I adored Josh and Gemma Make a Baby, so I was definitely looking forward to this one.
This is not a light, happy romance. After falling in love with Josh & Gemma in the first book, this was a bit of a tough/emotional read.

Josh and Gemma the Second Time Around is sort of a second chance romance, about finding your way back to the person you love. I won't go into too much detail, since it would spoil a lot of the book!

I listened to the audiobook and read the ebook as well.

I would definitely recommend reading the first book first, otherwise you won't have any connection to the characters, and I think it would be a struggle to enjoy/understand the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Swift & Lewis Publishing, LLC, for an advanced copy to review. All opinions are my own.

Interesting sequel for Josh and Gemma. This plot line was so unexpected. We left off with these two getting engaged in Josh and Gemma Make a Baby. One would assume we would be getting their happily ever after right off the bat, but that was not the case. We begin with these two preparing for their upcoming wedding. They are blissfully in love and ready to start the next chapter in their lives. Tragedy struck and Gemma ends up in a 3 month coma and wakes up not loving Josh. In fact she wakes up not feeling anything emotionally. Josh once told her love is better the second time around, these two definitely have their shot at love all over again. Love is expressed and shows up in many ways, not all days are good ones as we see with these two. I really enjoyed this book a lot, read it in a day! Looking forward to reading more by Sarah Ready.

Thank you NetGalley and Swift and Lewis Publishing, LLC for the opportunity to read this ARC.

first book wasn't that great but it had josh in it at least and he was awesome. but this is the worst prequel i've ever read in fact it's the worst BOOK. i can't even describe how much i hated this book

This book was totally not necessary. I went into it thinking it would be cute and show the struggles of being a parent and I was completely bamboozled. The story took a very weird turn and was very confusing. The author should have given Josh and Gemma a better sequel.

Thank you, Sarah Ready, W.W. Crown and Netgalley for the gifted eARC.

Everything couldn't be more perfect for Josh and Gemma. Their lives are going as planned, they're getting married, they're having a baby, and life is good. Then, one day, everything changes. Instead of the happily ever after they planned, they are now finding themselves fighting to get back the love that they once had. Plus, Ian Fortune is back in their lives and causing tension. Will Josh and Gemma find their way back to their happily ever after, or is their love gone forever?

After loving the first Josh & Gemma book, I was really excited to read this one. Unfortunately, the second just wasn't as good as the first. I was hoping for a sweet follow-up story to the first novel, but that's not what this was. It didn't even feel like I was reading a romance novel. I felt like I was reading a women's fiction/family drama novel. There really wasn't very much interaction between Josh and Gemma in this story at all. Gemma had more meaningful interactions with Ian than she did with Josh. I would recommend reading Josh & Gemma Make A Baby before reading this novel so you have the needed background on the characters and story. However, if you are looking for just a fun, light-hearted rom-com stick with just the first book and skip the second.

Josh and Gemma the Second Time Around was definitely not what I was expecting, but in a good way. I loved Josh and Gemma Make a Baby and was very excited to read this sequel. Great twist, right at the beginning. I really enjoyed learning more about Ian Fortune and his personal growth. HEA, of course, because YAY!

Thank you to Sarah Ready, Swift & Lewis Publishing, LLC, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 rounding up.
There were parts of this book I loved more than the first, but then it started to lull a bit around the 40% mark. Not at all like the first book and I really liked that about this!

The first book left us on such a cliffhanger that I needed to know what happened next with Gemma and Josh! I did not expect this. Again, Sarah Ready touched on the struggles we women face when trying to get pregnant, being pregnant and child birth. Showing Gemma experience preeclampsia and then eclampsia and ultimately end up in a comma because of it was something I'd never seen before in a book and I appreciated how it was portrayed for those who may not be familiar with the condition. Ready really had me wondering what the heck had happened when Gemma woke up to see Ian in her room and not Josh and her baby. I did not expect half of what happened next in the book, especially the part that connected Josh and Ian, which I gotta admit felt a little far fetched at first. I appreciate Ready showing the story of Gemma's struggle to feel and how she managed to get back to that as well as the story of Ian's mother and how she suffered a traumatic brain injury. It explained a lot about why Ian was the way he was and showed that he wasn't all bad.
I loved how Josh and Gemma ended up reconnecting and that they finally got their "ever after, together, sometimes happy, sometimes not, but always together. In love."

Thank you Sarah Ready for the words you wrote in the acknowledgements section <3

"If you're struggling - it's okay. If you make mistakes - it's okay. If you don't know if you're going to get through it - you will. It's okay. You are strong and more resilient than you ever thought possible." This was the 4th Sarah Ready book I'd read (in less than 2 weeks :P) and I love that she always touches on the hard things in life; the struggles, the sad stories and how each and every character was able to make it past all of that and find happiness.

Thankyou to Netgalley, the publisher and Sarah Ready for allowing me to read this ARC.
I did not realise that this book was a sequel and i have not read the first one.
I didnt mind this book and will read more from this author in the future.
Will go and find the first book in this series and watch it.
Thankyou.
3/5 stars

I would not call this a Romance book. I think it fits much better under the Contemporary category because even though there is a romantic plot, the story is more about what happens in life when certain substances hit the fan.

Overall, I liked the story and had fun meeting Josh and Gemma once again. Josh is the sweetest. Loved the slow burn. Did I need more of Ian? Not really.

One thing driving me nuts was them misunderstanding each other all the time and making wrong assumptions based on what they saw. I felt like this book was one error on their part after another.

I feel that for this book to make a bit more sense I should have definitely read the first book. I did not realise this was a sequel and so felt a bit confused going into it. For that reason the book was a bit harder to understand going into it but I did learn the vague plot slowly through reading the book.
I did find this book really cute but I feel that it would have been better with if I had read the first one.
Josh and Emma were really cute but there was a lack of chemistry I felt.
It was however a really easy and cute read.

I just need to preface this by saying that Josh Lewenthal still has my heart.

I have a lot of emotions after reading this book. This book just elicited…a lot from me.
Josh and Gemma Make a Baby was one of my favorite books of last year if not of all time, so I was so excited for the sequel…and then I read the synopsis. Let’s just say that I avoided this book like the plague because I didn’t want it to ruin the magic of the first book if it ruined their love story. I’ll start off by saying that this book definitely didn’t ruin the first book for me, but I also think that it didn’t need to exist.

I actually really liked the main drama of the book. I already felt so connected to the characters that watching them go through that made me feel more than I’ve felt while reading a book for so long that it made me love it and read it so fast. If this book would have just been Josh and Gemma rediscovering their love, I would have adored it.

One problem…WHY WAS THIS BOOK MORE ABOUT IAN FORTUNE THAN JOSH OR GEMMA?! I bet if I counted the amount of pages that Josh is on and Ian is on, they would be about the same, if Ian’s not on more. And I just don’t get why! I liked him getting redeemed and the idea that everyone deserves redemption, especially factoring in his backstory, but why not just give him a separate book for that? Like give him a love story to his own, don’t have him encroach on Josh and Gemma’s!

This book definitely gets props for making me scream out loud at it! I also like that while I think most of Gemma’s choices were really stupid, it reflected somebody that had gone through the trauma she had.
This book is getting this rating simply for the first 15% and the last 15%, aka, the parts of the book that Josh is actually a part of! If I hadn’t already been extremely attached to him because of the first book, I don’t think this book would have received this rating.

I really enjoyed this! I really liked the first book so when I saw this one on NetGalley I was excited! This book dealt and focused more on heavier topics than the first book which was more of a rom com. But it felt like realistic problems that a couple might go through when things get tough. While it did have its light-hearted moments, it isn’t a light-hearted book. I still really enjoyed it despite this! I enjoyed Ian’s character arc in this book! Overall, I really liked this and it was a 4.5 for me! The narration was great as well!

Thank you to NetGalley, Swift & Lewis Publishing, Independent Book Publishers Association, and Members Audiobooks in exchange for an honest review!

This book, like many rom-coms are a little bit over the top. It was very cute though. It sometimes read as more of a contemporary drama at times, with some parts that definitely made a bit sad with the heaviness of the topics.

Honestly though, I enjoyed there wasn't as much spotlight on the baby as I thought there would be. That may be controversial, but it's my truth. 🤣 As much as I don't enjoy babies, I really enjoy this couple overall.

A big thank you to Swift & Lewis Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Josh and Gemma the Second Time Around - 3/5 ⭐️
📍Sequel
📍Second Chance Romance
📍 Slow Burn

I liked the concept of this second book and it was interesting reading about what happens after the "happily ever after". Even though I didn't love Ian’s redemption story I recommend this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Swift & Lewis Publishing LLC for the gifted copy!

I loved the first book featuring these characters, so I was really excited to dive into this one…and it didn’t disappoint! I will say this book had a completely different feel to it, when compared to the first book. I felt that this one had much heavier content, and wasn’t as hopeful throughout as the first. While I always rooted for Gemma and Josh to reconnect, there were so many times where I was devastated with the turn of events and wondered if there would be a happy ending. Traumatic brain injuries are such a delicate topic, and I feel as though the author captured the struggles for not only the person it happens to, but also the family around them. I really loved this book- highly recommend!

I really enjoyed the first book and wasn’t really sure how a sequel would go. I’ll be honest, I wanted to stop listening about 20% through the audiobook but kept going on hopes it would get better. It had ups and downs and I often felt like certain issues would come up out of nowhere. I liked that it highlighted some issues a relationship may have but it was to an extreme. The first book really could have been a standalone.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sarah Ready, and Swift & Lewis publishing LLC for allowing me to listen to the audiobook to review.

I have a knack for reading series & sequels out of order, but I do my best to enjoy them on their own! This was a sequel to Josh & Gemma Make A Baby, and other than some light confusion about side characters for a chapter or so, it was pretty easy to catch up with. However, the main plot led to a lack of chemistry between Josh & Gemma, which just made this hard to get into. I ended up becoming a lot more emotionally invested in this than I expected to, but there was seriously sooo much miscommunication it was painful at times! Overall a cute read, but probably lands better as a sequel than as a standalone.

Thank you to NetGalley and Swift & Lewis Publishing for both the ARC and ALC of this book!
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. The first one was great, and while I wasn’t sure of there being a need for a sequel at the beginning, I was more and more convinced and pleased as I read/listened!

I will say I LOVED Josh and Gemma Make a Baby, like loved. I swooned so hard for Josh at the end of it (Gemma was hit or miss for me) that I was so excited for this to come out. With all the anticipation I was NOT expecting what I just read. I'm all for reading about the realities of life putting a wedge between couples (I'm looking at you Pam and Jim final season of the Office) but that was wow.... a lot. I will say I read this book in an instant because I loved reading more about Josh and Gemma, I just had a hard time with everything that happens in the first half of the book. If you read the first book (let's be real you can NOT read this without reading the first) then I would recommend it but with a warning is all. It will hurt you before it heals you.