Y’all are not ready for this one!! If you’ve enjoyed The Ex Effect and if you’ve enjoyed Any Girl but You, get ready for the best conclusion to a Minnesotan sapphic love trilogy you’ve ever read.

For more context, this was a fairly immersive read for me as I am currently stuck at home due to a snow storm so I highly suggest that. The premise is exquisite: when our main character Colby, a recluse, lets in serial hobbyist Josie and they get stuck in Colby’s rural house in the woods during a snowstorm…they may both find peace (and some chaos). Thank you to Storm Publishing and Netgalley for this E-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This book was like sipping hot chocolate on a porch, hot chocolate on a porch that somehow warms you to your core. This book took a bit of a turn from the rest of the trilogy. It felt the most real. Because the setting was so simple - just a house in the woods - and the stakes so real and devastating, it felt more grounded than the rest of the series. It had me crying, it had me laughing, it had me hanging on the edge of my seat.

If you have not read the first two books of the three related Minnesotan love stories, that’s okay! I don’t think I Will Always Love You (Maybe) will hit quite as hard without having read the first two, but if you were only going to pick one book to read out of the three, have it be this one.

My biggest warning about this book is that if you aren’t into third act breakups, this might not be the book for you. In my opinion, it needed to happen for the stakes to feel real and for them to be together into the future. However, I know that can be a deal-breaker from some. My other other complaint is that similar to Any Girl but You, the title doesn’t really make any sense with the story? Definitely read the synopsis if you want to know what the book is about.

This was believable, heart-wrenching, and proof that Dana Hawkins just keeps writing better and better stories. Hawkins writes love stories, stories not about coming out but about falling in love, growing from your past, and finding happiness. These books explore queer joy and healing in a way that is fairly rare (and much needed) in sapphic media.