not for me.

Alas, the pretty cover tempted me to request this ARC on NetGalley. I thought I had enjoyed The Light We Lost (the book which precedes The Love We Found) but I checked out my Goodreads from years ago and it seems I had a similar view.

Santopolo’s writing is beautiful and I enjoyed a glimpse into the world of photography, Italy, and a brief foray into refugees entering Europe, but sheesh the characters are just so hard to connect with, like, or even tolerate. 😬

I do believe fans of her previous books will enjoy this one as it could very well be an “it’s not you, it’s me” problem, but I believe I’ve reached my quota of dreamy cover temptations.

Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for this digital ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the eARC.

I have such conflicted feelings about The Love We Found. It has been years since I read Santopolo's first novel and I think I forgot about my conflict then too. I just don't know how to feel about these characters or these situations.

Jill Santopolo can't write a bad book! This was the perfect ending to a story I have carried with me for years. It was honest, heartbreaking, inspiring, and healing. Thank you for the opportunity to read this arc.

🩷🧡

The Light We Lost was such a beautifully heartbreaking story, I was so excited to see there was going to be another book! This one was also super emotional, I loved both of them!

The Love We Found is 10 years after, we learn how Lucy has coped with grief over the years. While going through Gabe’s belongings, Lucy finds a picture with an address in Italy. She decides to take a trip to Italy, doing research for herself.

This book was so emotional, although nothing will beat the first book, this was a beautiful story. Seeing Lucy overcome so much, make difficult decisions and finding love!

Thank you NetGalley, Putnam and Jill for the ARC!

Oh, I hate not giving a glowing review, especially when so many have loved this - but it wasn't for me. I did read the 1st book in the series, but it was SO long ago and I had a very hard time remembering - and then I knew why. I didn't love that one either. Lucy is just blah to me and her insta love in this sequel just didn't ring true to me at all. The spicy scenes felt off and kind of ick to me.

The Love We Found is the healing I needed from the first book. It took all the wondering of what happened to Lucy and her grief and tied all the ends together. Throughout this book Santopolo brought up how the choices we make about what's dealt to us in life is what is important.
It's so easy to get kicked down by life and all the negative that comes at us, but how are we choosing to move through it??

Lucy doesn't know if she deserves another chance at love. She has her hands full with a separated family and a huge secret all while holding on tight to ten years of grief. Th writing was a little awkward at times, the romance scenes felt a little weird.

I loved The Light We Lost so much, it brought so much emotion out of me and I think I went into this sequel wanting the same feelings to arise, so i felt a little let down. But still really enjoyed getting the answers I’ve always wondering about Lucy’s life.

I was so excited to see a sequel to The Light We Lost! This book was so deep and yet heartwarming. It deals with a lot over a 10 year period and I loved it so much.

Thank you to the publisher, author and NetGalley for this advanced copy.

I really wanted to love it. I enjoyed the others but this one just didn’t do it for me. It was super slow and a bit boring.

Release Date: March 18th
4.5 ⭐️
1 🌶️
I devoured this in under 24 hours. While The Light We Lost didn’t make me cry, this book wrapped everything up in a perfect bow. This story is filled with imperfect characters that are going through various stages of grief and the author handled it so well. The character growth shocked me and I grew to love Lucy. What a journey this has been. I loved every moment of it.

If you enjoy messy and painful romance, I highly recommend starting with The Light We Lost.

A special thanks to Jill Santopolo and Penguin Group Putnam for this ARC. While the review copy was gifted, all opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley for this e-copy of The Love We Found by Jill Santopolo in exchange for a honest review.This is the sequel to her bestseller The Light We Lost and it does not disappoint.It has been almost 10 years since Gabe Sampson’s death in Gaza and after Lucy finds a piece of paper with an address in Rome, she is intrigued.. Lucy travels there and meets a young migrant from Syria named Bashirbwho Gabe had photographed.Wanting to honor and celebrates Gabe’s life, she enlists Bashir’s help since he is now also a photographer. Lucy gathers photographs and stories and also meets a doctor named Dax who works with migrant children.Divorced now from Darren, she hasn’t told her children that their youngest brother Samuel is really Gabe’s.Lucy must find a way to move forward and find a new life for herself while not forgetting about her past.This is a love story on many levels and also examines the power of forgiveness.Highly recommend.

Jill Santopolo puts crack in her books.

They’re beautifully written, the short chapters make it a quick read, and they’re so real.

I read The Light We Lost in 2022 and it was a five star read for me. I absolutely loved it so when I saw Lucy’s story wasn’t over, I was so excited to read more. The books picks up where The Light We Lost left off and takes us along Lucy’s journey of healing after spending years in an emotional prison of her own making. I won’t get into it to much because I feel like it would spoil book one, but if you want a realistic romance that you can also recommend to your mom, a NYC setting, and life after loss/divorce, this is for you.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this!
Rating: 5⭐️

Keeping this spoiler free for those that have not read the first book!
The Love We Found is the highly anticipated follow up to The Light We Lost. It has been ten years since Lucy had to make a life altering decision. In the past 10 years, she has changed and grown up in ways that she never could have imagined. Faced with more hard decisions, Lucy is thrown back into her past. But with those hard decisions comes a light at the end of the dark tunnel.

Review:
4.5 stars
I loved The Light We Lost so much, so when I heard about the publication of The Love We Found I was absolutely thrilled! This simply did not disappoint. There is just something about Jill's writing that sucks me in. Her characters are reliable, their lives are messy, they make bad decisions, and great decisions. I am drawn to the characters in a way that makes me connect to them and feel their emotions so profoundly. Both books in this duet are highly emotional. They are high stakes. They are real. And they are absolutely fantastic. I would read about their lives in 10 plus more books if Jill wrote them.
The Love We Found publishes on 3/18 and is an absolute MUST read!!! I would suggest pushing it to the very top of your TBR!
Thank you to NetGalley, Jill Santopolo and Penguin/Putnam's Sons for this ARC of The Love We Found in exchange for an honest review.

When I found out that Jill Santopolo was publishing a sequel to The Light We Lost, I literally gasped with excitement. That novel is one of my all-time favorite, five-star books, and The Love We Found didn't disappoint!

The story takes place ten years after the death of Lucy's love Gabriel, and everything that came after. If you loved the first one, and no doubt you will if you love books that tug at your heartstrings, you will definitely adore The Love We Found!

3.5 rounded up / The Love We Found is a follow-up to The Light We Lost. You really need to read that one first & I'll admit I had mixed feelings about it too. TLWF was a quick read with short chapters that kept my interest. I didn't expect so much focus on Gabe in this book, and I think that's where most of my frustration was. It was like you could see her happy ending in the distance for half of the book, but she just wasn't getting there fast enough for me. I appreciated Darren's story line, but it also frustrated me. I guess I spent too much of this book waiting for the other shoe to drop (because you could tell it was going to happen) instead of getting to enjoy the good stuff.

I was SO excited for this long awaited second book. I've loved all of santopolo's releases since 'the light we lost' and the love we found was no different. So much emotion. Loved.

The Light We Lost was such a good book and I loved that we got to see Lucy's story continue. This story picks right off with Lucy's heartbreak of losing Gabe in The Light We Lost and dives into her heartbreak and struggles of life and family. Lucy takes a trip to Italy to help her find some closure with the loss of Gabe and this trip brings another love into her life (Dax). In The Love We Found, Lucy is working through some difficult decisions having to do with family and love and it was a wonderful read to see how everything turned out in her life after the 1st book had such a sad ending!

Thank you Net Galley and publisher for an advanced eARC of this book!