Full review to come closer to release date, but I absolutely loved this!

It made the musical nerd in me happy. If you love enemies to lovers romance please pick this up when it releases in July!

Thank you to Netgalley for an e-arc of this.

I received this ARC in return for an honest review. I loved this story. It was sweet and fun, a little predictable, but it's a romance, so it's fine by me.

I absolutely devoured this book! I first fell in love with Julie Soto’s writing through fanfiction, so of course I didn’t hesitate to purchase Forget Me Not last year. I adored it, and was thrilled to have the opportunity to read an ARC of Not Another Love Song.
The chemistry between the two main characters was phenomenal. I loved their journey of falling in love and finding themselves along the way. Julie has a way of making dialogue in romantic/spicy scenes feel natural and not cringey, which is what makes me not enjoy most romance books.
I will recommend this book to everyone, and I will also be impatiently waiting for the opportunity to read Julie’s grocery lists or something until she writes her next book!

Thank you NetGalley and Julie Soto for this advanced copy of Not Another Love Song.

Julie Soto does it again. This book is beautiful. It reads like music, with characters deep and flawed. I know nothing about Reylo, but I could definitely see some of the influence. Yet it didn't take away from the story or the characters.

i loved the side characters, and the character progression. I need Julie's next book already.

tell me why i stayed up till 4am to finish this book and ended it sobbing into my pillow. gwen and alex’s relationship was so pure and tender it tugs on your heartstrings! i loved the character exploration, especially alex’s; the couple chapters we got in his perspective really helped in understanding his motivations and how he views gwen (also how down bad he was for her). i loved their little domestic moments like the week they spent in his apartment just getting to know each other intimately and just spending time with each other baking and of course making music together. quality time is my favourite love language so it really warmed my heart. i also loved all the side characters in this story; found family is one of my favourite tropes so i adored that but also!!! new york city also being a side character was so charming.

You know those rare books where you're sad while you're reading it because you know it's going to be over soon and you're already missing it??? This book gave me that feeling within the first few pages, and it did not let up. Every time I saw my percentage read going higher, I was lowkey sad but also... I COULDN'T STOP READING (even if I wanted to...which I didn't.). I never say that I wish a book was longer, but I WISH THIS BOOK WERE LONGER.

If you couldn't tell-- I loved it. This book was so good and gave me everything I didn't even know I wanted??? The tension, the banter, the FUCKING JOKES???? THE COTTON-EYED JOE REFERENCE??? PLEASE??? Gwen and Xander are both such great and complex characters and I loved them apart and together. I loved the Xander POVs (even though we got so few of them-- which maybe that made them more special??? idk I loved them), which was actually less a POV and more like Xander narrating some of the history that had formed him into the person he is when he meets Gwen.

But on top of being an amazing contemporary romance, all the side characters and parental-esque relationships were SO GOOD too. Julie Soto is so good at establishing these complicated relationships and really making the reader feel all the heartache and love that exist in these intricate bonds. And all the friends??? MORE PLEASE.

This will definitely be a book I reread and get on audiobook to experience it in that way. I have hopes that this audiobook will by like All the Right Notes by Dominic Lim, where it'll have music interwoven with the story. ALSO: I would love we got more stories from wide cast of characters (MEI? JACOB? ...DIANE????).

(apologies for this unhinged review) (but also you're welcome) (PLEASE ADD TO TBR/REQUEST FROM LIBRARY/PREORDER)

A MILLION THANK YOUS TO FOREVER FOR THIS ARC!!!

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Not Another Love Song by Julie Soto had everything I LOVE in a romance novel. A little bit of rivals to lovers, a LOOOOOOT of tension and then even more spice. It introduced some deeply interesting characters, had some guest appearances, and the musical aspect was so fun and refreshing to read, and unlike anything I have read before. I felt al the emotions, I laughed and cried and wanted to slap some sense into some characters, but I also learned a lot about strings and orchestras. Overall this was an incredible read, and I highly highly recommend!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

This book was, cover to cover, an absolute breath of fresh air. It felt cozy and comforting, the main characters were likable, and you really felt the emotion on every page. Set in New York, it really gets a feel for the city, and does an amazing job of immersing the reader into different stories and settings. I can't recommend this enough.

Not Another Love Song emotionally destroyed me and I loved every minute of it. Julie Soto’s writing, her character development, THE TENSION- fantastic! 6/5 stars for me. I will read everything Soto writes.

This was so cute! I loved Gwen and Alex together. Fans of Julie Soto's first book will love this one. The cover is gorgeous, and I loved all the details about what it's like to work as a professional musician outside of being a pop star or in a rock band.

3 stars because while I had issues with it, it was enjoyable and I didn't want to put it down. It started off really well but I soon realized the characters felt really surface level. I couldn't connect with them and their motivations didn't feel strong enough to justify, for example, (mild spoiler...) a third act breakup. The musical descriptions were the strongest part of the book for me. There was a lot of information but I didn't feel that it was dragged out or unnecessary. I will definitely be looking out for this author's future works, I feel she has a lot of potential.

Not Another Love Song by Julie Soto was a masterpiece. Gwen and Xander are both musicians with very different backgrounds. Xander, we learn, comes from a musical family while Gwen is introduced to music by a music store owner, who played a pivotal role in both of their lives. Music had a very different impact on each of their lives, for Xander the pressure of being a child prodigy who started playing as a toddler was crushing until he was able to escape and strike out on his own and the grasps of his family. Whereas for Gwen, music was an escape it provided stability and structure. While Gwen and Xander start as rivals it was great to watch their growth and development through the book. I will definitely be re-reading when the book releases in July.

Thank you to the publisher, Forever (Grand Central Publishing), NetGalley and the author for an eARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

Julie Soto writes the hottest contemporary romances out there y’all. The tension and the yearning bubble so deliciously and when it finally spills over and they act on it, all hell breaks loose in the hottest way possible.

This book follows Xander, a cello prodigy we are briefly introduced to in Forget Me Not, and Gwen, a violinist for the Manhattan Pops. I never thought I would describe people playing classical versions of pop songs as erotic but the way these two stare into the depths of each others’ souls when they play is so good.

As you can tell from the cover this is Reylo fanfiction and as a life long Star Wars avoider, this book made me want to watch it?!?! I once lied to a Star Wars obsessed ex-boyfriend about having seen the movies but would not watch them for him, but give me one good Reylo fanfic with a sexy cello scene and I’m ready to watch 9 movies. That’s how good it is!!!

Wow. Honestly, I couldn’t put this down. There is something about Julie Soto’s writing that is addicting. I devoured Forget Me Not and being able to dive right into Not Another Love Song was such a gift.

I, of course, loved the special appearances where we see the characters from Forget Me Not, but I also just truly love this world she has built around the Pops.

Never would I have thought a romance between a violinist and a cellist would be so engaging, but it really was.

Xander is outwardly that grumpy, aloof MMC, but really he is so soft-hearted and speaks through his music. And Gwen being so pure and at times naive, but truly showing her backbone when it really matters was so powerful.

I can’t wait for this story to be out in the world! Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced copy!

This is my first Julie Soto book and it did not disappoint. I was invested in both characters right from the start. I'm not sure if I would say this is a true rivals to lovers story but it held my attention all the same. Definitely has some spice as well. Thank you to NetGalley and Julie Soto for the eARC. This will definitely not be the last book I read from her.

I loved this. It's such a beautiful story and both characters showed excellent growth. Gwen and Alex both have to figure out what they truly want and who they want to be. There were several moments that made me grin and the spice was excellent. The scene the cover is based on was one of the hottest things I've read in awhile, I will say the use of music terms outside of direct music playing was almost too much, but the author did a good job of keeping it on the right side of the line. I tended to gloss over those though.

I know the roots of this book are in Reylo, but I didn't notice much besides the cover. The story felt more original than others that have only filed the serial numbers off. Overall, highly recommend for anyone who is a fan of her work. I love her fanfiction and really enjoyed Forget Me Not. This is my favorite of her work so far.

ARC REVIEW (thanks NETGALLEY)

3.5 ish? Idk the build up to Gwen and Alex getting together kind of took too long. All the characters backstories and secretive histories carried on too long.Bad ass cello player “Thorne”/Alex was in a band ala Vitamin String Quartet and I guess was really popular with like theater kids. But still found the time to slum it with The Manhattan Pops? I just found the storyline to be implausible but I really enjoyed them together. I don’t know enough about the orchestra or symphonies to have understood a lot of the book, I think people who do know about orchestras and violins would probably find a lot to complain about. To me the second half of book just kinda seemed to loose control and scrambled to get to the finish line. While spicy scenes where not explicitly graphic Julie Soto has a way to make them feel incredibly sensual and I enjoyed it.

*aggressively googles Cello/Violin duets and tickets to the LA or NY Philharmonic*

Julie Soto has done it (again!) 😮‍💨 I had no doubts. Not Another Love Song is a MASTERPIECE. A perfect harmony of plot and romance, I couldn't put it down and would play it on repeat if it was a song. Who knew reading about "rival" string players could be so hot?? And I don't know anything about musical instruments but I think this book had more tension than violin strings. 🔥 (is this a factual thing to say, musicians pls don't come for me..)

random things:
- The "Cello Suites" POV chapters? Brilliant. 🤌🏼
- The post-taco scene will live rent free in my head for some time. (actual tacos)

Another Julie Soto banger that I sacrificed many, many hours of sleep to finish binge reading. Thank you endlessly to Forever and Netgalley for the early copy!

I absolutely loved this book! Xander and Gwen's relationship was everything, I loved how they loved each other so deeply while also creating such beautiful music together (of course I haven't heard the music they made, but the writing was beautiful so that means the music must be too!). I normally don't like when there's a third act conflict in books, but I personally felt that it was needed to tie up loose ends and it was done very well. The only thing I would have like better was if they had more of an emotional connection rather than physical when they first met, but as the book went on, their emotions ran so deep that it was worth the wait. This book now holds such a special place in my heart and I know I will be thinking about these characters for a long time. 4.5 stars!

I love me a good rivals to lovers romance and this really hit all the boxes for me! There is just something about two child prodigies with so much love and intensity (almost obsession) towards their craft that no one else who is normal understands them. They only understand each other. THIS BOOK WAS THAT! Julie Soto is such a captivating author in the way she writes and develops her characters' relationships and journey throughout the book. I loved how these characters had alllll the flaws. Sometimes I get bored of perfect and can do no wrong characters, but Julie really allows Xander and Nora to make poor decisions and mistakes that are conducive to their character growth. It made them all the more relatable and I loved every second of this book! Never thought reading about cellists and violinists would be this exciting and I am so glad this surpassed all of my expectations. Looking forward to getting a final copy in store on publication date!