Fated to meet. Destined to fall in love. Bound to fall apart.
In Julia Waters’s world, everything is easily explained. Simple, uncomplicated, logical. Until she meets JP Chapman on a cross-country flight, the handsome kindergarten teacher charms her with his wit, humor, and irresistible smile. While spending a magical night wandering the streets of Seattle, the two stumble upon a fortune teller who predicts their futures will forever be entwined.
But sometimes the road to love isn’t a straight line. Over the span of five years, careers, different cities, and missed chances stand in the way of them being together. It isn’t until she starts listening to the advice of her late grandmother, who visits her dreams since that first night in Seattle, does Julia realize not everything about love is straightforward.
If she hopes to discover why an invisible string continues to pull her back to him, she must trust her grandmother’s advice and, ultimately, herself.
Caitlin Moss is the author of swoony romance books that give you all the feels.
She is a writer turned stay-at-home-mom turned author and currently resides in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, three children, and two golden doodles.
absolutely devoured this poolside!!! it was so bingeworthy and good and the romance was so much fun 👏🏼
i love “right person wrong time” tropes and this reminded me a lot of SEVEN SUMMERS which is buzzing around this summer.
so many one liners had me gasping—the tension and angst and love story was so powerfully built up and believable. i also loved how each character supported the others dreams and goals with their careers. adult romances >>>
also there is a twist in here that will make you gasp!! seriously i was almost teary eyed! it’s deff more of an emo romance but has a good amount of spice too!
also 3 cheers for a book set in CHICAGO!! let’s gooo!!! 🌃
support your indie authors and grab a copy of this when it releases on 9/3!!! thank you to Caitlin for the gifted copy :)
I'm really proud of this book. For so many reasons. But mostly because I love these characters. And also because this book received so much criticism from the industry for not following a formula.
I'm okay with that because the road to love isn't a straight line. It's magical, twisted, and sometimes broken.
I'm so excited to share these two with the world.
So much chemistry. Plenty of laughs. All the feels.
🔮🩷🥹
UPDATE: Andi Eloise's performance on the audiobook will BLOW YOU AWAY.
This book made me question why the heck I read romance. I’m going to rant BIG TIME with spoilers so don’t read it if you liked this book or want to read it.
First of all, I started out thinking JP was the ultimate cinnamon roll book boyfriend, but he ultimately ended up being a total coward when it came to Julia. Prince Charming was actually a toad. The worst part is that Julia put up with his shit and waited around. I’m sure some readers will think, “But Julia and JP were never officially dating,” “right person, wrong time” and all that to which I will roll my eyes so far back in my head. If he wanted to he would and he didn’t. Over and over again, he didn’t.
And then there’s Julia. She is the most desperate and pathetic FMC I’ve ever encountered. Julia, JP is not that into you! He married someone else! He changed his number and did not tell you! You are always the one contacting him and pursing him. Unless you throw yourself into his line of sight, he’s fine being without you.
Do not get me started on how she called him (after forcing his new number out of her sister who happens to be his wife’s best friend) pretending to care about his dying wife while she fantasized about his touch. Then she befriends his wife as a way to insert herself back into his life as an option in case his wife dies. Absolutely disgusting even though she’s so immature that I’m not even sure she knows she’s doing it. Everyone else in her life knows though. That desperate friend you know is so far in denial that it’s uncomfortable. You feel sad for them and cringe whenever they’re around because they’re so obviously not living in reality. Don’t bring it up or question her irrational connection to this man though or she’ll get angry and gaslight you into thinking you’re the problem.
I really loved the author’s efforts to make this all okay. To justify it all. The whole “It’s always been you…” and his dying wife apologizing for getting in the way… that was my favorite unhinged moment. Well, maybe it was Julia moving in on JP at his wife’s funeral. Hard to choose.
Julia, go ahead and waste your life pining for a man that doesn’t want to fight for you unless he has no other options. If a man needs nine chances to choose you, he’s just settling. Keep throwing yourself at him until it sticks though.
Donovan dodged a bullet though so good for him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
From the very first chapter, this one had me smiling! Airplane meet-cutes are some of my absolute favourites, especially when paired with playful banter. JP and Julia instantly made my heart burst.
“You will have many loves. But most of them will be him.”
When these cryptic words were spoken by a fortune teller to Julia and JP, I knew I was in for an emotional rollercoaster—and boy, did the angst deliver. I hesitate to call this an insta-love romance, as I know that can turn off many readers (myself included), but this is one of those rare instances where you truly feel the deep, intense connection between Julia and JP.
And trust me, so much happens in this story. It constantly throws surprises your way, with Julia and JP being torn apart again and again. AND AGAIN. The anguish was addicting! The unpredictability of this romance kept me 100% hooked—I never knew what would happen next, and I LOVED that.
‘Fated to meet. Destined to fall in love. Bound to fall apart.’
Goodbye Again was like watching a movie play out on my kindle. And I have a Paperwhite. Hell, you can’t even play Angry Birds on a Paperwhite. So if that doesn’t say enough, let me just keep blatherin’ all over the place about the cinematic experience that was this book…
Moss writes her characters like they’re anything but fictional. Like she genuinely knows & spends time with these people, rather than just having thought them up and brought them to life in her head and then on the page. Her MC’s, her MC’s families, her MC’s pets, namely a pooch named Kevin…. You KNOW them. You love them, you hate them, you hope for them and scream at them. You cry and mourn when they cry and mourn and you want to slap the lips off any person who dares to hurt them.
I have loved so many of her books and she emotionally devastates me every single time. THIS is why I read. Words turned into a story turned into a life. It hooks you. It pulls you by the hair and does not let you go.
This is what I hope for at the start of every new book. To fall into something so well written you forget you’re reading at all and you have to take a breather just to calm your heart palpitations. And walk outside for some air, scream at a random, unsuspecting person *because what the hell else are you gonna do with all these emotions, huh??*, and finally, you clean up the drool that’s collected in front of you (where the hell did that come from?). And then as an afterthought, you whisper to yourself (very sadly & very quietly because you’re at work), “Get a hold of yourself, woman! JP is nacho boyfriend! The clothes in a puddle on the floor are not yours. He peeled those off of someone else.”….sniff sniff…
Ahh yes, I digress. This book was everything. It was love at first sight. It was too many LOL’s to count. It was heartache, frustration, trauma and tradgedy. It was the double edged sword of yearning and longing; hurtful, but not hopeless. It was love, big love and lots of chill bumps and a little bit of magic...
It was apricity.
& of course I recommend. Just please understand I’m a reader, not a writer okurrtt?! So I’m sorry this review is basically the equivalent of a psychopath.
HUGE thanks to Caitlin Moss, you mf’n queen & to NetGalley for this arc in exchange for a terrible, but completely honest review. I. Loved. It.
This is a cute read. It's emotional, it's thoughtful, it isn't the same repetitive story that I read on here nowadays. For that alone it gets ALL the stars!!!
Why 4 not 5? Some of the conversation was not my favorite. You win some you lose some.
I was already recommending this story to friends when I had only finished 33% of it and the rest of the story didn’t disappoint!
I absolutely loved JP and Julia’s story! I loved their easy banter. I loved that their story didn’t follow a typical formula and kept me on the edge of my seat. I felt like I was able to easily feel all of the feelings they shared in their circumstances. I couldn’t get enough of this story or Moss’s writing and I adored the Spreading Sprinkles addition. I would love to know what life looks like for JP and Jules many years down the road because they feel like old friends of mine and I want so much good for them.
This book was so so good! I loved this couple and my heart broke for them every time their circumstances wouldn’t work. The MMC is a “if he wanted to he would” type of guy and I loved how the FMC wouldn’t take anything less than what she needed. This book was beautifully written with multiple different aspects like grief, toxic relationships, right relationship wrong time, etc. l would 100% recommend reading this book!!
Thank you NetGalley and Caitlin Moss for the eARC!!
Goodbye Again to another box of Kleenex after finishing this absolutely gorgeous romance by new-to-me author Caitlin Moss. I grabbed a few of her books a few weeks ago after seeing a post from another Bookstagrammer (thanks again, Paige, for putting her on my radar!) and ended up picking this one up shortly afterward, without knowing a whole lot about what to expect.
What I expected was a sweet love story about two people who just kept being in a right people, wrong time situation and just couldn’t figure out how to make it right. A cute story about waiting until the time is right to be with that perfect person, okay sounds cute. What I absolutely did NOT expect was the absolutely beautiful prose that took us through this stunning story.
I fell in love with Julia and JP over and over again, each time their paths crossed within the five years in which this story takes place. I grew impatient waiting for the right time for them, my heart broke every time it didn’t work, yet again, and at a certain point I started to worry that they (and I) would not get that happy ending they (and I) so desperately deserved from this story.
Julia’s relationship with her grandma, and her grief and journey of moving on without her in her life, was beautifully done, and it just added to the emotion that filled my heart while I existed in this story.
This is one of those books that was so absolutely stunning that, if you’ve been around a while, you know I have trouble reviewing it with any kind of worth whatsoever. So just trust me when I say this book blew me away, I will love them always, and I cannot wait to read everything Caitlin Moss has ever written and fall in love with her stories all over again.
In the world’s cutest meet cute, JP and Julia just happened to end up seated next to each other on a plane where they just happen to be headed tot he same city and the same baby shower. This is basically instalove and they proceed to embark on a courtship that any idiot can see is something rare and special. Except a thing happens that precludes them from being together and again and again and again. It seems like every time the door seems open for these two to pursue a relationship, the door is slammed back shut in their faces. For five whole painful fucking years. And yet it is so boldly clear that these two love each other deeply the entire time, even when they try to deny it.
Rating: 4.75 ⭐️ Spice: 🌶️🌶️
Holy shit. This is one of the craziest emotional rollercoasters I’ve ever been on. I mean these two are so perfect, so in love, so destined to be together. But gaht damn EVERYTHING gets in their way, including themselves. This book was like one big long third act breakup and I swear I can feel the piercing in my heart. I read this in two days because I literally had to get off the rollercoaster and get to the happy ending. My heart absolutely could not take it.
Julia and JP are both fantastic characters on their own. Both *truly good* people. Their chemistry and banter was a downright impressive feat by author Caitlin Moss. The pain, aching and longing for each other? Wow.
I appreciated the B stories in this book as well. She has a complicated relationship with her mom. He experiences profound grief. There’s excellent therapy rep.
Truly the only reason I’m knocking off .25 stars is because I really could have used one less missed connection, one fewer painful parting of ways with these two. It was a razor’s edge away from feeling like a trauma dump but fortunately stayed on the right side of the line for me.
This is a profoundly beautiful right person/wrong time book. This book could readily be considered The Standard for that trope.
My heart feels brutalized. (Thanks a lot, Cammie.)
🫡 Tropes deployed: right person/wrong time, therapy rep (she’s a therapist!), teacher rep (he’s a kindergarten teacher!), complex family dynamics, grief rep, caregiving
This book melted my heart. I felt every emotion that Julia and JP felt…their chemistry, their love, their passion, their pain, their grief, their very complicated feelings about each other and about life! I felt all the swoops and dives, and I was completely invested in these two warm, complex, funny and passionate characters. No spoilers, no synopsis—just read it and hold on for a fantastic ride. I was proved an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher via Net Galley.
Let me tell y’all, when I passed that halfway point I became an unhinged reader of this book. UNHINGED. The dramatic chaos that presented itself had me literally dropping my jaw and saying “noooooooo” and then getting a little teary-eyed too. This is an atypical romance for me. It does not follow a smooth pattern and brings the angst and WILL THEY EVER GET THEIR MOMENT vibes that left me breathless.
I really loved JP. And I loved Julia. EVEN IF I WANTED TO SHAKE THEM MULTIPLE TIMES. I don’t know how I feel about a few particular plot points but I jumped on the speeding train of this journey and rolled with it. There were so many good moments throughout and a lot of Julia’s family/mother dilemmas hit a little close to home.
My one tidbit about the romance was that every time JP and Julia were together there was a bit too much focus on the physicality of the relationship vs. other pieces I would have loved to see more of.
I thought it beautifully came together in the end and I am truly a fan of Caitlin Moss’s writing.
Overall audience notes: - Contemporary Romance - Language: moderate - Romance: 4+ open door - Violence: low - Content Warnings: cancer, loss of loved ones, an emotionally abusive mother
this is only my second caitlin moss book & I can guarantee it won’t be my last! have I found a new auto buy author? 10000%! caitlin moss’ writing is beautiful. I was hooked from the first chapter & couldn’t put the book down. there were so many memorable moments! I wanted Julia & JP to get together SO bad 😭 it was definitely the right person, wrong time which completely broke me. I can’t say much without giving anything away. But just know this a book you NEED to read. I can’t recommend it enough! 🥹
read if you like || -dream theory -emotional twists -multiple chances -right person, wrong time -strangers to lovers to…👀
This book is so binge worthy and definitely a Rollercoaster. It's a heartwarming tale of love, loss, and the power of destiny. This is not your usual love story but with “Right person, Wrong time”
Julia Waters, a woman who believes in logic and order, meets JP Chapman on a cross-country flight. Their connection is instant, and a night of wandering Seattle leads them to a fortune teller who predicts their futures will be entwined.However, life's twists and turns, including career changes and different cities, keep them apart for years.
This has me kicking my feet, squealing, crying and laughing with all the tension , angst, and love all at the same time. The amount of chance they took on their love is mind blowing.
But I would have loved it more if the number of times they broke up is less. At a point it became bored reading they fell apart again.
I got soooo mad reading this book. OH MY GOD!! At the very beggining I was like "JP is really adorable nobody is like this in real life" but it turned out he's like every man in real life... a piece of shit. JP is the worst and I'm not even exaggerating. He lead her on for sooo many years. Julia was dumb enough to be pinning for him when it was clear he didn't loved her... I really hate when the author writtes women to be hummiliated by the men. The cancer storyline was even worse. His ex was dying and they were flirting. I really wanted Julia alone at the end. She also forgive her mother so easily. That's bullshit. Anyway I hated this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
“Fun” fact: my high school boyfriend’s name was JP, and Caitlin miiiight have redeemed that name with one of my favorite book boyfriends 🥵😍
Every encounter makes you root for this couple even more, and you will laugh and have your heart broken right along side them. Caitlin’s writing is thoughtful and real, with just a twist of magic with this must read!
I have read every book by Caitlin Moss and loved them, but this one REALLY pulled me in deep on an emotional level. JP and Julia's story, wow, I loved their lives intersecting through the years. I had a LOT of tears throughout this book and really related to her relationship with her Mom, and I adored my grandmother just as she did. Thank you Caitlin for telling this beautiful story!!♥️
3 stars - overall entertaining and engaging but not much more substance to it. While the invisible string trope is creative and mostly well executed some of the 'nine chances' feel very much forced and unnatural. This book is marketed as a rom com but is a lot deeper - credit to it for the sensitivity surrounding such topics but I felt as though they were forced into the book purely to add emotional depth. Likeable characters, a romance worth rooting for, a solid read but not much more than that.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Of course I loved this book! Caitlin always seems to capture my heart from the very beginning so that I’m all the way invested in the characters. This love story, told over time, is raw, beautiful, heart wrenching and just real. Sometimes we may fall in love with someone, but the timing is just not right.
I loved the swooning feeling I got while reading, but as always, Caitlin brings real life events into her stories that truly reels me in.
Thank you NetGalley and Caitlin Moss for this ARC💕
Once in awhile, you'll read a book that is just so wonderfully written that I feels like it's your best friend telling you their life story. And you'll feel all their emotions with them. You'll feel the joy, the sadness, the anxiety. This book? This book is that!
JP and Julia are going to live in my head and heart rent free now. Forever. 💛
"It feels like I have loved you in a million different lives and in a million different ways. And I'm still not done. I want to love you forever. I don't think I can live without you, Jules. I thought I could but I can't. The world spins a different direction when you're in the room. Gravity doesn't exist. The wind stops blowing. My heart beats to the sound of your voice. You."
*swoon*
I will now be telling everyone I know to read this damn book so they can feel all the emotions I had too.
This morning, I intended to read precisely one chapter of this book before picking up another book that I had planned on reading today instead. Things did not go according to plan. I couldn’t put this one down. I devoured this book. I absolutely adored JP and he’s secured a top five spot in best book boyfriends of all time. Despite expectations that romance novels will always follow a certain format, this one did not—and I love it even more for that. This book was heavy at times, covering hard topics of grief and loss. While it had hard subjects, the humor really balanced it out well. This book has easily become one of my favorite romances of the year and I cannot wait to suggest it to everyone. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy!!
Gosh I simply cannot say enough good things about this book! It had me kicking my feet and squealing and crying and laughing all at the same time! This is definitely in my top 5 favorites for the year, I can't recommend this book enough! GO READ IT!!!!!!
This book made me feel all of the emotions! The characters are so thought out and I love JP so incredibly much! I wasn’t prepared to cry but I did, happy and sad tears. Caitlin did it again and pulled at all my heart strings! ❤️
How many chances do two people get to chase their happy ever after? For Julia and JP, the answer is many. After a delightful meet-cute where circumstance and fate bring them together, you just know these two are meant for each other. Their connection is deep and complete, but life has other plans, as it often does.
This love story put my heart through the wringer and left me sobbing. Actually, the sobbing started early in the book and got progressively uglier and uncontrolled. This is exactly why my •friends• urged me to read it and I love them for it.
Everything I adore about a love story is captured in Caitlin Moss’s words. Love, in real life, is messy, complicated, and non-linear. It faces challenges and either becomes stronger by working through them or withers from neglect or lack of effort. I can’t remember rooting harder for a fictional couple than I did in this book.
GOODBYE, AGAIN is not a book you read and forget. It’s a book you form a relationship with and one you wish to frequently check in on for updates on these characters who feel so real. My advice is to grab your tissues because you’ll need them. This book is best read and discussed with friends who can support you through the roller coaster of emotions it evokes.
Julia & JP forever ❤️
“Because sometimes it ends, but it’s never really over.”
I’m really excited to write this review. The first book I read by Caitlin was “To The Grave” , this author doesn’t write books in the genres I typically read, but that book blew me away. It was a 5 star read and I felt it in my soul. I went to a book signing of hers for this book & asked her “what other books of yours are like that one?” And she said that To The Grave was a stand alone book, nothing else really compared…. So I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this book. And though it’s nothing like To the Grave, what I learned that I love about this author is her ability to make you feel. I felt like I was Jules and JP was the love I was feeling. Gramma Elle was telling ME I have been loved. Every part of this book wrecked me in the best ways. My heart ached the whole way through. I felt love , passion, grief , joy, pain… the list of emotions goes on. I read this on a plane ride and shed many tears and was just so in awe and I’m sold. I’m completely sold on this author and her skill at writing is unparalleled. Soooo thankful I grabbed all of the rest of her books from the store the day I purchased this one !
Oh my goodness I don’t even know where to begin. I felt like I related to this book so much. I had to put it down so many times because it made me so emotional. I sobbed through this entire book. As you guys know, Caitlin Moss is my favorite local author, I own all of her books and they are seriously all 5 stars for me. The way that she is able to bring so much emotion and relatability to her characters is so amazing. I cannot say enough good things about this book. Everyone should read it or at least read one of her books!
Two strangers meet on a plane and become friends. Then a bit more than friends. One night as they’re wandering the streets of Seattle, a fortune teller predicts their futures will forever be entwined. But it turns into five years of bad timing and missed opportunities.
I read GOODBYE AGAIN twice and both times, it was a 5 star KNOCK OUT. Yes, I cried the second time around, too. Caitlin had me at an airplane meet cute…and that’s saying A LOT considering a plane is the last place I like to be. 😅🤣
This story is magical and hilarious but also filled with so much heart (warming and breaking.) I was so INVESTED in JP and Jules’s love story. Their characters come to life on the pages so their chemistry is palpable. The invisible string that keeps pulling them together is so strong and I was rooting for them so badly to just BE TOGETHER. 😭 The pacing was impeccable and I never wanted to stop reading.
I especially loved:
- Gramma Elle’s *dream* chapters 💭 - JP’s big Italian family 🫶🏽 - a magical twist 🔮 - the right amount of spice 🤌🏽 - Jules’ friendship with Audrey 😭 - Also, there’s a hella lot of TACOS. 💁🏽♀️
Bottom line: I LAUGHED + I CRIED. It’s just so so good.
Oh, and I crossed my legs during takeoff AND landing…oopsie. 🤭 JP would be APPALLED. >>> IYKYK.
A few of my favorite quotes ::
“What is love without magic?”
“You will have many loves. But most of them will be him.”
“Not even a little nervous I’m a serial killer?” “I do not light up a room so I have no such worries.”
“Always something but never everything.”
“It feels like I have loved you in a million different lives and in a million different ways. And I’m still not done.”
Plot- or character-driven? Character Strong character development? Yes Loveable characters? Yes Diverse cast of characters? N/A Flaws of characters a main focus? No 5.0 ⭐️
I loved this book from the first chapter. It made me feel giddy, these two characters stole my heart and held onto it right till the end. I found myself grinning like an idiot at my kindle screen more times than I can to admit!!
This book is not your typical romance book and that is exactly why it is so brilliant . It’s real and messy and complicated, in the way that life is real and messy and complicated.
It feels like the life is continuously conspiring against these two while simultaneously working its hardest to bring them together every time.
Jules- “You will have many loves, most of them will be him” Jp- “You will only have one”
You root for these two beautiful souls the whole way through, feeling everything they feel, right there alongside them. Their love is the type of love we pray for, the love we want so badly it hurts.
Just two people so close, yet so far at the same time. I laughed, I cried, I swooned, I cursed. This book was a roller coaster I could ride every day and never get sick of.
“You will begin where you began”
This was the easiest 5⭐️ rating iv ever given, without a doubt.
Read this book if you want a romance story that will change the way you think about love from this moment forward.
Instead of a review, you get highlighted lines from my Kindle:
"There's a part of me that wants to jump his bones for the hell of it, but if I'm honest, there's a part of me that just wants to be his friend for the rest of my life".
"I don't think there's a life, or a world, or any kind of universe where I don't like you."
"Why is every day with you the best day I ever had?"
"My heart sees your heart."
"Minuscule doesn't equate to less meaningful. I wish I had more nights in the snow with you. I wish I had more of your summer days. I wish I had more evenings where we watched stupid movies and spilled wine over everything. But every time I've gotten to do that, I have loved it more than you even know."
"To JP, I'm a wild night. A falling headfirst. A dance under the stars. A bottle of wine and a favorite movie. A kiss on the sidewalk. A joke in the dark. A board game on a holiday. An entire memory lost in an instant. At least, that's what he is to me."
"I think of how it all could have played out differently because if he wanted to, he would have. But he didn't."
"I never did like you. I loved you the moment we met."
"I'm desperate for you. You're the life I didn't know I need to live - the love I didn't know I could feel".
Does this one pass the vibe check? YES, YES IT DOES.