Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for access to this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I hate to say that I had to DNF at 30%
I loved the Palmer’s debut, Four Weekends and a Funeral, but her new novel felt like a sophomore slump for me. It was a bit of a chore for me to pick this up. The near-constant snarky/sarcastic writing felt like overkill and I am not feeling any chemistry between the MCs. Friends to lovers is not my favorite trope but I love it when it’s done well and this ain’t it. Not for me but I’m sure others will like it!

After "Four Weekends and a Funeral", I felt SO excited to receive the ARC for Anywhere With You. I wanted to love this one, just as I loved the debut, but I don't think I'd revisit this one the way I did for the other. The story overall was fine, but there were parts of the story that just fell flat for me.

What I enjoyed: Ellie's ability to write good dialogue, Charley's friendship with Ethan, her relationship with her sister, and the flashback scenes to give us more context about present day.

What needed some work: Ethan and Charley's love story. When laying the foundation of Charley and Ethan's back story, I didn't necessarily feel the romantic chemistry, rather was just told it was there (except for the bachelorette party, let me be clear!). I enjoyed their friendship, but felt their backstory could have been written differently, for the present-day version we were seeing of them. Was just hard to buy into personally.

I'm excited to continue to follow Ellie's journey and will definitely keep an eye out for future releases from her.
Thank you NetGalley and Penguin for this ARC!

Palmer did a fantastic job crafting a heartwarming story filled with swoon-worthy moments and laugh-out-loud banter. Her writing is easy to follow, and I thoroughly enjoyed Charley and Ethan’s journey.

Ellie Palmer's Anywhere With Yo is a nostalgic, heartwarming romance that blends humor, self-discovery, and second chances. The story follows Charley Beekman, a Type-A divorcee, as she embarks on a camper van road trip through the Minnesotan woods with her childhood best friend, Ethan—a free-spirited musician. What begins as a mission to stop her sister's impulsive wedding turns into a journey of rekindled sparks and personal growth. Palmer’s witty prose and charming characters make this a delightful read. With tropes like friends-to-lovers, forced proximity, and a slow-burn romance, it’s perfect for fans of heartfelt, trope-filled contemporary romance. A cozy, feel-good escape with plenty of laughs and tender moments.

I’m a sucker for the forced proximity, childhood best friends to lovers, and this one did disappoint. The banter between Ethan and Charley is so fun. I read this in one sitting as I couldn’t wait to see which “catastrophe” was next for this pair. The sister relationship between Charley and Laurel reminds me of my own. Such a refreshing rom com that has you hooked from the start! Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for letting me read this delight! Can’t wait to read more of Ellie Palmers books!

When I first started this book I couldn’t get into it- I’ll preface it by saying that I’m not sure why- maybe I was burnt out on contemporary romance? Maybe I was tired of reading books about sad, hot- mess FMC’s who finally find the perfect man to stitch them up and put them back together again? But I’m glad I took the time and came back because I ended up finishing this book within a couple days once I got into it. Ellie Palmer, I AM A FAN! Charlotte may have been falling a part in her relationship in the beginning of the book but her relationship with Ethan was so sweet and you could see that they were truly each other’s person. They looked out for each other, they balanced each other, they made each other brave. This was a good somewhat estranged best- friends to lovers story. Charlotte’s desire for predictability and steady and stable makes so much sense in the lense of how she saw her mother and unreliable, “go with the wind” father growing up. The fact that he was always chasing work and his family was kind of an afterthought, yet hanging on for dear life as he jetted around. It’s understandable that anything like that would make her run the other way, especially when it came from her best friend who never seemed to want to stay in one place. It was good to see how their early family life affected her sister Laurel as well. They were both coping with the mistakes and misgivings of their parents and yet they clung to each other and helped each other see the truth about life and how to form more healthy attachments. I love that both women got their Happily Ever After in the end, after they did some healing and growing separately and together. Peter and Laurel were great supporting characters and the ending was so sweet.

Tropes:
Childhood Best friends to lovers
Only one bed
Pen pals

Possible triggers:
Parental abandonment
Cheating
Great physical pain for side characters (getting caught in an animal trap and swamp foot, ew)

Sex is mentioned but it’s not quite open door- their are some steamy kissing/ make- out scenes described

Thank you so much for the early read on this one! I absolutely loved reading about Ethan and Charley's story. The friendship and slow burn romance. I loved the back and forth past and present so we can see it all evolve. Thank you!

This is such a sweet, friends-to-lovers romance with just the right amount of tension and pining.

Charley and Ethan are everything. Like, their friendship is so natural and fun (the banter!!), but you can sense the unresolved history between them. When they end up on a road trip together to stop Charley’s sister from getting married I knew I was going to eat up the forced proximity.

Also, can we talk about the emotional depth? This isn’t just a fluffy romance—it’s got real weight. Charley struggles through opening her heart up to real love after ending up divorced at a young age and more than that you can feel the fear she has at ruining her friendship with Ethan and that made the story come alive off the pages.

If you love childhood friends to lovers tropes then you need this book. Ellie Palmer’s writing is so warm and engaging—I felt like I was right there in the car with them.

P.S. That ending? PERFECTION. No spoilers, but wow, did I grin like an idiot.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC

Recently slightly-estranged-but-reconciled best friends who’ve harbored secret pining feelings for each other for years go on a mini road trip. Whatever hijinks could happen?! Turns out, a lot. And not just with our main couple, Charley and Ethan.

I loved the friendship between C and E — it felt real and organic. Ellie wrote some really great conversations between them that teetered on familiar best friends with a little dash of sexual tension than platonically acceptable. When it came to the big climax between main couple, it felt like it was giving Jo and Laurie circa Little Women (2019) vibes, and in the best way.

That said, my main gripe is that too much was happening elsewhere (as hilarious as Wet Ted and the Mother Trucker situations were). I was constantly pulled out of Charley and Ethan trying to come to a reckoning of their friendship/blossoming relationship and then having to try and get reinvested again. The best part of a friends-to-lovers, secretly in love story is the actual yearning and pining so it didn’t work well for me that each time we were drawn out of their story to focus on someone else. Ellie created something special with Charley and Ethan and I just wanted to stay with them a little more to develop that.

I read Ellie’s debut and enjoyed it as well, so I was pleasantly pleased with the time I spent with this book. 3.5-4 ⭐️ A light, sunny day in the park kind of read, if there ever was one.

This book was such a delight. Charley is all stress and burnout and Ethan is living on vibes. Ethan could do with a little structure in his life, and Charley could use a true vacation. They seem like polar opposites, but it is actually why they are so great together.

What better way to reconsider your life choices than driving to the wilderness to break up your sisters wedding. Kidding, but not, because ultimately, it did help Charley to realize that she can have stability and fun. That upbringings don't have to define you. And that it is totally okay to not have your whole life figured out at 29.

Loved loved loved loved. I can’t say enough. Friends to lovers will forever be my everything and Charley and Ethan just did something to me that had me kicking my feet butterflies in my stomach. I love these two. I love their relationship with each other and their friendships with Petey and Laurel. I love a book with some found family tropes and this just warmed my heart. I so appreciated that they found a way to find a new way to be a part of one another’s lives rather than slotting themselves into something that wouldn’t have felt authentic for their characters. This one was so heartwarming. I absolutely adored Four Weekends and a Funeral too so it’s seeming like Ellie Palmer is going to become a must read author for me. I can’t reiterate enough how much I adored this and these two. Thank you for the ARC!

Anywhere with You by Ellie Palmer is a heartwarming and beautifully written romance that swept me away. The chemistry between the characters is undeniable, and their journey together is both touching and real. Palmer does a fantastic job of creating a story that’s emotional without feeling overly dramatic, and the pacing keeps the reader engaged throughout. If you're a fan of sweet, feel-good romances with lovable characters, this book is definitely worth reading.

A sweet dual timeline, childhood friends to lovers that explores all forms of love/relationships and gives you all the good feelings!
We get a quick read with realistic, disastrous and relatable characters that make you fall in love from the beginning. Their dynamic was great, but could have used more time exploring the tension and chemistry to really fall in love with their love alongside them. Overall a great cheeky little romance read that gives you a band of lovable characters, self discovery at its finest and realism of the complex dynamics we all experience in our relationships.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam Publishing for the ARC of this book. This is a super cute contemporary romance. This book actually had me laughing out loud at moments. I love the way sister relationships are represented it reminded me of my own sister and I. The only reason I didn’t rate this book higher was that I found Charlie’s self destructiveness obnoxious. I felt it was a little over the top and was extremely irritating how many times she kept sabotaging the one thing she always wanted. But I still highly recommend reading it!

So incredible! I gave thjs book five stars because it was such a sweet feeling read and I love childhood friends to lovers SO much!!

I have absolutely no idea how I was approved for this digital arc, but thank you so much Penguin Group Putnam!

Right...now my review. This wasn't for me, I just feel like it's really plain and didn't really stand out. So many books at the moment are diving into road trips, and second chance romances. But Anywhere With You isn't in the same category and doesn't have the same energy.

I really, truly loved this book and it has inspired me to go back and read the author's first novel!

I loved and strongly identified with Charley and Ethan and thought they were both real, endearing, authentically flawed characters. I found some of the side characters annoying at times (I think that was the point as this was written from Charley's perspective) but the author did a beautiful job of rounding them out and providing backstory to explain why everyone was making the choices they were and acting the way they were.

I admit to having a hard time with friends to lovers- it often is not my favorite trope because I find it very hard to do well. A lot of times the reason that friends can't be together feels thin or not believable but not in this book! This is friends to lovers done extremely well and I loved it!

I highly recommend this funny, endearing, thoughtful story!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the chance to read this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I absolutely loved this book. It’s witty, charming, funny and so comfortable. Ellie’s able to describe places and people without using a million generic adjectives and I feel like I am there, with the people, in the moment. The character development is solid - at first I wasn’t sure I cared for the FMC, Charley, but because she actually gave us backstory and a real look into her, it was so much easier to understand and like her. The MMC, Ethan, is so sweet but also real with flaws. You can’t help but root so hard for them. This book had some of my favorite tropes - he falls first, only one bed. I just wanted to hug this book.

Ellie Palmer is a force - it’s hard to believe this is only her second book. She’s making a name for herself in a big way, and I cannot wait for more. Thank you to Putnam and NetGalley for this ARC.

Loved her first debut book and enjoyed this one too! It’s a romance but really a book about self discovery, about being willing to be seen, to take chances, to be vulnerable, embracing changes.

I would’ve loved to see dual POV on this because I loved Ethan and part way in I wanted to thump Charley on the head but hey she came around in the end! I think the workaholic part resonated deeply with the Silicon Valley life me (not that I was a workoholic but saw a lot of it) and what it means to really think about what you want in life.

Thanks NetGalley for my ARC!

really like the childhood friends to lovers and dual timeline! This story was so cute and I enjoyed it