In 2022 I read The Charm Offensive, which was my introduction to books by Alison Cochrun. I really enjoyed this book, so I was wondering how Here We Go Again would hold up. It’s a romcom where opposites attract and involves a road trip. It also involves some triggers, such as an off-page death of a parent and an on-page death of a parental figure. Was this book too comedic or does it contain some more deeper layers?

About the book

Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun
Published by Atria Books on April 2, 2024
Pages: 356
ISBN: 9781668021194
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The author of the “sexy, insightful, and utterly charming” (BuzzFeed) Kiss Her Once for Me returns with a new queer rom-com following once childhood best friends forced together to drive their former teacher across the country.

A long time ago, Logan Maletis and Rosemary Hale used to be friends. They spent their childhood summers running through the woods, rebelling against their conservative small town, and dreaming of escaping. But then an incident the summer before high school turned them into bitter rivals. After graduation, they went ten years without speaking.

Now in their thirties, Logan and Rosemary find they aren’t quite living the lives of adventure they imagined for themselves. Still in their small town and working as teachers at their alma mater, they’re both stuck in old patterns. Uptight Rosemary chooses security and stability over all else, working constantly, and her most stable relationship is with her label maker. Chaotic and impulsive Logan has a long list of misguided ex-lovers and an apathetic shrug she uses to protect herself from anything real. And as hard as they try to avoid each other—and their complicated past—they keep crashing into each other. Including with their cars.

But when their beloved former English teacher and lifelong mentor tells them he has only a few months to live, they’re forced together once and for all to fulfill his last wish: a cross-country road trip. Stuffed into the gayest van west of the Mississippi, the three embark on a life-changing summer trip—from Washington state to the Grand Canyon, from the Gulf Coast to coastal Maine—that will chart a new future and perhaps lead them back to one another.

My review

Expectations

As I really enjoyed The Charm Offensive, my expectations were set pretty high for this novel. I mean, I’m not the type for romcoms, but I have a soft spot for queer literature. It’s diverse and these stories often bring so much more depth to them than appears at first. It also felt like the perfect read for this summer, although I was a bit wary of it. This mainly has to do with the romcom part, this often makes me pick up a book more reluctantly. They often don’t happen to be that funny after all and admittedly, I thought this would apply to this novel as well.

Characters

Main characters couldn’t differ more from one another than Logan Malitis and Rosemary Hale do. Once best friends, the pair hasn’t been on speaking terms for over a decade. Which is quite unfortunate, as they work at the same school. Neither, understandably, aren’t too thrilled to take their old English teacher and good friend Joseph Delgado on his final trip to Maine. He wants to be driven, because he wants to take every single moment in as it comes. And he refuses to tell the girls why it’s them that need to take him. Logan is the chaotic and impulsive one off the pair, whereas Rosemary thrives with her binders and itinerary. Order and structure iswhat works best for her, much to Logan’s annoyance and dismay. Rosemary on the other hand has difficulties adapting to Logan’s impulsive nature, sticking to the plan is what she needs. So you can imagine that they are on eachother’s nerves a lot. Gradually, they learn much about the other, and that’s what makes them develop significantly. This development comes naturally, with the occasional setbacks. They have to face that they’re not so different at all and this entire development is why these opposite characters work so well together. The author did a good job on writing them. I can’t judge the representation for being neurodivergent, but I’ve learnt plenty as I don’t have any experience and knowledge about this. I really enjoyed seeing their growth and this is actually the key element of this story.

Plot

The plot on the other hand, is quite predictable. You know these characters will embark on a road trip and due to the trigger warning I figured out the ending soon enough. It’s entirely due to the character development and the themes Cochrun addresses, that I was kept intrigued. I wanted to keep reading to find out if the unfolding of the story might change somehow. However, the themes carry this plot. It was interesting to see what happened all these years ago that made once inseparable best friends into enemies that couldn’t even stand to look at eachother. This gets elaborated in depth. The author doesn’t shy away from tense moments and this is what brings more depth to the novel. My only point of critique is the large amount of pop culture references one of the characters continuously makes. This shortens the longlivity of this book as many references would probably be forgotten in a matter of years. I got annoyed by them at some point as they don’t make sense in context of this story and character arc.

Writing

Cochrun chooses to tell this story through a dual POV narrative. This is nothing but logical as Logan and Rosemary are totally opposite characters. This helps in getting to know them. This was pretty much a smooth read overall, due to the writing style. This book is pretty long, nearly 400 pages. However, it doesn’t feel this way as the chapters are not too long and the POV switches are clearly indicated. I flew through this novel in a breeze, which is good.

Final thoughts

Whereas I picked up Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun with a bit of reluctance, this happened to be unfounded. Although the plot itself is quite thin and predictable, its themes and the character growth kept me intrigued. I wanted to continue reading in hopes of some plot twists here and there. The characters develop significantly and that’s why these totally opposite personalities work well here. The author provides depth with this character development and aforementioned themes. Furthermore, the smooth writing style makes this an easy read that fits the summer perfectly. The amount of pop culture references is a bit concerning though, this might shorten the longlivity of the book’s relevance. I mean, many references get lost over the years. If you are looking for a book set against a road trip but with more depth, then this one might suit you just fine.