This was a wonderful debut novel. I loved the subtle (and not so subtle) Taylor Swift references. I loved the small town vibes and the setting around the Christmas play. However I do feel like some of the story went a bit quickly because of the short chapters, sometimes it jumped around a little too much and it wasn't as clear what was going on, it would have made sense to put shorter chapters together to make it more cohesive. The book also starts with a lot of drama right at the start which was quite the beginning and it also wasn't clear for a very long time why there was this much drama which made me question too much. I liked Aspen, she was a bit immature for my liking, she was in her early 20s but she felt like a 16 year old from time to time. I absolutely loved Roman/Rome he was so sweet and nice, he was the perfect man for Aspen and they work well together. Ella was the sweetest little side character in the Christmas play, I smiled so much when the characters interacted with her. And even though we didn't see much of Leila, I liked her as a friend for Aspen, at first I thought she was an undercover journalist trying to get a story by pretending to be friends, I'm glad she wasn't. I loved the little nods to Taylor Swift songs and I feel like including them worked well, it wasn't too on the nose.

One thing that has to be mentioned is trigger warnings it would be good to add them at the beginning because of a section about rape.

Thank you NetGalley, Kimi Freeman and the publisher for this review copy, all opinions are my own.

This book was a cute story idea and I like the Taylor Swift inspiration. The idea of a small town girl who becomes successful, and still has her true love back in her hometown was a great premise. I also enjoyed the holiday vibes.

The main characters just seemed really immature. I know they were in their early 20s but the amount of drama and the way they react to the situation’s was frustrating and felt more like how high school aged people would behave. This is the reason for my lower rating. If you are into a romcom with a bit of Hollywood drama, then this might be for you.

I Was caught up by the title (Taylor Swift references are so easy to track haha And the narrative was pretty compelling and fluid between the pages. The story is divided by back in the past and then in the future but that doesn't impact in the reading. It's very precise and well constructed text. The characters are also well developed and credible, and the story has some relevant content about delicate issues in Our society. Well done!

A book inspired by a Taylor Swift song is obviously good.
The trope isn't the most original but it's doing its job. I like the whole star thing getting back with an ex she never got over.
Aspen is a bit of a cliché but it's well written.
It was nice, slow and funny.

I found this one a tough one to finish. I think because I love Taylor Swift so much, I built up expectations for this too much in my head. Usually I really enjoy flashback and flash forward stories but this one just wasn't it for me.

DNF @ 51%. I felt like this book at so much potential. But I was just so bored of the characters. In the flashbacks scenes, I really enjoyed them, Pen and Rome were adorable. But in the present scenes, I have no idea what's going with them. Reading present scenes. I just didn't feel that romantic chemistry that I did in the past scenes. Usually try to go at least half way through the books to see if my interest is peaked but that unfortunately didn't happen with this book.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review. Definitely a light-hearted read but not my cup of tea! The synopsis sounded promising, but my expectations fell flat. The plot was fine, nothing too remarkable and I wasn’t a fan of how the ending was written. I thought the dialogue was a little too simple. The only thing I outright disliked about this book was the characters. I thought they acted very stereotypically to the roles they fulfilled (ex: Aspen as a big star from a small town who couldn’t possibly be understood by anyone from said town). I didn’t feel any connection to the characters and I felt that they could’ve been developed a big better. That being said, I think this was pretty good for this being the author’s first novel. The Taylor Swift references were definitely my favorite part!
2.5 stars

Aspen, a famous singer, returns to her hometown as a scandal hits her career. She reconnects with her high school sweetheart, Rome, and, as much as she tries to stay away from him, she cannot.

This is a debut novel from Kimi Freeman. I enjoyed the dual timelines (their high school love story and present time) as the storylines came together to show everything Aspen and Rome went through in their lives/relationship. Each chapter also has a song associated with it, many of which are Taylor Swift songs (hence the title), so if you are a Swiftie, you will enjoy that! The romance and storyline felt PG to me though, so, as an adult reader, I wasn’t overly impressed with the slow buildup or the writing style. Teenagers are a more appropriate audience for this book, as they will love the song associations/ cutesy romance.

Thanks to Net Galley for providing this ARC for an honest review.

I love the song this is based on so the title drew me in. Only a few pages in I got the feeling I was reading TS fan fiction written by a teenager… and it turns out that’s because it is. But that teenager wrote a book with a great hook and is now self publishing it, which is impressive. I did enjoy finding subtle TS references throughout the text. Ultimately, though, I don’t think this was for me. It would probably be more enjoyable for a younger audience - ie teenagers. It felt much more YA than New adult, as it was labeled on Netgalley. My biggest issue besides how immature it read was the romance itself. The relationship lacked any development - as in we didn’t get to know the mmc at all or see the relationship develop / witness anything they had in common or bonded over so it was hard to believe how they instantly acted together. I also found how the mmc acts really off putting. There were a few allusions to sexual assault, which I suspect will come up later in the plot, although I did not make it that far. There probably should be some trigger warning though.

Aspen decided to escape LA after a scandal. She loses her friends, home, and best friend all in the same day. She returns home to PA to reset and find the joy in creating music again.

Returning home means running into her childhood sweetheart Roman. The hot Dominican man with curly hair and soulful eyes is on her mind 24/7. Aspen has never let go of her feelings for Roman.

The two always supported one another growing up, but when Aspen moved to LA and Roman stayed in PA to take care of his sick mother things changed. LA forced Aspen to grow thicker skin meaning she had to push away her best friend back home. Missing him hurt too much and with everything that came with being in the spotlight that was the one thing she could control. However, being back in the town where they fell in love makes her realize that he may just be her forever man.

The story between the two characters was heart-touching. You could feel how much love and comfort was between them. You couldn’t help but hope that life would take a break when it came to trying to knock Aspen down. She had a strong backbone for having endured everything that she did. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and would recommend it to anyone looking for a light second-chance read.

This book was so cute. I am a sucker for anything Taylor Swift inspired. The characters were well written and the plot moved along at a great pace. This story follows Aspen as she is caught up in a Hollywood scandal and returns to her hometown to take a break from the drama. There, she reconnects with her friend Roman (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) as they navigate this new normal. This book was cute and sweet and was a fun, quick read. I also loved the subtle mentions of other Taylor Swift songs throughout the book. I am excited to see what is next from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Parson Press for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.


I really wanted to enjoy this; the Taylor Swift references seemed so fun, there is a cute playlist that goes with every chapter, and I hoped this would just be a cozy fun read.

Unfortunately this was not an enjoyable read for me. Very quickly, the writing proved to be poorly structured. In the first chapter, we are to believe that adult women are texting each other like this: “I mean, how dare you break girl code like you have?!” Similarly, the romantic lead is introduced in a very flippant manner, asking if Aspen is okay and immediately declaring his romantic intentions to her.

I think realistically there are two factors leading to my disappointment : while Kimi Freeman is a promising young writer, I think her youth when writing this showed in the narrative and created an unbelievable adult character- and the fact that I am simply not the target demographic. I assumed this would be a new adult rom-com but it reads entirely as YA, and maybe I’d like this a lot more if I was in high school.

I hope the release goes well and the author keeps practicing her craft!

Aspen Moore has it all - fame, fortune, success. But she's not happy. Then a scandal rocks her carefully constructed life, and she's forced to return to her hometown in Pennsylvania. She reconnects with her first love, Roman Torres. She knows they have to keep their emotional distance - she'll be going back to California, and he won't move to LA.

❤️ Loved all the Taylor Swift references. My kids grew up on her music, so I'm a little fond of it. Loved how well it was integrated into the story.

Wonderfully written clean romance. Perfect man. Love the slow burn, the music references, the perfect cozy feeling to curl up by the fire. I'm really impressed with this from a debut author. I really enjoyed it!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced digital reader's copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review!

DNF'd at 50% - Therefore 1 star

This actually makes me genuinely upset, I really wanted to love this book and was looking forward to reading it. I love Taylor Swift and love anything that references her and her music. But this just didn't hit for me, I wasn't a fan of any of the characters, the short chapters made it a bit difficult to determine which time period I was reading as the main character seemed to act just as childish and naive in both settings, and I noticed a few grammar mistakes throughout the first half.
I'm sure other people would love it, as it does read as it being for a younger audience (obviously I only got halfway I cannot comment on what happens after that point).

Also author should definitely be including trigger warnings.

Cute little romance, definitely felt ‘extra’ YA. I didn’t feel anything for the romance between Aspen and Roman. Sure, they were high school sweethearts but as adults there wasn’t any tension or build-up.

3/5 stars!

After dealing with a scandal that greatly shook her singing career, Aspen returns home to Pennsylvania. There, she once again feels a strong attraction to her high school sweetheart. Years ago, she had left him to allow him to chase his own dreams, just as she had planned to do in LA. However, every time they are together, resisting their emotions becomes increasingly difficult. Aspen now begins to question whether her aspirations in LA are truly worth setting aside her dreams in Pennsylvania.

The story shows their relationship both from their past and present perspectives. I enjoyed witnessing their initial meeting and how they gradually fell for each other. I've never encountered a high school boy who possessed such self-awareness before! I was also REALLY excited for the playlist of this book! Each chapter was accompanied by its own song, and I absolutely loved the vibe it gave reading the story.

I truly appreciated Rome's unwavering affection for Aspen. He consistently stood by her choices and never criticized her due to the rumors circulating around her. Regrettably, I don't feel that Aspen reciprocated this same level of support. Although she seemed to care for him deeply, she frequently made decisions for Rome without consulting him, assuming she knew what was best.

Despite my occasional frustrations with Aspen, I found this book to be heartwarming and lovely. Whether it was the constant backing from Aspen's parents or Rome's unconditional love, the story was truly touching and filled with affection.

For lovers of Taylor Swift, both the title itself and the subject matter will be big pluses when first getting into this book.

The book tells the story of Aspen and Roman and follows the basic premise of the song while being told from two timelines.

I liked the storyline itself, however, I am not a big fan of the two timelines and the jumping back and forth, though I will say it was used very well and helped the story line along.

If you like multi timeline books, or you’re a swifte with an open mind; this would be a great book for you.

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up.

I think this was a really good debut. There were definitely some moments that didn’t quite flow or that I would have liked more from. There were moments that weren’t necessarily written as well as they could be, but the story was enjoyable. The characters were lovable. The emotions were all there. I will definitely be giving further works of hers a read, I would say Kimi Freeman is an author to watch for!


Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

I was expecting this book to be right up my street, being an avid Taylor Swift fan, but i have dnf'd this book about 50 pages in because i just was not enjoying it and did not want to read anymore.
i am not a huge fan of dual timeline narrative, especially when there isnt a significant time difference and i found it difficult to keep track of which timeline i was reading in this book. additionally, the chapters are so short that it jumps between each timeline very quickly so it feel choppy and disjointed. this also meant it was really hard to get into the story, hence the perhaps rather hasty dnf.
finally, this book does read like fanfiction, or perhaps just underdevloped writing that could do we reworking.

This is a great first effort from a young writer. There were moments that hit the mark but others that fall short.

We could have used more time to get to know the characters so that we could form a real connection with them but by the time we read a few pages we are whisked to the past without really having the time to get attached.

Just taking the time to let the characters breathe would have added so much depth to the novel.

But there is a good story here and I look forward to seeing the author improve as she continues writing.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for providing this eArc in exchange for my honest opinion.