Maybe Now

Colleen Hoover’s novel Maybe Now is a work of contemporary romantic fiction. Originally self-published in 2012, Maybe Now is the third and final title in Hoover’s Maybe Someday Series. The novel picks up just hours after the series’ first book, Maybe Someday, ends. Written from the first-person points of view of four central characters, the novel traces Ridge Lawson and Sydney Blake’s attempts to transition their platonic friendship into a romantic relationship. Their dynamic, as well as their friends’ concurrent relationships, fuel the novel’s themes of Navigating the Boundaries Between Friendship and Romance, the Importance of Communication in Relationships, and The Value of Self-Love and Self-Discovery.

Hoover is an internationally bestselling romance novelist. She is best known for her 2016 novel It Ends With Us, which was adapted into a Netflix movie starring Blake Lively in 2024.

This guide refers to the 2022 Atria Books paperback edition of the novel.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of cursing, sexual content, illness, and death.

Plot Summary

The night after Sydney Blake and Ridge Lawson have sex for the first time, Sydney wakes up in Ridge’s bed. She and Ridge have been friends for about a year, and Sydney is thrilled that he finally professed his feelings for her last night. However, her romantic bliss is short-lived when she discovers that Ridge is still texting with his ex-girlfriend, Maggie Carson. He and Maggie were together for six years and only recently broke up when Maggie discovered that Ridge and Sydney were having an emotional affair and kissed. Ridge insists that he and Maggie are just good friends, hoping that Sydney will understand.

Meanwhile, Maggie tries to get over her and Ridge’s breakup. She isn’t angry with Ridge, but he’s been such a big part of her life for so long that she’s unsure how to be on her own. She has cystic fibrosis and diabetes, and Ridge has been her primary caretaker for many years. Her grandparents raised her, but her grandmother passed away, and her grandfather is in hospice, and she feels lonely without Ridge.

One day, Maggie discovers a bucket list she wrote for herself two years after she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. She’s surprised to see that she still wants to do most of the items on the list—none of which she’s checked off. To distract herself, she goes skydiving and meets a handsome cardiologist and jumping instructor named Jake Griffin. After their jump, Maggie surprises herself by agreeing to go on a date with Jake. She admits that she doesn’t want a serious relationship but invites Jake over to spend the night. The two have passionate sex. In the morning, Maggie is horrified to discover that Jake is still there and cooking her breakfast. She likes him and enjoyed their night together but demands that he leave because he hasn’t respected her boundaries.

Not long after, however, Maggie decides to visit Jake at his doctor’s office. Jake is shocked to see her in his exam room, given their last exchange. They share another passionate kiss, and Jake promises to call her that night. After he leaves, Maggie has a coughing fit and passes out. She’s then admitted to the hospital. Her doctors contact Ridge and his best friend and roommate Warren, knowing that they are her only family.

When Ridge hears that Maggie has been hospitalized, he explains the situation to Sydney. Sydney feels jealous but quashes her feelings and encourages Ridge to accompany Warren to the hospital. At the hospital, Ridge and Warren pick Maggie up and take her back to her apartment, where they spend the night to make sure she is okay. Maggie and Ridge get into an argument because she isn’t taking care of herself, and Ridge can’t leave Sydney every time Maggie has an emergency.

The next day, Warren relays everything that happened at Maggie’s to Sydney and his girlfriend, Bridgette. He then takes Sydney out to breakfast and confronts her about Ridge and Maggie’s relationship. He insists that Ridge needs to remain a part of Maggie’s life and encourages Sydney to make peace with her so that they can all get along.

The friends agree to have dinner together at Maggie’s and come to an arrangement: Maggie will move into Ridge’s apartment complex so that he and Warren can help her more easily. Sydney feels surprisingly calm about the situation.

Over the following weeks, Sydney and Ridge’s relationship deepens. They write songs together and communicate even more openly than usual. Sydney also develops a friendship with Maggie and encourages her to pursue a relationship with Jake. Maggie takes her advice.

Three months later, the six friends all go to a concert together. After Ridge and Sydney perform songs for one another, Jake proposes to Maggie, and she accepts. Then Warren and Bridgette get engaged. Realizing they’re ready to start a life together, too, Ridge and Sydney agree to get married as well. The friends decide that they should all drive to Vegas and get married as a group.

In the Epilogue, Sydney writes a letter to her unborn baby. She tells the baby all about her and Ridge’s relationship and everything she hopes the baby will have in their life.