Winfrey is the queen of the SWOON. And you know that feeling in your chest? She does that and with relatively low steam. I love how wholesome and grounded her characters are. Not that they don't have layers or history, but they seem like they could be someone I know in my real life.

Sandy has stayed in her hometown. Her high school sweetheart, Hank, has become a famous country singer. They reconnect and all of the old feelings try to make their way in.

UGH I LOVE WINFREY'S small towns and main and side characters.

Well as soon as I finished this I regretted it because I will never get to read this for the first time again 😭. I adored this small town second chance romance story about Sandy and Hank. It wasn't just them I fell in love with, I fell in love with this town Baileyville (Winfrey always makes me want to move back to the midwest), the townspeople with names like Hotpants Ed and Burger, all of the small town shenanigans you find in places that sound like Stars Hollow, and the FRIENDSHIP between Honey and Sandy.

Reading this book felt like sitting on a big wrap around porch with your best friend on one side and the love of your life on the other while eating the best fair corn dogs you've ever had. It mentions Kacey Musgraves, Jason Isbell, and Eric Church - all of whom I love and remind me of home. It also has (warning idk if this is a spoiler or not but here is your warning so you can't say I didn't give you one) possibly the best engagement ring in rom-com history.

I have never read a book by Kerry Winfrey I wouldn't protect with my life from the rain and this one is no different. It is currently my favorite of hers and I wasn't sure how anything would top Very Sincerely Yours. Have I convinced you to read this yet? I hope so because now I have to go wallow in a book slump thanks to this

Kerry Winfrey is an author who can always make me smile with her endearing romcoms. There’s a line in JALS, where the heroine says “I’m kissing a boy in a barn in the rain.” My little romantic Texas-girl heart swooned because that is just the cutest scene to picture. Sandy & Hank’s second-chance romance story takes place in a small Ohio town with a cast of quirky characters that give a fun Gilmore Girls vibe. Hank is a country music star who comes back home and things rekindle between him and Sandy. It's so much fun to enjoy their friendship turning into more. I really enjoyed this book and recommend it for those who like sweet and funny closed-door romcoms.

Thank you for the free book @berkleyromance. I also received a free audiobook from @PRHAudio.

Just Another Love Song is a charming and delightful rom-com!

Fans of Kerry’s previous books will love this Just Another Love Song. It has all the charm, wit, and romance that her readers have come to expect from her books. I first stumbled upon Kerry’s book Waiting for Tom Hanks a few years ago and instantly fell in love with it (I ended up re-reading it a few times since then). So, when Berkley pitched us this book, I knew I had to read it. This book is swoonastic!! There is just so much to love, it has an adorable dog, a second-chance romance set in a small town, and a book boyfriend that stole my heart right from the moment I first met him. As you can see, this review will contain some major gushing on my part, so you have been warned.

Many things make Kerry’s books stand out to me. The first thing is a cast of characters that worm their way into your hearts. It doesn’t matter if they are the main or secondary characters. Every character in her books has been swoony, laughing or smiling. Edith, Ed, and Burger were some of my favourite characters; they just embodied that crazy quirkiness from living in a small town. Sandy was a sweet and, shall I say, weird (in a good way) character. I loved her passion for her business, family, town, and friends. It was heartbreaking but also relatable watching as she struggled to find her self-worth and her own happiness. I think we all feel a little lost and unsure about what we should do in our lives, which made Sandy’s own struggles very real and relatable. I utterly adore her friendship with Honey. Those two really are such a blast to be around. I can’t decide what scenes I loved more than those with Honey and Sandy or Sandy and Hank. I don’t know how Kerry does it, but she always creates the perfect book boyfriend. Hank has me swooning throughout the whole book. Every time I couldn’t think he could get any better, he would do something else so charming, adorable, or sexy that I found myself falling more in love with him.

The small town of Baileyville is a place I would love to live in. It is chock-full of quirky small town high-jinx, but also with small town closeness where everyone helps each other out. There was this theme of feeling stuck, whether it be in a small town, career, or in love. Sandy’s big struggle in this book is this feeling of being left behind and not being worthy of Hank’s love because she ended up staying in Baileyville. Sandy is still plagued with these feelings even after becoming a successful businesswoman. Sandy thinks that all her high school friends who went off to college and left Baileyville are living their best lives when this isn’t the case. I thought Kerry did a fabulous job of reminding readers that no matter how perfect a person’s life looks on social media, that often isn’t reality. We all have our own hurdles to work through, and no one’s life is perfect, no matter what their Instagram profile shows. Sandy’s journey of realising she is worthy was at times painstakingly slow but also realistic. We tend to be our own worst enemies, and sometimes it takes a best friend or two to help you realise that you are worthy.

Sandy and Hank’s love story is centred around high school sweethearts and second chances. The chemistry between these two was just so fabulous. I loved how easy the banter flowed between these two; it was effortless (and Lord, was it funny). As I have mentioned, Hank is the diamond standard for book boyfriends. He loves and cares for Sandy so much, and that love is evident even during their high school romance. I loved seeing how the relationship between Sandy and Hank evolved as they got older, but the playfulness and sweetness between them never changed.

Just Another Love Song is the perfect summertime romance read.

Thank you, Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book! It was precious and so fun! I really never used to be a lover of romance, but I gotta say, I am getting more and more into this genre. There are so many incredible authors writing these love stories that I can’t get enough of.

This one is some second chance romance mixed with a bit of childhood friends to lovers and I was here for all of that! Also, there was no stupid miscommunication trope and no drama at the 80% mark that could have been easily avoided. I mean there was still drama, but the main character flat out admitted that she was being an idiot. So I was okay with that.

This book had incredible small town vibes that will make you want to move to the middle of nowhere immediately. I’ve lived in big cities for most of my life, but now I’m itching to move to the smallest town I can find.

Also, if you’re around the age of 30, there are so many glorious references to songs that you probably grew up with! So that nostalgia just hit right for me. Oh, and the humour was amazing! This author just knew how to do it!

Thank you to Berkley Publishing for my gifted copy. This one is posted on my Goodreads and my Bookstagram.

Short synopsis: Sandy and Hank are high school sweethearts, when Hank goes to college and starts a music career Sandy can’t leave her small town and the family business.

My thoughts: This is a small town, celebrity romance with a high school sweetheart second chance love storyline. I loved the small town everyone knows everyone vibes with this one. It was cute and heartwarming, somewhat predictable, but a sweet little rom-com.

I enjoyed seeing the growth each of the characters went through with the book, and there were definitely some laugh out loud spots.

I started making a playlist of songs mentioned in the book. Totally took me back to my high school days with some of them, including “She thinks my tractors sexy” “since you’ve been gone” and a little further back for “Neon Moon.”

Read if you’re a sucker for:
🎵 Small town
🎵 Themed Bed and Breakfasts
🎵 Early 2000’s music
🎵Celebrity, Second chance, Hallmark romance
🎵 Carnival rides and City Fairs

If you’re looking for a sweet, small town, second chance romance, look no further than Kerry Winfrey’s Just Another Love Song out today.

In high school, Sandy Macintosh had a plan. She’d move to Boston with her high school sweetheart, Hank Tillman. He’s study music and she’d study art. But that didn’t pan out, and, despite promises to stay together, neither did her relationship. Sandy ended up in staying in her small Ohio town running her own greenhouse and helping her parents with their Ohio-themed B&B and Hank become a country music star. Fifteen years later, he’s back in town and no matter how Sandy tries to avoid him, the two keep ending up in the same place.

There are so many things I loved about this book. It’s super funny with delightfully quirky characters. The setting is lovely and left me longing to live somewhere where everyone looks out for each other (do places like that exist?). Hank is a lovely, steady leading man and definitely has tons and tons of book boyfriend energy. There are great scenes with kids that made me laugh out loud, one in particular with a squirrel that was hysterical, and I was absolutely rooting for Sandy and Hank to have a second chance at a happily ever after.

I did find Sandy a little harder to completely love. Throughout the book, in both the past and present, she kept making decisions for Hank based on what she thought would be good for him without being honest. That type of miscommunication is not something I’m a huge fan of even though I did understand some of it. I also would have liked a few more specifics about Hank’s life in the fifteen year interval.

Neither of those things would keep me from recommending this book. I think fans of second chance romance will really enjoy so much in this one and fans of small towns would be hard-pressed to find a writer who does them better. I listened to the audio and the narrator did a great job giving the character the right quirkiness and sincerity for the material.

I am a huge fan of Kerry's books! I have loved every book I have read by her, she writes such heart warming stories with relatable characters. This book is told in alternating timelines with Sandy in the present and then we would go back to when she was in high school. I know I say this a lot on my blog but I am not a huge fan of alternating timelines and this is one of the times where it kept taking me out of the story and I would struggle to pick it back up when setting it down. I also really liked the relationship between Sandy and Hank as well as the relationship between the them and the town. Their hometown plays a decent part in the story as Sandy feels her identity is tied to it. Overall I still enjoyed the story and I will continue to pick up her books in the future as I love her writing and characters. Thank you Berkley for my #gifted copy for review!

I devoured this super sweet small town, second chance romance!

Sandy always dreamed of being an artist and Hank had dreams of being a musician. These high school sweethearts thought they would escape their small town life for bigger and better things and live happily ever after. Then a change in circumstances caused Sandy to stay in their hometown of Baileyville, Ohio while Hank went on to become a famous alt-country singer. Fifteen years later, Sandy is finally content with her life, but when Hank shows back up in town, she can’t help wondering what might have been.

Just Another Love Song was set in the cutest little town full of lovable and quirky characters! Honey, the town veterinarian and Sandy’s bestie, was my absolute favorite! Everyone needs a Honey in their life!! I loved how Honey and Sandy’s other friends were always there for her, especially when she was down on herself. Although Sandy resigned herself to living in her hometown forever, wondering if she would ever amount to anything more than “Baileyville Sandy,” she ran a successful business and was an integral and important part of her community. She even helped run the annual town fair, and I wished I could’ve gone to that fun and charming fair! There were also plenty of humorous moments sprinkled throughout this book! The flashbacks to Sandy and Hank’s high school sweetheart days and their present day slow burn romance was the icing on the cake! I just loved everything about this adorable, lighthearted, feel-good read!

4.5 stars, rounded up.
Just Another Love Song had me swooning, laughing, and just happy in general. I adored the setting of small town Baileyville, Ohio and their summer fair. It really made me crave a corn dog 😆 I really loved the side characters in this book. Honey, Hotpants Ed, Marcia, Burger, Natasha... they all add such a great piece to Sandy and Hank's sweet story!

If you love relatable characters, a summery small town setting, and second chance love, this one is for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Pub for my e-arc of this book. All opinions here are my own.

{Thank you to @netgalley and @berkley for this early galley!}⁣⁣
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𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: August 2, 2022⁣⁣
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From the author of 𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘛𝘰𝘮 𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 and 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘴, comes a heartwarming rom-com about second chance love in a small town.⁣⁣
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Sandy and Hank were high school sweethearts...that is until Hank was able to leave their small Ohio town for college while Sandy was left behind. But Hank, the now famous musician, is back in town in between concert tours...and Sandy can't seem to escape him.⁣⁣
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I have yet to meet a Kerry Winfrey book that didn't make my heart happy. Endearing leads. Quirky, lovable supporting characters. Adorable scenarios. References to late 90s/early 2000s pop culture. This is the kind of read that will fill you up with warm, bubbly joy.

I feel incredibly lucky to have been given early access to this beautiful story! Thank you so much to @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse for making that happen. This book is available today, August 2, and I highly recommend that any romcom lovers give it a read!

Let me start by saying that the small town of Baileyville gave me all the Stars Hallow vibes and I loved everything about it! Kerry transported me right into her book and made me never want to leave. The characters also had a Gilmore Girls/New Girl vibe to them, with their sarcasm, quick wit, and comedic relief. The relationship between Sandy and Honey was my absolute favourite - 100% best friend goals!

We spend the whole book with the mc, Sandy, mostly in the present day but with some flashback chapters. My whole heart resonated with her. Sandy is still hopelessly in love with Hank and her heartbreak every time she would run into him, think of him, or wish he and his son were 𝒉𝒆𝒓 family, pulled on all my heartstrings. The sacrifice Sandy made in effort to not hold Hank back is a decision that I can relate my own experiences to, which made me that much more invested in her story.

Hank was a literal dream. Even in the flashback chapters to years when he was in elementary or secondary school, he was perfect. Who doesn’t love a genuinely kind young man? The fact that he grew up to be a successful country singer just made him that much more drool-worthy. Overall, I loved Kerry’s use of music, both Hank’s and other well-known tunes, to set a mood - seriously, Sandy walking away from the dance as Avril’s, My Happy Ending, is playing had tears in my eyes 🥺

I could not be more in love with this story, this town, or the characters. If Kerry wrote a novel on each character/couple in the literary world that is Baileyville, I would read them all.

4.5 stars for this small town, second chance romance. It was utterly sweet, heartbreaking, and hopeful all rolled into a quick, easy read that I highly enjoyed. I loved the relationship of the MC with her friends, family, and the community as a whole.

Many who live in a small town dream of bigger things out of life, but that doesn't mean that if you stay that your life has no meaning. I grew up in a smallish town where all of us kids knew each other from kindergarten through high school and the highlight of the week for the whole community was Friday night football games. I miss it a lot sometimes, but I have friends who stayed and I have friends who left for college, explored life and then moved back to that small town and now teach at the high school we all went to.

This book made me tear up in a few spots, but I enjoy every bit of it. It was a great combination of second chance love, (country) rock stars, and single dad tropes. So glad I read it!

I’m a fan of Kerry Winfrey’s and knew that I was going to read this book as soon as I saw that she had a new release. She’s a clever writer, building great characters and snappy dialog. Just Another Love Song was exactly what I expected to read yet also a complete surprise. Almost from the moment Sandy lays eyes on Hank again, I was teary-eyed and reaching for the kleenex. This novel was not only funny, but it was also thoroughly romantic using flashbacks to tell Sandy and Hank’s teenage love story and their reunion in current time. I feel in love with both of these characters, but Sandy tugged at my heart in a way a character hasn’t in quite awhile. Her mix of nostalgia, uncertainty, and hope created a wonderfully emotional (and funny!) character. Hank too was brilliantly written, but he had parts of his dream come true and Sandy’s journey was really just beginning.

Another thing I really like about Kerry Winfrey is that she gives her heroine’s a wonderful group of friends to lean on. Her best friend Honey was the friend that all of us want to have, supportive, generous, and brutally honest with truths that may be hard to face. There were so many great characters who added moments of humor and warmth. Just Another Love Song struck all the right chords, fun, romantic, and characters who felt real. If an audiobook comes out I’ll definitely be using a credit for a re-read. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for my honest review and it was honest.

Favorite Quotes:

Baileyville’s star quilter, Hotpants Ed (so named because if it’s above sixty-five degrees, he wears the shortest shorts you’ve ever seen everywhere he goes— and he’s a six-foot-tall man with a ponytail and a gray beard, so it’s a striking look).

How am I supposed to live vicariously through you if you won’t even share any details? I’ve already read all the Amish romance novels at the library, Sandy. I need drama.

I want to protest, but there are no words in my mind right now, just random bursts of punctuation. My entire body is an exclamation point.

I’d make a great mom. Sure, my kids wouldn’t know what vegetables are, and they’d probably get scurvy, but at least they’d be happy.

I know I’m always talking about how desperate I am for a man’s touch, but I’m not that desperate. I know what that man’s touch feels like, and unless he’s improved his technique in the past fifteen years, it mainly involves boob honks.


My Review:

This was a fun and lively tale that sparkled with clever wit and snarky banter that kept me smirking and giggle-snorting with glee. I fell right into the breezy and crisp storylines populated with an entire community of authentic yet recognizable small-town quirks and complications. I adored this from beginning to end and hit this talented wordsmith’s listing to see what else I could score as I definitely need more of this in my life.

Sandy and Hank are high school sweethearts destined for more. When life throws Sandy a curve ball and shatters their perfect plan, she sacrifices her happiness for his success.

Fast forward 15 years and Sandy still isn’t sure what makes her happy, but she has created a very safe life for herself. And she is not going to let Hank upend it again.

Hank is amazing and doesn’t let Sandy avoid him. I loved how he inserted himself in little ways to make himself a part of her life again. And how he made her appreciate their small town and all its quirky ways.

This is a very fun, pretty low angst read for a second chance romance. I loved this small town and it definitely gave me Stars Hollow vibes with all the fun characters.

Totally recommend this one.

4.5⭐️

After reading Every Summer After - we all need another second chance romance fix - and HERE IT IS!!

I absolutely ADORE Winfrey’s writing and have been a fan since her debut. This one is no exception! I love how alternating timelines really get you invested in the characters’ happiness and their chemistry both then and now was 🔥

💕Here’s what it’s got!
•Second chance romance
•Alternating timelines between HS/college and present day
•Small town (with big time Gilmore Girl vibes)
•Country music star hero
•Small business owner heroine
•Single Dad
•The sweetest romance and such great chemistry
•Closed door steam
•Perfect side characters!

Sandy thought she and her high school boyfriend would always be together. They had huge plans to leave their small town and move ahead to bigger adventures. But when her plans changed and she ends up staying in that small town, she worries she’s holding Hank back from his dreams, so she breaks up with him. 15 years later, Sandy is still living in their hometown and Hank is a famous country singer. When he comes back to visit along with his son, Sandy starts thinking about what her life could have been. The two end up working together to organize the annual town fair, and the sparks are still there…

This is such a cozy and sweet second chance romance. I loved the flashbacks between then and now, and how they really allowed us to get the full history of Hank and Sandy. This was full of swoon worthy moments (let’s talk about the songs Hank wrote for Sandy) and witty banter. My favorite part of small town romances is the side characters, and this story did not disappoint. Sandy’s friends were amazing and I want Honey to be my friend. This book definitely left me with all the warm fuzzy feelings.

After reading the author’s note, I found it so interesting to see her take on how her writing style has changed. Her first two books had me laughing out loud (Waiting for Tom Hanks is one of my all time favorite rom-coms if you haven’t already read it!), and the more recent two gave off more of the sweet cozy vibes. To see that she saw that within herself and provided us readers with that context was fascinating. It makes me even more excited to see what is next from her, especially since she mentioned another new vibe!

Thank you to Berkley for the advance copy!

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5/5 stars

Just Another Love Song is the perfect summer, small town romance read. It follows Sandy and Hank, childhood sweethearts who get a second chance at love when Hank returns home. 15 years ago, Hank followed his dreams and became a famous alt-country singer, while Sandy was forced to stay in their small hometown instead of becoming an artist. Now, Sandy runs a successful greenhouse, but still wonders what could have been. When Hank returns home with his son, Sandy realizes she never truly got over her first love or her first dream.

Kerry Winfrey always understands the assignment when it comes to “making a season a character”. This book is just so perfectly summer-y. The little small town setting is very Stars Hollow and I wish it existed in real life. Basically, this is a hug in book form. Kerry Winfrey can do no wrong. I remain obsessed.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Just Another Love Song by Kerry Winfrey is a romance about a small town, first love and the one who got away. Every page of the story leads to that wonderful conclusion. Light-hearted but with emotional depth, this book is a real treat.