This cute little rom com was such a fun read. I enjoyed the plot and most of the characters too. I definitely liked the author’s writing style too!

Cecily works in audio, so I liked that we got a “women in tech” novel! Overall, I thought this book was cute and a cozy read.

Thank you to NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

*Back After This* is about Cecily Foster, a podcast expert who spends most of her time working on other peoples’ projects. She works at a production company and pitches a lot of her own ideas, and would love to get to produce or host her own podcast.

Her boss makes a deal with her—if she collaborates with an influencer and makes a podcast about a woman getting her shit together, her boss will finally let her produce the pilot for a podcast of her own making. Despite her reservations, Cecily jumps right into making this podcast with influencer Eliza who insists Cecily will be able to find her true love through a rigorous and methodical approach.

But, like always, life has other plans, and it turns out the right guy for Cecily might not actually come from these careful, purposeful dates. Even though Cecily doesn’t buy into all of Eliza’s ideas, it does turn out that, by the end of the podcast, she actually has, somehow, gotten her shit together.

Before I give you my review for Back After This, let’s do a quick run through of my rating system.

- One star means that I could not finish the book.
- Two stars means I struggled to finish, but I did.
- Three stars means I enjoyed it, it was okay.
- Four stars means I really liked it and I would recommend it to a friend.
- And five stars, which is my highest honor, means I would read the book again.

Back After This gets a four-star rating from me because I liked it and would recommend it to a friend, but I probably wouldn’t read this one again. My favorite thing about this book by far was the comedy—it was laugh-out-loud funny, to the point where I was often pausing so I could interrupt my partner and tell him about what funny thing had just happened, or how the voice of the character had framed something to be particularly hilarious.

I thought this book did a good job of toeing the line between quirky and cheesy and downright cringy, and that really elevated the humor and made it fun and easy to read.

If you read Back After This and enjoyed it, these are some other titles you may enjoy.

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

Back After This isn’t exactly clean or sweet, as it does have some mentions of sexual intimacy, but it is definitely not a full open-door romance, and if you’re into that kind of level of spiciness, you may also like The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center.

Katherine Center has a very similar kind of funny, quirky writing style, and highlights a lot of the same humor in dialogue between characters.

One thing I appreciated about Back After This was the focus on the main character’s passion. Forget Me Not, while definitely being more explicit with the intimacy, has the same vibe with the character’s wedding planning and florist careers.

Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle

In Expiration Dates, the main character receives little slips of paper that let her know how long each of her relationships are destined to last. Reading that book gives you a quick overview of the people she’s dated, which Back After This does as well. It feels like each of them does a good job of examining the process of dating, and how you know if something will work out or not.

We are now entering the spoiler-filled part of the video. If you like the sound of this book and want to read it, click away from the video, go read it, and come back for the deep dive.

Back After This opens with Cecily suffering her way through managing the audio for a podcast. She begs the host not to make mouth noises and mess up the audio, but he doesn’t listen. Luckily—or maybe unluckily—she’s called to her boss’s office, where he starts to make her a deal.

The production company isn’t doing well, and they need a knock-out hit to keep from going under. The boss thinks this hit is going to be a podcast in which one hapless woman gets her shit together with the help of a life/dating coach—and he wants the woman to be Cecily.

She doesn’t want to do it, but the boss promises to let her produce a pilot for one of her many podcast ideas. Cecily also sweetens the deal by ensuring both she and her best friend will get to keep their jobs at the company.

It’s important to Cecily that she start a new project, as her last one was slipped right out from under. She started a podcast with her ex-boyfriend, and did most of the research and work for the project. Convinced he was going to propose any day, Cecily was shocked when he abruptly told her that he wasn’t in love with her anymore, and took the podcast with him when he left.

Right away, there are things about this new show that make her uncomfortable. From the questionable advertisements—food for single people, cat products, and a gym membership—to her interactions with the influencer, who has an all-white living room and strict rules about what can and can’t be consumed in the space.

Cecily is walking out her door one day when a dog goes flying past, a leash trailing behind him. Intrigued, she watches as a man also runs past, a cape flapping behind him as he chases after the dog.

Interested in the whole scene, Cecily follows, discovering the man has been chasing the dog for blocks, and the dog runs the second he gets close enough. Cecily pulls a jar of peanut butter from her bag and tempts the dog with it, getting him back.

We find out that Buddy—the dog—doesn’t actually belong to this man, and he was in the middle of a haircut when he saw the dog get loose, so he jumped up and started chasing after it.

They exchange numbers, and later he texts her to let her know the dog is safe and sound—and the person walking him was actually a volunteer, walking him for the shelter.

Cecily doesn’t carry on a long texting conversation with the dog-chaser—whose name is Will—because she has her podcast and dates to focus on. It’s on her first date that she sees Will again—he’s the waiter at the nice restaurant.

She has a hard time reminding herself to pay attention to her date, and not the waiter, and when the episode airs, the listeners are obsessed with Will, whom they name “Hot Waiter” and praise for his quippy remark about the guy Cecily was on a date with.

Eliza, the influencer, is quick to dismiss the idea that Cecily should go after the hot waiter from the episode, saying it’s far more important for women to be intentional in their choices when it comes to men. And so Cecily continues going on her dates with some perfectly fine guys, and some guys she could take or leave.

Meanwhile, the meet-cutes (or meet-agains?) just keep happening with Will. He turns out to be the photographer taking her new head shots. Cecily discovers he adopted the dog and officially renamed him Buddy. Will and Cecily get along great, and find it easy to talk to one another.

After her initial dates, Cecily chooses just one guy to see again—a doctor named Michael. The podcast is going well, and when she attends a podcast party at Eliza’s house, she’s surprised that Will shows up, invited for his role as “hot waiter” in the first episode.

Eliza finds her during the party and makes it clear that she doesn’t think romance should be spontaneous—that going for the chemistry is a mistake.

Later, Cecily sees Will again when she ducks out of the rain and finds him doing the same just inside the doors of a bank. While there, Will asks her to dog sit Buddy for her, and she agrees. When he comes back, they have food and Cecily shares what she likes about podcasts.

They’re getting along great, except Cecily is still dating Michael the doctor, and she needs to focus on that. After their chat about podcasts and audio, Cecily sends Will a file she uses to help train new editors, asking if he can figure out what’s wrong with it as a little test.

Days later, it’s pouring down rain when he shows up at her door, dripping wet, to tell her he figured out what was wrong with the file—no breathing.

The tension between them finally snaps, and when Will comes inside, they fall into each other. Cecily and Will continue to see each other. Cecily meets Will’s sister. They talk about their exes and what brought them to D.C.

Then, one morning when Cecily is leaving his place, Eliza comes across them kissing on the sidewalk. She’s obviously upset—this could stand to ruin the podcast, and specifically her approach to finding love.

In her panic of the moment, Cecily makes some comments about Will that she shouldn’t. He turns around and goes inside, and things just continue to go downhill from there. At work, lay-offs still happen despite the success of Cecily’s show.

She finds out her best friend, Julie, is leaving the production company for a new job in New York City. And then, as the crux of it all, Eliza accidentally forwards an email chain to Cecily that shows Cecily’s boss and multiple other people have been talking behind her back, manipulating the situation, lying to her.

Cecily apologizes to Will and her horrible ex shows up outside her building. She finds out he’s going to be involved in the company through a merger, and that’s when she decides to quit, for the first time in the book taking her own life in her hands and going after what she wants, rather than going along for the ride.

Will helps her with her things after she quits her job, and the story ends with Cecily deciding she doesn’t want to let the podcast’s finale go up without telling the truth. With help from her best friend and the other people working on the show, they manage to re-work the final episode to tell the truth—that Cecily managed to fall in love with a man she met all on her own.

Okay, now that you’re caught up on what happens in this book, let’s get into my thoughts on it. When I started reading *Back After This*, I was coming off a few DNFs—books that had me heading in a dangerous reading slump territory.

Luckily, Back After This was immediately enjoyable. I loved the main character’s voice. She managed to walk the very fine line between funny and cringy, giving us jaded comments without seeming overly pessimistic or Millennial.

I enjoyed Will’s introduction, and thought again that the book did a good job of making their first meeting interesting, but not too unbelievable. We also have the subtle conflict between Cecily and Julie—something that felt very realistic, a true account of how best friends can sometimes not understand exactly what they’re doing wrong.

But that’s not where this went. Like with the initial meeting between Will and Cecily, the book managed to balance certain details about Eliza—the fact that she only drinks white wine in her house to protect her pristine white furniture—with the fact that despite that, she is definitively still human.

Back After This managed to surprise me in a lot of ways. When we first meet Eliza, the influencer, I was fully prepared for this book to give me a caricature of a person—that’s what a lot of books do when handling the subject of the influencer.

Capable of wanting to help others and making mistakes in pursuit of it. By the end of this book, we’re able to see that Eliza is smart and right about a lot of things, and still manages to be mean. Just like, I’m sure, many of the women we know in real life.

This is less of a criticism and more of an observation—the parts of the book I enjoyed least were those with the sister. I’m not sure if that’s just a personal preference, or if the sister needed more development as a character. They were far from being bad, but I felt they lacked a certain sparkle, especially compared to Cecily’s interactions with Will and Eliza.

Before getting into this review, I recommended that you check out Forget Me Not by Julie Soto. There’s a certain element I love in books that’s kind of hard to describe, but basically, it’s when the main character is *really* into something, and I get to sink into their knowledge and experience when reading the book. I love to really feel the passion for whatever that thing is, and when a book has it, that’s what really makes it sparkle.

It’s kind of hard to explain, but I’ll give a few examples to help. Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of those books for me, following a retired tennis star as she re-enters the game to protect her record. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and the world of video game design. A Love Song for Ricki Wilde and flowers. Not Another Love Song by Julie Soto and orchestra. There are a lot of food-related fiction books like this, including Sourdough by Robin Sloan and The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston.

Basically, I love reading a book in which it’s clear the writer has a passion—or at least an interest—in something, and that gets passed to the main character. Which then gets passed to me.

Unfortunately, I wouldn’t really categorize this book that way. While there were a few moments in which we saw the main character’s love for audio coming through, the bulk of the book definitely focused on her interaction with Will, Eliza, and her dates, and there wasn’t as much of the podcast or production specific stuff.

Which isn’t necessarily bad—I may be in the minority of having this preference, but I would have liked the book to be a bit longer if that meant more content about podcasting, editing, and everything else our character is clearly passionate about.

All in all, I really enjoyed Back After This. It was a super easy read and actually made me laugh out loud. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a lighthearted romance. If you enjoy meet cutes and rom coms, you may like Back After This.

Well, here I am again. Visiting Outlier Island.😎

I did enjoy the beginning of this book, but found Cecily to be a frustrating character. Here are three things I did love about this new title:

🥰The Meet Cute between Cecily and Will was delightful. I also loved their banter and that they kept running into each other at random times. He is so much more than "The Waitor."
🐕‍🦺Buddy, the Great Dane. He has spots like a cow and a mind of his own. Peanut butter is a favorite treat as are bully sticks -- just like our dog. I can just see him hogging Will's couch.
🎧I learned many things I did not know about producing a podcast. Cecily is most certainly good at what she does, but is she too bossy?

Be sure to read the reviews of other readers as many have liked this much more than I did. Perhaps Linda Holmes just isn't the author for me. Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Cecily is a producer in DC recovering from a breakup that also screwed up her career trajectory. After being dumped and having her podcast idea stolen, Cecily's feeling pretty low. It's just at that moment that her boss dangles a great opportunity in front of her: her own show. The only catch is that it's going to be a show about her love life and she's obligated to go on dates for content.

As a huge fan of Evie Drake Starts Over, I worried Back After This couldn't live up to the hype but it absolutely does. Linda Holmes writers main characters that are so alive they jump off the page and I always want to be their friends. I loved Back After This and in a world full of lots of bad things, it was a joy to live in Cecily's world for a few days.

I loved Linda Holmes's previous two novels, and this might be her best yet. I loved learning about all that goes into being a podcast producer. Well-written characters, and everyone in the story communicated well, which is always a plus! A great concept and excellent execution!

Cecily is a very hard working dependable team player in the podcast world. She is still bruised from a past relationship where her boyfriend left her but basically took the podcast that she had helped to create with him. She wants to create her own podcast but her employer presents her with a different challenge. If Cecily will go on 20 blind dates set up by an influencer looking to break into a matchmaking/counselor role, she will get the opportunity to start her own podcast. To really force Cecily into the blind-dating show, he also lets her believe that it's the only way that her dear friend will get to keep her job.
Of course as Cecily is working on this podcast, she meets Will, a local photographer serendipitously. Cecily is instantly attracted to Will but is not sure whether it's a valid response or whether she should be picking a potential partner using the influencer's suggestions instead.
This story delved a little too hard into the world of podcasting at times which dragged down the plot but it was a really good story. I loved reading about Cecily's growth and how she dealt with balancing her own desires with those of others.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publsher for the ARC in return for my honest review.

Back After This, a contemporary romance, is set in the world of podcasts. Cecily is a thirtysomething producer in Washington DC at a company that creates podcast content. Her work takes up most of her life, especially in the 4 years since losing her boyfriend and the successful podcast that they co-created. Her boss guilts her into creating a podcast series that follows Cecily on 20 dates set up by influencer Eliza.

I loved the behind the scenes of the creation of a podcast as well as the representation of the world of an influencer. I really enjoyed the main character Cecily and was really rooting for her. She seemed very down-to-earth and, to me, seemed to represent the typical single woman who would love to find love.
I also loved Holmes' novel Evvie Drake Starts Over and so I was eager to read this when I discovered it. I'm thrilled to report it did not disappoint and I blew through it because I wanted to find out what happened.

Many thanks to #RandomHouse #BallantineBooks and #NetGalley for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

Long time fan of Linda Holmes, and this book doesn't disappoint. Charming, realistic, and romantic. Highly enjoyable!

ARC from the publisher via NetGalley, but the opinions are my own.

4.5 stars rounded up!

Cecily is a talented podcast producer who has always dreamed of having her own show after building other people's shows for years. She finally gets her chance when the audio company she works for strikes a partnership with dating coach/influencer Eliza Cassidy. Cecily is not at all keen to be set up, made over, and have her personal life put up for public consumption, but her boss promises her that if she does the show, she'll have creative freedom in her next project. Before they start recording the podcast, Cecily runs into a handsome stranger named Will who is chasing a lost dog, and they exchange numbers. Throughout the recording and twenty blind dates she is forced to go on, Cecily keeps running into Will randomly and can't help the pull she feels towards him, even as her love coach is trying to convince her he isn't a serious match.

This was such a fun and fresh read! I was trying to think of what tropes this book had and had trouble really thinking of any, which to me is a sign that it really is a unique story. I so empathized with Cecily's resistance to the whole blind date process, and her reasons for accepting the project in the first place. You could tell that she was actually giving the whole thing the old college try, but that her feelings towards Will were a pull that couldn't be denied! Not only was the romance in this story so endearing and fated, but it was also a laugh-out-loud funny book. I actually appreciated that the whole date experiment was almost secondary to the main romance and more importantly, Cecily's growth as a person. Overall, this was such a fun, humorous, and authentic read I'd recommend!

Cecily has built a successful career as a podcast producer, but she's been frustrated by a lack of opportunities to grow at her job. She allows herself to be talked into starring in a podcast that would have her working with a social media influencer to be set up on twenty dates. In the meantime, she meets someone special, right in the middle of her "required" dating. Heartfelt and humorous, this is a great read, mainly because the characters are so relatable. I look forward to recommending this title.

3.5 stars

I found this enjoyable but not super memorable. I had a decent time but I can't really remember why. The background information I learned about podcasts was interesting and I'd probably listen to the podcast they made with a bunch of first dates. And the romance was...fine. I liked the characters but nothing felt super amazing about their connection to me. Which in real life sure that happens more often than not but in a romance novel, I'd like a little more (though that was a great first kiss/romp). Overall, I'd recommend it but I don't think this would be one I'd read again.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC!

Cecily loves working in podcasts, she yearns to lead her own podcast, after the one she worked so hard on and came up with is stolen by her ex. When her boss pressures her into being the subject of a self-help dating podcast with a beauty influencer turned "dating expert", she agrees because she thinks it will allow her friend to keep her job and for Cecily to get to create a pilot of a new podcast. However, right as things are getting started with her dating twenty different men, she meets Will while helping him chase a Great Dane through the city. When they seem to run into each other at every turn, Cecily has to decide whether she wants to follow fate or let Eliza the dating guru tell her what to do.

To be honest, if you put a Great Dane on the cover of a book, I will read it. I have two block headed beasts at home that are the loves of my life and I was excited to see one featured in a romantic comedy. He ends up in more of the book than the first scene but I missed him in the interim! I really liked the chemistry between Will and Cecily. I thought it was wonderful how it pointed out that we do not always know everything, nor should we be expected to.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others. There were a few parts were it dragged and I wanted to return to the one I was listening to the audio of, which was disheartening but once I stuck with this I really enjoyed it.

Thank you to Net Galley, Random House Publishing Group, and Ballantine Books for the DRC. All opinions are my own.

I loved, loved, LOVED this book. Linda Holmes has a powerful knack for creating extremely relatable and lovable characters who can banter their adorable little heads right off, and she knocked it out of the park again with Back After This. If you need some joy in your life, and who doesn't right now, GET. THIS. BOOK.

Back After This was an adorable, cozy, romp! I loved the meet-cute between the two characters. This was a perfect rom-com and I can't wait to read more by Linda Holmes. The characters were swoon worthy and well written. Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for my complimentary advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really enjoyed this. I was very intrigued by the fmcs dating adventures and her journey in asserting herself and the love story was sweet. I did feel like something was missing but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Some things felt rushed at times.

“Back after this” by Linda Holmes is a delightful and witty novel that I’m sure I’ll return again. The main character, Cecily Foster is a podcaster. Although her ex basically taken credit for all the podcasting work they had done before after he broke up with her, she still is an idealist. But she’s also single. Her struggling company comes up with a plan for a new podcast that they will let Cecily produce—a dating series where she she works closely with a romance coach and goes on a number of dates, hoping to find her soul mate. Cecily really doesn’t want to do this, which will propel her into the public light, but she feels she has to. None of the dates go well. And besides, before the series began she met Will, a handsome and engaging man who is a bit of a rolling stone. He is nothing like the men the romance coach is setting her up with. He’s much, much more.

Many thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this fun book. I really loved this book and my opinions are my own.

I loved this book. Cecily works as an editor for a podcast company. The company is not doing well. She is asked to collaborate with an influencer who wants her to find her perfect match by going on 20 different dates with the dates being recorded for a podcast. Cecily takes the project. Of course, right before the project begins she has continual chance meetings with someone who is not in the pool of men selected and the influencer does not want her to date.
This all comes to a head that was very satisfying.
Linda Holmes has become an author that I will automatically buy her books. Thank you to @netgalley for the ARC
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’m not 100% sure what to think about this one. I enjoyed the podcast production vibe, it was well written, and to a good degree, well-plotted; but then there were times when I was confused why she was spending page count on one thing and not on another (e.g. the twenty dates.) The main character annoyed me at certain moments with her occasional sense of superiority and self-importance, but at other moments the characters felt very realistic. A 3/5 read I think.

Linda Holmes is back! After reading Evvie Drake Starts Over and loving it, Flying Solo fell short for me. But I was excited that Holmes was back with a new novel and eager to dive in. And this one did not disappoint! Back After This brings back the magic. Holmes's strength is that she writes such a mature rom com, the characters are well developed and have lived life. They have their flaws, but they are growing and figuring out what is important. The whole dating podcast angle was interesting...it had the potential of veering into I've read this type of story before, but Holmes has such a strong voice that it still felt fresh and engaging. Well done!
Thanks to #NetGalley and #Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC.

Author Linda Holmes is 3 for 3! That’s 3 books she has written that I have absolutely adored. She has such a wonderfully witty way of telling romantic stories that are both humorous and heartwarming.

Cecily Foster is an audio producer for podcasts. She is smart, amazing at her job, and still raw from her ex ending things 4 years prior. Cecily’s boss convinces her to host a new dating show…with one catch, she is the subject of the dates. Working with Eliza Cassidy, a dating coach and popular social media influencer, Cecily will go on 20 blind dates in hopes of finding a good match.

This whole process will open Cecily’s eyes to many things, most importantly that she needs to put her wants and needs first and telling the truth is always the best idea. She will also learn that bumping into waiter/photographer Will throughout the city is much more than coincidences.

Cecily and Will’s banter is hilarious and charming. Their developing friendship is full of chemistry but also caution as both of them have uncertain paths. I love this story and enjoyed every minute of Cecily and Will seeking happiness.

“I’d started to think about real happiness as not just precious but owned, kept, borrowed, shared, stolen, divided, and sacrificed.”

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing-Ballantine for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.