At first, the story seemed a bit immature to me, like the protagonists weren't fully adults. However, as the plot progressed, I found myself becoming more and more invested, ironically, it was just when the jokes started (so mature of me). I loved the second-chance romance and the found family trope. The description of Eureka Springs was so vivid and beautiful that I wanted to go visit and It even made me want to make a list of places to travel to!
I felt very connected to Molly and, at first, I thought Robin was like the villain of this love story, the one who was wrong. But as the story progressed, I understood why she made the decisions she did, even if they weren't always handled well. It's essential to remember that they were young and when we are young sometimes we make wrong decisions hoping for different outcomes. Luckily, our protagonists were able to learn and grow from their experiences, which is a valuable life lesson.

3 stars
2 for spice

Bed and Breakup is a contemporary, sapphic, second chance romance following Molly and Robin. I really liked a number of things in this book. The setting was a big one, this charming and famous bed and breakfast in a fun and vibrant town full of fun, talented and diverse individuals was just fascinating, never dull and made me really want to live there. The second thing that really drew me in was all the characters were so unique. I loved reading both Robin and Molly’s perspectives. Robin with all the food and cooking, made me hungry and she was so passionate about it and really finding her love of it again and the town. Molly was so talented and secure with how amazing her art is and sounded so beautiful and bright when described. Her struggle and growth really focused on emotions and things from her past. This book did a good job of showing their past together and history how it was affecting them now that they have come back together after seven years, as the reader you can definitely tell that they still care about each other. That being said, the relationship development to one being more than friends was just ok for me. I was just looking for something more from them during that transition to romantic one. Also, the spicy scenes were very quick and glossed over. It was a good book, and I had a good time.
I received an advanced ebook, via Netgalley. This review is my own honest opinion.

One of my favorite romance sub-genres is the small town romance. Unfortunately we don't often see many queer small town romance stories, especially set in the south. But Susie Dumond has created such a wonderful story that celebrated second chances, reconnecting with community, and queer joy. This book is also incredibly funny and hit all the comedic moments that I want in a rom-com. Like I kept picturing this as a early 2000's rom-com and it's everything I would want in a movie. I think it's important too that the characters acknowledge that this small town is not the norm for everywhere in the south, but gives hope that maybe someday it could be. So if you're looking for a funny and heartwarming sapphic romance, this is the book for you!

Thank you Dial Press for the review copy!

I’m not usually one for second chance romances, but I figured if it was ever going to be done right, it would be in the form of a sapphic small-town romance.
This was my first book by this author, and I really enjoyed it. The chemistry between the main characters was really good and while they’re both flawed in ways that led to the initial breakup, nothing was ever so over the top in the way that a lot of second chance romances are where I was skeptical about them getting back together being the "right move". I like that the author gave them a few years apart to really grow and mature as people and the openness and willingness to grow that both characters showed as the book went on.
A great romcom, lots of rom and also plenty of com. The setting was engaging, and the side characters really rounded everything out and made the whole thing so much more immersive. It was super entertaining, just a touch of spice, and overall a great low-stakes summer read. I'd definitely recommend it if you're looking for a nice sapphic beach read.

I enjoyed this book so much! Molly and Robin were both compelling, interesting characters, and I was rooting for them to get (back) together from the start. I tend to be a little skeptical of second chance romance because it often seems like something frivolous that split them up in the first place or like they are glossing over a serious issue. That wasn't the case here at all. The more we learned about why they split up, the more it seemed clear that they didn't want the same things in life at that time and needed that time apart. But time and distance allowed them to grow into the people they needed to be to make the relationship work for real. I also loved the side characters and the setting. A small-town queer haven in the US South is ripe with history and funny characters, but I never felt like the eccentric townsfolk crossed the line from entertaining to caricatures. Truly well done all around and I have recommended it to multiple friends already.

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for the ARC!

I loved this cozy queer romance! One thing I really appreciated about this book was the setting - I loved that this was in a small town in a red state and the queer romance was center stage. I also really enjoyed the story of how these two main characters found their way back to each other. Lovely!

Thank you again for the ARC!

Bed and Breakup hooked me instantly with the two different character’s perspectives and storytelling of Eureka Springs. Although I wouldn’t claim romance to be my favorite category, Susie perfectly captured some what I love most about love. The characters were likable and I was so enchanted by the Hummingbird Inn. Thank you Susie for sharing this ARC! Looking forward to recommending this to my people.

At first I thought this was going to be a cute queer read but it got kind of repetitive and I was over it half way through.

Molly and Robin opened a bed and breakfast when they were newly married.

They’ve been separated for seven years and have returned to the hummingbird inn but for different reasons. Both are stubborn and both think they deserve the property but don’t want to share it.

Overall, this was decent enough but I didn’t love it.

Thanks netgalley for the chance to read this book for free in return for my honest opinion.

very cute fixer upper sapphic novel. this was the perfect read and made me really happy. the yearning and the tension were my favorite part

I would give this a 3.5. It took about halfway through to really pick up.

With one less character maybe there would’ve been more space to give to the others? I wanted more shape and arc for Key.

Personally I don’t think I’ve read second chance romances and I’m not sure I would again. I didn’t lower my rating for this.

Overall it was a good romance, loved the food elements very The Bear and very hot right now.

It also made me want to visit Eureka Springs.

When Molly returns to Eureka Springs she is expecting to visit some old friends, complete a few jobs, relax and figure out her next step in life. What she doesn’t expect is to find her ex also staying in the Inn they used to run together. For the first time in several years they are both in the same place, at the same time. Neither wants anything to do with the other and both aren’t budging.. Will pranks and other silly antics get the other to leave, or will they both find the closure they have been looking for since they were last at the Hummingbird Inn?

A fun loving and sweet story that will have you laughing and hoping for a new beginning for Molly and Robin!

They've been apart for years, each blames the other for the failure of their marriage.

They have baggage to work through - abandonment, self worth, priorities. Can they work back to each other?

This book is the queer second-chance romance of your Home Renovation Show Host AU dreams—with extra paint splatters, petty revenge pranks, and enough chemistry to burn the whole B&B down.

Molly and Robin’s love story is like the Hummingbird Inn itself: a little dusty, a lot complicated, and absolutely worth restoring. Seven years post-breakup, they’re back under the same roof with hammers, old wounds, and unresolved everything. What starts as “I cannot stand you” quickly morphs into “I know exactly how you take your coffee and I’m still mad about it.”

The enemies-to-lovers (again) tension? Off the charts. The forced proximity? Delightfully chaotic. The shared history? Tender and painful in equal measure. And when you throw in an inn full of memories, town gossip, and the soft magic of found family and good food, you get a romance that feels like coming home and setting it on fire.

But what makes this book sing is how it handles love that’s been broken—not discarded, not erased, but weathered. It’s about owning your mistakes, fighting for the things that still matter, and realizing that some dreams—like some love stories—just need a second coat of paint.

Perfect for fans of steamy sapphic romance, emotional renovation arcs (literal and metaphorical), and characters who prank each other out of spite and love. Bring tissues, a toolbelt, and maybe a fire extinguisher.

As a native Arkansan, I swooned over this Arkansas-based slowburn second chance romance. The town of Eureka is an Arkansas gem, and Susie Dumond captures the hippy charm and cozy feel perfectly. The main characters are loveable, and I was cheering for their love story.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC. The characters got on my nerves at times--each for different reasons. It made me want to go visit Eureka Springs!

As someone who has worked in Hospitality for years, I was drawn to this ARC because of the cover and B&B vibes.

Took me a bit to get into, but it's a quirky/cute second chance romance. Thank you again for the opportunity!

This book was SO cute! "Their love story is a bit of a fixer-upper." I mean, it's perfect. I enjoyed this book, these characters, and this world so much.

Bed and Breakup is a second-chance romance between two lesbian "ex" wives who decide to renovate and sell the historic southern inn they still co-own, seven years post-split. Over the course of several months, they get to know each other all over again: hot they've changed, and how they haven't, and how they both regret how things ended between them.

Generally speaking, I liked this book! It was a little slow at points, and even as someone who generally like character-driven stories, it felt like there could have been a little more plot. I'm finding I don't have a lot to say, because there wasn't a ton worth gushing about, and there wasn't a ton worth criticizing, either. It was mostly just good.

I think one thing that makes second chance romances hard is that readers (or at least, this reader--I'm nosy) will want to take a side. Bed and Breakup presented both characters as having made mistakes, and they both groveled, but I just didn't buy into the idea of Molly actually really doing anything wrong. To me, it seems like they just realized that they were incompatible because they both had different idea of the future, which is fine. But instead, it was written that Molly was holding Robin back. I also would have loved more detail on the woman Robin left with during the initial breakup, because it wasn't totally clear to me how soon they got together, or how or when they met. Molly made it sound like they had run off together, like Robin might have been cheating, but they never say that explicitly, so it's hard to tell.

Also, it seemed like the race stuff was sort of thrown in--the Black Business Bureau came up at the beginning and as a way to help Molly throughout the story (getting her clients and a lawyer), but otherwise wasn't very prevalent, and those characters only existed in their small roles as clients. It would have been nice to see them become part of Molly and Robin's community. Everyone who is important to them is queer, but white--except Keyana. There's also the part where Keyana scolds Molly for asking a Black woman to lie for her in court, and Molly apologizes, and that's sort of the end of that. It's like a sensitivity reader flagged it for the author, and the solution was to just add in a throwaway line to acknowledge it instead of doing anything else to fix the issue. So in the end, it came out of nowhere and disappeared pretty easily, just as a blip.

All in all, though, I did like this book. I loved the town and world building and all the friends. I could have imagined a less perfect ending, but I'm glad these lesbians get a happy ending. 3.75 stars for me.

I always love Susie Dumond's books, and Bed and Breakup is no exception. Delightfully joyful and deliciously queer, I adored this lesbian second chance romance. Molly and Robin were both such great characters, and I had wonderful time reading about them warming up to each other again. Definitely going to share this title with friends!

Molly and Robin are reunited in Eureka Springs at the Hummingbird Inn. Both women, didn’t realize the other one was one their way back to where their relationship started. After going through some ups and downs each one needs to spend some time with old friends. Robin and Molly are tasked with remodeling the Inn in order to sell it. By taking on such a task it starts to invoke feelings in both of them they didn’t know they had for each other.

This second chance romance shows how these two women can work out their differences. We see how ththey work through their feelings and emotions. It was a cute and loving story.