The premise of this book was so promising and it did deliver some of what I expected. I loved reading about Eureka Springs, it was absolutely a love letter to that town and makes me want to visit. The charming town and beautiful inn were described so wonderfully, it actually felt a little like Stars Hollow for any Gilmore Girls fans. Where the book fell short for me was the characters, unfortunately. The transition from basically enemies to back in bed with one another was so quick it felt like whiplash. The same with the ending. I felt it kept building to nothing. I'm glad I read it, but I don't think I'll be revisiting this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review of Bed and Breakup. Unfortunately I was unable to finish it before it was archived but I look forward to finding the book at my local library or independent bookstore.

Thanks Netgalley and Random House for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Oh boy, this was a rough ride. I typically try to finish my ARCs but this one was a struggle to keep returning to. Biggest reason: Robin. I found her unlikable, selfish, and immature. She left for selfish reasons and her pranks were too far. Molly showed remorse. Molly was left to pick up the pieces. Robin did not deserve a second chance. The romance in this book was not it.

What did work in the book was the description of a queer haven in a conservative state. I liked that the characters navigated that and I just loved the side characters. They made the book bearable and what I looked forward to reading. That and Molly's stained glass business. So interesting. If Robin would have been removed from the book, it would have made it better. Give me Molly's story, post-Robin. Robin is the ex you learn from not the one you reunite with after 7 years.

2/5 stars only for the fact that it was good at describing life for queer people in a small town in a red state.

For a romance book, I did not get any romance from it. Yes, Molly and Robin have a relationship from exes to lovers but there wasn’t any romance or chemistry between them, I didn’t care if they got together. I also feel like they didn’t work through their issues enough to work as a couple again. The book is split into dual pov, but they were so similar that I had a hard time remembering whose pov I was in.

I was offered this one due to having read a previous Susie Dumond novel with NetGalley. I ended up DNFing this one, because as much as I tried, I found the characters unlikeable and irritating.

Thanks NetGalley for an ARC. This was sweet- I loved the found family and queer community aspect of it and I’m a sucker for lesbians with power tools, but something felt lacking for me. It felt like we were told a lot about the characters connection and relationship, but I didn’t feel it as much. I also like my romances to be spicier. Still, would recommend if you want something simple and cute.

A sapphic second-chance romance in a small town!!! Yes please! I absolutely adored this and hope that Dumond will end up going back to this town and its characters! Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for my digital ARC!!

Couldn't wait to dive into this second chance sapphic love story. It seemed to have it all--the cute little queer-happy town, years of romantic history between the two of them, supportive friends and peers everywhere, with a little home rehab(ish) thrown in for good measure. My issue with this story, and why I ultimately did not finish it at 41%, is how what little intimacy they had between the two of them was continually what they each used against one another. It wasn't cute, charming, swoon-worthy, or romantic, to me. Not my cup of tea.

I love a sapphic, small town, second chance romance. This checked those boxes! And that cover? Come on! Gorgeous! I just could not feel attached to the characters and I really wish I felt that connection to them. Overall, this is a cute story and I am glad I read it; however, I just wanted MORE. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

⛓️ ARC REVIEW ⛓️

Thank you so much @netgalley @thedialpress and @susiedoom for my copy of Bed and Breakup!

This was a super cute and fun read! I’m not usually a second chance girlie but this was definitely worth giving it a chance.

I loved seeing Robin and Molly’s relationship evolve and it’s a great example of the saying “if it’s meant to be, it will be”.

Bed and Breakup is available now and inside you’ll find:

🖤second chance romance
🌈queer romance
🖤hot!!!
🌈found family
🖤pranks
+ so much more!

This has so much potential, but my brain capacity is limited dealing with my dad's decline in health. I want to revisit this eventually. Just not right now.

Honestly, while trying to think about what I actually enjoyed about this book, I couldn't really think of that much, except for the side characters and the concept (which needed more work to really nail the execution). The idea for trying to fix up the BNB, and bring back the old charm, instead of the modern style was something that I appreciated. However, there actually wasn't that much of the actual work on the BNB.

The pacing was also super slow after the two reconnected and I grew bored very quickly, and was unable to regain interest in the book. One of the main characters left out of no where years ago to be with another woman, and to go follow her dreams, but in no way tried to reconcile and accept her part in what went wrong with their marriage ending. She definitely did not deserve a second chance, in my opinion.

Thank you to Random House, Susie Dumond, and NetGalley for the eARC of this book. This is my honest review.

Thank you so much to Random House Publishing Group & NetGalley for this e-arc.

Bed and Breakup is a modern, romantic, second-chance story that centers on Molly and Robin. The setting was spectacular; this charming and well-known bed and breakfast in a joyful and dynamic town full of interesting, talented, and different people was just intriguing, never dull, and made me want to live there. The second thing that pulled me in was how unique each of the characters were. Both Robin's and Molly's points of view were entertaining to read. Life is about making mistakes, getting back up, growing & learning.

A cozy little sapphic second-chance romance, taking place in a charming small-town. These estranged ex-wives come back together to fix up a rundown bed and breakfast that previously drove them apart. This go-around there is plenty of banter and pranks, which ultimately leads to a second-chance romance. The story is rich in art and food, with the charm of a small-town. A cute, heartfelt sapphic read.

Sincere thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Random House, and Dial Press Trade Paperback for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

The amount of times that Home Depot was mentioned.... yep this was definitely a lesbian romance hahah.

ANYWAYS, it was a really cute book, despite all the frustrations that it gave me.. but it also made me realize that being in a relationship with a girl is WAY different than with a man and that they are able to communicate without undermining each others feelings.

I wish there was a little bit more of an explanation as to what happened in 2018.. since it sounds like Robin ran away with Georgina? Maybe I missed it but I'm not sure whether there was actually any cheating or any actual serious relationship between the two. I understand there was an ultimatum, but i just want to know why did she run away with Georgina. Did she provide the support? did she also want the restaurant dream? no one else also seems to kinda acknowledge that Robin left with her, despite it being a small town and everyone knowing the drama. Maybe if that was clarified a bit then it would be better because it would provide some closure. Otherwise, the book really goes into the feelings of these two and how it affected their future relationships and outlooks into life. I also like how their lives have kinda flip flopped -- Robin used to be the rich one and now it's Molly. kind of somewhat of a pay back.

I also was on edge the entire time thinking that this one detail would end up blowing everything up in the end and creating a third act breakup, but im really glad it didnt. :)

This got off to a bit of a rocky start for me but was overall pretty solid. The writing is wonderful, and Dumond is incredible at writing mouth-watering descriptions of food and lush locations that both the leads visit. I’ve never felt the urge to travel to Arkansas, but if Eureka were a real town, I would love to see it. The characters with the town are just enough to flesh out the story of the city without distracting too much from the main characters. Sometimes with side characters like the ones in this book, i leave wishing we had read their story instead, but I don’t feel that way here. I also really enjoyed the discussions and exploration around being LGBTQ+ in the south, which I think has become a more important discussion point within the community over the past few months.

The main issue that I had with the book was the romance itself. While I enjoyed both Molly and Robin's individual stories (Molly more so than Robin, especially at the beginning), I didn’t really like them together as a couple. I feel like I agreed more with Molly's best friend, Key, that they should not start a friends with benefits agreement while also looking towards divorce. Also, while they both thought about what it would be like to run the inn at points, there was no discussion about actually running it until the last 2 chapters. Will Molly continue traveling to pursue her art, or will she give it up? I think things feel a bit rushed at the end, coming from two characters who are still healing from their initial separation and seem to be jumping right back into having a business together.

Heat Factor: Some hanky panky.

Character Chemistry: They’re feeling things, but I am not convinced that they should be together.

Plot: Separated spouses return to the B&B they still co-own at the same time.

Overall: I liked it on the scene level, but not when considering the narrative as a whole.

I’m going to separate this review into the Good, the Bad, and the Petty.

The Good
This book has a great sense of place. It takes place in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, which is a twee small town with lots of cute small businesses—but it’s a real twee small town with lots of cute small businesses (supported by tourism). I’ve never been (though now it’s on my list) but Dumond’s portrayal at least matches the Wikipedia page.

What I especially liked about the sense of place is how it gave space for Dumond (and her characters) to explore what it means to be queer in a red state. (She also did so to great effect in her debut, Queerly Beloved, which is set in Tulsa, OK.) I feel like a lot of discourse about being safe and queer in America is about moving somewhere better, and stories like this which feature queer communities in the Bible Belt can push back against that narrative by highlighting mutual support—and the ways that mutual support can build pockets of relative safety. (Eureka Springs is notably LGBTQ+ friendly, and has been for decades.) Caveat: relative being a key term right now.

Speaking of community and mutual support, Dumond includes a great supporting cast of well-developed and interesting secondary characters. It helps that the two protagonists are also well-developed and interesting, which makes for great scenes as everyone and their fears and desires bounce off one another.

The Bad
I regret to inform you that this is a pranks book. As in, the main characters play pranks on each other, first as a way to try and chase the other out of the B&B they’re both living in, and then as a sort of love language, I don’t even know. Both Molly and Robin reminisce fondly about the pranks they played on each other when they were young and in love. Thanks, I hate it. I may be a grumpy stick in the mud but setting up speakers playing creepy ghost sounds in the middle of the night to wake someone up and lure them into the murder basement to scare the bejesus out of them is villain level behavior. Robin does this in retaliation for Molly putting a bunch of old porcelain dolls on the landing outside of Robin’s door, and I don’t care that Robin was apparently scarred by watching Chucky and is terrified of dolls, these two pranks are not the same. Molly certainly intended to mess with Robin (during normal waking hours), but did not expect her outsized reaction, and immediately apologized and cleaned the dolls up. Robin fully intended to wake Molly up in the middle of the night and scare her.

Afterwards, they agree that they are “even.”

This brings me to the bigger bad, which is that I am not convinced that Robin and Molly have done the necessary work to reconcile and be together for real now. Having everyone in town (except Molly’s best friend) excited about their potential reconciliation because they are #queergoals or some shit is not enough to convince me, sorry—especially for a second chance romance.

Now, the parameters for the initial split aren’t immediately clear, so if you like a slow release of information you can skip this section. But what basically seems to have happened is that Robin and Molly were young and in love and rehabbed a B&B. Then, after they were moderately successful, they were featured on a reality show, which gave Robin the fame bug. And then Robin competed in a reality cooking competition, and through connections she made there, she had an opportunity to open a restaurant in Oregon, so she agreed and thought Molly would come and was blindsided when Molly didn’t. So there was some communication breakdown, some Robin putting herself first and not paying attention to her partner, and some Robin just leaving to start a restaurant with another woman (who she also eventually dated). The way this is spun is that this break was good for both of them to spread their wings and grow and now they can settle down in this small town and not wonder what if, but what I actually see is selfishness and failure to communicate. I am 100% Team Molly in this situation, and all the hand-wavey stuff about Molly being partially at fault because she was holding on to security too tightly and putting her needs second did nothing to change my mind.

So, given that I did not buy the way the characters framed the breakup to themselves after the fact (as something caused by both parties and resulting in beneficial and necessary and otherwise impossible growth), I similarly did not buy that they had overcome or addressed the problems that led to the breakup in the first place.

When Erin and I, several years ago, talked about the second chance romance trope and whether it worked for us, one of the things I mentioned that I liked was the possibility for dramatic tension inherent in the trope, which can make for a good story even if I don’t necessarily buy the romantic outcome. Unfortunately, there wasn’t high drama here either.

The Petty
I talked to my sister about some of this and she told me that I was ridiculous, but I gotta be true to me! These small petty things really annoyed me so I’m going to share them.

Petty thing number one: Robin is in charge of the B&B’s garden. When she and Molly decide to fix up the building (again) after several years of neglect, the first thing she does is whip the garden back into shape. Which includes harvesting produce: asparagus, raspberries, blackberries. Fellow gardeners might know where I’m going with this: these things are not in season at the same time.

Robin also puts in some plants that will give her a quick harvest—you know, like strawberries (which the Farmer’s Almanac and my own experience tell me take a *year* to get established)—and then has enough veg not only to fully feed herself, but also to sell to a local fancy restaurant. *laughs in gardener*

Now I acknowledge that this rant is petty, but the idea that gardening is immediate or easy, even in a great climate with great soil, is part of a damaging mindset that devalues the skill involved in farm labor (and the migrants who perform it).

My other petty reaction was less about my feelings about the whole self-sufficiency/homesteading movement (as someone who puts in a vegetable garden without fail every spring) and more about cementing my feelings as Team Molly in this particular romance.

So Robin is back in Arkansas and living at the old, deserted B&B because she’s out of money and feeling sorry for herself after her latest restaurant venture was a failure and had to close. It was called Kindling and was experimental and cutting edge and received rave reviews from critics. It takes almost the whole dang book, but the reader does eventually learn what was so experimental about it: this restaurant was outside, and diners were seated around firepits. When they ordered their food, it arrived, uncooked, either on skewers or in cast iron skillets, so they could roast it themselves over the open flame.

This sounds like an insufferable restaurant concept. I am not going to put on my fancy clothes and pay top dollar to burn some shish kebabs over an open flame. I would be mad if my husband took me on a date there. My date clothes would smell like campfire. And the whole point of going out to a restaurant is that someone else cooks for you! And accurate cookery over an open fire is hard! How many of those shrimp skewers are going to be charred on the outside and raw on the inside? A non-zero number, that’s how many!

That restaurant deserved to go out of business. Robin, I’m glad Molly thinks you’re cool, but I’m not super comfortable with how one thousand percent awesome she thinks every single thing you do is.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report.

I liked this book a lot. I really liked the lgbt representation. It’s nice to read about a lesbian couple. The main theme of this book is second chance romance with a little bit of renovation of an inn. The main couple has been broken up for years and they come together at the inn they jointly own. It was a pleasure to read about how they fall back in love.
Grab yourself a nice hot beverage and snuggle in for this delightful romance.

I loved this sapphic romance , the banter the pranks the enemies to lovers this was my jam and I was so here for it! This story follows Molly and Robin who were married and owned a bed and breakfast together until life got in the way and they focused on theirselves and ended up living different lives. Seven years later they both find themselves back at the hummingbird inn with romance rekindling. Usually second chance romances are not my thing but this one I really enjoyed this one. The characters were amazing in this book they were relatable and real in their struggles but lovable and quirky at the same time. I also loved the setting in this small town inclusive setting that is my dream town definitely made this read more enjoyable. This is my second book from this author and both have been really enjoyable, Susie Dumond is quickly becoming one of my must read authors! I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

Slightly mixed feelings about this. I gotta say, it's weird to turn to the first page of a book and have the first word be your name lol. Even moreso when I found Molly as a character…so frustrating for at least the like first third of the book. I really didn't like the prank war stuff, and even though she had an understandable reason to be disgruntled by Robin’s presence, that doesn't mean I didn't find her to be extremely annoying about it.

That said, once they declared a truce, it started working better for me. They had good sexual tension and I really liked the whole renovation/art/food aspects of it. Molly being an artist who creates stained glass pieces is really fun and unique and the imagery was really well done. Same with Robin being a semi-famous celebrity chef and all the food porn made me so hungry. Them finally getting back together felt earned to me and the ending did make me cry. Overall, I liked this a lot more than I expected to at the start! 3.75 stars rounded up to 4.

Thanks to Dial Press and NetGalley for the digital ARC, all opinions are my own.