The Love We Found by Jill Santopolo was a wonderful standalone novel. This was a sequel to the previous book, The Light We Lost, which now takes picks up a decade after Gabe's death, with his editor (Eric) calling Lucy to plan a promotion for a new book to be published. Lucy ends up searching for Gabe boxes that has been in the closet for many years; she ends up finding an address in Italy with a drawing of a young boy. Lucy decides to fly to Italy to do research on her own, why Gabe would have kept this address. She will meet the family, including the young man (10 Years older), Bashire, who was a drawing expert whose photo was still cherished.

While in Italy, she meets Dax, a doctor who works with refugees coming into Italy. Lucy finds herself attracted to Dax, as he also falls hard for her. When Dax returns to the states, their relationship escalates. Though Gabe has been dead for 10 years, she wonders if her and Dax have found love.

The main focus of this story revolves around Lucy, her three kids, and her ex, Darren and his wife, Courtney. Lucy and Darren have shared custody, with each week the families switching to their house. Their three kids - Violet, Liam, and Sam, make a very good happy family. Sam the youngest (8 years old) is actually Gabe’s son, which only Darren knows about. Lucy decides she wants to tell Sam, and her other two kids, about Gabe; which infuriates Darren, who does not want this to be revealed. Darren found out about Gabe, which was a reason for the divorce. The conflict between Darren and Lucy has them both at crossroads; but with help from Courtney, Lucy does tell her three kids about Gabe, and Sam realizes that he looks like Gabe.

When Dax returns from Italy, their romance resumes, until Lucy fears her kids will not accept him. She decides to break up with Dax, as she is reluctant to hurt her family; but when Dax has to help find Sam, and everything changes, including the kid’s acceptance.
The Love We Found was a very emotional and powerful journey, filled with grief, life, loss and secrets. The Love We Found was very well written by Jill Santopolo. This was a wonderful story, which I suggest you read.

A big thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Putnam | G.P. Putnam's Sons and NetGalley for providing me an early copy to read and review.

After the first few chapters, I was worried that how vividly the author described grief and depression that this book would put me into a funk. However, some of the passages were just so raw and heartfelt, that it ended up giving me quite a lot of hope.

4.5 stars, beautifully written.

Loved this sequel almost as much as the original. Just a beautiful story. Life can be so messy but still beautiful and this story is testament to that.

I could read about this family for another 10 books! And I just love the way in both books, it’s her talking to Gabe!

I could not gush any more over this book, just buy both books (this one and The Light We Lost) and read them in tandem!

Sequel to The Light We Lost. Emotional. Poignant, Messy, Complicated. Loved the experience of reading it. A worthy sequel to a much-loved first book.

Santopolo beautifully explores love, grief, and second chances with emotional depth. While i did enjoy this, the ending was a bit rushed

This book was only ok for me. I kept expecting more. Of what, I'm not sure, but it never delivered.

The story was kind of boring, and while it traveled overseas it didn't feel like it made any progress. It needed something to pop out at you. To really grab you.

And the sex scenes. Man, they were awkward. There was zero heat, zero passion. Just sex. Awkwardly worded sex.

I don't think I'd recommend this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This long-awaited sequel to The Light We Lost brings us back into Lucy’s world as she navigates co-parenting three children with her ex and grapples with the ten-year anniversary of Gabe’s passing. The story focuses on love, grief, and the complexities of moving forward after loss. It’s emotional and beautifully written, but I found the slow pacing quite frustrating, and the romance a bit forced. That said, it was still moving, and I loved revisiting a character that I loved so much. Just note that this dives right in without a recap, so reading the first book is a must!

I liked this one but The Light We Lost is my favorite out of the 2 books. I just feel like the story was rushed a little bit which isn’t entirely bad. I liked that the chapters were nice and short most books I read have long chapters which takes me forever to read sometimes so it was a nice change of pace for me.

First off, I loved the premise of this story. 10 year anniversary, dealing with grief, finding love moving forward, but still holding on.

I read The Light We Lost last year and it was my favorite for the year. It made me cry and I love how the story was told. The Love We Found was written in a similar format which made me so happy. Love the way the story unfolded.

Lucy and Gabe's story continued with this book but we also got to see grief and how it can affect us even years later. This was a nice sequel to The Light We Lost. Not every book needs closure but it was great to see one for this book. It definitely made me cry but not as much as the first one.

The Light We Lost emotionally wrecked me years ago and I am writing this post cry sesh because this sequel was such beautiful and emotional journey. I read this in under 24 hours- once I started I was knee deep invested and could not put it down! Jill's writing is just that captivating.

The Light We Lost was a five-star read for me and one of those books that stuck with me long after I finished it. The Love We Found is the perfect sequel I didn't know I needed. I do not say this lightly, I RARELY LIKE SEQUELS TO FICTION BOOKS. It has to be done WELL with plot and character growth-this was just that and more. It's a beautiful story with love, healing, forgiveness and most importantly how fate and how even our smallest choices mold our lives.

If you loved The Light We Lost, and felt wrecked with the ending, I HIGHLY recommend reading this book. I still cried (alot), but this time it was more healing, which was kinda nice.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read an ARC of The Love We Found in exchange for my honest review.

The love we found is a beautiful story of healing. The story starts out years after the ending in “The light we lost”. Lucy is still dealing w her grief over losing Gabe while raising 3 kids and balancing her job. Sammy still doesn’t know Gabe is his father.

Finding a random address in Gabe’s belongings it leads Lucy on a path of closure with Gabe and finding true love once again. Dax is a Handsome doctor who also struggles with grief. As things start to blossom with Dax and Lucy finally can see a future with someone things start to fall apart when it becomes time to tell Sam who his true father is. With the fall out it brings to the family Lucy learns love is always complicated but true love is worth it.

This was a great follow up and the perfect way to wrap up Lucy & Gabe’s story. Dax and Lucy had such great chemistry and healing I love every minute of their story.

Thank you to G.P Putnam Sons for the ARC through Netgalley. As always this is my honest review.

This is the perfect follow up to “The Light We Lost”. I fell in love with Lucy and Gabe’s story, but I also loved Lucy’s individual story. The emotion and feelings that Lucy still feels ten years later is palpable. It was nice to see the full story come together. Closure at its best.

The Love We Found 💕

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Genre: Contemporary, Literary Fiction
Pub Date: March 18, 2025

Eight years after “The Light We Lost” was released, Jill Santopolo has given fans a follow up to the beloved book. We join back up with Lucy, ten years after the events of “The Light We Lost” happened. And in order to remain completely spoiler free for both books, I’m going to end this summary there. With that said, do not read this book, without having read the first!

I was SO happy when I found out this sequel was happening and excited to see how Lucy’s life has panned out after *everything*. I was very pleased that everything felt like a smooth transition between stories. The writing, the characters, everything was still spot on despite the amount of time taken between books.

I truly loved being with Lucy in her experiences as she has grown older and worked to heal herself. It was also fun to see how her kids have grown into themselves and see their personalities. I really don’t want to spoil anything for anyone, but I just really loved the direction this book took for Lucy as she has moved forward. I think anyone who loved The Light We Lost will really enjoy this one, and will also be able to relate to and come away with all the emotions Santopolo intends. I would LOVE for another book in this world, either continuing on with Lucy’s new chapter in life, or even getting more of a backstory on a new character, Dax, who was brought into the book.

Unfortunately I didn’t love this one like I did the first book, The Light We Lost. There’s a lack of communication and something huge was easily assumed, however the story needed it to continue. There’s also a big part that’s a little hard to believe, but it’s a HEA which I like.

Thanks to NetGalley, Putnam Books and PRH Audio for the arc and alc.

This was such a beautiful romance and a great sequel to The Light We Lost. This book will give you all the feels so make sure you have tissues nearby. This book was so beautiful that I finished it in under a day. I don't know if it would be possible but I would love another book about these characters

As for the audiobook, the narrator was also the author Jill Santopolo and I thought she did a great job. I could picture her narrating other books not necessarily written by her.

Trust me you need to read this book. I definitely think it will be one of the best romances of 2025!

The Love we found~ WOW! What an amazing sequel. Lucy’s life continues on ten years later and the live she had for Gabe is amazing. When will she find freedom.

Ten years after “The Light We Lost” ends, we come back to Lucy and see where her life is now.

Jill Santopolo does a great job of being true to Lucy’s character. It was just so hard to follow “The Light We Lost,” as that book had such emotional depth that I don’t think was possible to capture in a sequel. I did enjoy seeing what happened to Lucy and her family.

Thank you to NetGalley and PenguinGroupPutnam for the ARC!

The Light We Lost was one of my very favorite books and getting the opportunity to continue this journey with Lucy was magical. I was a bit hesitant at first because how do you continue this story without Gabe? But Jill did an amazing job incorporating the past and present and showing us a new journey for Lucy. It has been a long time since I read the Light We Lost but it this truly felt like I could just pick up right where I left off.

This book had every aspect that I was looking for and more! You should read this if you enjoy:
-family drama
- romance and a little spice
-grief journey
-travel

I am so grateful that I got to reconnect with these characters.

The Light We Lost is still one of my all time favorite books and I knew nothing would top that, but I still wanted to read about Lucy, ten years later. I have read The Light We Lost a few times but did not re-read before reading this one. And that's ok, because I still remembered enough of the story. I would absolutely recommend reading Light before this one. I feel like you won't truly capture the connection between Lucy and Gabriel and it would seem a bit odd.

This book picks up ten years after Light ends. It answers the lingering question at the end of Light and the aftermath. Lucy travels to Italy to work on a commemorative book on Gabe's work. She gets flooded with feelings and memories and also meets someone new. (To be fair this new romance seems a bit too perfect, especially compared to the flawed romances she's had in the past). I wanted to read more because I love the way that Santopolo writes Lucy's voice. It's real and flawed and authentic.

I'm so happy we got a follow-up to the Light We Lost! That book was so emotional and stuck with me for a long time after I read it. This one felt like a cozy reunion with some of my favorite characters. I don't know why this isn't looped in as a sequel but I would definitely pick up that book first before coming into this one.

I loved that this felt like Lucy catching up with Gabe when she can't actually do that. It's how she keeps his memory alive within her. This story shows the complex relationship she has with each of her kids and how she and Darren handle parenting as a divorced couple, especially when they disagree. I enjoyed that we got to see Lucy's love for her past with Gabe and Darren while getting a new love story with Dax. The jump to Italy was fun to get new scenery and for her to reconnect with Gabe and his work. The main conflict here though is telling Sammy that he is actually Gabe's son. I think it was handled beautifully even though there was a bunch of conflict surrounding it. I think this was such a nice way to give closure to these characters and I am so happy I picked this one up. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review. This book releases 3/18.