I loved this book like I knew I would. TGG tells an excellent story of love, divorce, finding yourself. I loved the flashbacks so we could see Layla and Josh’s past. I also just loved Layla and Josh. Very likable characters that you root for.

I adored The Girl He Used to Know and The Island and this was such a highly anticipated book for me! This is a sweet story about second chances, starting over, and finding yourself after being part of a relationship for years. This was compared to Daisy Jones and has a similar cover and blurb from TJR but I found the comparison to be nothing similar.

I read part of this in physical format and part through audio. I can't quite identify it, but something about the storytelling made it hard for me to connect to the story and characters. The flashbacks/italics, etc just felt a bit disjointed to me. I think I would have also preferred the flashbacks in separate chapters instead of woven into scenes in most chapters. It just didn't flow well for me. Once I switched to audio these issues didn't bother me and I was able to enjoy it much more.

I was very excited to read this being that Graves' last book, The Girl He Used To Know, was my favorite book the year I read it. This book is about two people who have been hurt in the past finding new romance. I thought this was a sweet friends to lovers book with slow burn on the romance and more of a story about healing and growing as individuals.

Heard it in a Love Song by Tracey Garvis Graves

This is an example of why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.. it’s stunning, gives off 70’s music, free love retro vibes, I’d like a print for my house! But! This book is actually a story about Layla - she’s recently divorced, 35, a former musician & performer, now an elementary school music teacher. She’s exploring her new independence, what she wants out of life and who she wants to be. It is set in recent days. She meets Josh, a newly separated father of one of her students, and they are both at similar points in their single journeys.

It’s a hard book to describe - it’s got the slice of life thing going on, it’s more about self actualization than romance. It’s slow-paced; we’re following Layla & Josh’s everyday, coupled with flashbacks discovering where things started and went wrong with their marriages. There’s no juicy reveals, it’s somewhat mundane in its cliché normality. I think this book’s magic comes from its realistic storyline. The characters felt like people you might know; I was rooting for them as individuals and as a possible couple.

Overall, this was just an okay read for me (3.5 star). I think those that enjoy slice-of-life novels, second chance romances, and/or hopeful stories about overcoming life’s obstacles will really enjoy this. I think there’s really strong characters and the slow portrait of each marriage being examined was really well done. Thank you St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for a free e-arc of this novel - it’s available November 2!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio (St. Martin's Press) for the early listen!
What an amazing book! Loved it. The author (and the narrator) did a great job with all the characters! Enjoyed reading about Layla and her pursuit of what her dream really was and the love she found. Loved reading about Josh and he too finding love. Sad about Norton but he brought a lot of character to the story. And the cover! I LOVE IT!!!
Solid 4 stars

Layla and Josh have both recently ended their marriages and are now trying to navigate single life. Layla teaches music at Josh's daughter's school, and when they cross paths, they wonder if something worth exploring is there.

I like the depth of emotion that the characters expressed in this book. I've never been divorced, but I could feel the pain that both Layla and Josh felt. Layla's ex-husband was a jerk and made her doubt herself and her talents. Josh's soon-to-be ex-wife was confused and unsure of what she wanted from life, and kind of left Josh in limbo.

I really wanted to see more of the developing relationship between Layla and Josh. There was more in this book about their relationships in the past than the developing relationship between them. I would've liked to see more about them falling in love and navigating their feelings for each other after the experience of divorce. There were a ton of flashbacks and I didn't really like the way it was formatted. Overall a solid romance.

I absolutely gobbled up Heard It In a Love Song -- like all the best romances, I picked it up, and just had to keep reading.

Layla is a recently divorced music teacher who used to be the lead singer in a popular local cover band. (She'd play the intro of the song Layla while on stage; I appropriately hear that opening riff every time I type her name.) Josh comes onto the scene as a hot dad dropping his kindergarten daughter off for the first day of school.

I'm going to (somehow) refrain from listing everything I loved about the plot of this one (Norton the dog!) so that you can experience it fresh. Some of the elements that got me: open and thoughtful communication, the idea of second chances, and figuring out what it is you really want.

Author Tracey Garvis Graves did such a good job constructing these characters -- they're divorcees in their 30s, and I loved how their experience informed their actions and thoughts. The author's not just telling us what they've been through, but infusing that into the characters themselves. There are flashbacks throughout which also added to the story for me.

5 stars, loved it, really is time for me to dive into TGG's backlist.

This was a fun, light read! We follow a newly divorced music teacher, Layla, trying to figure out who she is...and a newly single dad. Sparks fly... and it's not all that simple as love at first sight. The book flashes back to what led them both to their circumstances which gives you an insight into why they are who they are now. Very much a slow burn with two characters I felt could have used some therapy! I enjoyed this story however as a fan of the author, this was not my favorite book. It lacked the depth she typically builds into her characters so I did not feel very connected. Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I just loved "Heard It in a Love Song" by Tracey Gravis Graves. A story of two people, recovering from the devastating blows of their divorces/failed marriages, falling in love again while being careful with their hearts. I really enjoyed how Layla, a very talented musician, finds her musical voice again, and Josh, always putting his daughter first, while moving forward. Felt very real, as the author did a fabulous job building up these wonderful characters. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the early release copy, all opinions are my own.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Heard It in a Love Song by Tracey Garvis Graves is a dual-perspective romance between Layla, a newly divorced music teacher, and Josh, a recently separated father whose daughter attends Layla's school. As luck would have it, they turn out to meet and have a friendship with potential while they both figure out how to be separated from the relationships that had previously made up a good part of who they are.

I will say, this book is quiet. It's not interested in flashy scenes, and it deals out a lot of backstory via flashback. Even sometimes in the middle of scenes, this book will stop to tell you all about a memory before going back to the present. While I think this approach can work, I had a hard time with this book. I wasn't motivated to pick it up, and I found the characters kind of... boring? Spending so much time in the flashbacks when we know that Layla and Josh had both ended their relationships just felt a little bit like overkill. While the experiences definitely shaped them, it kind of felt like a foregone conclusion, and the warning signs we see in the earlier flashbacks all pan out to the bad endings between Layla and Liam and Josh and Kimmy.

I think the development is pretty good for the main characters. Layla and Josh are definitely fully formed and you can see how their past experiences have affected them. But some of the side characters felt a bit stale, just kind of there to bounce the main characters' feelings off of and show their current mental state.

What I find really strange about this book is that the ending just zooms right on by. It feels very told and not shown, which is weird because it's what the whole book has worked up to, and I would've liked to see it more developed.

Ultimately, I'm probably not the target audience for this book, and I had an okay time with it.

I enjoyed the journey of Layla and Josh as they each found themselves and each other. Both Layla and Josh had their marriages end. Each has to deal with their pasts as well as what they plan for the future. The book was well written and I enjoyed the story being told from both of their points of view. I found the characters to be likeable and their memories into the past very engaging. The ending seemed a bit abrupt to me and I would have liked to have more details. I received an advance copy from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

This was not the review I had expected to write. I definitely thought this was going to be a 5 star read because TGG has never not been a 5 star read for me.

But here we are. Heard It in a Love Song felt off. The writing plodded along with clunky dialogue that felt wrong more than it felt right. At times I felt like things were too explained, as if the book was written for someone who had never lived outside of a box. Part of me hopes this was an ARC issue vs the final version issue but I doubt that much will be changed in the final version. This just didn't have the same style as the other books at all.

I did like Layla and Josh and had I not wanted to see their growth I would have DNF'd this early on. But even they couldn't raise this book above a 2 star for me and it genuinely hurts to rate this author that low.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for an eARC in exchange of an honest review.

I have really enjoyed this book. The writing is great and the back in forth between past and present really helps to understand the characters and why they are in the place they are. I found myself holding my breath a lot in waiting for the main characters to interact.
Layla is a primary school music teacher with a past in performing live. She longs to be on the stage again her her ex-husband Liam had taken that from her.
Josh is a hot, soon-to-be single dad just trying to figure out his new found bachelor life, but also trying to figure out the drop-off line at school.That's where Josh meets Layla.
Throughout the book we learn about Josh and Layla's present struggles as well as their past struggles in marriages that grew apart.
This book served as a great message about finding ones self and thriving despite all the cards being stacked against you but also about finding love again but with the right person this time.

What a refreshing read! It sucked me right in and I had a hard time putting it down. We have two main characters in their 30s, both divorced or separated, and trying to figure out what comes next for them both. You could categorize it as a “friends to lovers” romance, but that would be doing the story a disservice, as it is so much more than that. Layla in particular needs to recover from a marriage with a domineering man and needs to figure out who she is now - she once starred in a local band and loved performing in clubs but hasn’t done it in a rather long time. She now works as an elementary school music teacher. Josh has his act more together in terms of career because he’s a pretty successful electrician with his own business - but he’s still tied to his soon-to-be ex-wife because of the mutual love they have for their kindergartener daughter, Sasha. They are both gradually adjusting to their newly single, more solitary lives.

Throughout the book, there are flashbacks, so we gradually learn the events that made Layla and Josh who they are today. This was quite an effective technique because each flashback was brought on by something that happened or was said in the present timeline.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I am looking forward to reading more of her work in the future.

I bounced between the audiobook and the ebook for this title, which was very convenient, and one reason I sped through it so quickly. The audiobook’s narrator is Andi Arndt and she did a fine job with both the female and male voices, but it was harder to distinguish between the current-day timeline and the flashbacks on the audio. The ebook galley I read has the flashbacks in italic type which was an easy and obvious signal that it was a flashback. Once or twice on the audiobook I realized a bit late that I was hearing a flashback - not at all the narrator’s fault, though.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book and to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

“Maybe what’s coming is better than we imagined,” she said.”

“I hope so.”

What You’ll Find:
✔️Friends to Lovers
✔️Single Dad
✔️Dual Timelines
✔️Closed Door
✔️Dual POV

Heard It In A Love Song is a story about starting over and second chances.

Layla is a recently divorced music teacher, struggling to find herself. Living in the past, of when she was lead singer of a band. Josh is recently separated, a single dad, who quickly strikes up a friendship with Layla during morning school drop offs. Soon their friendship turns into the potential for so much more.

This was quite a slow paced story. Flipping back and forth from past to present. Because of this it took me some time to get into. But eventually I found myself wanting more, and wondering where their relationship would go as it blossomed from friends to lovers in a slow burn way.

In the end though, it just wasn’t the story I was anticipating. The MC’s are likeable. I just never felt quite pulled in by their connection. This story is more about Layla and her growth, then the romance that I was looking for. Overall I still enjoyed the story for was it was, and think many others will too.

3.5/5⭐️‘S

*Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the ARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own and given freely.

I first heard about this book from Ashley Spivey. I have loved every book she recommends, so I knew this was a must read. This was such a beautiful book showing the struggles of marriage and moving on. The dual perspectives and the alternating timeline made this book flow together perfectly.

Thank you so much SMP and Netgalley for letting me read this book early!

Heard it in a Love Song was a comfortable book. I loved the characters- Layla and Josh. I loved their story- trying to figure out love after your heart is crushed. But it was a little slow for me and all the flashbacks seemed to interrupt the story rather than help the story.

3.5 stars if I could give halves.

Layla and Josh are both looking for a second chance at life and love and this book is great for anyone looking for hope after heartbreak. The story is pretty straight forward (and sometimes a bit cheesy for me) but it was nice to read a book with low level of drama. I liked the way the story unfolds with both Josh & Layla's past relationship and the flashbacks and narrative structure. I would say this book is less about romantic love and more about learning to love yourself and go after what you want in life.
Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the ARC.

This book was just a really wonderful, non-dramatic book. So many things I have read recently are heart-wrenching, anxiety-ridden rides from start to finish! This book was just deliciously calm in a way that I didn't realise I needed.
As someone who grew up in Minnesota, it tickled me to find a book that took place just casually in my home state.
The story of Layla, a music teacher, and Josh, a recently separated dad, is sweet and made me hope that this type of book - something that will give everyone the benefit of believing it might happen for them too - will become more popular. Having read something from this author before, I knew her writing was engaging, but this book was exciting without being nerve-wracking. I greatly appreciated the outlook from someone in their thirties because so many chick lit and adult fiction are written from a 20-something's point of view and seeing something I could actually relate to more was refreshing. I suggest you read this book if you need something that will remind you of the good in the world, or if you've just finished all the Ted Lasso episodes available and need something calming!

This ebook was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both the audio and digital ARCs of the latest story by Tracey Garvis Graves - 4 stars!

Layla and Josh are both fresh out of broken relationships. Layla was married to Liam for 10 years - he had never put her first, didn't encourage her dream of playing in a band, and they had very different ideas about money. Now divorced, Layla is working as an elementary music teacher when she meets Josh, the dad of a kindergartner. Josh is in the process of a divorce from Kimmy, his high school sweetheart, and navigating shared parenting. Is it the right time for a new relationship? Is this a rebound?

I really liked this story. Each of the characters felt real and relatable as they got their feet back underneath them after heartbreak. It was more of a story of second chances, being true to oneself, and being ready for a real relationship rather than just a soppy romance novel, which I loved! Great supporting cast of characters including Norton!