ARC: Out on a Limb
Y’all I am so happy to be here to (probably) incoherently ramble about this DELIGHT of a romance from Hannah Bonam-Young. I am so thankful to Hannah both for the advance copy and for the trust to make something special for her book, which after reading really squeezed my heart even more! If you haven’t picked it up yet, I read Out on a Limb, and of course am here to give you all the thoughts and feels (including some high-pitched sounds).
I’d like to thank Hannah for the advance copy, thoughts below are my own, enjoy!
Bold claim incoming: I dare you to not fall head over heels for both Win (Fred) and Bo. Right from the first line when we’re introduced to Win, I was all in (I mean hello we love a deep bit of randomly presented knowledge as an act of social connection). But my god when our two soft babies meet at the Halloween party and the CHEMISTRY and banter began, y’all my cheeks are still sore from grinning like a lunatic at my kindle.
Hannah has some sort of magical gift wherein she can create characters and infuse such deep, intense realness to them that you kinda feel like you’re along for a ride with two folks that you’ll often forget are fictional characters. Beyond the sparkling banter and wit that suffuses this story, there are some really special things going on.
One of course is the overarching soft AsF romance between two people who had a hookup that led to an unexpected pregnancy. But two are the realities (and insecurities, and sometimes vulnerabilities) these two folks experience the world with as people with limb difference disabilities. Win with her hand and Bo with his prosthetic. There is something really special in the connection these two have, born I believe, from a deep sense of seeing the other person, and just knowing what they need.
Listen, I am a RIDE OR DIE babe for Matt Tilo-Jones. Like I often will just stop what I’m doing to think about how there are very few book boyfriends out there that can ever top him. And my GOD Hannah just out here stepping on our collective necks, giving us Bo.
Bo with his emotional openness and his nerdiness, and his softness, and caretaking and slow dancing, and his ‘honey’ saying and his GLASSES and his soup making. Like there is a moment where Bo leaves the kitchen with a tea towel draped over an offensively broad shoulder and I had a Super Mario coin sound * kink unlocked * epiphany (so I guess you all know that now).
This book is so much more than an accidental pregnancy romance. It’s a gorgeous meditation on the friends to lovers trope. A late night love song to capital B Banter. A sonnet to the ways in which we edit ourselves because the world doesn’t always make space for things perceived as otherness. And a revelation on letting yourself be loved. To accept the way your person wants to love you. And to believe that you are worthy of more. Of all of it.
Pick it up for:
I see you and am seen by you
oh we’re BEST friends
I love you and I like you
Bo’s BOD (big ol’ dick)
Truly hilarious top tier banter (still laughing about that Mamma Mia reference)
Friends to lovers supremacy
Acts of service / physical touch
Being a hot nerd who gets it
I laughed. I cried. I shimmied my shoulders and waggled my eyebrows. I dreamily sighed. I loved it. Fred and Bo are real. They are lived in and they are special. I hope you’ll add this to your TBR today or pre-order it so you can enjoy the ever-loving-sh*t out of this romance when it lands in-stores and online July 11th 2023. And if you haven’t yet read Hannah’s other romances get out there and grab them today!
xo Kels