e-ALC, 06:01:56
Narrated by: Eric Lockley & Khaya Fraites
Release Date: December 2, 2025
Published by: Macmillan Audio
Read from: November 29-30, 2025
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley (I received this ALC free from the publisher and Netgalley. This did nothing to influence my review!)
Content Warning:
For Readers Interested In: 2sLGBTQ+, Audio, Dual POV, Holidaze (New Years), Most Anticipated, Own Voices, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Realistic Fiction, Romance, Second Chance Romance, YAFrom New York Times-bestselling author George M. Johnson and USA Today-bestselling author Leah Johnson comes a revolutionary new holiday romcom for fans of Lynn Painter, Alice Oseman, and Nicola Yoon.
Andy was supposed to shed her too-serious student journalist persona and reinvent herself on New Year’s Eve. Instead, she puked on her crush, dropped her phone in a fish tank, and managed to get her car stolen. Now, she only has the first day of the year to stop the gentrification that’s threatening her family’s business right her wrongs from the night before, and figure out why she feels so drawn to the electric new-girl-next-door. . How can Andy find her voice when everything’s being turned upside down?
Dominique is an influencer on the verge of securing a major brand deal that will ensure his future and family legacy. But when he runs into his former best friend, unresolved feelings emerge — and in a small town, there’s nowhere to hide. Not from his cousin, Andy, who has always seen him for his true self, not from his busybody manager, Kim, whose favorite color is money green, and certainly not from himself. When all the world’s a stage, can Dominique rise to superstardom without leaving the ones he loves behind?
There’s Always Next Year is a dual POV, double love story about what it means to nearly blow your life up, and race to put it back together before your time runs out. And if they fail? Well, there’s always next year.
*MY THOUGHTS*
This was on of my most anticipated books this year. Two of my faves together? I KNEW this was going to be good! And it was! I couldn’t stop reading it. I loved both characters and the way they both handled their business. It felt like more than fiction.
So I liked the characters mostly, but I still had some issues. But only because it was Dual POV. I felt like we don’t REALLY get to know them and their back story since it was two different characters telling two different stories. But at the same time, what we did learn about them, I loved. I really love influencer characters. Although I don’t think I’ll ever reach the numbers that Dom did, I could really relate to the way he was feeling like things didn’t seem like him anymore and more. I actually really felt for him too because his heart was in the right place, he just handled it poorly. And then there was Andy who was just as real as they come. She felt like a bestie who was telling me about the crazy party she had gone to. I think I realated to her more as someone whos also a journalist, but I really liked her part in this.
The way these two stories came together was really cool. I know they wrote their individual chapters, but how did they write these stories when they were together and crossing each others paths? That seems so cool to me because they were able to write this from two different places. It was so smooth I would have thought they were sitting next to each other the entire time. It really did come out so well. And for this to also be told over one day? I thought that was one of the best parts. I know this is also another reason we don’t get to know the them so much.
The romance for each of the stories was really cute too. I liked that I got to see both sides of a romance too. In Andy’s we got a bit of a rom com where her night starts out terribly, and in Dom it’s a more serious kind of love that requires forgiveness before it goes further. Even with the seriousness, I thought they were both really fun and I enjoyed seeing them fall for their love interest.
This was everything I hoped it’d be. I really hope this is the start to a bunch more books like this. At the very least I need more of them together. I really hope there’s one for some other holidays planned. I had such a good time with this one, I’m confident you will too!
Overall I give this,
