Every Step She Takes by Alison Cochrun: My Book Review

Check out my book review of Alison Cochrun’s latest queer romance, Every Step She Takes to see what I think if it’s one you should add to your TBR list. Every Step She Takes is now the September 2025 Book of the Month for the She Reads Romance Books Book Club!

*Disclosure: This post may include affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Every Step She Takes Summary:

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.

Every Step She Takes: My Review

Best of the Year! Alison Cochrun can NEVER stop writing! Now booking my flight to Portugal so I can start my own Camino!

I fell in love with Alison Cochrun’s writing with her debut novel, The Charm Offensive, making her an auto-buy author ever since and boy does she deliver again with Every Step She Takes, which is now going on my list of best romance books of 2025!

Sadie is one of those characters you can’t help but fall for and root for once you meet her on the page. She’s a thirty-five year old woman who is just starting to question her own sexuality when she inadvertently blurts out that she may be a lesbian to her seatmate on a plane to Portugal where she is going on a multi-day trek along the Camino de Santiago with a group of queer woman.

I loved following Sadie’s journey along that Camino that is not only a beautiful description of the scenery around her in Portugal and Spain but also a beautiful tale of self discovery and growth for her and her trek mates.

Cochrun’s tale of Sadie’s coming out and coming into her own identity was so well crafted. I felt every one of Sadie’s emotions that she was brave enough to share with her roommate Mal.

Mal was such a fantastic character as well. I loved how she offered to be Sadie’s fairy dyke-mother, giving her the chance to live the queer adolescence that Sadie missed out on while also giving her “practice” with a woman.

I’m obsessed with the dating coach/bedroom teacher trope and this one was fantastic since it was so easy to see Sadie and Mal’s chemistry and love for one another.

Cochrun also gives such a wonderful cast of characters who are along for the trek with Sadie and Mal as well as interesting backstories for the lead characters which really enriched the story.

I also love books that inspire travel and walking my own Camino is now on my bucket list of things to do in life.

Every Step She Takes truly sets Alison Cochrun a part from other authors. It demonstrates her skill as a writer where she can weave in so many important themes to her romance and make it just flow and seem so effortless. I know that I will be thinking about this book, its themes and message and its characters for a long time to come. Such a special read and one of the best romance books of 2025 without a doubt!

This is one of those reviews where I don’t feel like I do the book justice because it’s just so good. So just trust me and read it and you’ll see what I mean.

*I received an advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

More Books by Alison:

• The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun
• Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun

Related Book Lists:

• New Queer Romance Books Releasing in 2025
• Best Romance Books of 2025
• Best Lesbian Romance Books
• Best Romance Books That Inspire Travel

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