𝗠𝘆 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 4⭐️
WHAT IF I NEVER GET OVER YOU
🤍𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: contemporary romance
📖 416 pages
𝗘𝗺𝗼𝗷𝗶𝘀: 🇵🇹🛩️💕😢👩🏻‍🌾📖🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🤫🌷✨
𝗣𝘂𝗯 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲: 4/15/2025

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲:
◽️ forbidden romance
◽️ choosing your own path
◽️ single POV
◽️ second chance romance
◽️ ACOTAR references

💛𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲💛

Thank you @prhaudio @netgalley @paigetoon @putnam for the #gifted copy!

I really enjoyed this emotional & heartfelt read—another beautifully heartbreaking romance from Toon. It’s a story that explores instant connection, the pull of past love, & the power of second chances. True to PT’s style, it’s filled with emotional depth, loss, & sizzling chemistry that practically leaps off the page.

Told from Ellie’s POV, the novel picks up 6 years after a whirlwind European romance with Ash, only for her to discover he wasn’t entirely who she thought he was. As their paths cross again, Ellie is forced to confront not only the truth about Ash, but also the expectations placed on her by both of their families. The themes of choosing your own path & chasing your dreams are at the heart of the story, & the cast of supporting characters adds warmth & complexity to Ellie’s journey. I highly recommend!

⚠️ death of a friend & sibling, sexual assault

𝗣𝗹𝗼𝘁: Ellie falls for Ash during a whirlwind interrailing trip through Europe. After 3 magical days in Lisbon, they plan to reunite in Spain—but Ash never shows. 6 years later, Ellie is working as a gardener on a grand Welsh estate when Ash suddenly reappears. His absence in Madrid is finally explained, reopening old wounds. As their chemistry reignites, Ellie must decide if she’s ready to risk her heart again.

#WhatIfINeverGetOverYou #contemporaryromance #romance #chicklit #contemporary #secondchanceromance #travel #fiction #prhaudiopartner #netgalley #giftedbooks #kindle #audiobook

Thanks Putnam Books for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

📖Read if you like:
- Emotional romances
- Second chances
- Opposites/forbidden romance
- Grief and loss

Once again, Paige Toon delivered such a beautiful story filled with emotion. I loved Ellie and Ash’s connection from the beginning and the beautiful settings. Although there was some miscommunication between the characters that frustrated me at times, I did appreciate that Ellie acknowledged her struggles and was able to work on them.
I always love Paige’s emotional romances and this was no exception!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for granting access to this book.

I am not sure why but I struggled with this book...and I usually love romances! Perhaps I read this book on a bad day, or perhaps I just didn't connect with the characters. For whatever reason this book was a struggle to get through. I believe I still would be interested in reading more by Paige Toon in the future though.

Ellie never expected to fall in love while interrailing through Europe—until three unforgettable days in Lisbon with Ash changed everything. Six years later, she’s built a quiet life as a gardener on a Welsh estate, but when Ash reappears, the truth behind his disappearance in Madrid threatens to upend everything.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝:
I loved all the beautiful places that Ellie & Ash travelled to while in Portugal and how much they connected with one another - their shared experiences of grief, their love for certain hobbies and dreams of the future. Of course, I also enjoyed the ACOTAR references and how the book connected her to her best friend.

The biggest downside for me was how fast everything happens for Ellie and Ash. Literally three days and Ellie is head over heels in love. I wish that there was more build up and tension in the beginning of the story.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫:
✔️ right person, wrong time
✔️ second chances
✔️ contemporary Bridgerton
✔️ she loves to garden
✔️ exploring Europe
✔️ insta love

My Rating: 3.75 ✩

I received an arc from NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

This is a book that will have me thinking about it for weeks. It will pull at your heartstrings and find you rooting for true love.

Ash and Ellie meet while both are on trips to kind of find themselves. Three days and their connection is locked in but trouble and obstacles keep getting in their way. Will true love find its way back to each other before it’s too late?

I have loved Toon’s last two books— they’ve given me a lot of feels. I wish I could say that for this. The beginning starts strong but then it starts to fizzle out as the story jumps 6 years later.

I was proud of the personal growth Ellie went through to work on not being such a people pleaser but what I love most about Toon’s books is the fact that she makes me feel all lovey-dovey like and I just didn’t get that from this. Something about the pacing felt off and it just didn’t work for me personally.

It’s not a horrible book, it just didn’t work for me.

🫤

3.75/5

Oof. This was quite messy. 😅 The main characters seemed immature & lacked communication skills. I became frustrated with them several times, but surprisingly, I ate it up anyway! There’s just something about the author’s writing that pulled me in & had me rooting for them.

I love emotional reads & while I found myself on the verge of crying multiple times, I never actually did. I’m hoping her other books—I’ve only heard amazing things—will get me there.

What to expect:
•instaconnection
•right person, wrong time
•second chance
•grief journey
•forced proximity
•forbidden love
•single POV
•ACOTAR series references - I have never read it, but this series was mentioned so many times. Tbh, I wasn’t a fan of it. 😬

Thank you, NetGalley & Penguin Group Putnam, for the chance to read this eARC, in exchange for my honest review!

An enjoyable read. Seems more like a YA novel than adult, but if that is the type of romance you enjoy, this book will be right up your alley.

I loved the setting and the characters.

Thanks to NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book.

This one had such a promising setup—travel, missed connections, and a dreamy estate in Wales—but it didn’t quite land for me. It’s tagged as adult romance, but it read much younger, which threw me off a bit.

The writing felt a little rushed, like I was being told what happened instead of experiencing it with the characters. I also struggled to connect with the love interest—some of his choices didn’t sit right with me, and I couldn’t understand why Ellie kept letting things slide.

That said, I can see the appeal of Paige Toon’s style for others, and I might give one of her other books a shot before I write her off.

This is a romance along the lines of Abby Jimenez and Emily Henry. Ellie meets Ash while they are both traveling across Europe to forget something from their past. The connection they feel after just three days is unforgettable to them both, but through an unfortunate series of events they do not reconnect like they plan to several days later. Time passes and they reconnect unexpectedly several times over the next 8 years.
This story was entertaining and I really enjoyed the story of Ellie and Ash over the years.
Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Group Publishing for the digital ARC.

What If I Never Get Over You by Paige Toon is not my favorite of her novels. It was a hard road after the main characters met for the second time, six years after meeting for the first time in Lisbon and falling in love. I loved Ash and Ellie, both were fully realized, fleshed out characters and I enjoyed their meet-cute and subsequent travelling. When Ash didn't meet Ellie in Spain I knew he had a good reason, which wasn't divulged until they met again. I enjoyed their second meeting as well, even though it was much more fraught. But when they met for the last time, their HEA seemed a little too contrived. Too over the top. I felt that they hadn't matured and this could have been a YA novel. Disappointed. I still love Paige Toon's writing, quick wit and characterizations and I'm sure this novel will be a hit. Just not for me.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 ⭐️ closed door type of book with emphasis on fade to black. Man did I enjoy this book from beginning to end. I got sucked in with the plot and how they met each other randomly while traveling Europe. I knew right away that there would be some sort of misunderstanding/miscommunication (not a big fan of it) but I’ve read her books before and loved the emotions she brings in her books and decided to keep going.

Man was I happy I kept reading because the emotions she gives the characters and their characters development is amazing. I cannot wait to keep reading her writing.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really liked the first half of the book. I enjoyed how Ellie and Ash connected and even the gap where they grew and then found each other again. But i am not crazy about all the miscommunications the second time around. It was a nice, fluffy read.

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this advanced copy.

i'm kind of sad i didn't like this one that much. i thought it was okay but i'll be so fr, i don't understand the need to mention or reference acotar in books. a physical copy of acotar is pretty important to the plot of this book but at the same time, i felt like it could've easily been any other book and the impact of it would've been the same.

acotar aside, i felt like ash and ellie were sort of just going through the motions. i was very confused trying to follow the writing style of the book in part 1, where ash and ellie meet when interrailing through europe. they has a whirlwind 3 days and then poof ash is gone.

they meet again 6 years later, when she's a new gardener and finds out ash is a viscount. ash keeps trying to talk to ellie but she doesn't really want to talk because she feels like she's been betrayed in some way. their interactions from part 2 onward seem sort of childish to me and gave me a weird feeling. i wasn't a fan of that or the way ellie treated ash.

Paige Toon's writing has always been easy to get lost in and very bingeable. The 400+pages flew by.

Ash and Ellie's interrailing in Lisbon made for a great instalove meet cute. So caught up in their whirlwind quick romance, they fail to get each other's last names. This causes 6 years of pinning for each other and trying to move on.

The rest of the story takes place in Wales, complete with a Viscount and Viscountess, a forbidden romance, and very high parental expectations. So basically a modern day Bridgerton season.

In many ways, 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜𝗳 𝗜 𝗡𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗬𝗼𝘂? felt very YA. Both Ash, Ellie, and others seemed too immature to be in their late 20's , especially with all the secrets, miscommunication, and trust issues. Maybe I am just too old for this one.

Details: Paige Toon • 416 pgs • 15 April 2025 • Gifted: @netgalley @putnambooks • 3⭐

This was a miss for me. Too much back and forth, will they or won’t they. Had a ton of potential but just felt too repetitive to me.

I am a sucker for angsty, second-chance romances, and when I went into "What If I Never Get Over You," I was immediately so excited about the possibilities of this book. I messaged several readers friends to share my excitement about finding something that will likely shatter me in a way that makes me say thank you – but I really should have waited until I was more than 20% in to send those messages.

The story follows Ellie and Ash. She's British, he's Welsh, and they're both in their early 20s when they meet in Portugal. They're also both backpacking through Europe, both dealing with grief and the looming expectations of family, careers, and adulthood, and both looking for adventure and companionship. After a whirlwind few days in Lisbon and Sintra (a place I have been to and that *is* as magical Paige Toon makes it sound), they have to split up, but promise to meet again in Spain—except Ash never shows. This section of the book is wonderful – it does a great job of capturing a bittersweet melancholy that can underscore otherwise halcyon days, as well as the electric thrill of meeting someone you instantly have chemistry with.

But then the story flashes forward six years, where Ellie has followed her dream of becoming a gardener rather than a furniture designer for her family business. She lands a job at a private estate in Wales – and lo and behold finds Ash there because, as it turns out, he's the son of a viscount and is going to inherit the property one day. From here, we go into a melodramatic, angst-filled, and fraught upstairs-downstairs romance. Though Ellie and Ash are still both incredibly attracted to each other, they aren't the same people they were six years ago, and they struggle to align their perspectives on the future of their relationship.

Though I really appreciated how grounded and set in reality the love story here is, capturing the very real, extremely nuanced challenges and pressures both Ellie and Ash would face, I never felt like I was truly rooting for them. It was a frustrating climb, and Paige Toon also throws a traumatic curveball at the reader in the last act that brings a new dimension to Ellie's decisions and perspective (and at least in the ARC, there was no content warning about this). It left a sour taste in my mouth as I approached the ened, and though this is an HEA, I was also left feeling like these characters perhaps had to sacrifice too much to truly be happy together.

Definitely a roller coaster of a ride with all the ups and downs. Ellie and Ash definitely have a lot to overcome if they are going to make it long term.
A good book, definitely one that I finished, but wasn’t a book that I couldn’t put down.

Thank you NetGalley for the ebook copy in exchange for an honest review!

Unfortunately, this one was not for me. It was very YA-coded and I couldn’t get past how young the characters sounded, even if they were meant to have aged past their first meet up. Plus, the miscommunication trope and the insta-love trope did not work in this book’s favor. Also HEAs that end in the specific way this book did… way overdone and cheesy.

2.75/5

This was a sweet story. Ellie and Ash both have a lot of family baggage. They’re both running away for a bit for various reasons. When they meet their chemistry is off the charts and they know intrinsically that they are each other's person. They spend three days together and plan to meet up a bit later. Ellie shows and Ash doesn’t. So begins a long and winding road of their way back to each other. I kept rooting for them, but at times did some serious head scratching. For me there was a lot of "did that just happen?", lack of adult communication skills, stubbornness and at times both of the main characters were incredibly obtuse. More him than her, but still. That said, it was still a good read that I very much enjoyed.