3.5/5





Going into this one I thought it was a romance but I realized soon enough that it definitely leans more to just straight up fiction than a true romance novel. No big deal but I hate when my expectations are off so figured I would share that. This follows Carli, whose 9-5 job pays her bills but gets in the way of her real dream of being a songwriter. When she meets Tau, who is a rising star in the music industry, her life gets shaken up. My favorite part of this one was the behind the scenes look into the music industry in NYC and LA. I find that so interesting and thought it was showcased well here. It did have a bit of a slow start and I wasn’t fully invested until about halfway, but then my interest was piqued and I was into it. As I said before this was more fiction than romance and any romance there was was pretty tame and definitely felt like a secondary plot. The focus was more on Carli and her personal issues and while that was cool I think there was potential to do more with the romance. The ending was also super abrupt, I actually went back a chapter in the audio version because I was like, no way it just ended like that, right?? Speaking of the audio the narrator, Angel Pean gave a fantastic performance and I credit her with keeping me engaged. As a debut I would definitely read the author again, the writing was good and this was entertaining enough I just wish there was a bit more romance and closure in the end.

Good Morning Love is all about taking chances. It also offers an inside look at the music industry, all the mechanics that listeners aren’t aware.
Carli is fine with her life but she dreams of making it big in the music business, a tough industry to crack. When she meets Tau, a pop star, things begin to happen. Sometimes in order for our Dreams to happen we have to take that leap,of faith and not wait for destiny to find us.
Carli is making things happen for her career.

🎤BOOK REVIEW🎤

Good Morning, Love by Ashley M. Coleman
Release Date: June 21, 2022

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Meet Carli Henson, a musician and songwriter making her way in New York. While she waits for her big chance to come, she works as a junior account manager at a media firm that works closely with the music industry. When she is assigned to work on a campaign with new star Tau Anderson, she has no idea her life is about to be swept up in to a whirlwind. Carli has always had strict rules about having relations with musicians, and is warned by her boss to watch out for Tau. But something seems to be pulling her toward him.

🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸

Alright y’all. I really enjoyed the first 80% of this book. It is such a good and fun story. But, to me, it falls apart in the tail end of the book. What feels like should be a major side story for Carli feels rushed and brushed off. The whole end of the book seems rushed to be honest. But I will say that the first 80% is worth reading. I love how this book explores women, particularly women of color, in terms of business and relationships and society. I love how Carli loves in this book. Its a cool story so give this one a read when it comes out on June 21.

🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤

✨Thank you to @netgalley for the opportunity to read this before it is published!✨

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Carli is an aspiring songwriter and marketing executive when she meets R&B star Tau. They hit it off immediately, but she is determined to keep it professional. Will Tau win her over (and leave behind his womanizing past) and will Carli be happy with her place in the music industry and with a famous musician?
This book is a cross between the tv show Empire and the book Seven Days in June. I really liked the music industry insider stuff and liked the two main characters a little less. Carli didn't seem to know what she really wanted but was stubborn and misfocused, which I found to be kind of annoying. I was also confused by the very abrupt ending. It was not a long book and it seemed like the ending was cut off? I could see this being a series but wish the story arch at the end had not just run into a cliff.

All in all, I liked this romance set in the music industry, especially its uniqueness.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

I read another romance novel prior to this one and thought maybe I was just burnt out on the genre. Nope. I really enjoyed this storyline and CC's desire to make it on her own. Great strong female character. Hearing about the music industry was interesting. I felt the ending was a little abrupt. I really want to know what happens next

Good Morning, Love by Ashley M. Coleman
Published: June 21, 2022
Simon & Schuster
Pages: 287
Genre: Fiction
KKECReads Rating: 4/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

Ashley M. Coleman is a storyteller and community builder moonlighting as a writer and music industry executive. Whether working with music makers or writers from marginalized communities, creating safe gathering spaces and education for creatives is at the center of her world. Her freelance writing has been featured in ZORA Magazine, GRAMMY.com, and The Cut, among others, and covers culture, lifestyle, and personal narrative.

“Finding my voice taught me everything I wanted was outside my comfort zone.”

Carli is a force of nature. She is a rockstar at work and works equally hard in her free time to make her dream of being a songwriter come true. When her job leads to an encounter with a huge pop star, the last thing on her mind is a relationship. Until she gives him a chance, now, her world is flipped, and she has opportunities she only dreamed about.

I loved the characters in this book. I loved how diverse, and well rounded they were. For being a debut novel, Ashley Coleman crushed it.

I enjoyed this story. I loved Carli, her personality, drive, and understanding for who she is was beautiful. I loved her relationship with the people in her life, her outlook on life, and her hustle.

I loved the pacing, this was a hard book to put down. I enjoyed following Carli as she worked for her dreams. I loved how she represented herself, women, and especially women of color.

This was a really beautiful story, that flowed beautifully. It is clear that Ashley Coleman has a solid understanding of the music industry, and she represented it well.

It was awesome getting to peek behind the curtain and reading about how things are done. I loved that the focus was more so on the behind the scenes aspects of creating music. That brought such a rare and wonderful aspect to the story.

I thought the book ended somewhat abruptly, but I’m not mad about it. I enjoyed Carli’s journey, and I liked that I was left to basically decide how things went.

This could be a series, which would be amazing. There are so many characters and avenues to explore. This was a feel good novel, filled with so many beautiful moments.

4.5 stars / This review will be posted on goodreads.com today.

Carli is a mid-twenties junior account exec at a marketing firm in New York City. The job pays the bills, but Carli is truly an aspiring songwriter. She’s working with friends on producing an album for Dylan, who has the makings of a star. Red is the engineer who knows how to put the music together. So when Carli isn’t running around behind her powerful boss Dawn, she’s hiding out in Red’s studio making beautiful music.

Then Tau comes along. Tau is a young, hot pop star who knows what he wants, and has the rep to go with it. Tau takes a liking to Carli. Carli’s boss notices and doesn’t fail to remind Carli that Tau is a client. There is no fraternizing between employees and clients. Carli does a fine job of telling Tau no, but Tau is pretty persistent.

As Carli’s musical career is taking off, and her marketing job as well, Carli has to make some tough choices about the direction she’s going to let her life go. While the marketing career has its perks and paycheck, the music is her heart and soul.

I enjoyed this one from start to finish. Carli is a woman who has hopes, dreams and aspirations and the fears to go along with them. Following her heart isn’t something that Carli always does, and Coleman gives her the room to test the waters and learn to trust herself. How I wish that I’d had something like that in my twenties!

This is truly a touching novel with a lot of heart and fun and the romance it needed. Loved it and would highly recommend it.

Carli's striving. She's working hard at a job she doesn't really like and she's working harder with two friends to write songs. And then she meets Tau, a rising rapper she thinks can give her access she doesn't already have and so she throws over her friends and attaches herself to him. There's a lot of bad behavior here and frankly little romance. There is interesting insight into the music business but I didn't find the characters as engaging as I'd hoped at the start. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

Good Morning, Love tells what it’s like behind the scenes in the music industry. I found this part of the story somewhat interesting. The story revolves around a young and upcoming songwriter trying to break into this scene. Her story was just ok for me. I’ve read a few novels recently that revolve around the music industry. This one did not engage me as much as the others I’ve read.

A story both powerful and enchanting.
Many thanks to Simon & Schuster and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Good Morning, Love by Ashley M Coleman
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Carli is trying to make her dreams of being a songwriter come true. Through her day job, she meets pop star, Tau, and can’t deny that he is attractive. But she has not got time for distractions. Even fine looking ones.
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What I liked:
-I enjoyed all the behind the scenes of actually writing music in this story. There is so much that goes into each song and so many people who are a part of it. All the scenes where they are in the various studios were really fun to read.
-I loved Carli’s love of music! Music was huge to me and my family my whole life and I loved how passionate she and her friends were about it.
-There were great side characters here. And I loved all the parts with Carli and her parents.
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What I didn’t like:
-As much as I enjoyed the banter between Carli and Tau I wasn’t sold on their romantic relationship really.
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4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ this was a fun read and if you are a music enthusiast then you will want to check this one out.

Good Morning, Love
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Romance
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 6/21/22
Author: Ashley M. Coleman
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 288
Goodreads Rating: 3.36

TW ⚠️: Violence and Police Violence

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing a digital advanced readers copy of the book for me to read for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: Carlisa “Carli” Henton is a musician and songwriter hoping to follow in her father’s musical footsteps. But, biding her time until she makes it big in the music industry, she works as a junior account manager at a big-name media company to cover her New York City rent. Carli meticulously balances her work with her musical endeavors as a songwriter—until a chance meeting with rising star Tau Anderson sends her calculated world into a frenzy. Their worlds collide and quickly blur the strict lines Carli has drawn between her business and her personal life, throwing Carli’s reputation—and her burgeoning songwriting career—into question.

My Thoughts: This book started out slow, for the first third. The overall theme of the book, to follow your dreams, was my favorite part. It has a good message. I really loved how the author infused minority cultural representation into this book and the real issues they face daily. Not all of the characters were fully developed, however, Carli was, she had depth, strength, tenacity, and I just loved her. Overall, I enjoyed the author’s writing, it was complex, faced real life issues where change is needed, and just fit the book well. I love the introduction to the music industry and getting a glimpse into it. The book really needed an epilogue to tie up the story, it just felt like it was missing and your left thinking, ‘this is the end?’

Thank you to @netgally and @simonandschuster for providing an ARC and allowing me to give an honest review of Good Morning, Love.

Rating 3.5 🌟
Spice level 🌶🌶
TW: Physical almost sexual assault

I wanted more from this book. I felt like something was missing and even though I enjoyed what was given I wanted more.
Key themes in this book are following your dreams, letting go of security to go after your dreams, and not being afraid to follow your heart. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a real conflict in this book. The FMC Carlisa is crazy cool, I love that she is an Afro-Latina striving for her dreams in the music business but she was lacking something…maybe conviction or real conflict. I needed to feel like she was a starving artist hungry and chasing her dreams but I never got that. She was secure and even if her dreams never came true at least she had her job at Garter. Carlisa had to choose between following her dream and heart or staying secure in her current state. But the conflict never really felt real. I never really felt like Carlisa was in danger or like the stakes were extremely high if she chose Tau over her job at Garter. The MMC Tau fell flat. He is supposed to be a sexy R and B singer that knows how to sweep a girl off her feet onto her back but there are NO spicy scenes which just leaves the reader feeling cheated. I mean come on, we should have been given at least one steamy scene between Tau and Carlisa to solidify the romance. Instead what you get is closed door scenes that leave you feeling clinical and wanting more. This is semi sweet romance set in the music industry. Actually I don’t think it should be marketed as a romance. The relationship between Tau and Carlisa leaves much to be desired. It isn’t enough and leaves you wanting more. The ending feels rushed, things are introduced ( ex. Marisol) and then left hanging. There is no true indication of if her choice worked out and her dreams are fulfilled. I feel like the story was only told in part and I am still waiting for the continuation. Great premise but it wasn’t fully fleshed out. Instead you are left wanting to more.

It took me a while to get into this one because for me, it started out really slowly. It took until it was around 50% to pick up.

Now that I've gotten through it, I have thoughts. I think because I went into this thinking rom-com/romance, that is what slowed me down. This is more of a story that includes a romance.

Basically, this is the story of a woman trying to figure out what she wants from life. She's trying to find herself.
Carli has to decide who she wants to be for herself and everyone else in her life.

After the story picked up , I was invested. But i have to take off stars for the slow start.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own

This book started out really slow, but by about the middle the story unfolded more quickly and became more interesting. I do not have much knowledge of the music industry and I think this contributed to my dislike of the book. Altogether, it was an average story with average writing. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and review an advance copy of this book.

"Good Morning, Love" is a fantastic companion to the books that feature women in Black music: Dawnie Walton's "Opal and Nev," "Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop" by Danyel Smith; Scholar Daphne Brooks' "Liner Notes for the Revolution": one could easily see Carli being included in such works and touring with "The Lilly's" from Xio Axelrod's "The Girl With Stars in Her Eyes."
While "Good Morning, Love" nestles well into this emerging subgenre of works, it is a breezy work all on its own. Here, we follow the story of Carli as she learns to follow her heart, in more ways than one. It is a great debut for Coleman, and I look forward to reading more of her work.

I feel like this was a case of being the wrong reader for this book. I struggled with connecting with the main character, and I hate to say it, but I think it's because I am too old (or maybe not hip enough?). I do think there are readers who will adore Carli. She's savvy and has a lot of drive and ambition. I also love the theme of chasing your dream.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Paperbacks for allowing me to give my honest review of Good Morning, Love.

This books shows more than just about falling in love. It also shows that following your dreams and finding out what you really want can take you very far. it was great to see an Afro Latina working and striving in the music industry. She didn’t leave her friends behind when she made it. Many told Carli to stay away from Tau because of his status and his past and Carli learned to figure things out for herself. I loved how each “Chapter” was called a Track.

I do think that the book started off really slow for about 30% of the book and I think that Chapter 33 should have been considered as a Epilogue for an update.

Overall a good debut novel.

I was on the verge of DNFing this book until literally halfway through. Around the 50% mark, the book finally found its groove and got a lot more interesting.
Even so, I think this is missing the mark being billed as a romance. I was expecting a cute romcom type book set in the music world. It sounded like there was plenty of opportunity for misunderstandings and awkward situations with a regular woman falling for a famous musician, but that's not what this was at all.
Another mark against marketing as romance is that there was no catalyst for the two love interests to go for each other. Tau meets Carli at work while she's setting up a photo shoot for him. He instantly thinks she's gorgeous and starts pressuring her to go out with him. Carli's boss has explicitly stated that dating clients won't be tolerated at this company, so Carli tells Tau no. He keeps asking her to do things. She keeps saying no. Until, suddenly, she says yes. It was a little shaky that she'd just say yes, as there was nothing on page to indicate he'd done anything spectacular to change her mind. Likewise, once they go out, much of what transpires between them is summarized rather than shown. The next thing we know, she can't resist him, but there's no reason for why that is.
At the halfway point of the book, it gets truly interesting because it dives into Carli's family relationships and she begins to gain traction in the musical world herself.
The relationship with Tau is still part of it, but it never truly feels like an integral part of the story.
The rating for this book also gets a hit because of the introduction of a family mystery late in the story that is immediately obvious and doesn't really serve any purpose. It didn't cause any drama. It didn't bring Carli closer to Tau. It just amounts to a quick conversation with her dad, who she's already mending her relationship with, so I just felt it was added on to be drama.
This book gets 3 stars because the second half of the story was enjoyable. The first half is extremely difficult to stick with.

This book had some things that I definitely loved and some that I wasn’t so fond of. I will say I love how the author threw in some of the music industry in there, it was a nice touch to the book. Of course the rom com moments were nice as well, but over all I wasn’t a huge fan. But I definitely think anyone who loves music and rom
Coms should give it a try.