Will There Be Love?

Name: Will There Be Love?
ISBN: 979-8986896021

by Whitney Cubbison

Publisher

Whitney Cubbison

Publication

Apr 29, 2025

Format

Paperback/Softback

Illustrated

Price

$17.00

Dimensions

5.5 x 8.5 x 0.8 in

ISBN

979-8986896021

ASIN

B0F4F3MW8Q

Pages

310

Age

Adult 18+

Rights Sold

🌍 World Wide Rights Available

Description

A propulsive exploration of romantic and platonic love, commitment, shared history, betrayal and personal reckoning.

To celebrate her fortieth birthday, Ophelia and her husband Gianluca gather an unlikely group of eight friends and lovers – some old, some new, some false, some true – for a long weekend in Ibiza. However, the idyllic villa setting may be the only thing holding together a complicated tangle of friendship, love, and betrayal.

Among the guests is Ophelia's old university flame, Matt, and his new girlfriend, Austen. While Matt finds himself falling in love, Austen is holding back, carefully protecting her heart.

Ophelia knows she loves her husband, but “love” is a word she never learned to say, a silence rooted in a childhood tragedy. What she doesn't know is that Gianluca has been whispering it to someone else. And when his mistress crashes the party along with her own boyfriend, she brings a revelation that could unravel everything.

Across Rome, Paris and Ibiza, the party guests navigate the tangled paths that bring people together and push them apart, exploring where love begins, where it falters, and the courage it takes to hold on—or to let go.

Will There Be Love? is the sequel to Whitney Cubbison's debut novel, Will There Be Wine?, however it can be read as a stand-alone.

Awards & Endorsements

Silver Medalist - Independent Publisher Book Awards

IPPY Silver Medal Winner — 2026 Independent Publisher Book Awards, Regional Fiction (Europe & Russia)

Bookshop.org Summer Reads for 2025

Will There Be Love? was selected for Bookshop.org ’s Summer Beach Reads list—highlighting standout indie content for the summer reading season!

BookLife Prize Publishers Weekly Critic's Report

Plot/Idea: 10 out of 10

Originality: 9 out of 10

Prose: 8 out of 10

Character/Execution: 8 out of 10

Overall: 8.75 out of 10

Assessment:

Plot/Idea: Cubbison defies the typical romance novel formula with a complex and multilayered look at romantic relationships. The result is an engrossing story involving numerous couples at different stages of their relationships.

Prose: Cubbison is a strong storyteller, with inviting prose that pulls readers in while delivering plenty of heat.

Originality: Cubbison's characters find themselves in unusual situations, and the story is, in many ways, a study in human relations, tapping into the fine lines between love, friendship, and deception.

Character/Execution: The cast is complex but relatable, with each character differentiated by distinctive personalities and motivations. Ophelia's management of the story's events is intriguing, as she tries to balance her love for her family with her own pain and past trauma, and Cubbison portrays her journey in a rich, intimate way.

Readers' Favorite Review

Will There Be Love? by Whitney Cubbison is a vibrant, emotionally layered novel that navigates the complexities of romantic and platonic relationships over one tension-filled weekend in Ibiza. As Ophelia celebrates her fortieth birthday with a motley crew of past and present companions, buried secrets, unresolved feelings, and fresh betrayals surface with unexpected consequences. Caught between past loves and current loyalties, each guest must confront their own truths about love, commitment, and self-worth. Told across glamorous settings in Rome, Paris, and the Balearic Islands, this standalone sequel to Will There Be Wine? unfolds with wit, pathos, and an insightful look at midlife reinvention and emotional courage.

Author Whitney Cubbison has a fresh take on love that's refreshing to see in the romance genre, and her vibrant novel is a smart, stylish look at modern love and second chances. What stands out immediately about this tale is its smoothness as it's easy to get into, effortlessly blending humor, heartache, and romantic drama with well-paced twists and new developments that ramp up the tension at just the right moments. That's not to say that there aren't moments to pause and think, too, and the poignant exploration of emotional growth and personal truth that the characters go through has beautifully lyrical narrative parts where readers will naturally reflect alongside them. I also adored the descriptions of settings that added flair; each place seemed to match the mood of the drama well, with great cinematic vocabulary to spark the imagination. Overall, Will There Be Love? is a brilliant romance and drama read that I highly recommend.

K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite

Bookstagram Review

This is a story about love, betrayal, friendship, loyalty and even becoming ones true self. It was addicting, heartbreaking, infuriating and yet at the same time wholesome, heartwarming and such a charming read. Right from the start, I was addicted to this story; I was shocked and had to pull my jaw off the ground to keep reading. — @accio_literary_escape

Bookstagram Review

Despite my usual aversion to stories centered on infidelity, I found myself unable to set this book aside—a testament to the author's nuanced handling of a difficult subject. Rather than exploiting marital betrayal for mere drama, this book delves into its aftermath with remarkable emotional depth, weaving the unraveling marriage alongside a parallel narrative of new love taking tentative root.

What makes this dual storyline so refreshing is how it juxtaposes destruction against creation—Ophelia and Gianluca's fractured Roman life against Matt and Austen's careful, wounded hope. The narrative architecture brilliantly connects threads between these contrasting relationships, allowing readers to simultaneously witness the painful dismantling of one bond and the fragile construction of another.

Ophelia's journey particularly resonated with me—her emigration from England to Rome for her husband creates a powerful metaphor about cultural and emotional displacement. Her childhood trauma, manifesting in her inability to vocalize the word "love," adds psychological complexity. The transformation she undergoes isn't just circumstantial—it's a spiritual rebirth fueled by the need to reconcile her familial devotion with newfound self-determination.

The author refuses easy villainization of Gianluca despite his betrayal. Instead, we witness the marriage's complexity in all its messy, contradictory glory. Meanwhile, Matt and Austen's tentative courtship offers moments of unexpected tenderness amid the surrounding emotional devastation—their careful negotiation of past wounds creating some of the book's most emotionally resonant scenes.

What ultimately elevates this novel beyond typical infidelity narratives is its unwavering commitment to emotional honesty. Through Ophelia's eyes, we experience the full spectrum of human response—from searing anger to profound grief to cautious hope—each emotion rendered with such vivid authenticity that you'll feel the weight of impossible choices pressing against your chest long after the final page. --- @janereads10

Author(s)

Whitney Cubbison

Whitney Cubbison is a dual American & French citizen living in Paris since 2009. She grew up in Texas and California and graduated from UCLA with a degree in French. She started her career in Communications working for high-tech PR agencies in San Francisco and eventually joined Microsoft where she worked for sixteen years, thirteen of which from the Paris office. During that time, she held various international roles that encompassed public relations, employee communications, executive speechwriting, and social media.

She earned her French citizenship in early 2022 and left Microsoft in the summer of that year to focus on completing her first novel, Will There Be Wine? The story, while fiction, was deeply inspired by Whitney’s own experiences as an ex-pat divorcée living in Paris and trying to navigate the cultural minefield of dating in a foreign country. It was released on January 16, 2023.

She had such fun writing that one that she decided to write a sequel, which became Will There Be Love? Her own search for love is ongoing, so she's hoping this title will manifest someone great for her. A girl can dream...! Will There Be Love? was released on April 29, 2025.

When she’s not writing, Whitney can be found sitting in Parisian cafés and restaurants with her friends, drinking wine. 🍷