🎤THE BREAKUP TOUR by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka🎤

📆PUB DATE: Today!
➡️Swipe or see below for synopsis
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Format: Audio/Ebook
Read if you like:
2️⃣Second chance romance
🎤Celebrity romance
💃🏼Taylor Swift

Thank you @berkleyromance for letting me be on the book tour for The Breakup Tour! This was a cute second chance/celebrity romance and is a book fully for the Swifties. I believe the main character, Riley, is loosely based off of Taylor Swift🪩 Swipe for the synopsis for The Breakup Tour.

My thoughts:

I liked the plot of this book and I love second chance romance Where this book sort of lost me was the chemistry, I didn’t feel much connection between the main characters and struggled to connect with their relationship. If you are a fan of celebrity or second chance romance, I would give The Breakup Tour a try! Thank you again @berkleyromance and @prhaudio for the advanced ebook/audio copies of this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing the ARC.

In the interest of full disclosure - I absolutely picked this book up because it looked (annd sounded) like a Taylor Swift story. However, upon reading it, it definitely feels like it borrows a little too much from Taylor and not enough from the authors' brains.

It was fine, but the characters have no chemistry with each other. It's a shame too, because The Roughest Draft was so good. And this is just not great. I with they had spent a bit more time on the characters and truly fleshing them out.

Overall, it's a Taylor Swift book, written generally not well with forgettable characters.

When Riley shows up at the retirement living center that Max is running he is faced with the regrets from his past. He chose his family over a life on the road with Riley and has always wondered what his life would’ve been like if he’d made the other choice. Her offer is the chance for him to see where that path would’ve led. I like a good second chance romance if the plot moves quickly but The Breakup Tour seemed to mire the story in both of their regrets, making it seem like it took forever before either of them could move past them. Because of that slow pace I felt like the tone of the story was moody and sad rather than playful and fun.

I loved how the author’s actually gave us the lyrics to the songs we were reading about. They all fell at the end of the book and I think I’d have liked to have read them sooner, but they were a wonderful addition and were filled with the words I’d imagined while reading about Riley singing them. I always enjoy song-filled stories and The Breakup Tour (the novel) could’ve had an album full of words filling these pages.

I enjoyed Riley and Max’s second chance story and although I’d wished their happy reunion was filled with more light hearted moments it felt real. I thought the ending was totally satisfying and I loved where the story led us.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review and it was honest!

Instead of praising Taylor Swift and loving her, as the authors state, this feels like the complete opposite. It is almost as if they are making fun of her? There are several lines that are from her songs, being used and turned, to make her look bad. For authors who dedicated this book to her fans and to HER, you would think that it would be more appropriate and appreciative of her, but no. I felt icky reading it. The writing was okay, not my favorite, but not bad! This review has nothing to do with the author’s themselves (besides not using someone’s TRAUMA for their book) but on the actual topics of the book.

This is also not a romance. I mean there is a sure attempt of it, but it feels more like a women’s fiction. The characters are bland and quite boring, especially the fmc.

Read if you like:
✨ Celebrity Romances
🥈 Second Chance Romances
💔 Songs about Heartbreak
🎸 Are a Swiftie
❤️ First Love

“I hope he knows I’ll always love him, in the way of loving my first favorite song.”

This book was the embodiment of a second chance romance about the one that got away because you were too young to know better and then living in heartbreak because your heart is still with that person that made the all the love songs about you and that person, so you can’t fully give your heart to anyone else.

Riley is our heartbreak queen that is portrayed in a way that the media has portrayed Taylor Swift through the years but in this story, but Riley feeds into the narrative the media has spun around her to the point of touring in her wedding dress. Her music is criticized to be only songs about heartbreak so she embodies this writing an album of 12 breakup songs from 12 relationships that becomes wildly successful while she leans into and believes the narrative spread about her that all she is good for is breakup songs because eventually she will be left by those she loves, but at least she will get a song out of it, right?

I enjoyed the way that Max and Riley came back into each other’s lives with the tour for a media/pr stunt to try to pull attention off her ex-husband who was using her fame for his gain post-divorce as that felt like a perfect way for them to reunite with Riley’s star shining and Max questioning if he took the right path 10 years ago when he said no to his dream in the music world- which then resulted in the end of his relationship with Riley.

All in all, as a Swiftie I enjoyed this story, even if it didn’t leave me sobbing like some of Taylor’s most powerful songs about heartbreak have.

Thank you so much to Berkley Romance for my ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Format: Audio/E-book

3.25🌟 - it was okay!

Thank you @prhaudio and @berkleyromance for the complimentary audio and digital ARC’s!

I have loved these authors last two books and saw they were writing a Taylor Swift romance and was THRILLED! The outcome of it though, left me feeling a little lackluster.

I really liked the concept of it, and love a second chance romance plot! It was such a fun backdrop of a breakup tour as the set for a romance.

Honestly if I didn’t know ahead of time it was a TS romance, I might not of even put it together that is what is was supposed to be? It almost was giving more Daisy Jones vibes because this FMC did not match Ms.Swift at all. I can’t definitely see what they were trying to do with this book, but I think it isn’t going to land well with all of the Swifties.

There were parts I liked overall, and I really do think these authors are talented! There was something that fell pretty flat for me and left me feeling not that invested in the romance overall.

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

🌟🌟🌟🌟 4/5 stars

A rising musician gets a second chance at love in this Swiftie romance. Riley went from struggling musician to superstar overnight due to her breakup album and memorable lead single. When her ex-husband claims the song is about him, Riley decides to track down the true inspiration for the song - her college ex, Max. When she asks him to go public as her muse, he makes a deal that he will in exchange for going on tour with her band. Will they find their overdue HEA?

This was a cute read and great for Swifties. I really loved Riley and her story. I always love a celebrity romance and the second chance aspect had plenty of angst. Overall, a solid romance.

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

The Breakup Tour is a DNF for me. It’s probably a not right now situation rather than a never read though. I just couldn’t get into it but I still have a morbid curiosity to finish it sometime.

Riley Wynn became a superstar overnight due to her pop hits about her exes. (Sound like a famous blonde you know??)

When her ex husband claims her newest mega hit is about him, Riley wants to set the record straight. The true subject of the song is her college boyfriend Max Harcourt. Riley calls Max and asks him to go on the road with her to get people talking and speculating about him and his relationship with Riley.

Max is content running his family’s retirement home and playing piano just for the residents there. When Riley shows up and tries to convince him to go out tour with her, it dredges up memories of why he didn’t go on the road with her ten years before and how he never really stopped loving her.

Let’s get this out of the way first. This story was fun and I loved all the side characters. Riley’s mom was a great addition to the cast and I loved the side plot of her own love story.

While this was a book about music, I found the writing overly lyrical. Riley and Max’s inner dialogue felt like wannabe song lyrics, which worked in small doses but not when it’s the go-to style choice. It made Max and Riley feel like caricatures to me instead of real people, and the story sometimes read more like fanfic than a fully fleshed out novel.

I won’t expound on this, but I’d expect two writer MCs to be able to communicate a bit better 🤣.

I really, really wish this hadn’t been marketed as inspired by Taylor Swift. I think the story was strong enough to stand on its own instead of linking it to arguably the most well-known name in current pop music. I, personally, prefer books inspired by other works of fiction or people who are not currently active in their careers. But that’s just my opinion!

Overall, this was a fun, fast read but not my favorite from writing duo Austin and Emily.

Thank you to @berkleyromance for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.

I really wanted to love this book. It felt like it had everything I like in a story. Second chance romance, plus a Taylor Swift inspired story! Sign me up! But this story did fall a little flat for me. I didn’t feel like the characters were complex enough for me to have any sort of attachment to them. Also, honestly I feel like not a lot happened until pretty far in. This plot felt very slow moving. So, unfortunately this one was not a hit for me, even though I had high hopes for it.

Riley Winn is a megastar. She broke out of her small town roots and is now the face of pop music and her name is synonymous with breakups. She's made a music career out of writing songs about her exes and is now starting a new tour, The Breakup Tour, promoting her new album. As it begins, she decides to reach out to her college boyfriend, Max, and invite him to join her to play piano on the single that's written about their relationship. Full of tension and great will they/won't they moments, this story is peppered with beautiful lyrical moments surrounding two musicians whose love for life and each other is founded on music. What happens when you have one partner accustomed to the superstar lifestyle and another who prefers playing his music in his family's retirement home? Will music be enough to bring them together again and keep them this time?

“Every song is a love song if you play it with the right person.”

The Breakup Tour appears inspired by but not a rewrite of the life of my favorite pop star. I found it sweet, heart breaking, and hopeful. I’m a big fan of a couple getting their second chance at love, and loved Max Harcourt and Riley Wynn’s story. The writing style is poetic and lyrical and I inhaled each page. The narrators - Brittany Pressley and Dan Bittner - did a fabulous job on this book and really brought Riley and Max to life.

I recommend this one to fans of second chances and celebrity/regular person couples who like their romances with a bit of spice.

I received advanced reading &listening copies, receipt of which did not impact my review.

Emily and Austin are such masters of the second chance romance trope! It’s not always my favorite trope but it is when these two are writing it.

Rylie and Max might have music in common but are definitely from two different worlds/have different ambitions. I loved Rylie’s mom too. She’s so sweet and delightful and there for Rylie when she needs a little mom perspective. Rylie is larger than life but has definitely put herself into a cycle of romantic self fulfilling prophecy and Max is very much an average guy in an average job that even his family thinks he settled on but he truly enjoys. It was interesting them being so incredibly different. I feel like everyone will find bits and pieces of at least one if not both of them relatable.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out Rylie is at least partially based on TSwift and her songs about exes but even if you’re not a swiftie (bc in definitely not) this is still a great read! It gives you angsty romance set amid a concert tour.

3.5

The Breakup Tour by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka is a Taylor Swift inspired contemporary romance. We follow a singer songwriter who is getting outshined by her ex who has claimed that the hit the summer that she wrote is about him. So she goes to her other ex, who is one among 13ish(?) (lol) of them and asks for his permission to reveal that the song is about him instead.

What happens instead is that he ends up on tour with her as her pianist and a second chance romance story begins. I did enjoy the prose and insights on their music career. I enjoyed the way this male character was written. However, I do feel like it ended up far too saturated with music and not enough of why they really deserved a second change on their romance and why they didn't work out in the first place. I did enjoy the way it ended and their introspection as characters at the end.

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

"Melodies hold memories, Like nothing else on earth, they recall feelings, places, moments— the needle dropping into the groove of the soul's record player."

All the swifties need this second chance romance!

THINGS AND STUFF
-dual pov
-second chance
-love on tour
-forced proximity
-piano performance
-miss swift 🤝🏼 daisy jones
-media spotlight & stardom
-music lyrics & vulnerable breakup songs
-long live, delicate, midnight rain, all too well, the archer, wildest dreams
-so it’s going to be forever or it’s going to go down in flames (will they, won’t they)
-#IsThisAKissingBook: open door. “Kissing Max was like hearing a forgotten favorite song for the first time in years.”

thank you berkely for the free book!

LI loved the premise of this book and the serious Taylor Swift vibes it had. Riley Wynn is an up and coming pop star famous for her break up songs. Coming off a divorce, she pens an album with a song about each of her exes.

I really liked Max and Riley. They’re opposites in most ways but music is at the heart of them both. They connect through their music like it’s their own special language.

There were so many interesting aspects of the book: Riley dealing with her fame and public persona, the tour, Max trying to figure out what he wants, Riley’s ex. It was all so good!

Read For:
💟 Taylor Swift Vibes
💫 Second Chance Romance
🚌 Forced Proximity
⚖️ Dual POV
🔥 Slow Burn
🎼 Pop Tour

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5
Spice Level: 🌶️/ 5

So, you probably know that this is a "Taylor Swift" romance. Luckily, we have combined the forces of an "I know who TSwift is and probably recognize some songs" reviewer and an "I considered buying a ticket to the Eras tour in Poland bc why not?" In other words, one of us missed 99% of all of the Swiftie references in the book, while the other of us had fun recognizing them all.

What's this book about? Well, Riley Wynn is on the cusp of superstardom thanks to her "breakup" album (each song is about a different ex). Her toxic ex husband is claiming that the hit single is about him - but it's not. It's about Riley's college sweetheart Max. She approaches him about publicly naming him as the hit's inspiration, but he's not thrilled... until he realizes that his parents' business is about to go under unless they can find investment funds. He approaches Riley with a suggestion to add him to her tour, playing piano on the song, and allowing speculation about their relationship in the press to take the attention off of her ex-husband.

We thought that Riley's characterization in this book was really very nuanced and interesting. She’s decided that her best work is based on heartbreak, so she specifically mines each experience, even in the moment, for its emotional resonance. This doesn't exactly make her a likable character, or even someone we thought “deserved” a love story, but it's an interesting and complex choice on the part of the authors. It also meant that the ongoing metaphors about lyrics and instruments and songwriting (etc.) fit her character really well.

Max's characterization was less nuanced and interesting. He wasn't exactly a consistent character (first, he doesn't want to be in the entertainment news... but the next day he proposes going on tour?) but, y'know, fine. His backstory in particular was really weak and needed the reader to take a lot on credit. (Why was he so invested in his parents’ retirement home?) We felt that his character and backstory was very "Christmas movie" in that there were a lot of contrivances required to make it work.

That said, the grand gesture was remarkably dramatic, OTT, and fun - perfect for a love story of this magnitude.

If you are a person who likes this kind of romance - contemporary first person present tense dual POV, celebrity romance - then you'll be pleased with the book. And if you like TSwift, you'll be even more pleased. Recommended with those two caveats.

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.

🎹 Ok, I adored this. Thank you so much to @berkleypub and @berkleyromance for the sneak peek at this. The Breakup Tour is out tomorrow!

🎹 I’ll start by saying I’m a big fan of this writing duo. Their writing is so lyrical, it was just a matter of time before they wrote a book about musicians. And since we are all in our Taylor Swift era— why not now?!

🎹 A classic storyline here. Mega-headlining pop star and a former fling who is talented in his own right, but resistant to fame. What could go wrong?!

🎹 What I loved here:
- the writing: they use a lot of flowery language and descriptive scene setting. No other romance writers have me using the Kindle dictionary quite like these two (swipe for examples). It may not be for everyone but I dig it.
- the life: I was living for the scenes on the tour bus and on stage. I’ve always wished I could belt a tune (I sadly cannot), and I was so immersed in the vivid pictures painted here
- the artistry: I’m forever impressed when authors take on books about music and manage to write songs in addition to a beautiful story
- the struggle: when you thrive on writing the drama from your life into song, do you intentionally create drama? A chicken and egg dilemma that’s done really well here!

🎹 What didn’t work as well:
- ok, stay with me here but I wasn’t sold on the romance 😳😬🤪 There just wasn’t enough here to convince me these two were really in love. This was a second chance on a short college romance that happened a decade ago. There weren’t enough scenes from back then, or present day, to convince me these two were mad for each other. I think that came secondary to depicting the rock star life and struggle here, and it showed. That said, the other parts of the book were so entertaining it still worked for me somehow. 🤷🏼‍♀️

🎹 I think that will be the main critique of this book, and this won’t be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it and thought it was a lot of fun. If you’re a Taylor Swift girly and love the way she writes her life into her music— you should DEFINITELY give this a try!

This is total immersion into the life of pop star and the contrast with the ordinary life. There are melancholy feelings undertone to the book. This is a good book to curl up with in January when taking a break from social media news of real life pop star romance. I didn’t love this…not being a big fan of celebrity fiction and not enough romance to make it actually a romance. It didn’t do it for me.

I was so stoked for a book that is Taylor Swift coded.Unfortunately, I must say that I was hugely disappointed (and actually very frustrated) by this book.

To dedicate a book to Taylor but then further perpetuate many of the harmful misogynistic stereotypes and ideas around her seems thoroughly ironic. It’s dedicating a book to someone you don’t really understand or respect and then take massive liberties and assumptions about why people like her instead of actually diving in and exploring yourself.

If you’re going to write a book based on her it seems natural that you would read up on her, watch some interviews, etc. Instead, it almost seems like the authors took the highly publicized and patriarchal misogynistic view of Taylor and her songwriting and personal life and ran with that inauthentic cheapened version. It’s a misrepresentation of her and why she has such a dedicated fandom.

The character is made out to check the many boxes the public often tries to place Taylor in - manipulative, calculating, immature, over-emotional. Also the insinuation that her behavior is always tied how she can write a song about it and make a profit is also a very insincere and inaccurate take. The quote below sums up exactly what I think the book insinuates about Taylor and a quote from Taylor herself on how she feels when people talk about her career or life through that lens:

“People would act like it [songwriting] was a weapon I was using. Like a cheap dirty trick. Be careful, bro, she’ll write a song about you. Don’t stand near her. First of all, that’s not how it works. Second of all, find me a time when they say that about a male artist: Be careful, girl, he’ll use his experience with you to get — God forbid — inspiration to make art.”
-Taylor A. Swift

I know the book is inspired by Taylor Swift, but there wasn’t a whole lot of depth to the character they were trying to create. It felt like an emotionally immature caricature of a woman incapable of healthy emotional expression and stable relationships. The writing was also a bit clunky - it was like an attempt to mimic more complex lyrical writing (maybe channeling Taylor’s talent) but coming up short.

I was also disappointed by the lack of chemistry. It felt rushed and awkward and it wasn’t selling the relationship at all. It also felt like there were lots of missing pieces and I was sometimes confused by the lack of build up or explanation to big decisions/changes.

This book was ultimately a DNF at 70% for me for all the reasons listed above. I’ve been told the authors have other books that are great but this was a massive miss for me.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publishers for a copy of this e-arc.