Book Review – To Get To The Other Side by Kelly Ohlert

Book Review of To Get To The Other Side

Author – Kelly Ohler

Publishers – Alcove Press

Publishing Date – 6the December 2022

This e-ARC copy was provided to me by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for this. All the thoughts are my own and honest.

What is this book about?

To Get To The Other Side by Kelly Ohlert is a romance bound by a chicken. The protagonists of the story, Trixie and Bear, come to know each other due to a chicken, and that chicken becomes a very important point in this story. Trixie is an animal lover and works at an animal shelter. Her landlord has a no pet policy, but she has recently found a chicken and is looking for a pet-friendly home. Bear is a carpenter who hates his job and needs some extra cash. His sisters post an ad for renting out his house and mentions that it is pet friendly. This ad and the chicken are the reason the two of them collide again. Despite chasing out several prospective roommates, Bear finds himself sharing the flat with Trixie. The tension is obvious but both are ready to ignore it. The book goes on to explore more about their dynamics while bringing out their past traumas and the actions inspired by those traumas.

Writing Style of the book

This book is written in easy to read style with straightforward descriptions of the events without excessive ornamentation. I enjoyed reading this and was able to finish reading this in 2 days. The story gives a lot of instances of slow-burn romances between our protagonists. I enjoyed those slow burn descriptions and wanted to read more about them.

Themes and Topics discussed in the book

The book also discusses childhood trauma, bullying, toxic parenting, and trust issues. If these are triggering to you, then you should avoid this. The author has done good work by bringing out the severity of the situation through the simple use of sentences. However, the one thing that bothered me was the ‘Chick, Chick’ situation. It was really weird to read more and more about the chicken in the book. The weirdness went away as I, too, became accustomed to the chicken, but it was weird nonetheless.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Overall I liked this book and will give this book 3 out of 5 stars. The falling in love at the first sight was a cliched opening, but the exploration of past trauma and explaining the family dynamics was really well done. I would recommend this book to anyone willing to read a slow burn romance (although the slow burn happens in parts, and breaks away abruptly), exploration of past trauma, and the process to overcome it.