A Heartfelt Romance About First Love, Second Chances, and Love Triangles

Goodreads | This Changes Everything

Release date: September 8, 2026

Publisher: Harper Perrenial

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Synopsis:

An aspiring actor caught on the Hollywood roller coaster is torn between following her dreams and choosing between two of her own leading men—her childhood sweetheart and the one who got away, or the fellow actor who understands just what she’s fighting for. A funny, sexy and heartfelt romance for readers of Yulin Kuang, Rebecca Serle and Emily Henry.

Ellie McCain has always dreamed of a bigger life, so when she’s accepted into a prestigious acting school in New York City, she packs her bags—even if it means leaving her family, her friends and Rory Campbell, the boy who held her heart for years, behind. 

At first, life in New York is even better than she’d dreamed it would be—she loves her classes, she gets a position at a fancy production company and she’s even falling in love with her classmate-turned-roommate-turned-best friend, Ben. But soon the shine starts to wear her boss has made it clear that the only role he’ll be casting her in is “Unpaid Intern #3,” and while she’s happy that Ben’s career is starting to take off, she’s struggling to stay afloat. And it doesn’t help that everyone around her seems to be passing her by—even her childhood sweetheart, Rory, is living out his dreams as a professional golfer. But when she runs into Rory for the first time in ten years, she starts to wonder what exactly it is she’s running from, where she’s going and who is running with her.

Told in alternating timelines of the past and present and moving between Vancouver, New York and Los Angeles, This Changes Everything is the story of love—first love, one-that-got-away-love and true love—and asks if maybe, just maybe, all those loves can be one and the same.

Review:

I’m not usually drawn to love triangle stories—they’re just not really my thing—but This Changes Everything sounded compelling enough that I decided to give it a try, and I’m glad I did because I ended up really liking it. This is a heartfelt, sometimes angsty romance about first love, second chances, dreams, and the complicated ways relationships can change as we grow.

The alternating timelines worked especially well for this story. Moving between Ellie’s younger years and her life in the present gave the relationships with Rory and Ben plenty of room to develop while also showing exactly why Ellie felt so torn between them. The younger timeline brings plenty of teenage angst, yearning, and big emotions, while the present day story explores what happens when the people and dreams we once left behind come back into our lives.

And surprisingly, I thought the love triangle was handled really well. There were times I was firmly rooting for Ellie and Rory, and other times I was all in on Ellie and Ben. I genuinely wasn’t sure who she would ultimately choose, which made the journey much more compelling, and I was satisfied with how everything came together in the end. The story captures the messiness of first love and complicated relationship dynamics without making the characters feel one dimensional.

With well developed characters, good banter, plenty of emotion, and a strong sense of yearning, This Changes Everything is a romance about figuring out what—and who—you really want as your life changes around you. Even for a reader who normally skips the love triangle trope, this one won me over.

Perfect for readers who love:

• First love and second chances
• Love triangles that actually work
• Alternating timelines
• Teenage angst and yearning
• Aspiring actor/creative career stories
• Messy, complicated relationships
• Strong character development
• Banter and big emotional moments

Overall rating: 4/5

Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.

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