Every Step She Takes by Alison Cochrun

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The details…

  • Title: Every Step She Takes
  • Author: Alison Cochrun
  • Publisher: Atria Books
  • ISBN-13‏: ‎978-1668021255
  • Publication date: September 2, 2025
  • Available formats: ebook, paperback, audiobook
  • Ebook file size: ‎4.4 MB
  • Paperback length: 384 pages
  • Audiobook length: 12 hours and 26 minutes, narrated by cindy Kay and Carlisle Parke
  • Genre: contemporary romance 
  • Themes: romance, women loving women, falling in love, self-discovery, community, connection, understanding, support, acceptance, growth, healing, road-trips, vacation romance, travel

The blurb from the publisher…

A swoon-worthy sapphic romance following two women who are thrown together on a European adventure, from the Lambda Literary Award–winning author of the “sexy, insightful, and utterly charming” (BuzzFeed) Kiss Her Once for Me.

Thirty-five-year-old Seattleite Sadie Wells needs an escape. She’s desperate to escape her monotonous routines, the family business that has consumed her entire life, and the unexpected gay panic that has her questioning everything she thought she knew about herself. So when her injured sister offers Sadie her place on a tour along Portugal’s Camino de Santiago, she decides this is the perfect chance to get away from it all.

After three glasses of wine on the plane and some turbulence convince Sadie she won’t even survive the flight, she confesses all her secrets to her seatmate, Mal. The problem: the plane doesn’t crash, and it turns out Mal is on her Camino tour. Worst of all, Sadie learns that she is on a tour specifically for queer women, and that her two-hundred-mile trek will be a journey of self-discovery, whether she wants it to be or not.

Fascinated by the woman who drunkenly came out to her on the plane, Mal offers to help Sadie relive the queer adolescence she missed out on as they walk the Camino. As Sadie develops her newfound confidence, Mal grapples with a complicated loss and unexpected inheritance. But as their relationship blurs the lines between reality and practice, they both must decide if they will forever part at the end of the tour or chart a new course together.

With “funny, poignant” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) prose, Alison Cochrun explores the power of letting go of your past and realizing that it’s never too late to live as your authentic self.

My thoughts…

Every so often, a romance novel comes along that does more than just make you swoon; it makes you think, breathe, and feel a little more alive when you close the last page. Alison Cochrun’s Every Step She Takes is one of those books. It’s tender, funny, and emotionally grounded, but it’s also a quietly powerful story about what it means to start over and truly discover who you are. 

The novel follows Sadie, a woman in her mid-thirties who joins a queer tour group walking the Camino de Santiago, a historic pilgrimage route stretching through Portugal and Spain. On the surface, it’s an adventure abroad. However, beneath that, it’s a story about self-discovery, grief, and the courage to embrace your identity, no matter how late it arrives. Cochrun captures that beautifully, layering humor and heart into every mile of Sadie’s journey. The Camino isn’t just a backdrop; it’s a living metaphor for transformation. Each step forward feels like another piece of fear or uncertainty falling away.

With Sadie comes Mal. The chemistry between these two ladies is the kind that sneaks up on you. It’s fun, flirty, yet quietly intense. The pacing of the romance is spot on as well. Cochrun lets things unfold slowly, using just the right mix of tension and tenderness to build connection. This is right in her wheelhouse; she’s proven herself quite skilled at scripting the slow burn. She knows how to include a nice balance of awkward moments and emotional honesty, resulting in a romance that feels real, not orchestrated.  

The romance in Every Step She Takes wouldn’t land without the vibrant community surrounding it. Sadie’s Camino group—a lively mix of queer travelers—infuses the story with warmth, chaos, and laughter. They feel like a true found family, the kind of people who challenge and lift one another in equal measure. Their bond shines through in every shared joke and late-night conversation, adding richness and heart to the narrative. As Sadie makes her way along the Camino, this camaraderie becomes the emotional backdrop to her personal and romantic growth. The group reflects her evolution, showing her what it means to love openly and to be loved in return. Within this vibrant, supportive circle, readers find themselves rooting for Sadie, not just to find romance, but to find herself.

Cochrun also handles heavier topics with remarkable care. She writes openly about grief, family expectations, and the complicated process of coming out later in life. One of the most memorable moments involves a conversation about the word fat, treating it as a neutral descriptor rather than an insult. It’s handled so naturally that it feels like a quiet act of liberation, one of many small truths that give this story its depth.

Final remarks…

Every Step She Takes isn’t just a romance; it’s a journey of becoming. It is tender without ever tipping too far into sentimentality, heartfelt without going overboard, and funny in that easy, deeply human way that can make you laugh out loud one moment and tear up the next. Every Step She Takes demonstrates, once again, why Alison Cochrun has become an author readers can trust to deliver heart, humor, and honesty in equal measure. Two thumbs up.

Strengths…

  • Well-told
  • Heartfelt
  • Funny and poignant 
  • Relatable Themes
  • Engaging Setting
  • Perfect pacing
  • Great character development 
  • Great supportive cast
  • Good chemistry between characters 

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A bit about the author…

Alison Cochrun is a high school English teacher living outside Portland, Oregon. When she’s not reading and writing queer love stories, you can find her torturing teenagers with Shakespeare, crafting perfect travel itineraries, hate-watching reality dating shows, and searching for the best happy hour nachos. You can find her on Instagram or at her website.

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