I loved this story. It was light and the perfect young adult romance. Such a unique storyline that kept me intrigued, with great conversations regarding identity.

This is fake dating done right! I'd recommend it to anyone.

Thank you so much to PRH for sending me an eARC to read and review!!

Love love love. Gabriela Martins is all too good at swoons and this was SO CUTE, SO SWEET and I am a puddle of adoration!!! Nati and William? THE it couple. My goodness, how I LOVED these two. William is the sweetest bean to ever grace this earth and Nati is a powerhouse. I love her. I love her strength and her loyalty and her connection to her heritage! I could rave all day about this book!!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

This is such a fun and captivating contemporary book! I loved the character growth and development that takes place throughout.

This was a very cute and heartwarming read. It’s about two people who fake a relationship for PR in order to save a scandal that happened with one of them. It talks about the entertainment industry and how that can change a person. Nati is a Brazilian singer and many times throughout the book many people think that she’s hispanic because of her features and she has to correct them multiple times. It also talks about Natalie’s natural hair and how she was forced to straighten it, instead of embracing part of her culture . One thing I loved was that Natalie not only fought for her relationship with her culture to be showed but to be shown to the public and inspire people who looked liked her. Her relationship with William was very cute and the fact that they were there for each other during their toughest moments was very sweet. They understood where each other was coming from and didn’t judge the other person for it.

Favorite read of 2021 concerning YA books. I loved the character development and the use of celebrities trope along with the fake dating. Can't wait to read more of the author's books.

Like a Love Song is lovely and cute YA romance that revolves around Natalie a Brazilian pop-star who has to fake date to better her image but it soon turns into real forever feeling that helps her find herself and reconnect with her culture and family. The story is about embracing roots and culture, dealing with pressure of fame, family, friendship, and love.

Writing is gripping, spell binding, and fast paced that sucked me into story right from the first page. Story is written in first person narrative from Natalie’s POV. Her voice is refreshing and relatable.

The story is interesting. It started with Natalie on red carpet with her boyfriend Trent. She is nominated for Poeple’s Choice Award of the year for best artist. It is best moment of her life that soon turns into disaster when her boyfriend decides to dump her just when she is called on stage and her reaction is recorded on live camera. She never imagined her biggest moment of life being GIFed and MEMEfied all over social media. Seeing trash Trent with his new girlfriend and liking her humiliation makes her ask help from PR agent who suggests she fake date with someone who will also benefit with fake dating along with her. What she doesn’t expect is PR setting her fake date with a British indie film star, William, who is anti-Trent in all aspect.

It is great to read how this fake dating ship would sail, can Natalie make people change opinions about her with this fake dating or it will only give more spice to social media and tabloids, how it will change her life, and if it will turn into her forever love.

Natalie isn’t instantly likable character. She has that air of fame that we see when she is with William in the beginning. She is too quick to form opinions and sometimes is judgemental but what I liked most is she is quick in recorrecting her mistakes. As story progressed her character starts shinning more and more. She is actually very caring and compassionate girl but is also vulnerable with her anxiety of being in big events among big people who could easily judge her because of her origin. Writing songs, making music, and singing her own songs is her elements and she is proud of it and I liked how it gave her confidence and made her who she is.

I can understand what she must have gone through in school being Latina girl from Brazil and how that made her to be Americanised, change her name and look so she wouldn’t stand out and how in doing so she felt not fitting in with her original culture and family in Brazil. It was amazing to see how being with William and fake dating developed her character, made her want to be herself without changing anything about her and reconnecting with her family in Brazil, and accept her culture and even her Brazilian name. I loved how she turned heartbreak into something more than herself and do something to inspire and motivate people from home and girls like her.

William is cute, totally adorable and developed character. I could relate with his love for his family and financial struggle. I admired him for working for money so he could support his family. I second his views towards fame and privacy. I liked how uncomfortable he felt with whole fake dating and how that affected his image and family and still he went along with it as long as he could.

Natalie's relationship with her mother was amazing. I also liked Natalie's friends- Padma, a lesbian Pakistani-American famous DJ and Brenda- a bisexual friend who isn’t famous like Natalie and Padma. I liked how Brenda never felt not fitting in trio or jealous of their fame. I loved how they both supported Natalie throughout story and how they stood up for her in climax.

Best part of the book is Natalie's struggle and her development and romance. So far fake dating trope is hit or miss for me but this made me fall for this trope. Fans of this trope won’t be disappointed. It has perfect chemistry, perfect drama and tension, beautiful lovely and fluffy moments, forced proximity (which is much better than other books I read with this arc), and right amount of hotness for YA category.

Twist and turns are good. Most of them are predictable. Climax is also predictable but it soon turned surprising that makes it different from other YA romances which is another best thing I liked. I felt sad for Natalie but at the same time I so much loved her conversation with her fan, how the whole thing brought change in her and what she decided to do about it. End is perfect with her big moment and yes with her forever love that takes more time to decide than I expected.

Overall, Like a Love Song is heartwarming, fluffy and adorable YA romance with fake dating trope and forced proximity arc.

I highly recommend this if you like,
YA romance
fake dating trope
forced proximity arc
brazilian main character
theme of dealing with pressure of fame, embracing roots and culture
diverse story
exploring identity

Like a classic rom-com, this debut makes you grin and giddy. After a messy breakup, Nati, a Latina teen pop star, must rebuild her image and a fake boyfriend might be the way for her to reclaim her voice again. Predictable in the softest manner, this debut hosts a fluffy romance traversing the fake-dating trope and the scorching spotlight of fame. As the love and the lovers charmingly grew, it was a delight to witness certain themes being effortlessly embedded within this fast-paced, sweet story. From an audience’s scrutiny to the pressures of a perfect social media depiction, and from the difficulty of navigating a Brazilian identity in an American industry to finding courage for honesty in a fan-based career, Like a Love Song beautifully incorporates socio-cultural facets into fame, friendships, and feelings.

I enjoyed this book immensely. I'd been looking forward to it for a while and I'm so glad that it met all my expectations and then some. While it took me a while to warm up to Nati, once I did, I was completely all in. William was a very cute love interest. I really liked that the side pairing had so many scenes as well. Nati's friends were just brilliant. The growth that Nati had throughout the story was very commendable and I'm so proud of her!

Also, the best part about this was that the third act break up was so well done. It wasn't because of a misunderstanding, and the reasons for it made complete sense to me. The reasons for getting back together made sense too.

The only issue I have is that this was not a dual POV so we didn't get to see much of William and his struggles. He had a lot going on so I would've definitely appreciated an insight into his thoughts as well. But other than that, this was so good!

Thank you Penguin Random House International for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Like a Love Song is an adorable YA Contemporary Romance about a Brazilian teenage popstar, Natalie, who had been publicly dumped by her boyfriend during her awards. It made it to headlines that slightly damage her reputation. Such embarrassing moment drive her team to uplift her image by setting her up with a fake boyfriend, William Ainsley. A British Indie Actor who needs more exposure in the Hollywood scene.

Nat and William are polar opposites. I wasn't a fan of Nat first. She is pretentious and shallow. Trying to understand her personality, she was a crowd pleaser and a perfectionist. We see her character growth towards the end and embracing her true beauty. She becomes more confident with herself.

William is a breakout star. He is charming and a gentleman. He steps out of his comfort zone without outshining the heroine. The supporting characters, Brenda and Padma are commendable. These two gals are sassy! I love them.

Overall, this book is great. The romance definitely stands out.

Like a Love Song follows Natalie a Latina teen pop star whose image takes a dive after a messy public breakup, until she’s set up with a swoon-worthy fake boyfriend. Her fake-boyfriend turns out to be William, British indie film star. As Natalie tries to help her image recover she begins to feel real feelings for William in their fake relationship,

Natalie and Williams fake-dating-to-oops-we-caught-real-feelings romance was so fun to read. I loved the tension and uncertainty of feelings, a fluffy happy romance that made me grin. If you love romance and fake-dating then this book is perfect for you!

I recommend this one. It's a good book and everyone should read. Of course I would love to have this book in my bookstore.

This was a very fast paced and easy to read romcom and I liked it!

I loved that the Latinx character was from Brazil because we often don't see Latinx rep from Brazil as it is a non-Spanish speaking country and people often exclude it so it was wonderful to see it here!

I really enjoyed the music elements with the character being a pop star, it was so fun and reminded me of watching teen dramas with similar situations! I could picture it all so vividly too which just meant the author did a wonderful job with the descriptions and the writing was lovely!

A really fun heartwarming feel good book!

I loved Like a Love Song! I especially loved Nati — she’s such a strong, relatable character. I especially related to the struggle of changing your identity to fit in with Western society. I really enjoyed reading of her journey to reconnect with her culture and do what makes her happy. I also loved reading about WIlliam, Padma, and Brenda — they felt like they were written with love and depth. I’m excited to see what Martins writes next!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Fake dating trope ? I’m in.
Absolutely loved to get to know Natalie and William. I loved all this storyline around the celebrity, buzz etc.
It felt real as if they were real celebrities!

I would 100% recommend this addictive and light read.

Like a Love Song was a really cute book. First off, I absolutely love the cover. That is what first drew me in. Second, I really enjoy books where the characters are trying to figure out who they are and who they are meant to be. This is such a realistic storyline, and if done correctly, can really be amazing. I think it was done right here, and I really adored how this one was. I loved the characters as well!

Definitely troupe-y but it's what makes it so warm and funny. I LOVED this book and brought so much joy as I read it. It's fluffy and light -- a book I would recommend to get out of a reading slump. A new take on the fake-dating trope! I will say it got cringey at times but I enjoyed it. This book would've had more potential if the characters were aged up a bit but because it is YA, the characters were underaged.

Natalie é uma cantora brasileira, que depois de anos de trabalho, ela se tornou uma grande estrela pop nos EUA, Junto com o namorado Trent, ela forma o casal queridinho dos fãs, isso até que ele decide terminar tudo instantes antes dela receber o prêmio de Artista Feminina do Ano. Nati perde a cabeça e quando seu descontrole é transmitido ao vivo, a garota vê a noite de seus sonhos se transformar em seu pior pesadelo.
ㅤ
Ao ver sua carreira fica ameaçada, sua equipe tem uma solução inesperada: um namoro falso. Nati resolve aceitar a proposta e o escolhido é o ator britânico fofo e engraçado, William. O rapaz não é nada do que Nati esperava, ele acaba ensinando a ela que suas raízes e a verdade que ela quer passar com a música importam.
A mãe de Nati foi para os EUA em busca de uma vida melhor e lá Nati tem a chance de construir uma carreira, mas para ter sucesso ela terá que parecer o mais americana possível, o que causa certo distanciamento de sua família brasileira. Já William tem orgulho de sua origem, da família grande e dos irmãos, e faz questão de se manter fora dos holofotes para que a família não seja pega em meio a fofocas.

A relação dos dois é bem legal, William ajuda Nati a valorizar a sua essência. Enquanto ela mostra a ele que ter que lidar com a fama faz parte de ser um artista de sucesso, e ambos terão que encontrar um equilíbrio. O melhor de tudo é que a autora é brasileira! Mesmo que esse livro da Gabriela ainda não tenha chegado por aqui, é bem legal ver brasileiros conquistando seu espaço e sendo publicados lá fora. E que escrita mais gostosa! Se você é fã de cantoras pop, vai lembrar rapidamente de algumas delas ao ler esse livro.É um livro maravilhoso, com uma ótima narrativa para fãs de fake dating

I adored this book - it was definitely cute. It's a fun, quick read, and I really flew through it.

I was so excited to read about a Brazilian American protagonist, and I loved seeing Nati grapple with her Brazilian-ness, something I have experienced my whole life. Some of her experiences felt a bit over the top, especially since she's implied to be a white/white-passing Brazilian, but I can understand that not everyone will have the same experiences as I do, so I won't judge. I will say, her struggle to connect to her family in Brazil was SO relatable. Another thing I felt very awkward about was one section where I felt like they laughed off a comment about colonization when talking about Portugal, and I would have preferred it not be included at all. It's a romcom book, and I'm not expecting too much by way of "radical" politics - or even just regular politics - so I would have been fine without it.

I also absolutely adored the friendship aspects of the book and the diverse cast of characters. The conflict wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but I mean that in a good way. William was also appropriately adorable, if a bit flat. I did think Nati and William's relationship wasn't completely convincing in that it could have used a little more development, but again, it's a romcom and I can live with it. I did also think some of the plot lines fell flat and weren't fleshed out enough, and the book should have either been longer or grappled with fewer plot lines. For instance, we could have seen more of Nati's interactions with family or with the fame aspects or William's family. Nevertheless, this was a very enjoyable read, and I'm glad this book exists in the world! I will continue to recommend it to teens and to friends!

I loved this book, it was a really sweet story about finding yourself and dealing with racism in the music industry