Once, Again, Always

by Amanda Gayle

A second-chance romance following a young woman who wakes up in the hospital with no memory of the past six years, only to find that she apparently married the one man she can’t stand—her arrogant and infuriating former boarding school rival. Molly Graham’s day can’t possibly get any worse after she wakes up in a hospital bed with a head injury and amnesia. But then Aster Bishop—the Aster Bishop who made her life hell at boarding school—storms into her room calling her his wife. To Molly’s shock, in the six years she no longer recalls, she somehow fell in love with a man she once despised. Persuaded by her lifelong friends to give her new reality a chance, she reluctantly returns to the home she and Aster share to try and piece together her life. So much has changed, not least the considerate and devastatingly handsome man who spends every night sleeping on the sofa to avoid making her uncomfortable. This Aster is nothing like the entitled boy she once knew. Their chemistry is undeniable, but he’s distant with her, infuriatingly so. It’s clear he has secrets, and Molly can’t stand it. Especially knowing that she might never regain her memories. That she fell in love with Aster Bishop once is hard enough to believe. But to fall in love again? To promise a future, always, when she can’t remember her past? It feels impossible when faced with a man she hardly knows and isn’t sure she can trust. And yet… Tropes Rivals to lovers Forced proximity Slow burn Yearning (so much yearning) Found family Second-chance romance Memory loss There’s only one bed and he takes the sofa like a boring, sensible man

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Second Chance, Enemies To Lovers, Adult, Fiction

Audible Audio

Expected publication October 6, 2026

About the author

At any given time, Amanda Gayle might be writing, reading, or spying on the birds in her backyard. She spends too much time on the internet, usually obsessing over fictional characters kissing. She lives in North Carolina with her two favorite people: her husband and toddler. Once, Again, Always is her debut romance.

She can be found having no clue what she's doing on instagram @amandagaylewrites.

Reviews

[levi (starboy) (s.ia)]

Reading this solely cuz of the cover.

[yuvi (hiatus)]

update/ i'm like 44% in and it's so beautiful i'm in tears. got me crying at 4 in the morning lmao. it's not without its flaws fs but that doesn't at all take away from the reading experience. def getting 5stars vibes fsfs

── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
ִֶָ. 𓂃˖꣹ pre-read ꧔⟢ ִֶָ࿐

yet another dramione ff to book adaptation lollll. i read 'wait and hope' a few months ago and altho i don't remember much of it, i do rmbr really enjoying it. and that ff got me out of my reading slump. but idkk this one is contemporary? hmm kinda skeptical but also exciteddd💗

psst word on the street is that there's yearning👀
letsseee

screaming cs wdymmmm i got the arc😝

[Sarah]

₍^. .^₎⟆ When Molly Graham wakes up from a hospital bed with a head injury, she finds out that she has amnesia and can’t remember the life she lived in the last six years. Now, she’s in her late twenties and married to Aster Bishop–the same Aster Bishop who was her academic rival in boarding school, who made her life a living hell. Although she doesn’t trust or even like Aster, her lifelong friends persuade her to go back home and try to accept her new reality and the life she now shares with her supposed husband.

Everything and everyone has changed, especially Aster, who is far more handsome than Molly remembers, and it's apparent they loved each other more than they even annoyed one another in school. But he’s distant with her, sleeping on the sofa so he doesn’t make her uncomfortable, and keeping secrets about their past, which bothers her since she may never get her memories back. And even though the memories she does have of Aster are all bad, she wonders if it’s possible to fall in love with him. She did it once; can she do it again?



⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔



ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ: Once in a Lifetime by John Michael Howell
1:33 ───ㅇ───── 3:04



₍^. .^₎⟆ TL;DR: I loved this book so much, and it is one of my favorite reads of 2026. 💙


₍^. .^₎⟆ I am so glad I didn’t wait to read this. I don’t love, but I don’t hate second-chance romances because I have…thoughts about that trope; however, I do love the memory loss trope, so when I saw the author posting about this book on Instagram, I was just waiting for the glorious day it would be available on NetGalley. And, lo and behold, it was on there and, thank God, my request was approved.

And, oh my goodness, I loved this so much! 🥹 This story reminded me so much of the movie The Vow with Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum, and I really liked that movie, so it was pretty obvious to me that I was going to like this as well.

Let me tell you, when people say that there was yearning in this book, they weren’t lying. The man was so down bad for his wife, I felt like I should have left the room and given them some space because, golly, you could tell Aster wanted to prove how much he loved Molly, but was too respectful and caring to expect her to feel the same.



I was literally clutching my chest because my cold heart was hurting so much at how freaking sweet their love story was. Ugh, all he wanted was for her to love him back, and he was willing to do anything to have Molly fall in love with him again. Okay, I’m going to start crying all over again.



Aster wasn’t perfect, mind you–he could have done some things differently when it came to helping Molly and her memories, but he was still so patient and kind and always, always there for her, even if it was diffcult for both of them to work through the trust issues Molly had (which were totally valid, I would have been the same way) and the hearbreak Aster felt that Molly didn’t know anything about the life they built together. Molly was so strong and brave. It must be so, so hard to go through something like that, and I honestly understood both of their thought processes and intentions. It was just so sweet to see them work it all out together. 😭

This was one of the most beautifully written books I have read all year. Heck, even the spice was written beautifully. Most of y’all know that I do not like spice, like at all. I used to skip those scenes altogether, but now I just skim through the vulgarity and graphic details I don’t care about. 😅 But with this book, I actually read all of it. It didn’t make me feel uncomfortable or anything–it was like reading poetry about two people in love: one who is discovering the love she knew she felt but never experienced in her present self, and the other who wanted to love his wife the way he always has and always will, no matter if she remembers their shared history or not.

Sure, the chapters were long (I kinda hate long chapters), but I didn’t mind it and evenutally didn’t notice because I was just so invested in the story and wanted to know how things ended. I was also a little iffy about the before chapters where we see what Aster's and Molly's rivalry was like because I didn't really find it necessary at first, but as time went on, I was grateful that we got to see not only why Molly was so adamant on being wary of her husband but how much Aster changed from being a snobbish prick of a teenager to a devoted and loving man.

And their friends??? Oh my gosh, I freaking loved all of them! They were so supportive and hilarious, and knowing the group's past and how they all ended up as friends was the best part. Tbh, I thought it was unnecessary that we were given an info dump about Molly’s and Aster’s friends when they were in boarding school, but as the story progressed, I understood why we were given so much lore about them. They felt like real friends and actual people who played a huge role in Molly and Aster’s lives, and I smiled every time they showed up.

I will say, though, reading the content warnings (placed at the end of the book and at the end of this review) kinda spoiled some of the plot, but I would have figured it out anyway, so it didn’t bother me. This is your little heads-up. ☺

Overall, I freaking loved this book. It was absolutely perfect to me, and if you decide to read it, I sincerely hope you love it, too.

ᰔᩚ Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon and NetGalley for providing the arc in exchange for an honest review! All opinions and statements are my own. ᰔᩚ

❗Content Warnings❗
(Copied from book) Alcohol consumption, bullying, grief, memory loss, miscarriage, and pregnancy.
Swearing: Yes
Spice: Yes (🌶🌶🌶.5/5)

[ellen]

this was so, so lovely. i believe this was a debut novel and i ADORED the writing style, so i can’t wait for more!! it was so compulsively readable, really sweet at the same time as being very witty, and the romance was gorgeous. the friend group in this were so endearing and entertaining, and we had a lot of flashback scenes which i enjoyed. im not typically a bully romance girl, which i don’t think this book really counts as, but some of the actions of our mmc in the past did irk me a bit (he does make up for it), which is probably the only reason this wasn’t a 5 star.

overall, i flew through this one really quickly, and if you’re a fan of second chance romance and grovelling, you will very much enjoy this one! loved!

[DianaRose]

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc an alc!

4.5 stars — don't mind me, reading another book that's of course, a dramione fanfic to trad pub book... to be completely honest, i never read the fic this book is based off of, and so i feel that despite obviously knowing which characters were based off of others, this holds up rather well as a contemporary romance!

my one minor complaint is our fmc’s name… i just can’t stand the name molly? but overall, this was a rather well written novel! i look forward to any future works from this author

i'm also grateful that i received an alc of the audiobook, which had duet narration - my favorite!

i enjoyed my read, and am hoping i can find the original fic somewhere since it’s no longer up on ao3...🤞🏼🙂‍↕️🤭

[jasmine ☆₊⁺🦢🪽₊⁺★]

——✮∙˙ 5 stars ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆
╰► 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸!

✧ For my husband, my life’s own improbable devotion ✧

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ⓘ ꒱ ˎˊ˗ i. synopsis⋆˚꩜｡

⋮ ✦┆when molly graham wakes up in the hospital with no memory, she discovers that the last six years of her life are gone—including the fact that she's married to aster bishop, her former boarding school rival. certain she could never have fallen for the arrogant boy she once despised, molly returns home with him to piece together her missing memories. but the aster she remembers is nothing like the thoughtful, patient man standing before her now. as old feelings clash with undeniable chemistry, molly begins to uncover the life they built together and wonders if it's possible to fall in love with the same person twice—even when she can't remember the first time.

✧ genre: contemporary romance
✧ tropes: memory loss • second chance • slow burn • forced proximity • rivals to lovers • found family

◦◦,`°.✽✦✽.◦.✽✦✽.°`,◦◦ ◦◦,`°.✽✦✽.◦.✽✦✽.°`,◦◦

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ ii. my thoughts ⋆｡°💭

⋮ ✦┆i can’t even fathom how much i loved this book. from the very beginning, you’re instantly dragged into a world of confusion, grief, relief, and so much more.

the plot was so interesting and i found that i was pretty anxious throughout different times in this book. there were a lot of tense moments, especially between the two main characters, molly graham and aster bishop, and i absolutely loved seeing their relationship re-develop.

this book is also written in dual timeline. i don’t usually like that in books because it’s not written that well to me. but the flashbacks are very very brief (usually 1-3 pages), and they’re also a very interesting introduction to the next chapter/character that’s been in molly’s life over the course of the years.

the writing was phenomenal and the way the author described feelings and small details just made this book even more intriguing. this is one of the best debut books i’ve read!

❝ The closest I come to remembering is with you.❞

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ iii. characters ⋆｡°🌷

✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡˚ molly graham ⋆｡°
⌞📖⌝ ⋮ ✦┆in my opinion, molly is such a strong character. even with such a HUGE bump in the road, she still manages to push through these difficulties. i mean, she lost 6 years of memories…if i was her, i’d for sure freak out and hyperventilate.

something i really enjoyed was how we—as the readers—are also experiencing this hardship and confusion with her. there were so many times where i was frustrated, sad, and just completely in love.

but seriously, the way the author just structured this story to evoke such emotions out of me, makes me appreciate and love this book even more.

there were definitely stages to molly’s situation, however, she always held onto hope (unless told otherwise) and that was really special because i think in a situation like hers, that’s very difficult.

✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡˚ aster bishop ⋆｡°
⌞☕️⌝ ⋮ ✦┆the yearning part in this book comes all from this man. aster bishop was so so supportive of molly, never giving up on helping—in any way he can—return her memories back to her.

as difficult as Molly’s memory loss was for her, it was also very difficult for aster. he had many insecurities and worries that she wouldn’t be able to love him again, and i truly felt so bad for him. but, no matter what (just like molly) he also held onto hope.

to talk more about the yearning—i haven’t seen a man yearn this much in such a long time and aster almost made it seem like he made up the word.

✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡˚ side characters ⋆｡°
⌞🏡⌝ ⋮ ✦┆ absolutely loved all of the other characters in this book. they all made this book feel so much more homey.

molly and aster’s relationship with them were so special to me, and i enjoyed seeing every single interaction. these moments felt raw and you could honestly feel the love they all have for one another.

❝And then you thanked me. It almost killed me, how hard I realized I’d fallen right then.❞

⋆✴︎˚｡⋆iv. overall ⋆｡°⌛️

⋮ ✦┆i love how this book shows how a hardship effects both people in a relationship, and it takes strength, dedication, and love to overcome it. i am genuinely so grateful to have received this arc and i’m wait for this book to be published and buy the physical copy! i annotated so much on my kindle :) i can’t wait for you guys to read this book!

── ⋆⋅𖤓⋅⋆ ──
ᝰ.ᐟ 🧠 ⌗ pre read┆started may 17 | finished may 30 ˎˊ˗
the premise of this book sounds so so good and i actually can’t wait to get into it! i’m only a few pages in so far, but we’re starting of strong 😝

˖᯽ ݁˖· ─ 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘯 & 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘷𝘰𝘺𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘤 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸
⟢ 𝙥𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚: october 6

[Seri ❤ (new job semi-MIA)]

I give up. Dnf @48%
The premise:
Imagine waking up with 6 years of your memory missing and your former infuriating boarding school rival now claiming to be your husband!

❗️RANT BELOW❗️
I was genuinely very much looking forward to reading this book, as it was one of my most highly anticipated releases of 2026, but…this book is a whole lot of nothing. I don't understand how this book can be 400 pages when there's not been a single conversation detailing her previous "great love" with Aster (the MMC). Sure, plenty of people have told Molly (the FMC) that they're blissfully in love, but nowhere in the actions of the man who has gone out of his way to THREATEN people into not talking about the past with her do I see this so-called "deep love" play out.

*Honestly, Aster's unwillingness to share about her own past with Molly (he even censored her phone!) started reading as unsettling--borderline abusive even. He even forbade others from talking with her about the past! No one is saying info-dump it all on the poor woman in one sitting, but the fact that MONTHS went by and she was still in the dark is not okay.

What's truly frustrating is that Molly's not even TRYING to sleuth things out for herself. The MMC has so firmly shut her up with the line, “I don’t want to overwhelm you with lots of detail to potentially cause you to relapse," that TWO WHOLE MONTHS have passed, and everything is pretty much still at square one. 😤😤😤

The reason I say "pretty much" is because Molly's AMAZING husband started occasionally showing her mugs from their travels. So yayyyy, good for Molly!!! At least she now knows that she’s traveled over the course of these missing six years!!! 🎉🥳🥳

I could bring up more, but this review is already long enough. To summarize my remaining points: I feel no chemistry between the leads. Nobody is fleshed out. The FL doesn’t even do anything, really; she's always at home, so why isn't there a stronger sense of urgency to uncover her past? Ex: Molly returned to her workplace after 6 weeks, but instead of ANY kind of pushing the story forward with her getting reacquainted with her former work friends. OR maybe even having old memories resurface now that she's back in a place that only the "her" of these past 6 years remembers. We get a single line of "This past week she returned to her job" to sum it up. 🙃🙃

I can’t come up with a SINGLE positive thing to commend, so it's a one-star.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Voyager for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

[morgan ۶ৎ]

dnf @ 35%

i’m sorry, i tired. i really did. the premise sounded promising which had me super excited, that’s why i requested it. the execution? poor. memory loss trope is ONLY good when it is done right and to me this was not.

the pacing? so painfully slow i wanted to rip my eyeballs out with boredom (sorry) especially with 30 minute chapters, i physically cannot sit through that when NOTHING is happening 😭 is it just me or do the “before” chapters feel irrelevant?

i felt zero connection between the main characters. the fmc is annoying, mmc is annoying, their friends are annoying. i honestly don’t care enough.

thank you netgalley, avon and harper voyager for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Sophie]

✎ᝰ. pre-read: i’ve seen mixed reviews but the audiobook became available and i couldn’t help myself! let’s see if i’ll regret it 😳

💌 Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio Adult for the alc!

[Nilufer Ozmekik]

Oh my stars, if you want a book that will absolutely wreck you in the best way possible, pick this one up immediately. I went into this expecting a standard second-chance romp, but what I got was a full-blown emotional exorcism that left me sobbing in a heap on my couch.

The premise is just cruel—in the most delicious way. Poor Molly wakes up with a giant, terrifying "oops" in her memory, only to find out she’s married to Aster Bishop, the guy who made her teenage years a living nightmare. Imagine waking up in a hospital bed and finding out your childhood arch-nemesis is now the person who is supposed to be your soulmate. I was screaming at the pages! The sheer amount of yearning radiating off Aster? It should be illegal. He’s carrying the crushing weight of six years of devotion while Molly is looking at him like he’s a total stranger, and watching him try to hold it all together while his heart is clearly being put through a meat grinder? Absolute, exquisite agony. I lived for every agonizing second of it.

What really grounded this story wasn't just the swoon-worthy romance—though, let’s be clear, the tension is thick enough to cut with a chainsaw—but the found family dynamic. Usually, friend groups in these kinds of books feel like filler or background noise, but this crew actually felt like a support system you’d want in your own life. And can we talk about the slow burn? It is top-tier. It’s that rare kind of anticipation where a simple graze of the hand feels like a wildfire, and when the payoff finally hits, it is worth every single second of the torture.

Is it perfect? Maybe not. Some of the high school flashbacks left me hungry for more insight into their initial courtship, and I found myself wishing we’d gotten a bit more of Aster’s perspective earlier on to balance out the mystery of their shared past. But honestly? I didn’t care. The emotional resonance of Molly navigating this strange new reality, rediscovering who she is and why she chose this man, was so beautifully handled that I finished it in a single sitting, eyes red-rimmed and heart feeling ten sizes too big. It’s hopeful, it’s messy, and it’s deeply, deeply romantic. If you need me, I’ll be sitting here in a pile of my own feelings, desperately hoping the author writes an entire series about every single one of these side characters next.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon for sharing this addictive romance's digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

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[Liana Gold]

I can see how the appeal of this Dramione inspired fan-fiction will resonate with a lot of younger people but I found this book completely mundane and poorly executed. While the amnesia trope was done well, I found many parts of the ‘after event’ to be a huge let down.

I also wanted to comment on how weird some of the character interactions felt, particularly the parts where Mollys friends are always so immersed in the sexual aspects of the main characters relationship. The obsessive need to know what their sex life is like was giving me the ick and I felt that would make many readers uncomfortable. These things have boundaries and Mollys friends had no boundaries. Some things simply need to remain private and their insistent urge to know it all was not healthy.

The story also heavily focuses on flashbacks but none of these chapters offered any insight on Molly and Asters relationship prior to Molly’s memory loss. What should have been their primary focuses ended up being all about their friends and other people.

More condensed review to follow! 🩶


Whats it about?
A woman wake sup in a hospital with no memory or any recollection of the past six years of her life only to find out she is married to a man she can't stand--her arrogant and infuriating former boarding school rival.



Many thanks to HarperAudio Audit for an early ALC!

Narrators: Will Damron and Lauren Fortgang
Duration: 10 hours 11 minutes
Speed: 1.75-2x

Publication: October 6, 2026

[S {Semi-Hiatus}]

*Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an E-Arc in exchange for an honest review!*

Nothing quite prepares you for reading a book synopsis and realizing it sounds oddly similar to the story that's been living in your head for ages. This summary is giving me an alarming amount of déjà vu. Coincidence? Almost certainly. Am I going to pretend this book was written specifically to feed and fuel my delusions? Absolutely.
_____
A second-chance romance following a young woman who wakes up in the hospital with no memory of the past six years, only to find that she apparently married the one man she can’t stand—her arrogant and infuriating former boarding school rival.

I have high expectations for this!!

[Isabelle]

4.5 ⭐️s

Once, Again, Always is a book I could read-read over and over again. 🥺 This was so raw and messy, but tender and hopeful as well. The exploration of how our memories shape us, and the choices we make in love just made this book for me.

Molly wakes up without the memories of the past 6 years and finds herself married to her cruel academic rival from boarding school. She has to learn how to trust a version of herself (and her husband) that she can no longer remember. I loved seeing Molly reconnect with her friends, family, and herself throughout the story. I wish we had gotten more on some of her friendships, especially Justine. Or maybe that’s just me wishing I got 200 more pages of this book 😂

I know that Molly’s friend group probably needs to establish some boundaries, but the dynamic made me so nostalgic for the intimacy of those types of friendships. Walking into your house to find your friend already there, eating your leftover takeout or playing games with your younger siblings 🥺 The friendships took up a good portion of this book, but I didn’t mind at all. I just wanted more pages so we had time to explore all the love, both romantic and platonic.

Aster Bishop is the definition of ‘husband material’ and the yearning is EVERYTHING. This poor man was going through it, but he always made sure to keep Molly safe and comfortable. And Molly was just, wonderful 😭 She took a terrible situation and learned to thrive despite it. I adore her!

I did have to take a little bit off because of the ‘Before’ chapters, which didn’t seem to have much of a point in the grand scheme of things and felt very, I don’t know, thrown in? They are a small enough detail but they just didn’t add anything to my experience.

Overall I adored this book! Definitely check the triggers, but I felt like everything was handled very gently. I usually am ambivalent to the amnesia trope, so this is high praise! I can’t wait to see what this author does next 💙


••••••••••
Beyond excited for this one! I am fully prepared to bawl my eyes out 🥺 Thank you so much to Avon | HarperCollins and NetGalley for the advance copy! 💙

[Jen]

There’s something about this story that, however familiar you may be with the beats of it, lodges into your chest and sticks with you.

Amanda Gayle’s Once, Again, Always is a beautiful, aching debut about reconciling who you are with who you were; about unflappable patience; about healing and growth.

About a man sleeping every night, for months without complaint, on a deeply uncomfortable antique sofa, just to be near the woman he loves.

It’s at times hopeful, at times devastating. And throughout—brilliantly, beautifully written.

Also:
📖 Yearning, pining, desperation, devotion
🔑 Intrusive friends who show up when you need them, however uninvited
👗 Healthy communication, however much it hurts
☕️ Coffee snobbery, from a man who knows how to tamp
🍬 Small tokens of love that speak volumes
📚 An apartment overrun with books
💫 “Fuck it”s & “my wife” & braid play
🛋️ Falling in love for the first time—twice

If you’re familiar with Gayle’s past work—you’ll adore this. If you’re new: I am so envious, that you get to read this book blind.

This may be contemporary romance, but my goodness, is it magic. All the stars.

Thank you Avon, for approving me so quickly for the eARC. I dropped everything to read and have been crying happy sad tears since I finished.

[lia ✩]

i'm sooo excited about this book!! 2026 is the year of the dhr girlies

[Lucie V.]

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley (thank you, Avon and Harper Voyager). All thoughts and opinions are my own.

✅ Friendship / found family
✅ Cute & heartwarming romance
✅ He is a sucker for her
✅ Pace
✅(🆗) Flashbacks
✅(🆗) Plot
✅(🆗) Characters
❗️❗️Trigger warnings: amnesia, stroke, mentions of a minor car accident and miscarriage (past)
🔥 Spice level : 🌶️🌶️.5 / 5

3.5 stars

This story is super cute and fluffy, but there is no real angst or tension. The stakes didn’t feel high, and I struggled to remain engaged in the second half. I very rarely read rom-coms, and this book reminded me why: despite it being super heartwarming and fast-paced, I just feel that there was something missing for me to find it gripping. There is no magic, enemy to vanquish, or mystery to solve; it’s really just about Molly and Aster learning to know each other again, and Molly falling in love with the same man for the second time.

Having read the original fanfiction, it is hard not to compare both works. The fact that Wait & Hope had all the Harry Potter world-building and backstory to support it helped make it a great story. In the case of Once, Again, Always, the author did a decent job of developing the characters, but I couldn’t help but feel that they lacked depth at times in their personality and connections. I find that's often the case with fanfiction adaptations: without the structure of the original world to hold the story, it can feel bland or underdeveloped in certain areas.

I liked Molly well enough, but I didn’t truly connect with her. She definitely could have had more depth. The yearning and romance were good and enjoyable, but even that aspect could have been more developed. We are told that Molly and Aster get closer over the weeks, but we don’t really see it.

“Just be gentle with me, Graham,” he breathed, reeling her in with her own name. “You’ve got me on the gallows here.” He let her braid fall. “But I’ll be damned if you’re not the most beautiful executioner I’ve ever seen.”

The parts that had more of an emotional impact were the parts that showed the love, mixed with the anger and grief Aster was feeling. He was the most patient and supportive husband, but we could also see how hurt he was and how desperate it made him not to be able to touch his wife or talk about their life together because she couldn’t remember him as anything other than her rival and part-time bully.

I did enjoy the secondary characters, but I also felt that there were a lot of them introduced with minimal information. The author used most of what she wrote for the fanfiction Wait & Hope and simply changed the names and a few aspects of the setting. The difference is that in the fanfiction, we were already familiar with the secondary characters and their dynamics. In this book, we are not, so there is a bit of a character dump, and in the end, some were not developed enough to be interesting or truly relevant.

I am not the biggest fan of flashbacks, and while the ones in this book were all quite short, I don’t feel that they added that much to the story. They showed us that Molly and Aster were rivals at school and couldn’t stand each other, but they also broke the flow of the story at times and didn't feel necessary or relevant. I would have loved some flashbacks showing how Molly and Aster fell in love the first time, instead of many flashbacks showing what we already knew: that they were rivals at school and despised each other.

This book is a good mix of cute romantic moments and bittersweet, sadder ones. I loved seeing Molly fall in love all over again with Aster, but it was also sad to see him be so desperate for a way to help her, and her be so confused about her current life and how she should navigate it.


Follow me on Instagram 🙂

[Sarah]

✨ARC Book Review ✨

This book was really interested me, especially having worked in neurology for years.

Molly wakes up disoriented and confused. The man wrapped around her is not her college boyfriend, but her college bully. She’s lost years of her life and can’t understand how she went from the man she thought she would be with forever to the man who made her miserable.

God, the way I felt so much empathy for Molly. She was so confused. She suffered a brain injury that leaves her questioning everything. She chose to trust herself (the decisions she made that she could no longer remember) believing that she had done right by herself. As a former neuro RN, that was so touching. I saw so many patients who were confused, lost, and sad. To see her choose to embrace her life, judge it by her current feelings, and move forward from there was everything I would have wanted for the patients I cared for.

Aster, her spouse… oh my gosh, this man! He had already won her over in college, but watching him try win her over again after knowing and loving her, and after building a life together, tore me up. He was so loving and proactive. He always put her first and advocated for her neurological treatment.

The ending was incredibly emotional for me personally. I loved it, and I cried. I felt so much love for them and wanted healing for both of them. It was deeply touching.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager Publishing for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Kelcey | felinebooktrovert ✨️]

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

4.5 stars

I DEVOURED THIS. I enjoyed this book so much I almost read it in one day.

I don't think I saw anything official about this, but it's definitely Dramione coded, and that just made it so much better.

And by a mile, Aster was the best part of this book. The first half I was just goo on the floor because I melted any time he was present. I just wanted to hug him so much.

There were things I didn't particularly like, but the vibes were just so good.

And I think I'm going to beg Amanda Gayle to give us a prequel. This story was so beautiful, but holy hell, I need the beginning of their relationship like I need air. With a Dual POV please and thank you 💙

[Ash ♡]

it is difficult to put into words how much I adored Once, Again, Always by Amanda Gayle, but I refuse to let that stop me from making it everyone else’s problem :)

Molly and Aster absolutely wrecked me. there is something devastating about being loved by someone who remembers an entire life with you when, to you, they’re still the person who made you miserable. he’s grieving a relationship she doesn’t remember choosing, and she’s trying to understand how she became someone who chose him. I LOVED that tension. Molly couldn’t just take everyone’s word for it that she’d been happy, and Aster couldn’t love her hard enough to make her remember

ooooof. this man can YEARN. unfortunately for my dignity, I am extremely susceptible to a devoted man barely holding himself together. his familiarity with her, the little traces of their marriage, the moments when he reaches for a closeness she isn’t ready to give him yet. disgusting. give me fourteen more.

“Just be gentle with me, Graham,"

“You’ve got me on the gallows here. But I’ll be damned if you’re not the most beautiful executioner I’ve ever seen.”

I need financial compensation.

what made Aster compelling to me was that his devotion wasn’t effortless. he gets jealous, defensive, and frightened. sometimes he needs to leave because he cannot handle being near her. he wants to give Molly space, but he also desperately wants his wife back, and those desires don’t always coexist gracefully. I could feel his hurt without agreeing with every decision he made.

which brings me to my main reservation: I wanted the story to sit a little longer with the consequences of his protectiveness. withholding information and controlling Molly’s access to her own history are significant breaches of trust, even when they come from fear. the writing makes his devastation so palpable that, at times, I felt pulled toward comforting him before Molly’s very reasonable objections had been fully addressed. I adored him, but loving someone doesn’t automatically qualify you to decide what they can handle.

I appreciated that Molly was allowed to be frustrated and uncertain. she is surrounded by people who know a version of her she cannot access, while trying to make sense of a marriage everyone else already believes in. I didn’t need her to handle that prettily.

Amanda Gayle’s writing made this so easy to sink into. the tenderness, the banter, the aching little exchanges. I kept wanting one more conversation, one more glimpse of the life they’d built, one more reason to clutch my chest like a victorian widow.

this hurt, and I loved it. that reservation did very little to interfere with how deeply invested i was in these two finding their way back to each other. I will absolutely be rereading now that I have the audiobook, presumably with the same complete lack of composure.

Tropes & Vibes:
♡ marriage in crisis
♡ amnesia / memory loss
♡ second-chance romance
♡ former academic rivals to lovers
♡ falling for your husband all over again
♡ forced proximity
♡ slow burn & aching yearning
♡ devoted, imperfect mmc
♡ hurt/comfort
♡ found family
♡ past & present timelines
♡ he remembers everything; she remembers hating him
♡ The Vow if they were enemies first

fun fact: I wasn't fond of the fmc's actions and reactions in the original iteration, so Molly had some serious ground to make up with me. here, though, I found myself much more sympathetic to her frustration and uncertainty.
__________

Saving my review for closer to pub date but I'll leave you with some of my fav quotes:

“Just be gentle with me, Graham,"
“You’ve got me on the gallows here. But I’ll be damned if you’re not the most beautiful executioner I’ve ever seen.”

"I was trying to carry it for both of us. So you didn't have to."

"I'm sorry, I thought it was obvious that I'll go anywhere you ask me to..."

------

dropping every single book to read this one.

AVON, I LOVE YOU

[jas ♡]

Review of advanced copy received from Netgalley

Molly was a frustrating character, at times. But it’s easy to judge her as someone who remembers every decision I’ve made to get me to my current position in life. Imagine waking up married to someone you hate—not someone you hate-flirt with, but genuinely despise—and her reactions are suddenly infinitely more understandable. Would I have acted differently at many points? Yes. Can I see where she’s coming from? For sure.

Aster wasn’t perfect either, by any means. There was a lot I would have wanted him to do differently if I was in Molly’s shoes. A lot of it was maddening—keeping her in the dark about most things, not allowing the friends she doesn’t remember to reintroduce themselves, what he did to Molly’s phone at the beginning, among other things.

However, he too deserves some grace. It’s easy to judge from a position of never having gone through what he did, but few people would be able to do or say the perfect things in that situation. And his fear of losing her was completely justified and heartbreaking.

At first, I thought I would love them, by virtue of who they’re based on. Then, as we became acquainted, I was disappointed to find that maybe I wasn’t so fond of Molly and Aster after all. Not even halfway into the book, though, I was proven wrong once again when I realized I fucking adore these two.

And although there were moments—namely, Molly’s nerdiness and Aster’s icy blue eyes and pale blond hair—that made me picture Hermione and Draco, I largely regarded them as their own, distinct characters.

I loved pretty much every single side character as well. Eli has a special place in my heart, but I’m also quite fond of Justine, Roy, Alannah, and Bentley. In that order. I even liked the cat.

The writing itself left something to be desired at first—it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything to write home about either. But like Molly and Aster, I grew to like it as I read on. And for a debut novel, it was strong. I did notice a typo at one point, but I’m assuming it’ll be fixed before the book’s release. I’m excited to see how Gayle’s writing evolves in her future work; I can easily see her becoming one of my favorite contemporary authors.

I also saw that some people didn’t really like the “before” chapters, but I really did. Especially the last one.

I won’t reveal how the memory situation is resolved at the end, but I will say that I personally did not like how it was wrapped up. I considered docking a star for it, but since I’m literally the kindest person to ever walk this earth, I decided not to in the end.

I’d also like to add, as an aside, that I generally don’t like fanfiction and would never read it—and I hate to admit it—but this has me considering reading the source material.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

thank you to the publisher for the arc♡

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

i just found out this book was first a dramione fanfic and now i’m even more desperate to read it than i already was

[Tammy]

This ended up being a hate-read for me, but not for reasons you might think.

Molly wakes up with amnesia, believing that she’s 20 and still with her ex-boyfriend Simon, but she’s 26 and married to a man named Aster. He’s also her former bully.

The love story IS fine (sweet, even), but the couple’s friends are so annoying that I had one of the most unpleasant times of my life reading. Also, why do these friends get 52% of on-page time when they aren’t the main couple? This is a romance, so why isn’t the focus on the romantic leads? Why do the leads get only 48% of the pages?

THE FRIENDS FROM HELL:

🧐Instead of seeing the closeness that the author presumably wants readers to see, I see enmeshment and narcissistic abuse.

If they're meant to be supportive, it's not convincing.
If they're meant to be problematic, there's no pushback.

If the author wants to portray a close-knit group of friends, this isn’t the way to do it; this feels more like enmeshment than anything else.

EXAMPLES:

🤡 1) Molly is amnesiac and feels fearful when she sees Aster or has to be alone in the same room with him, because her only memories of him are of the times he made her life miserable. So, what do her friends do? They tell her to get over it; one confronts and lectures her for not having resumed physical intimacy with her husband yet, and acts like the husband is a long-suffering victim—how the six weeks without sex, physical affections, or touches is hurting him. But Molly doesn’t remember a shared life with her husband! How is she supposed to be intimate with someone she doesn’t know? Think on that for a moment, I’ll be here for you when you’re back.

🤡 2) The friends are weirdly obsessed with Molly and Aster’s sex life. They ask her really intrusive and disrespectful questions, just because the pre-amnesiac version of her shared everything with them (according to them anyway). They keep asking if she's started sleeping with her husband again yet, and if she has not—why.

🤡 3) They act as though the amnesia isn't Molly’s present reality. They keep treating her like how they did before, even though that is counterintuitive (and they know it). They completely ignore her amnesia and are actually quite harmful toward her at times.

If the goal is to show Molly’s friends not treating her differently, there are better ways to do it.

🤡 4) Aster tells the friends what not to do with Molly, but they meet up with her behind his back and dismissively laugh off his precautions to her face. And then proceed to do the very things he’s asked them not to. Over and over again.

🤡 5) When Molly expresses her discomfort (both physically and verbally) at her friends' intrusive questions, one of them would exclaim with something along the line of, "Oh, come on! We tell each other everything!" or ”You’re my best friend!”

Note how they say ”We tell each other everything”—the present tense; that’s how you can tell that they neither acknowledge nor respect Molly’s present reality.

🤡 6) When Alannah--one of the friends-- is too busy to hang out with Molly, she has her HUSBAND Roy invite Molly to a friendly lunch, which Molly accepts. Over lunch, he sheepishly confesses that Alannah has sent him to ask if she's having sex with Aster, and the frequency.

Unfortunately, Molly answers the question, because--apparently--Alannah won’t let him rest if he doesn't come back with Molly's answer.

Roy is also Molly's friend, but he's so weak, he doesn’t even look out for her. The dialogues even show that he recognizes their actions as inappropriate.

🤡 7) Once it’s known that Molly and Aster have resumed their physical relationship, these clowns start asking her about the frequency.

🤡 8) Every single time Molly meets with a friend, the only questions they ask her are ones about her physical intimacy (if any) with her husband (whom she doesn't remember having a romantic relationship with, mind you).

These interactions happen in a loop, which got old real quick for me as a reader.

🤡 9) When the friends aren't asking intrusive questions, they'd be making sarcastic remarks each time they walk in on Molly and Aster displaying any expressions of affection.

If the comments are meant to be playful teasing, that’s not how they translate across the pages. They read more like people with so little respect for boundaries, that they just openly comment or pester like they have every right to.

🤡 10) The friend group also constantly disrespects Aster by overriding his wishes, even though his wishes are just what the doctor has asked him to tell friends and family not to do (don't overwhelm Molly, don't make her feel afraid, etc.).

🤡 11) You can tell that these friends know that what they're doing is wrong because they only these do things behind Aster's back, when Molly is exposed and vulnerable, and he isn’t there to advocate for her.

🤡 12) When Aster isn't ready to put Molly's wedding ring back on her finger because he doesn't want her to feel cornered (since she doesn't remember dating him, let alone marrying), the friends break into his and Molly's apartment to take Molly's ring from his nightstand, and one of them tells her to put it on "because it'll make him happy."

Was this break-in supposed to be cute?

🤡 13) Molly’s friends invite her ex-boyfriend—Simon Clay and his pregnant wife to a group dinner without letting Molly know ahead of time. They don't tell her until she and Aster are already on their way. Their reasoning? Something along the line of “Oh, we're all friends here!" or “I just wanted to get the group together.”

Keep in mind, her amnesiac self feels that they’re still together, even though she knows they aren’t

While pre-amnesiac Molly may have been friendly with her ex and his wife, that doesn't mean this version of Molly would be fine with that, since her time with the ex feels more recent than her time with her husband.

And you know what happens at that dinner? Aster has to watch his wife’s reaction to seeing an ex who doesn’t feel like an ex—now married to a heavily pregnant woman.

LET ME REPEAT: Aster has to watch his wife’s reaction. HIS wife. I don’t think I need to spell out how utterly humiliating that must feel.

When Aster gets up and leaves the table because it’s too much for him, they act like he’s the problematic one. You know who else do that? Narcissists!

After, one of the friends has the audacity to say, “I shouldn’t have done that.”

Thank you, Captain Obvious!

😩 Unfortunately, how this group of friends is written really did take away some of my enjoyment of the novel.

Nothing about them gives me the impression of a loyal, loving group of friends (if that's what the author intends to give us) because they just commit violations after violations throughout the novel.

🧐

If this is supposed to be a display of the “found-family” trope, it isn’t working…unless your found family is a family of gaslighting narcissists. And I’m using the term correctly—as it is intended to be used.

Also, the friends’ chapters make up 52% of the book. The main couple isn’t centered, despite this being a romance about them.

MY INPUT: Either give us a resolution for these hellacious friends, or minimize the group’s presence. They aren’t even the fun-to-read obnoxious characters; they’re just plain obnoxious, whose presence is disruptive of the reading experience, which takes away from an otherwise sweet love story.

Readers can handle unlikable characters, but we detest reading annoying ones because we don’t want to feel annoyance when we read. We can handle anger, sadness, frustration, or fear, because they all lead somewhere. Annoyance, on the other hand, requires a lot of emotional energy without any payoffs.

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[charisse ♡]

DNF@20% — all of the characters are sooo insufferable, i literally cant take it anymore.. also i learnt after reading that it's a dramoine fanfic so eww x1000.. booo...

honestly i didnt give two fucks about their flashbacks chapters.. i don't think they had any use in the book since they gave nothing about aster and molly's relationship... they could simply be deleted and nothing would change, plot wise

and one thing that really stuck out to me is that molly had a lot of friends (i'm not saying it's a bad thing to have many friends but they were shit people) and idk why they're getting so much screen time compared to the main two ppl who should be the focus of this book, aster and molly.. and i feel like all of her friends are soo pushy but in a bad way? like molly cant rmb anything in the last six years bc of an accident (i think??) and they're just forcing her to be with aster who used to bully her and is now her husband.. like ofc she doesn't want to fuck him.. the person who made her live a living hell.. like just give her a break alright?

⤷ thank you to netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

︶︶︶⊹︶︶︶˗ˋ୨♡୧ˊ˗︶︶︶⊹︶︶︶

ps. i really really wish i found out that this was a dramoine fanfic before i requested it on netgalley and even before reading it.. cuz if you know me, i do not support anything JKR related shit

︶︶︶⊹︶︶︶˗ˋ୨♡୧ˊ˗︶︶︶⊹︶︶︶

₊˚⊹♡ pre-read ♡⊹˚₊ ↴
ahhh super excited for this one! the premise sounds so so good too, expect rivals to lovers, so so so much yearning! and you got it, second chance 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

[Hoda]

" She didn't need her memories to know her own life anymoe. she just needed him. The man who looked at her like the memories didn't matter or rather, like he might lover her, could love he, would love her, with or without them"

Well this was a good one. i actually loved it. it was written so well. the side characts were amazing and made this whole book so much better like i think they were the reason that i enjoyed this this much. like the plot was sad but it was also fun like it had the perfect balance between being sad and fun yk? and the romance was so good too like them falling in love again was so cute i loved it<333

That being said there 2 things that i didn't like in here..

1- The before chapters they felt so random ngl!!! like i would have liked it better they were about the 6 years that she doesn't remember but they were about the period before that which she already remember and keep mentioning in the present chapter... idk it felt reptitive and annoyed me.

2-The locked room the whole book, this big room was such a huge mystery, and the reason it was locked was because he didn’t want to overwhelm her with what was inside. But when it was finally revealed, I felt like it wasn’t given what it deserved, yk? Like, it was kind of brushed over, and I’m like… why make such a big deal out of it if you’re not going to give it the attention it deserves?

I was definitely underwhelmed by the ending. I was just like… yeah. 😭

But other than that, it was actually such a good book!!! It was funny and cute, and the found family was the bestbestbest. And I definitely recommend it!

[cyd]

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review. This book was really entertaining and definitely a quick read however… it was extremely obvious that this was a fanfiction turned novel. When i’m reading a book that was originally a fanfiction that is then turned into a novel i am looking for something a bit closer to The Love Hypothesis. You can read this book with no prior knowledge of the origins and still feel like you are reading a fully fleshed out story. This book however while enjoyable suffered from still reading like it came straight from ao3 with very minor changes. Most of the character descriptions were lacking and relied a bit too heavily on the reader having prior knowledge of the original fanfiction or the characters of Harry Potter. I myself have not read the original fanfiction this book was based off of so I cannot be a judge of how much was actually changed but the story still felt very Harry Pottery. The book also had these random flashback scenes that added nothing to the plot considering the things that would happen in the flashbacks would be events the characters already talked about in previous chapters and then we would get that flashback later in the book with no correlation to the scenes it would come between. This made the books pacing feel super off and this book would have been way better without them. Although this review is kind of negative I still really enjoyed this. I myself like books like this even when they did read more immaturely because it’s entertaining. I am also a huge Harry Potter fan (not a JKR supporter though) so guessing who the characters were was also kind of fun for me. In my head I ended up replacing the characters names with who I assumed they were in the fanfiction and reading it like that and it was a really fun experience for me. I would recommend this BUT if a more shallow story isn’t going to be something you enjoy don’t pick it up.

[Ri ♡]

oh it was perfectt!!! my first 5 star in finally three months 😭 this book cured my slump lol

[hailee]

thank you to the publisher for the arc. all opinions are my own.

3.5***

okay listen up: if you like watching a man grovel, if you like a man who is pathetically, endearingly down bad for his wife (bonus: many “my wife” moments), if you like characters with complicated feelings in difficult situations, and if you like quirky friend groups, then perhaps this is the book for you.

i will say that this is definitely not a fast paced book. personally, i love slower, character based stories so it was not a problem for me but that is something to keep in mind if you don’t enjoy that.

i enjoyed the overall concept of this and being able to watch these two characters come back together, falling in love all over again. i think the yearning was definitely decent, but not as over the top as i usually prefer. this was romantic and sad, heartwarming and bittersweet.

the characters are experiencing a situation that i would not even wish on my own worst enemy (seriously, i was sick to my stomach thinking about being in their shoes). it’s easy to judge their decisions and actions on the outside, but when you take a second to think about what they’re dealing with and all of the conflicting, heartbreaking emotions, it makes more sense and allows you to give them some grace.

what i didn’t love: the before chapters. i’ve said it in previous reviews but i’m not the biggest fan of flashback scenes in second chance romances/amnesia romances. it has to be done right and, for me, these chapters definitely fell a bit flat. i guess i can understand that the purpose was showing us their rivalry back in high school, but it seemed to not add enough to the story. the exception to this is the final before chapter, but i won’t explain why to avoid spoilers (iykyk).

overall, this was a beautiful story and i really loved reading about these characters. i flew through this in about 24 hours and literally couldn’t put it down.

also: content warnings are important to know before diving into this one (specifically regarding miscarriages and similar situations).

[QuirkyTofurkey]

Once, Again, Always is 384 pages of exquisite pining, and I love that for me (us). I’m not saying I hope I’m ever in a position to lose part of my memory, but please, if it ever happens, let it be like this.

I’ll love this story in every iteration, and I feel incredibly lucky to have experienced it in its various forms. You are my Count of Monte Cristo.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager, and Amanda Gayle for the advanced reader copy. This review is voluntary, and all opinions are my own.

[Jenn (The Book Refuge)]

This was fantastic! 😍😍

I was HOPEFUL, pun intended, that this book would be good. Off all the "Fics reskinned" that I've read in the last few years, this one had real potential. I was honestly starting to give up on them, but I always thought this one could work, because there are certain elements that don't depend on any prior knowledge of copywritten characters or worlds. So, I want to tip my hat to Amanda Gayle, this book truly touched my heart and I am so glad I will be able to own a copy, very soon, that I can recommend to all my friends.

Now, onto my feelings about Aster and Molly, because I have quite a few. Though I'll try to be concise.

Amnesia romances are a funny thing. They often can be very unsatisfying and they end up being told mostly through flashbacks or memories and never let us get to know the characters in present tense. The characters that we are sitting with, right now, in this moment. It makes sense why this is necessary, of course, but it can be hard to balance how much you time you spend in the past. Does it mean we repeat the love story exactly? Will the character who forgot just... magically remember when we most need them to? It can leave us feeling anxious and unbalanced the whole way through.

I was so impressed with how the author managed that expectation and yet still kept the current timeline moving forward between Molly and Aster. We can't live for the past, yet I do understand why Aster is so desperate to get that back. He feels like he won the lottery with Molly and how could a man like him every win her AGAIN? It would be so much easier if her clever mind would just... remember how she got there first time.

And for Molly, the man she remembers was her greatest rival. 6 years is a long time to lose, but could a LIFETIME be long enough to explain all the changes that have happened from 21 to 27? Her friends, her enemies, her life choices, even her cat... nothing about her life is the same. Though nothing is quite as shocking as the intimate embrace she wakes up in after having a stroke that took her memory.

I love the moment early on when her friend, Alannah reminds her, "I feel like you deserve to trust yourself. You know, the you who picked your life and made it what it is now." That strikes a nerve with Molly, and convinces her that she MUST have had good reasons to start to fall for Aster, even if she can't imagine why.

And when all her friends, who used to relentlessly dislike her current husband, all root for him and even plead his case to some degree... it's like she's in upsidedown world. It's truly inspired.

Anyway, there's so much more I could go into. I really just couldn't put this book down. Aster was my favorite part. We don't get his POV, but we can feel how tortured he is and we can sense his desperation to have his wife look at him with love again.

This line from him, hurts me:

"That expression on your face, like you trust me? I miss it. That's all. You're the only person in the world who's ever trusted me like that. And every time you look at me like you're surprised I'm capable of something decent, or like you can't understand a decision I'm trying to make for us, or like you only see me as this overbearing, irritating-- it's pretty fucking awful, to be honest. But I know it's not your fault."

He continues:

"It's daunting, the task of earning that trust again. I'm not even sure how I did it the first time."

Gosh... Aster just guts me.

I truly loved this book. I hope everyone gives it a chance. Whether you read it as Wait and Hope or not. This was a beautiful romance. One of the best takes on an Amnesia Romance I've ever read and a truly romantic second chance.

5 Stars
1.5 on the spice scale

CW: Stroke

*I received an ARC via NetGalley, thank you to the publisher for making it available.*

[Rea ♡ㅤ✧]

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperAudio, and Amanda Gayle for the ALC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5/5⭐️

Molly Graham wakes in a hospital bed. She seems ok, except for a headache, until the nurse starts asking questions. Not only has she forgotten 6 years of her life, but she is married to her academic rival, Aster Bishop.

6 years ago, Molly and Aster were enemies. Accusing each other of cheating on tests and getting the other in trouble with the school. Molly can’t possibly fathom how she could ever marry this man. From Aster’s side, he is heartbroken. Trying to navigate his wife’s sudden memory loss, show her that he truly does love her, and explain the last 6 years to her without her becoming overwhelmed.

I’ll start by saying the amnesia trope is not my favorite. I truly hate the amnesia trope in fantasy, but I honestly didn’t hate it much in this setting! I think it helped that the amnesia was introduced immediately and not halfway through the story or at the end of the book and turned into a duology.

I liked the concept of this story but I had trouble connecting with the characters. I felt just as confused about everything as Molly did, which maybe was the point, but if so, I wish we would have gotten longer flashback chapters. They were quite short and never went into much detail as I’d have liked. I think it could’ve helped me get a better grasp on Molly and Aster’s relationship.

I did love Aster’s character. He very much proved ‘in sickness and in health”, he was the ultimate green flag. His worries, concerns, and over-protective care for Molly felt so heartwarming, even if Molly sometimes got frustrated.

Without spoiling, the content warnings/plot twists in this book were SO sad. They really did have me crying, and the ending of the story was so good. This book, with the concept and the ending it had, really could’ve gotten a higher rating from me if I felt more of a connection to the main characters.

[Sarah (bookofsari)]

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

I really loved the way Once, Again, Always slowly reveals Molly and Aster's history. Since Molly can't remember the last six years of her life, we're essentially discovering her marriage right alongside her, and I was genuinely curious about how these two went from hating each other to somehow ending up married.

I especially loved how the flashbacks were handled. Sometimes books with multiple timelines get so wrapped up in the past that I start forgetting what's happening in the present. These were much shorter, almost like little snapshots of Molly and Aster's earlier lives, and that worked SO well for me. We got enough information to slowly fill in the gaps without constantly being pulled away from the main story.

And the YEARNING. Aster trying to respect Molly's boundaries while very obviously still being completely in love with his wife was exactly the kind of emotional torture I wanted from this premise. I also loved the friend group and how much of Molly's life existed outside of her relationship with him.

My biggest issue was the ending. After spending so much time carefully rebuilding Molly and Aster's relationship, the final stretch suddenly felt rushed. There were things I wanted more resolution on, and I honestly expected another chapter or two when I realized how close I was to the end.

Still, I flew through this. The memory-loss premise, short flashbacks, slow burn, and ridiculous amount of yearning all worked for me. I just wish the ending had given the rest of the story a little more room to breathe.