⭐⭐⭐

All the Men I’ve Loved Again
Author: Christine Pride
Source: NetGalley
Publication Date: July 8, 2025

Can you love two people at the same time? I do believe that you can. However, not for decades, and that is my problem with this book. Cora is the lead female character who has a long-standing relationship with the rather controlling and ambitious Lincoln while still holding a crush on the more laid-back Aaron. This storyline goes back and forth for almost twenty years. Yikes.

We learn a LOT about Lincoln, but Aaron doesn’t get as much time in the storyline. With the larger role, I can tell Lincoln might be too much for most girls to handle. If a man ordered my meal without asking my permission in a restaurant, you can be assured I would lose my sh*t.

There are other issues, but this book had such great promise and was not irksome. I am sure it will win fans and be a good summer read.

#AlltheMenIveLovedAgain #ChristinePride @atriabooks #fiction #conflicted #secondchance #love #future #indecision #contemporaryFiction #romance @netgalley

I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. Thank you to the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the opportunity to read this novel.

I enjoyed it, but I think the pacing was a bit all over the place. We didn't get a lot of time of Cora by herself. We also got too much of Lincoln lore and not enough of Aaron's. I liked the plot, but there were a lot of choices the characters made that made me dislike them.

I really liked the premise and the pitch but the writing itself was not for me. We didn't really get a sense of attraction to the first guy in the origin story, so I wasn't entirely confident the author could create a second romantic interest. Since the dueling romantic interests are the point, this worry bounced me pretty early on.

A rather long and sometimes tedious novel recounting the loves of Cora Belle. When she goes to college, she is determined to break out of her sheltered life and truly experience life. She meets and falls in love with Lincoln. He is a young man from a very poor background and determined to make a life in politics. He is in her life continually, even after they break up. Cora also meets Aaron and also falls in love with him. The story traces her meetings and interactions with both men as she finally (twenty years later) decides which one she truly belongs with.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

While I enjoyed parts of this book, this love story ultimately fell flat for me. With so much focus on Cora and Lincoln's relationship throughout the entire book - the fact that there were two love interests involved in this story really didn't make sense. And Cora's decision at the end? This ultimately made even less sense. It did not feel like the author was intentionally holding anything back from us to make us think, it simply felt like Cora and Aaron's love story was underdeveloped.

Can your heart love one man and you love another man too? This is Cora's journey and this is what she is going through. This takes her through 20 years of her life. It is an interesting story.
I received an ARC from Atria Books though NetGalley.

Felt the whole first half of this book to be really slow - the title made me think we'd be focused on the second chance aspect but we didn't and that was disappointing. Loved the friendship aspect however.

3.75 rounded up to 4 stars.

Overall an enjoyable and entertaining book. The characters were vibrant and were very realistic. The relationships and dialogue were also really good.

The premise/plot were very interesting thought provoking. However, there were parts that felt like they went on a little longer than necessary and I was wanting to skip ahead. However, the ending was great and I enjoyed the choices the MC made and that there was a clear ending.

Advanced reader copy provided by Atria but all opinions are my own.

Best known for her collaborations with Jo Piazza and her contributions to contemporary fiction, Christine Pride takes a confident solo leap into the romance genre with All the Men I Loved Again, and the result is a compelling, emotionally resonant story that hits all the right notes.

Told with a brisk, engaging pace that makes it a true page-turner, the novel follows Cora, the relatable and sharply drawn protagonist, as she navigates a complex love triangle that spans decades. The story opens in the early 2000s during Cora’s college years, where she finds herself torn between two men, each representing different visions of her future. Fast forward twenty years, and Cora is once again at a crossroads, revisiting these long-buried feelings and the men who once shaped her life.

Pride masterfully explores the themes of timing, choice, and personal growth. The dual timeline structure works beautifully, giving readers a layered look into how love can evolve or stay frozen in time. The narrative is infused with a nostalgic warmth, full of references to 90s and early 2000s culture that will strike a chord with anyone who came of age during that era.

Relatable, reflective, and full of heart, All the Men I Loved Again captures the complexities of romance and the what-ifs we all carry. Christine Pride has not only proven her versatility as a writer but has also delivered a romance that is both smart and satisfying.

*I received an advanced reader copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

i don’t think this book was for me. i struggled a lot with the writing style and i felt that there was a lot of telling instead of showing.

Ultimately, a fun, hyper-readable rom-com spanning decades and two major relationships in Cora Belle’s life.

What I liked: The letters with Aaron, Cora’s relationship with her father, the angst, her friendship with Kim and Nisha, and how realistic it was.

What I didn’t like: Lincoln. To me, it was obvious in the first 30% she shouldn’t be with him, and he got soooo much “screen” time. Barf.

Cora Belle’s story moves between her college years in 1999 and the present as she falls in love twice. First with Lincoln, a charming law student, and then with Aaron, a thoughtful photographer. Twenty years later, both men return to her life, and she has to choose again.

The setup had a lot of potential. I usually enjoy stories about second chances and complicated relationships, but this one just didn’t work for me. I had a hard time connecting with Cora. She often came across as self-absorbed, and her indecisiveness made it tough to stay invested in her journey. I kept hoping for more growth or reflection from her, but it never really came.

The structure also threw me off. Letters from 2002 were mixed in with chapters set in 2000 and 2001. The chapters followed Lincoln, while the letters were from Aaron, who hadn’t even been introduced yet. It felt confusing rather than intriguing. Even later in the story, Aaron stayed more in the background, and the connection with Lincoln felt one-sided and overly dominant.

I appreciated the emotional weight behind some of the themes, especially the idea that the “men” in the title also referred to Cora’s father. That was a thoughtful detail and added a nice layer to the story.

In the end, the slow pacing and predictability made it hard for me to stay engaged. I can see how others might enjoy the emotional depth or the reflective tone, but it just wasn’t a good fit for me.

All the Men I’ve Loved Again was my first book by Christine Pride, and while I was intrigued by the nostalgic 1999 setting and Cora Belle’s journey into adulthood, I ended up DNFing around 30%. I really enjoyed Cora’s friendships and the spark with Lincoln but the story leaned heavily into introspection over interaction, and I found myself wishing for more dialogue and connection between characters. The reflective, inner-thought style just didn’t hold my interest enough to keep going. I do plan to give it another shot as an audiobook once it’s released!

Emotional and reflective, this novel explores love, regret, and second chances through a tender lens. The writing was strong, though some transitions between timelines felt abrupt. Still, it offered moving insights and a hopeful arc.

Unfortunately, this book just did not work for me.

I found that the way the plot was laid out was very odd, with letters from 2002 interspersed between chapters from 2000-2001, but those chapters were for Lincoln and the letters were for Aaron, who we hadn’t even met yet. It created a jarring experience rather than a mysterious one, for me at least. There was a similar feeling of “mostly Lincoln almost no Aaron” in the second half as well, it just presented differently since by then the letters were finished. There are other things, but that was really the main issue for me that kept me from feeling like I could really get into the book.

One this I did like is that the "men" in the title also includes Cora’s father. I thought that was a really sweet touch instead of making it solely about the two men she’d fallen in and out and back into love with. It gave closure to her childhood experiences and to their changing relationship as Cora grew more independent of Wes (aka, as she became an adult).

Good romance read. It will definitely have you in the feels and reminiscing about your past. I will say that I feel like Cora chose to be single and is a little bit much.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book is an enjoyable romance. The main character isn’t 100 percent likable. It is a coming of age story within a love triangle. The story centers around love, friendship and personal growth as the MC discovers who she is and what she wants in her life. It is emotional and a solid read.

A debut novel about coming of age, finding love and the path in life that brings you joy and brings out who you are and want to be.

I will admit I’m not a huge fan of love triangles so when I saw this was marketed as one I was a little hesitant but overall i think this was deeper than a team Edward/team Jacob battle that drives me nuts. At its core was a woman living her life and trying her best to live true to herself while dealing with attraction to men.
Very character driven, low plot.
At times Cora felt self absorbed and a little hard to not find annoying but she has an excellent circle of friends that really make the book imo.

Thanks to netgalley and atria books for an eARC

This was a coming of age story around first love, and that despite heartbreak, never truly goes away. Cora Belle's in college and meets Lincoln, and it's love at first sight. And just like that begins their love story in the early 2000's. They were truly two people from opposite upbringings with an idealized look at their future. But reality sometimes gets in the way and leads you down a different path, and introduces another important man to Cora, in the form of Aaron. Both men couldn't be more different from one another, both in the past timeline, where the author spends most of the novel, and then in the later timeline, twenty years later, where both men re-enter Cora's life. Both men were not given equal time in the story (and Aaron's letters were difficult to read on a Kindle), which left the reader missing the importance Aaron had to Cora when he returned twenty years later. Yet, the story was more about Cora finding something out about herself as much as it was about the love story in the end.

I enjoyed following Cora's journey even though there were many times I wanted to shout at her and tell her to be confident and that she didn't need a man to define her. I also appreciated her relationship with her father and that he truly sacrificed his life in order to make sure that she had everything she needed. The love they had for each other was felt on the page. And I especially loved her friendship with Neisha and Kim and the weight the author gave to their story throughout the novel. Just like first love, the bonds created in friendship last a lifetime, and in their case, the three of them were each others' support and trust over the years.

Thank you to Atria Books for the opportunity to read and review.

I had such high hopes for this one but it fell flat. I really like this author so I look forward to another book in the future for her.