Some books just hit differently💘, and this was exactly what I’d been looking for lately💯. A romance packed with emotion❤️‍🩹, but also one that focuses on the main character’s children🧸. I don’t know why, but that’s been my thing recently, and this book delivered📥.

The writing style stood out to me right away💫—part of the story Lucy is addressing directly to Gabe, almost like a diary📖, while the rest is in first person. From the very beginning, there’s this heavy sadness😔 and angst that you can feel through Lucy’s words. It’s like she’s carrying so much, and you just want to sit with her and listen🫂.

I had no idea👁️👄👁️ this was the second book in a duology until after I started reading, but honestly? It didn’t even matter. Past events are woven in well that it’s easy to understand what happened before, and I never felt lost. It works perfectly fine as a standalone👏🏼.

One of my favorite things in books is when characters actually explore their emotions and talk about them🥺🌟—whether through therapy or just open conversations. This book gave me that, especially near the end when Violet was able to express her feelings to her mom. That moment really hit🔥.

Thanks Netgalley and the author for the ARC💯💫❤️‍🔥

Sequel to The light we lost. You can read this alone but I suspect that book 1 will enhance book 2.
It is 10 years since Gabe, friend of Lucy died. Lucy and her family have moved on and while her ex husband, Darren, has remarried with a new family, Lucy still feels that Gabe is her lost love. Darren and Lucy co-parent their children fairly successfully.
One day Gabe's publisher calls saying that they want to reissue a book of Gabe's photos and seek Lucy's help for the original files. Whilst looking through Gabe's photos, Lucy finds an envelope with an Italian address. Who was important to Gabe enough that he kept the address. Lucy decides to find out and a new path in her journey begins.
Poignant and interesting look on blended families.

The Love We Found - Jill Santrpolo

My thoughts.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Thank you so much to for sending me this ARC. I will be sharing my honest, unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are my own

“𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒆… 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆”

This books is a continuation, 10 years later from the first The Light We Lost.

I love how Lucy speaks to Gabe directly as if he’s still here. It actually makes it kind of heart breaking and heavy, which I absolutely love in a book.

I really wish we got to see more of Lucy in Italy. I really loved that for her character as for me, it was a pivotal point in the storyline as she started to overcome her grief reaching out to her family, standing up for herself and even finding love again.

I did think the pace could have been a bit faster however it was an easy read nonetheless. Jill did a great job with this book and Lucy deserved her HEA.

“𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖… 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆”

I count The Love We Lost among one of my all-time favorite books, so I had high hopes for The Love We Found. While it offers a compelling story of grief, healing, and second chances, it didn’t quite hit the mark for me in the way its predecessor did.

The novel picks up ten years after Lucy Carter Maxwell lost the love of her life, Gabe. Still trapped in the shadow of that loss, Lucy stumbles upon a forgotten box of his photographs, sending her on a journey that forces her to confront her past. This leads her to Italy, where she meets Dr. Dax Armstrong—a man with his own pain and a presence that awakens something long dormant within her. Their connection is undeniable, yet Lucy remains tethered to the life she’s built around grief. As secrets unfold, she must decide whether to cling to the past or embrace the possibility of a new future.

While the premise is undeniably moving, I found the execution to be somewhat lacking in comparison to The Love We Lost. That book delivered such an emotional gut punch, with characters that felt raw and deeply layered. Here, Lucy’s journey—while poignant—felt more predictable, and the romantic tension with Dax didn’t carry the same weight as her past love story.

That being said, the writing remains evocative, and the descriptions of Italy are beautifully immersive. But for me, The Love We Found didn’t quite recapture the magic that made The Love We Lost so unforgettable.

🇮🇹 The Love We Found 🇮🇹 Jill Santopolo ⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Is there a piece of you somewhere that loves me still? Or is it all in the past? Are we ancient history, and am I the archivist, keeping it alive?”

This is an arc review and this book releases March 18th.

The story revolves around Lucy, who discovers a piece of paper with an address in Rome among her late husband Gabe's old photos. This discovery prompts her to embark on a journey to Rome where she meets Dr. Dax Amstrong, a New Yorker working here. As she gets to know Dax, she finds herself drawn to him, despite the lingering memories of Gabe.

The Love We Found is a follow up to The Light We Lost so I highly recommend reading this first to give more context and understanding plus it’s a brilliant book. In my opinion this was not as good or as emotional as the first book and found it just to be a generic romance, this didn’t feel particularly memorable or stand out to me sadly but it did explore grief, learning to move on and acceptance and new love so think lots of people would love this book just failed to meet expectations for me and fell a bit flat, feeling forced to orchestrate a happy ending but may have been my expectations were so high.

I read the first book about 3 years ago and mourned the ending. It felt both fitting and destroying and I thought about it a lot, even after finishing other books. My mind just kept flitting back to it.

‘Lost love’ is something I love but also struggle with. The idea that two people are entirely meant for each other but cannot make their lives together work seems to attack me like no other trope. This latest book helps to put some of that psychological restlessness to bed and it was cathartic to see the main character work through the trials of the last book, and her love for Gabe, in a completely realistic way.

It was sugar coated at all and I liked how the author made the ending ‘happy’ without it being completely unrelated to what could happen in a real life situation.

Jill Santopolo delivers an emotional and thought-provoking sequel to The Light We Lost, exploring love, fate, and the weight of past choices.

Nearly ten years after Gabe’s death, Lucy stumbles upon a cryptic note hidden among his old photos—an address in Rome. Unable to ignore the pull of the past, she embarks on a journey to uncover his secret. In Italy, she meets Dr. Dax Amstrong, a man whose presence stirs emotions she thought she had buried. But back home, an even bigger decision looms—whether to reveal the truth to her son about his real father.

This book beautifully captures the messiness of love, grief, and moving forward. Lucy remains a deeply relatable character, and her journey feels both personal and universal. A heartfelt and compelling read that lingers long after the final page.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

a heartfelt and emotional journey that explores love, loss, and the complexities of second chances. Santopolo’s writing is warm and evocative, capturing the characters' emotions with authenticity. The relationship dynamics are compelling, and the themes of healing and personal growth resonate throughout the story. While the pacing can be a bit predictable at times, the novel’s depth and emotional weight make it a memorable and satisfying read for fans of romance and personal transformation.

A story spanning decades, a lost love, a new love and how keeping secrets can cause tension but that we can all learn to love again.

The love we found is a book about a woman who has three children. Two are her (now ex) husbands and the third was from a fling outside of her marriage. The man died before their son was born and her husband agreed to raise him as his own. Now its coming up to the anniversary of his death and she decides its time to tell her son the truth. This is an ok sort of easygoing read but it isn't overly gripping. I enjoyed it enough but wouldn't rush to recommend.

having heard great things about the love we lost by this author i was intrigued and excited to read this book. yes i was coming in blind to the story but this did not take anything away from this book which was a great read in its own right. a heartfelt story.

I read the first book a couple of weeks before starting this so I was able to dive straight in… The Love We Found picks up 10 years after The Light We Lost… Narrated from the perspective of Lucy I found it a little depressing to start, I wasn’t a huge fan of her in the first book and she grated even more in this one! That being said, it got moving in the second half, I enjoyed how she navigated the family dynamic and the introduction of a potential new partner.

I would recommend this book however you do really need to read the prequel to understand the history & relationship between Lucy & Gabe.

I wish I’d known that this was a second book in the series, I’d have much preferred to read this with the knowledge of the first book. I felt a little lost - but knowing this now, that makes sense! I enjoyed the writing style and structure of the book and the characters were really well written. I struggled to finish this due to the numbers dotted throughout and the breaks etc. but think that’s maybe more due to the formatting.

Hmmmm. I wish I’d read the first book before this one. That said, I didn’t really care for the main characters and found myself rushing to finish this. It didn’t help that the text was all jumbled with numbers. I would read another book by this author to see if I feel differently!
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Wow! I truly felt all the emotions with Lucy! This isn't just about finding love, this is about so much more! It focuses on family, guilt and grief. Couldn't put the book down!

A new author for me. A very emotional read. I loved the story and you got a happy ending after going through some ups and downs in the story.. Shared care with your x is amazing.. I would struggle with that . I loved how the main character put her own happiness second at times.. So much I want to say but I would spoil the story- read it.. Children are amazing . Set in New York mainly.

This is a follow on book and didn’t realise this and tbh wished I had read the first book before this,however saying this there is a lot of backstory and so could connect to the characters and could piece together why we were at the place we were,10 years on from the original
Really well written and emotive and I enjoyed Lucy ‘speaking’ to Gabe,it felt genuine and real and I was fully invested in it
Always enjoy a book with short chapters where a lot is packed into each one
Overall a moving read and one glad read

An absolutely beautiful follow up to the first book. Incredibly emotional but so so heartwarming. Love these characters. Please bring a third instalment.

Thanks to @netgalley and publishers for the ARC.

I'd picked this book, not knowing that it was a sequel. Had I known that I would've read the 1st book beforhenad and that way, this one would have made much more sense. Even if it had been a little sentence on the back of the book to say so.
Whilst I enjoyed the story, it took me a while to get going because I constantly felt that I was missing something (I was in hindsight, the 1st book!). I thought this would be about a woman finding love again after the death of her husband/partner, but I didn't twig at first she was grieving the death of her (extra marital) lover not her husband, and her still being completely infatuated with him to the detriment of trying to find love again. It would've been good to see more of her relationship with the new guy and less about Gabe; he took up way too much book for me.

Lastly, I did find the copy really hard to read because there were numbers, letters jumbled about all over the place, as well as spelling and grammar errors.
That said, I'd probably read again after reading the first book.

When I found out there was a sequel to The Light We Lost, I couldn’t wait to dive in!

And it did not disappoint. Set ten years later, this book gives us a glimpse into Lucy’s life—and it’s an emotional whirlwind.

While it didn’t hit me quite as hard as The Light We Lost, it’s still a heartfelt and worthwhile read that I’d definitely recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley & HQ for the ARC! The Love We Found hits shelves on March 18th—don’t miss it!