Such a lovely debut celebrating all things music (specifically choir) and queer love, told in dueling timelines - senior year of high school and 20 year later. Full of heart, I was bawling with all the feels at the end! (Check the TWs)

Quito, Filipino-American pianist, living in NYC seems to be stuck and uninspired. His father guilts him into returning home to San Francisco to help with his retirement concert. But that’s not all - he needs to reconnect with former friend and crush, Emmett - who’s now a big Hollywood actor - but they haven’t talked since a college falling out.

Readers are shown how these two unlikely became friends, feelings blossomed, and what caused them to stop talking.

Can these two reunite for his dad’s final show?

It’s well written, with short chapters that kept me up late, saying “One more chapter” until it was finished!
The love of music abounds through the pages!

𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙍𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙉𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙨 by Dominic Lim (2023) ★★★★✬ 4.5/5
OUT NOW!
🎵 Second Chance Romance
🎵 Slow Burn
🎵 Opposites Attract / Unlikely Friends to Lovers
🎵 Diverse MCs
🎵 Showtunes!!
🎵 Lovely cast of side charters, including hilarious they/them best friend.

Thanks to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for a chance to review this story in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book so much! If you enjoy swoony, slow burn, second-chance romances then you should give this one a chance!

This story features Quito Cruz, a talented pianist who is struggling to feel inspired and compose his own music, and Emmett Aoki, a famous movie star who disappeared from Quito’s life twenty years before.

Big fan of the alternating timelines. I also adored the side characters and was sobbing when the dad died. This book will make you laugh, cry, swoon, and crave a delicious homecooked meal.

Thanks to Forever and Dominic Lim for allowing me to be an early reader. All opinions are my own.

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
All the Right Notes by Dominic Lim
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 384 / Genre: Romance

Quito Cruz is a gifted but struggling pianist and songwriter trying to make it in NYC. Now his father calls with a favor. And when you’ve got a father who’s always been there for you and supported you no matter what, you do whatever it takes to make him happy—including tracking down your ex-best friend and childhood crush, who’s now a super hot and famous movie star, and persuading him to make a guest appearance at your father’s retirement concert at your old high school.

With all the high school flashbacks, this is very much a coming-of-age and coming-out story that fast forwards to the present and turns into a very modern love story. I loved the characters, the mouth-watering descriptions of homemade Filipino food, and the interesting explanations of how a musician views playing and writing music.

Thank you @readforeverpub and @netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. I loved it!

Book Blurb: With soul-baring solos, heartfelt duets, and a big, showstopping finale—this hilarious and joyous novel will make your heart sing.

📖: All The Right Notes
✍️: Dominic Lim
🎭: LGBTQIA+, Romance, Multicultural Interest, Queer Romance
📣: Anyone who loves love! Grumpy/sunshine, second chance, if you love Glee or Broadway you will love this book!
⭐️: 🎼🎼🎼🎼🎼/5

My Quick Bite 💭: Dominic Lim knocks it out of the park in this Romcom queer romance book! I could feel every note and was cheering I swear through the whole book. It brought me back to my Show Choir and Theatre days and it was the best book I have read in so long. I also can’t leave this review without mentioning how much my mouth watered and how hungry this book made me with all the Filipino foods and Hispanic foods peppered throughout!!! I need some authentic Filipino food in my life ASAP! If I could give this more stars I would. This book is A STAR!

2.5 rounded up. Thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Things I liked are the Filipino representation and descriptions of food, Mr. Cruz in general, and the passion for music that leaps off the pages. There were also elements of Quito, the main character, that I could relate to like his imposter syndrome and self-esteem issues. Quito's best friend, Ujima, is fun and full of innuendo, but I would have loved to see their character developed more. Some of the writing is really beautiful especially in the later chapters.

The book does take elements of Quito's self-doubt very far and doesn't really let up until the very end. Because the reader is in Quito's POV the entire time, it can get a little exhausting.

I really wanted to love this book. It was just okay to me though. Part of this is because Quito and his friends are supposed to be around 38 but the conversations read quite a bit younger. I think this would have worked better if only 10 years had passed and not 20. The alternating timelines also made this quite obvious as the characters don't seem to have changed. The timeline structure means that conflicts that should have been addressed and dealt with earlier are held off until that part of the background gets told, which made the miscommunication trope even worse.

Quito is also one of the most randomly judgmental characters I've met and that's just not for me. He also judges a teenage girl's body and dress at one point, which comes off a little weird as he's a grown man.

The love interest, Emmett, is fine but not appealing to me personally because I don't have interest in the "they're so hot and everyone loves them" characters. He seems sweet when with Quito but isn't too memorable.

I wanted the relationships and friendships to connect a bit more. I think this book just wasn't to my taste. As much as this book is a lighter romance, please note that parental death is a theme.

ALL THE RIGHT NOTES is a fantastic and enthralling romance read. Quito Cruz is a talented piano player who has never forgotten about his former best friend, Emmett. Emmett is now a famous movie star, but they were once just high schoolers together. In alternating sections, the story tells the reader about what happened back then that led to their distance as well as what is happening now, when his father is planning on retiring and has asked for him to come and help with the high school choir concert. His father has also asked him to get Emmett on board - something he's not sure how to do until his roommate Jee has a way to get them into the SNL audience when Emmett is hosting.

As they spend time together in the present, the old feelings that were there in the past begin to resurface. With a bit of second chance romance and powerful themes of family and past mistakes, this is an emotional and evocative read.

It's been a while since a book kept me up late, but I found this one absolutely unputdownable and ended up reading it in only one sitting. The alternating timelines were really compelling, as the reader views their history alongside the present. Beyond the main relationship of Emmett and Quito, the relationships they have with Quito's father were particularly powerful. Quito's father is a force in and of himself, having been a high school choir teacher for 30 years with a generous and persuasive personality. He ends up being quite the driver for the story, in both timelines. Other family relationships provided other examples of the ways in which our family defines us and shapes our reactions.

Emmett and Quito were both compelling characters, and I loved the way their relationship slowly grew with messages around consent and the people who have irrevocably changed our lives. The story is told entirely from Quito's perfective, but this worked well to dive deep into his emotions, worries, and hang-ups. I found the writing to be really consuming, in both the past and present, really pulling the reader into Quito's life. He was an endearing character, and it was impossible not to cheer for him and Emmett to be together.

This was not a simple rom-com, and I definitely cried with some of the scenes towards the end (recommend having tissues handy). This was a deep and emotionally evocative read that, while ultimately uplifting, definitely takes the reader through the ups and downs of life in a consuming story.

ALL THE RIGHT NOTES is an emotional and enthralling romance read that I highly recommend for an unputdownable and evocative experience. Please note that I received an ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) & NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book

If there’s one thing that grinds my gears, it’s when authors set their books in the art world, music world, theatre world, etc. because they think it sounds fun or interesting, but they don’t actually know a lot about those worlds. I’m so happy that wasn’t the case here. This is definitely a delightful romance novel, but it’s underpinned by Lim’s very obvious love of music. The care that the author takes in writing how the two main characters feel about each other is mirrored in the loving way he writes about the musical elements in the novel, and it lends a rich undercurrent to the sweetness of the love story.

The good: Quito is very relatable, and his flaws are balanced by his qualities. He never comes off one-note or too overwrought. His relationship with his parents is really gorgeous but still hits on those conflicts that all teenagers have with their parents growing up. I have to think it was intentional, but I like the tiny hints that Lim leaves regarding Quito’s not drinking – it felt like an obvious nod to what happened to his mother without having a big, dramatic “I don’t drink because of a drunk driving accident” monologue.

The not as good: Ujima’s character was, at times, a little bit of a walking stereotype, and it took me out of the story. I did love the diversity of the novel, but it felt like their character could have been a little more three-dimensional given how much time we spend with them throughout the book.
I appreciated the conversation surrounding consent and drinking, as well, but I thought it could be a little less on the nose/sound less like an after school special. In general, there were a few spots where I felt like the dialogue was a touch unnatural.

Overall: A super solid debut novel that was very sweet and seemed to be as much a love story as a love letter from the author to music

Gorgeous. Stunning. Show stopping. Heartbreaking. Healing. Amazing amazing amazing. This debut by Dominic Lim will be living in my heart forever. The dual timeline created the perfect amount of mystery and intrigue for this second chance romance. The relationship between Quito and his father is dynamic and complex and heartbreaking. Ujima’s subplot was also wonderfully crafted and so healing. Quito and Emmett have this tangible chemistry that morphs with their stages of life, taking on new form yet staying the same at the core. This is a story for the ages. I cannot wait for more from Dominic Lim.

Wow, I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this one but man, I loved it! I usually don’t like to read a synopsis going into a book and like to let the book speak for itself. I loved this. The pacing was great, the layout of the book was easy to follow and the characters were so loveable. The book was laid out in Then and Now chapters marking present tense and back to high school/college. I loved this style because it gave a lot more depth and context to the book. Each Then and Now chapters seemed to fold into each other with relevant information to set up the next. This helped tremendously with the flow of this novel.
I fell in love with Quito’s dad in how he always seemed to set up the perfect scenario or he just always “knew” everything. Quito and Emmett were great characters and I felt that they were developed greatly. Love me some Ujima!!!! As a musician and music major myself, I loved the musical elements in this and felt that they were very well done. It felt fairly realistic and brought in a lot of real musical elements.
This is a closed door romance. Loved how the author used musical terms to insinuate what was happening during sexy times. That was a great touch that gave me a chuckle. As an avid smut reader (hmmmm) I fell in love with this book even though it wasn’t graphically described. Their relationship definitely spoke for itself. The slow burn over a High School to Adult timeline was well done.
Ya’ll I loved this book so much. My inner musician was so happy reading this story and how well done the music part of the story line was done. The camaraderie between a band or choir is something that can’t be explained. This book made me cry. Such a great read for anyone, especially if you have a musical background.
Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for providing me with a copy of this book.
My opinions are all my own. I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to Forever for the ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. I missed reading this book before last week’s pub day, but I’m honestly glad I read the majority of it this weekend, because the Tony Awards Sunday night were be the best follow-up to this book!
Quito has been an accompanist from the time he was in seventh grade, when he got special permission to spend one period a day at the high school accompanying his father’s choir rehearsals. In high school he worked intimately on music with Emmett, who has since become a movie star and model. The story is told in alternating timelines between the present, mostly in NYC, and twenty years earlier when they were in high school in the Bay Area.
I grew up in a really tiny town in Northwest NJ (the book contains a dig at Jersey ppl that I didn’t take personally!), and my high school choir was one of the key experiences that made me who I am today. I don’t know if I can put into words how much love, support, and joy I got out of singing and participating in musicals. Our director had the ability to make everyone feel welcome - and I truly loved performing and getting to know many people I probably wouldn’t have otherwise interacted with. Reading this book reminded me of the joys of choir in the late 90s (the same time the main characters are in high school). I loved this trip down memory lane!
If you are a music and/or musical fan (or you’ve ever sung in a choir), I think you’ll really enjoy this book. And I should mention that you will get HUNGRY reading this because of the epic Filipino food descriptions. The romance is so sweet - I just loved Quito and Emmett. The queer, AAPI, and NB representation are all fantastic.
All the Right Notes is available everywhere now - please check it out!!

Thank you for the opportunity to review this new novel.

This book... I don't know what to say to make it justice. It's heartbreaking, joyful and full of music that warms my heart ❤️

I love Quito with his quiet presence and his love for music. His best friend Ujima, a lovely colorful character, are with Quito when he sees Emmett again after all those years.
Emmett who disappeared from Quitos life without a word… but are now back. To stay?

The authors way of describing Quitos angst and unrequited love was heartbreaking and tugged on my heartstrings. Quitos relationship with his father are sooo beautiful… that’s just parental love all the way through ❤️❤️❤️

I can’t recommend this fantastic novel enough!

The following review was posted on my blog on Thursday, June 1st, 5 days before publication. It has already been posted on Goodreads and will be posted on Instagram soon. The blog post includes links to order the books and to its Goodreads page, so readers can add it to their to-be-read books.





Genre: Romance, LGBTQIA
Actual Rating: 4 stars
Spicy Meter: 1 fire emoji
Content Warnings: Displays homophobia, transphobia, outing, and sexual assault. Describes cheating and death of a parent.

“All the Right Notes” follows Quito Cruz, a piano player and composer, as he follows his father’s wish to put on a magical performance for a charity event in his small hometown. In doing so Quito gets back in touch with his past—a past that goes by the name of Emmet Aoki, a past that really hurt Quito and might’ve even stole his inspiration. But the thing is that only with Emmet, a now famous star, will Quito be able to put on the performance this event deserves, and so he must overlook said past and present chemistry to work this through. Here’s hopin’ Quito will come out of this unscathed.

So, I ended up hearing about this book thanks to “Behind the Scenes” author Karelia Stetz-Waters and God was it a worthy recommendation. Told through two different timelines, the then and the now, Dominic Lim has brought to life a heartwarming queer story for all Broadway and musical lovers. How is this even a debut novel? This is insane.

I want to make clear that even if you don’t know much about music and choir and Broadway, you can still most definitely enjoy this book—but obviously if you’re a musical fan, don’t hesitate at grabbing this book. Additionally, I would highly recommend this read if you’re a fan of that double timeline writing and of some nostalgic, second-chance romance.

If you click here, you’ll be redirected to Goodreads, so you can add the book to your TBR list.

Or you could click here, and be redirected to Amazon, so you can order the book.

ARC provided by Forever in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: June 6, 2023

3.5 rounded up. The slow-burn second-chance romance in this book is beautiful. Quito finding himself as a human was beautiful. Emmett's honest awkwardness was beautiful. But despite all of this, something fell flat for me keeping this from being a perfect romance. (I also felt the use of the word "spaz" to be entirely unnecessary.) Nonetheless, Dominic Lim hit (almost) All the Right Notes. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free advance copy.

Alright choir nerds and former (possibly still recovering) Gleeks, this one’s for you!

All The Right Notes by Dominic Lim was released this Tuesday! This debut novel is all about two former best friends who reunite for a hometown performance. While they’ve been living on opposite coasts for some time, Quito still can’t get Emmett Aoiki out of his head. It probably doesn’t help that Emmett’s now a big Hollywood movie star, either. Can Quito survive the chaos that is returning to the past?

This novel centers on a dual timeline, which is perfect for bringing back all of the high school nostalgia without having to force the characters to give their own recap. In addition, it allows the story to feel like it’s moving along a bit faster, though the chemistry between Quito and Emmett was strong enough to keep the pages turning on their own!

It’s worth mentioning that a few early readers found it hard to connect with some of the more musically inclined themes. However, as someone with a musical theater background, I did not have this experience. Also, rumor has it that the audiobook is even more musical than the physical copy, so a reread may be in order!

If you’re a fan of the arts, slow burns, and second chances, be sure to pick up a copy of All The Right Notes at your favorite bookstore! Many thanks to Forever and NetGalley for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

A queer Filipino rom-com, this novel goes back and forth between the high school/college days of Quito and Emmett and their present while they fight the push-pull of their attraction to each other.

Told in Quito's point of view, the reader is aware of his insecurities ask throughout their story. Quito is the piano-playing composer who cannot see what Emmett, the jock turned Hollywood heartthrob sees in him.

There were moments in the book where I just wanted to shake them both and tell them to grow up and stop repeating the same old patterns, but the overall story was sweet and funny. The supporting (diverse) cast is great - especially Quito's dad. And the ending!

Thank you, Netgalley, and the publisher for my review copy.

I am absolutely in love with these characters! Quito, Emmett, Ujima, and Quito’s dad are the best. An older gay romance is exactly what I needed. The pacing is perfect, switching between past and present, each part filling in the details at the perfect moment. I laughed out loud so many times!

The way music is described is perfect for me, a person who doesn’t understand how to read music. I can understand the enjoyment of music and how wonderful it is to fall into it, but I don’t know the details. I easily understood everything I needed to, with the language not delving too deeply into music theory. I know there were some things that I could have understood on a deeper level, but it wasn’t necessary for my enjoyment.

The alternating chapters allowed for a comparison between Quito as a teen and Quito as an adult. He’s much more confident as an adult, though he still has many things in common with his younger self. He lacks confidence, but is very sure of himself in some ways. Like at the piano bar, he has no problem performing or enticing people to perform. But with regards to his composition skills, he has no faith in his abilities. With Mark, his boyfriend, he won’t stand up for himself and holds himself hostage in what is clearly a loveless relationship.

I’m glad he has Ujima, his roommate and best friend who grounds him and encourages him in all the best ways. They’re amazing and give great advice, and aren’t afraid to call Quito on his BS. I also love their confidence, and how others react to them. Ujima is almost always dressed over the top and femme. More than once, a character calls them beautiful or is stunned by their beauty. And I just love that. Even when a character notices Ujima’s more masculine characteristics, they still see them as beautiful. They are the ultimate expression of queer joy and they encourage Quito to follow their lead.

The relationship between Quito and Emmett is the slowest burn of all slow burns. Nearly two decades pass between their meetings and yet the feelings are just as strong, it seems. They fall into a camaraderie, urged on by Quito’s dad, who is Quito’s biggest fan in the best way. The two change and have different paths in life, but still find things in common via music. There’s a few awkward moments, especially because Quito is incredibly anxious, but they get over it, with help from Mr. Cruz and life circumstances.

Suffice it to say that I will automatically be reading books that show up in my inbox late at night. Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for a copy of this book.

Trigger warnings include homophobia, parent death, drug use, drinking, misgendering, infidelity.

All the Right Notes started off slow for me, but at some point I got invested in the lives of Quito and Emmett and how their story would play out. Told in alternating timelines where we see the men currently, as well as back in high school, we learn how Quito and Emmett became friends, what their relationship meant to each other, and how Quito and his father became family to Emmett.

Quito was a child prodigy piano player and he had a great life with his parents. After his mother died, his father supported Quito in all of the ways, but there was still a void as a family without Quito’s mother. Quito’s parents accepted everything about him and were enormously proud of him, but Quito wasn’t comfortable being himself in high school. Emmett had all of the charisma, but his family life wasn’t as fulfilling. Quito couldn’t put together all of the reasons that Emmett spent so much time with them and also Emmett couldn’t be true to his own feelings.

The book is told entirely from Quito’s POV and I really would have liked to have Emmett’s POV as well. Quito has an incredibly hard time seeing his own worth and reading other people and, even at the end of the book, it was difficult to know Emmett well. Also, this book is listed in the first line of the blurb as a rom-com. I did not find that to be an accurate categorization at all. I just didn’t feel it was a comedy and Quito’s life didn’t provide any specific humor, so I still wonder why it’s called a rom-com. Also, there are certain storylines in Quito’s life that take us up to a certain point, but are then never given a full conclusion and that left me with questions at the end.

The ending, while it does have some somber tones, leaves Quito and Emmett with the HEA they have also longed for, although we don’t get to see that much of them as a couple and some things I would have liked to have seen were off page. This is the first book I have read from Dominic Lim and I do look forward to seeing where his stories will go next.

Wow. This book wrecked me and I am thankful for it. Told in a dual timeline from high school to 20 years later, All The Right Notes follows Quito and Emmett’s 2nd chance love story. I adored Quito’s best friend, Ujima, with their bright, spunky personality and his sweet, loving dad.

I may come back and add more to this once I get my mind back together but for now just know that this book is filled with so much love. I highly recommend.

I was really looking forward to reading Dominic Lim’s debut novel - as a former musician myself, and a fan of and loving to support LGBTQ and AAPI authors, this one had so much potential for me. I have to say I was a bit let down in the end, but still give it a 4-star rating - really it’s more like a 3.5 rounded up.

The first half was extremely slow and so drawn out (all background building and soooo much of it), which left me considering DNF, but other reviewers had great things to say so I stuck with it. It does pick up pace in the second half, but it’s still not an overly exciting read, with really not all that much happening as far as a relationship. Not much chemistry, no steam and it does mostly focus on the music and composition and teaching choir - and Quito and his father’s relationship.

The storyline is broken up and told in flashbacks, with chapters alternating between “now,” and “then” (then being high school and eventually college. The flashbacks are used to tell the history of Quito and Emmett, who were unlikely best friends in high school, had some event in college that caused them to not speak again until Now, when Quito’s father is retiring and gets them to reunite for a farewell choir concert.

The secondary character Jee (Ujima/Gerome) is the absolute savior of this book - I would definitely read a sequel featuring them as the main character!

The use of flashbacks to tell a story is probably my least favourite method of storytelling… especially when it’s every other chapter for an entire book (a scene here and there is fine, but a whole book really gets tired ).

All in all, by the end I was glad to have read this one, but would not class it as a romance (more just plain fiction) - there was not much of it throughout and the last half was quite emotional.

I received an advance review copy from NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing), and this is my honest opinion.

Overall, this book was fine. I didn’t particularly love it but I also didn’t hate it. This book skips in time between senior year of high school/first year of college and approximately 20 years later (I think). I thought Quito was an interesting character. He struggled a lot with self doubt and I felt like he made improvements throughout the story. Emmett was a little bit one note as the very sweet love interest. I was hoping we’d get some more emotion out of him at any point. I liked Quito’s bestie Jee, a non-binary drag queen who provided a lot of comic relief. But I didn’t love how all their flirting with others came off in a creepy vibe? Like flirting with the waiter in a restaurant and the waiter flinging a to go box at them to avoid them? It was weird. Quito’s dad was a fun character and I wish what happened as the major kind of plot twist didn’t happen. It really didn’t feel like it was a necessity to the story. There wasn’t enough time to really process anything that happened because of when it happened anyway. I liked the relationship between Quito and Emmett in the high school portion of the flashbacks and in the current timeline. But the college year felt out of place and I didn’t like the reason they stopped talking. Why did neither of them ever try to contact one another again? Like Quito I could maybe understand, but Emmett didn’t make any sense. I’m trying to be vague intentionally to avoid spoilers. Anyway I’m not sure how exactly I feel about this book other than relatively neutral.