Book review of Never Over by Clare Gilmore

In Clare Gilmore’s second-chance romance, Never Over, a songwriter decides that the best way to revive her emotional connection to her lyrics is by spending the summer with the man who broke her heart—and let him break it all over again.

Paige Lancaster has finally been offered a contract to make her songwriting dreams come true, but there’s a condition. The record company feels like her lyrics are emotionally stunted, so Paige must either work with a lyricist to polish her songs or take the summer to do some soul-searching and rewriting on her own. She opts for the latter, not trusting a stranger to touch her work.

Paige knows exactly where her emotional block comes from: Liam Bishop, her college sweetheart. When their relationship ended, it tapped into her fears of abandonment and held her in a vise grip of grief for years.

Liam is shocked to run into Paige at a music festival, where he’s working as stage crew, and he’s equally taken aback by her request to essentially reenact their failed relationship. But Liam has always been Paige’s biggest fan. If it’ll help her achieve her dream, he’ll do it. He’s going to be on tour for the summer, and a close-quarters road trip (where, yes, there’ll only be one bed) is the perfect environment to rekindle an old flame and address past hurts.

Gilmore, whose previous work includes the bestseller Perfect Fit, switches between present day and Paige and Liam’s college life. Her pacing is spot-on and the dual timelines add a great sense of tension. She, of course, saves the climax of their past relationship for last. The wait is torturous, but Gilmore certainly made the right call.

If you need a romance to make you believe in love again, this is it. Gilmore packs an ungodly amount of yearning into each page as she shows Paige and Liam learning to reestablish trust, while acknowledging they’ve never stopped loving each other. With Never Over, crying is inevitable. When you finish it, you’ll be jealous that others get to experience it for the first time.