The Love We Found by,Jill Santopolo

It’s been ten years since Lucy Carter Maxwell lost her soulmate. Having hidden from love ever since, she’s stunned to find it pulling at her when she discovers an old, forgotten box of Gabe’s photographs.

Desperate to find the hope she has been searching for, Lucy begins to unravel the secrets that Gabe left behind .
A great read and lovely story about Lucy still trying to find all she can the death of her beloved husband .
She meets Dr. Dax Armstrong , both trying to get over their loss .
This is the second book of Lucy Armstrong , I feel it could be read as a standalone but more enjoyable if you've read the first one The Light We Lost.

It had been several years since I read The Light We Lost, so I struggled to recall where the story left off. Before diving into The Love We Found, I had to look up a synopsis to refresh my memory and reconnect with the characters.

While the book was an interesting read, I found Lucy’s character somewhat frustrating. She remains stuck in the past, idolizing Gabe, which prevents her from fully embracing the present. However, the second half of the novel picked up, and I especially enjoyed the introduction of Dax and the exploration of blending families. This aspect felt much more grounded and relatable, adding a layer of authenticity to the story.

I was beyond thrilled to receive an advance reader copy of Jill Santopolo’s upcoming novel, The Love We Found, set to be released on 18th March 2025. As a bookworm who had The Light We Lost sitting on my TBR for years, I knew I had to pick it up the moment I found out there was a sequel. And wow, why did I wait so long? Santopolo’s writing is absolutely stunning—poetic, emotional, and deeply immersive. The Love We Found has easily become one of the most beautiful and captivating books I’ve had the pleasure of reading in advance.

The story picks up nearly ten years after Gabe’s passing, when Lucy stumbles upon an old photograph of his with a slip of paper bearing a Roman address. This discovery sends her on an impromptu journey to Italy, where she meets Dr. Dax Armstrong, a New Yorker working with an NGO. Their connection is instant and profound, forcing Lucy to confront emotions she thought she had long buried. At the same time, she faces an even bigger dilemma. Santopolo masterfully explores themes of love, grief, and the choices that shape our lives.

What I adored most about this book was its raw, emotional depth. Lucy’s journey is heartbreaking yet hopeful, a true testament to how love and loss can coexist. The Italian setting added a gorgeous, immersive backdrop, and I completely fell for Dax—his kindness and understanding made him such a compelling character.

The Love We Found is an unforgettable story about healing, second chances, and the power of love in all its forms. If you’ve been holding off on reading The Light We Lost like I did, take this as your sign to pick it up now—because this sequel is breathtaking.

Thank you to the author, HQ stories from Harper Collins and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

How can a book be tender and brutal at rhe same time. Anyone coming out of this book without feeling emotionally involved can't be human!
It was such a heartwarming and heartbreaking look.at one woman's sense of self. At one woman's strength and journey to healing a broken heart.and at some points a possible broken mind.
Lucy was so captivating
She.was a true romance reading gem
And don't get me started on.Dax.
As what happened to lucy to break her heart,why, and what comes next is revealed you are truly.drawn in to every page of this book.

A gorgeous book about love and loss and the impact that Lucy’s choices have on her and her family. Dax is my favourite and I adored seeing his relationship with Lucy blossom. It’s a truly moving book and a five star read for me. Thank you so much to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this.

This was a lovely story of life after the loss of a great lady love, of family, of grief, of secrets and of living your truth. I enjoyed the development of Lucy as she began to heal, the descriptions of her complicated relationships and her healing. An ultimately hopeful story that was a pleasure to read.

ARC - PUBLICATION DATE 18TH MARCH 2025

4.5 ☆

this book follows on from ‘the light we lost’ and i would highly suggest reading that book before going into this.

『 plot 』
it’s been ten years since the end of ‘the light we lost’ and lucy finds an address amongst gabe’s things, in Italy. so she decides to go to Italy and find out who is at this address but what she finds on her travels is so much more than she wished or hoped for.

『 my thoughts 』
this story is a love story, more so than your typical “person meets person” and falls in love. it’s about lucy, who, ten years ago had her heartbroken by the love of her life dying. the ten year anniversary of gabriel’s death is coming up and she finds her self on a journey, one that started as a journey to find unseen photographs to feature in gabriel’s photography book but what she finds is so much more. it’s a love story of self discovery, of finding yourself again, it’s of passion and empathy and falling in love with the world, finding the good in the bad. it’s about discovering things you didn’t know and letting go of the past and forgiving yourself, falling in love with yourself and opening yourself up to being truly happy, in a way you don’t think you could be after losing someone you loved so deeply.

i enjoyed ‘the light we lost’ but i didn’t love it, it felt like something was missing but this book? this book made me feel everything, it was beautiful and bittersweet and real. it’s honestly made me fall in love with reading all over again, it’s a book i will be thinking about for a very very long time

Lucy met Gabe 10 years ago, when she was married to Darren. He was a photographer before he died suddenly, not knowing he was to become a father.
Lucy is having to go through his photos for a forthcoming exhibition and revisits some of the places he photographed. Here she meets Dax, and soon feels as though she could love again.
However, her son thinks her ex husband is his father and she feels the time is right to tell him the truth. How will he react and also his brother and sister with her husband.
Can she move on?

Some books just hit differently💘, and this was exactly what I’d been looking for lately💯. A romance packed with emotion❤️‍🩹, but also one that focuses on the main character’s children🧸. I don’t know why, but that’s been my thing recently, and this book delivered📥.

The writing style stood out to me right away💫—part of the story Lucy is addressing directly to Gabe, almost like a diary📖, while the rest is in first person. From the very beginning, there’s this heavy sadness😔 and angst that you can feel through Lucy’s words. It’s like she’s carrying so much, and you just want to sit with her and listen🫂.

I had no idea👁️👄👁️ this was the second book in a duology until after I started reading, but honestly? It didn’t even matter. Past events are woven in well that it’s easy to understand what happened before, and I never felt lost. It works perfectly fine as a standalone👏🏼.

One of my favorite things in books is when characters actually explore their emotions and talk about them🥺🌟—whether through therapy or just open conversations. This book gave me that, especially near the end when Violet was able to express her feelings to her mom. That moment really hit🔥.

Thanks Netgalley and the author for the ARC💯💫❤️‍🔥

Sequel to The light we lost. You can read this alone but I suspect that book 1 will enhance book 2.
It is 10 years since Gabe, friend of Lucy died. Lucy and her family have moved on and while her ex husband, Darren, has remarried with a new family, Lucy still feels that Gabe is her lost love. Darren and Lucy co-parent their children fairly successfully.
One day Gabe's publisher calls saying that they want to reissue a book of Gabe's photos and seek Lucy's help for the original files. Whilst looking through Gabe's photos, Lucy finds an envelope with an Italian address. Who was important to Gabe enough that he kept the address. Lucy decides to find out and a new path in her journey begins.
Poignant and interesting look on blended families.

The Love We Found - Jill Santrpolo

My thoughts.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Thank you so much to for sending me this ARC. I will be sharing my honest, unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are my own

“𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒆… 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆”

This books is a continuation, 10 years later from the first The Light We Lost.

I love how Lucy speaks to Gabe directly as if he’s still here. It actually makes it kind of heart breaking and heavy, which I absolutely love in a book.

I really wish we got to see more of Lucy in Italy. I really loved that for her character as for me, it was a pivotal point in the storyline as she started to overcome her grief reaching out to her family, standing up for herself and even finding love again.

I did think the pace could have been a bit faster however it was an easy read nonetheless. Jill did a great job with this book and Lucy deserved her HEA.

“𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖… 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆”

I count The Love We Lost among one of my all-time favorite books, so I had high hopes for The Love We Found. While it offers a compelling story of grief, healing, and second chances, it didn’t quite hit the mark for me in the way its predecessor did.

The novel picks up ten years after Lucy Carter Maxwell lost the love of her life, Gabe. Still trapped in the shadow of that loss, Lucy stumbles upon a forgotten box of his photographs, sending her on a journey that forces her to confront her past. This leads her to Italy, where she meets Dr. Dax Armstrong—a man with his own pain and a presence that awakens something long dormant within her. Their connection is undeniable, yet Lucy remains tethered to the life she’s built around grief. As secrets unfold, she must decide whether to cling to the past or embrace the possibility of a new future.

While the premise is undeniably moving, I found the execution to be somewhat lacking in comparison to The Love We Lost. That book delivered such an emotional gut punch, with characters that felt raw and deeply layered. Here, Lucy’s journey—while poignant—felt more predictable, and the romantic tension with Dax didn’t carry the same weight as her past love story.

That being said, the writing remains evocative, and the descriptions of Italy are beautifully immersive. But for me, The Love We Found didn’t quite recapture the magic that made The Love We Lost so unforgettable.

🇮🇹 The Love We Found 🇮🇹 Jill Santopolo ⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Is there a piece of you somewhere that loves me still? Or is it all in the past? Are we ancient history, and am I the archivist, keeping it alive?”

This is an arc review and this book releases March 18th.

The story revolves around Lucy, who discovers a piece of paper with an address in Rome among her late husband Gabe's old photos. This discovery prompts her to embark on a journey to Rome where she meets Dr. Dax Amstrong, a New Yorker working here. As she gets to know Dax, she finds herself drawn to him, despite the lingering memories of Gabe.

The Love We Found is a follow up to The Light We Lost so I highly recommend reading this first to give more context and understanding plus it’s a brilliant book. In my opinion this was not as good or as emotional as the first book and found it just to be a generic romance, this didn’t feel particularly memorable or stand out to me sadly but it did explore grief, learning to move on and acceptance and new love so think lots of people would love this book just failed to meet expectations for me and fell a bit flat, feeling forced to orchestrate a happy ending but may have been my expectations were so high.

I read the first book about 3 years ago and mourned the ending. It felt both fitting and destroying and I thought about it a lot, even after finishing other books. My mind just kept flitting back to it.

‘Lost love’ is something I love but also struggle with. The idea that two people are entirely meant for each other but cannot make their lives together work seems to attack me like no other trope. This latest book helps to put some of that psychological restlessness to bed and it was cathartic to see the main character work through the trials of the last book, and her love for Gabe, in a completely realistic way.

It was sugar coated at all and I liked how the author made the ending ‘happy’ without it being completely unrelated to what could happen in a real life situation.

Jill Santopolo delivers an emotional and thought-provoking sequel to The Light We Lost, exploring love, fate, and the weight of past choices.

Nearly ten years after Gabe’s death, Lucy stumbles upon a cryptic note hidden among his old photos—an address in Rome. Unable to ignore the pull of the past, she embarks on a journey to uncover his secret. In Italy, she meets Dr. Dax Amstrong, a man whose presence stirs emotions she thought she had buried. But back home, an even bigger decision looms—whether to reveal the truth to her son about his real father.

This book beautifully captures the messiness of love, grief, and moving forward. Lucy remains a deeply relatable character, and her journey feels both personal and universal. A heartfelt and compelling read that lingers long after the final page.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

a heartfelt and emotional journey that explores love, loss, and the complexities of second chances. Santopolo’s writing is warm and evocative, capturing the characters' emotions with authenticity. The relationship dynamics are compelling, and the themes of healing and personal growth resonate throughout the story. While the pacing can be a bit predictable at times, the novel’s depth and emotional weight make it a memorable and satisfying read for fans of romance and personal transformation.

A story spanning decades, a lost love, a new love and how keeping secrets can cause tension but that we can all learn to love again.

The love we found is a book about a woman who has three children. Two are her (now ex) husbands and the third was from a fling outside of her marriage. The man died before their son was born and her husband agreed to raise him as his own. Now its coming up to the anniversary of his death and she decides its time to tell her son the truth. This is an ok sort of easygoing read but it isn't overly gripping. I enjoyed it enough but wouldn't rush to recommend.

having heard great things about the love we lost by this author i was intrigued and excited to read this book. yes i was coming in blind to the story but this did not take anything away from this book which was a great read in its own right. a heartfelt story.

I read the first book a couple of weeks before starting this so I was able to dive straight in… The Love We Found picks up 10 years after The Light We Lost… Narrated from the perspective of Lucy I found it a little depressing to start, I wasn’t a huge fan of her in the first book and she grated even more in this one! That being said, it got moving in the second half, I enjoyed how she navigated the family dynamic and the introduction of a potential new partner.

I would recommend this book however you do really need to read the prequel to understand the history & relationship between Lucy & Gabe.