Sadie Wells is 35 and questioning everything: her sexuality, her work, herself. So when her sister offers up her spot on a Camino de Santiago tour through Portugal, Sadie sees the perfect chance to hit pause on her life. On the turbulent flight, a tipsy Sadie accidentally comes out to her seatmate, Mal, who turns out to be on the same queer women’s tour. As they walk the 200-mile trail, Mal helps Sadie explore the parts of herself she’s been avoiding, while dealing with her own messy past. But what starts as a practice run at queerness turns into something real. By the end of the journey, they’ll have to figure out if this was just a detour or the start of something more
I’ve been an Alison Cochrun fan since The Charm Offensive and have loved every book she’s written. But I have to say, this one might be my favorite. I could not put it down! This book is so relatable to anyone who has questioned anything in their life. Not just sexuality, but what you want, where you want to go, who you want to be, what you’re willing to accept. I found myself relating to most of the characters throughout this book. The diverse cast of characters were lovable, funny, and so real! To be able to be a pilgrim on the adventure these characters took would be life-changing.
I appreciated so much that these characters were older (mid to late 30’s), but they were both going through something so many designate as “young people” problems. This was real. Not everyone finds themself at 22. Sometimes it’s 20, sometimes it’s 40, sometimes it’s 80. It’s never too late to live your truth. This book speaks to exactly that through heartfelt moments, tough truths, witty writing, fun banter, self-discovery, and found family.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Atria Books for allowing me the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book!

this was fun and enjoyable i've never met an alison book that i didn't like. i'm a sucker for queer late bloomers and for characters who suffer from the constant feeling of "being behind" because i relate so heavily to it. i enjoyed the travel aspect of this book and found myself looking up different parts of the camino on google and i especially loved the queer friend group that was formed on the tour. my only two complaints from this book are 1) with how they were written it was hard imagining the 2 fmcs as women in their mid to late 30s because they still felt somewhat juvenile at times and it felt like i was reading about two women in their early 20s instead 2) i didn't feel much chemistry between mal and sadie. i loved them both as individual characters and was rooting for both of them and ultimately loved their ending but it felt like their relationship lacked the chemistry and depth it needed for me to really care too much about whether they ended up together or not.

thank you to netgalley and atria books for the arc!

this book is the perfect example of writing two characters that were incredibly easy to fall in love with and relate to.
Such a beautiful story of self discovery and finding comfortability in your own skin and within your sexuality.
Mal and Sadie will forever be two of my favorite characters ever written into existence and their love story will live in the back of my head RENT FREE.
ALSO, the scene setting?!?! impeccable. a plot line I didn’t know I needed but can’t believe I lived without?!

Thanks netgalley for the arc❤️

Sadie couldn’t have predicted how drastically her life would change after taking her sisters place on a hiking tour. It has her questioning her sexuality, work and everything in between. When Mal offers to help her relive the queer adolescence she missed out on she jumps on the opportunity. It was never supposed to be anything other than practice but the lines quickly begin to blurt.

This is a beautifully written novel. Sadie’s self discovery journey will resonate with many readers on different points. Personally it made me want to become more daring, to try something new because chances are it’ll work out.

It made me laugh, cry and everything in between. I love the meet cute scene, all the fun banter and sharing circles with the travel group.

We need more stories like this in the world. I encourage everyone to give this one a read.

Read this if you like
💙Practice dating
🗺️European vacation
🫶🏼Sapphic romance
✨Self discovery journey

I didn't think anything could make me want to walk a couple hundred miles through Portugal, but this almost did. I'd read anything with Alison Cochrun's name on it.

Every Step You Take follows Sadie as she takes her sister's place on the Camino de Santiago. When turbulence hits her flight to Portugal, she makes what she thinks is a deathbed coming out confession to her unsuspecting seatmate, Mal, who (shockingly) is part of the same queer Camino tour. As part of her pilgrimage, Sadie asks Mal to be her "fairy god-dyke" to experience the queer adolescence she never had, while Mal grapples with loss and finding her own purpose. As they approach Santiago, the line between practice and reality blurs and both Mal and Sadie must come to terms with where they'll go when the walk ends.

Alison Cochrun knocked it out of the park once again. Every Step You Take is full of heart, self-discovery, found family, and queer joy. I loved following Sadie on her journey both coming out and discovering what she wanted from her life, and seeing Mal learn to walk towards something rather than just running away. I felt fully immersed in the Camino, and Cochrun's writing made me want to walk alongside them, eating the same food, drinking the same wine, even getting the blisters and backaches. I laughed, cried, and loved every word.

Book Review
Every Step She Takes by Alison Cochrun

What Its Got
✅ sapphic romance
✅ 2SLGBTQIA + relationships
✅ journey of personal growth and sexual awakening
✅ walking, sleeping, dancing drinking
✅ challenging family relationships
✅ France and Spain
✅ Cest La Vie blog posts
✅ grief

Characters
Mal- Fairy God dyke, recent loss, confident traveller, wanderer
Sadie- responsible business owner, reliable sister, failure at dating, new to travel

The Camino crew- Inez, Stefano, Ro, Rebecca, Ari, Rebecca

Thoughts
✅ I need to walk the Camino trail
✅ I highlighted like crazy- Cochrun deftly navigates her characters inner dialogue with self and her words resonate- I feel seen
✅ I was completely caught up in Sadie’s sexual adolescence but it was Mal’s journey to self healing that swept me up
✅ Binged in one sitting! I couldnt stop turning the pages

Sidebar- one of my favourite books- My Camino by Sue Kenney, I’ve written in the margins, loaned it out, had it returned with more notes- Walking this trail is a bucket list item for me- something I want to do on my own but with a group…. Taking this book as a sign that I need to chase that dream and makes plans to make it happen for myself- cause I deserve it ❤️

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for my digital ARC in return for an honest review. Opinions expressed are my own

Mal and Sadie are seated next to each other on the plane ride where Sadie gets drunk and shares all of her secrets with Mal. When they reach the destination Sadie is embarrassed to learn that they are on the same tour and will spend the next week together on the tour.

I loved this book by Alison Cochrun. The pacing, the people, the setting: all of it. Cochrun's ability to create characters that are flawed and loveable is so good, and it makes me want to keep coming back (and I do).

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of Every Step She Takes!

Overall I give this about 3.5 stars. It didn’t immediately grab my attention and I picked it up and put it down a few times.

I’ve only ever read one book by Alison Cochrun (Kiss Her Once for Me) and loved it! The concept and storyline for Every Step She Takes was relevant and I loved the “later in life” realization and coming out. I liked the characters and how they had different crises, but I didn’t get a strong romantic vibe between Sadie and Mal.

I did feel the FMC’s were well developed and their different histories/personality traits contributed to the strength of the story as a whole. I also really enjoyed the different supporting characters, but I think there was a lot more potential to further development the overall chemistry. A bunch of different (I sound like a broken record, but relevant) side story lines or issues added some more relatable angles. For their ages I would’ve liked to see a tad bit more maturity, but that can easily be attributed to the different journeys of self-discovery.

Side note: I think June would’ve been a great time for this release based on relevance and how few books (personally) I’ve read with a similar plot/character development.

Queer joy but with a sprinkle of trauma and anxiety to keep it realistic. Bits of the traveling portion reminded me of The Pairing: forced close proximity, stereotypical Italians and tours focused on a very specific niche of people. But here, it was lesbian4lesbian, which in modern romance books we certainly lack a lot of.

Mal’s “serial monogamist” status and what came with it, including the anxiety is what set this book apart, given that we are used to queer characters being often portrayed as the opposite of craving monogamy. But in this case, that was Mal’s problem.

Besides both main characters being lesbians, I felt as if they were also in the asexual spectrum? It’s giving demisexual maybe?

The themes of grief portrayed by both characters felt realistic because as the book mentioned: grief isn’t rational.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book and I can’t wait to grab a physical copy when it comes out!

I loved everything about this book! The characters were great and easy to relate to. I loved the idea of finding yourself, your true self while walking the Camino. This is a great story about finding yourself and letting everyone know. Great start to reading a sapphic romance! Definitely reading more of her books.

Thank you to Atria books for this eARC! This book hurt me real bad! That is a compliment of the highest order and I mean it as such. I am also a person in my 30s who doesn't know who they are or what they want. Don't think I'm gonna go on a two week hike about it but oh boy can I let this book slap me around a little bit.

oh how I LOVED this book! I think it's Cochrun's best. I immediately wanted to book a Camino of my own. I loved the emotional growth of each of the characters, and the ensemble cast was fantastic. What a fun, diverse bunch. A truly enjoyable, heartfelt read.

I ate this up. Something about Alison Cockrun’s writing that just works perfectly for me. The relationship between Mal and Sadie was sweet, and i really love the direction it took. I loved the travelling vibes, and the discussion around queerness and mental health. Overall, this was great. 🩷

Every Step She Takesis a delightful sapphic romance that follows two women who fall head over heels as they trek through Portugal and Spain. It all begins when thirty-five-year-old, Sadie, feeling restless and dissatisfied with life, decides to take her injured sister's place on a queer tour along the Camino de Santiago. On the plane ride over, she drunkenly comes out to her seatmmate, Mal, during some turbulence. Much to her ever-growing mortification, the plane not only doesn't crash but it turns out that Mal is on her tour, leaving her with no escape in sight. She must embrace self-exploration on this trip or else.

Captivated from the get-go, Mal decides to act as a fairy-god dyke and help Sadie to experience the queer adolescence she missed out on as they walk the Camino. There are hair chops, random tattoos, drunken makeouts and more. All the while, Mal is struggling with emotional intimacy demons from her past as well as coming to terms with the inheritance left to her from a father who rejected her for being gay. As their relationship slowly starts to muddy the line between reality and practice, the two women must decide who and what they want.

This was so cute, so endearing! Not only was it a blast to be immersed in a foreign country, on one of the most famous pilgrimages in the world, but I loved the late bloomer storyline and how it emphasized that we are all on our own timelines. I also liked the message that it's never too late to find or be your authentic self. Sadie and Mal were sweet together, too. I enjoyed watching their love bloom, from their first airplane meet cute to their self-discoveries all the way through to their happily ever after.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC in exchange for my review!

E-ARC generously provided by Atria Books in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much!

I had the absolute best time reading this book - I loved Mal and Sadie, actually I loved everyone - all the characters were so wonderfully written.

The tension?? The pining?? The descriptive paragraphs? I enjoyed every second of this.

What happens when you drunkenly come out to an attractive stranger during plane turbulence and then find out that same stranger is on your European walking tour for two weeks AND you're sharing a room the whole time?
Well you get this wonderful queer romance adventure is what you get!

What a lovely book! Allison Cochrun does it again!

Every Step She Takes is a cozy, sapphic romance about two women who meet and find love while walking the Camino de Santiago through Portugal and Spain. I loved the late bloomer storyline as well as the many, diverse representations of queerness. It was emotional and touching without being overly sappy or preachy. It inspired me to add the Camino to my bucket list and actually included lots of practical advice for what to pack and what to expect. All in all, a thoroughly satisfying read!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! All opinions are my own.

Such a beautiful story of embracing oneself and accepting that you are exactly where you need to be. Each individuals' time line is different. Sadie's story reminds me that its never too late to find out our true passion and forgetting about societal norms and becoming our true self. Mal's need for escape and chasing the new 'high" reflects so much of not handling our pain and always seeking an escape. Absolutely love this story..

Well I loved this book. It’s pretty easy for me to love a book like this - a sweet story about self acceptance, learning to place boundaries, and love… It’s catnip for me. And I absolutely love romance books that are equally about a person’s growth and knowledge of themselves as it is about the love story.

It’s a forced proximity story with an endearing cast of characters. Our MC is a kind people pleaser who has never allowed herself to slow down and get in touch with who she really is and what she really wants. Our love interest is a globetrotting free spirit who - if we’re honest - has some troubles setting down roots. For ~reasons~. And all the supporting characters are unique and truly play a role in the story.

I think a lot of romance stories get caught in a story of two people becoming everything to each other, eclipsing their friendships and long lasting relationships. But in this one, the surrounding cast of friends and family aren’t just there for support and clarity, they’re there for growth and community.

Alison Cochrun has written another banger and it’s absolutely worth picking this one up for a heartwarming endeavor.