Julie Soto can do no wrong! Both of her books I have given 5 stars to and I can't get enough! I will never view a cello/violin the same way! Xander/Alex can play anyone like music/an instrument and I would enjoy reading! I loved that she pulled in characters from her first book, too!

Thank you to @netgalley and Julie Soto for this arc in exchange for a review.

I didn’t realize a story about an orchestra and string players could be so sexy!

okay, hear me out. I enjoyed the story overall but it wasn’t my ultimate favorite romance. I really enjoyed the tension in this book. Gwen and Zander’s chemistry was so evident and the spicy scenes were very well done. I didn’t feel like the scenes were cringe which is something I usually have a hard time with with spicy scenes. I really enjoyed the overall plot, but I just did not love some of the reactions and decisions that Gwen made. I don’t want to spoil anything but every time her and Zander fought, she just avoided the conflict which was so frustrating. Some of the conflict could have been avoided if she communicated with Zander instead of LITERALLY running. 😅 Overall, I would recommend picking this one up because overall it was good. There was just parts that weren’t for me (too surface level) but I know so many people would love this story!

Pick this up if you like:
🎻 musical themes
🎻 spice 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️
🎻 great tension and banter

Julie Soto never misses. With Forget Me Not taking me less than a day to read, I wasn't surprised at all that Not Another Love Song would break my record of fastest read.
Soto, alongside other fanfiction and romance authors have redefined the Contemporary Romance genre. They stories and characters may be based on particular pairing but they made new stories and took over my TBR next reads. Can't wait for her new works in the future!!!

I mean what is there to say about this book besides I adored it and where can I get the soundtrack? 🤣

I loved how Xander’s POV was done in this book. I feel like Julie Soto does great things to incorporate the male POV so it’s not just back and forth or a single POV. And it works for her. I loved these snippets into Xanders thoughts and feelings and experiences.

I really loved how Xander and Gwen balanced each other out. The tension and the chemistry between them was just *chefs kiss*. Can we please have cameos of them?🙏🏻

I feel like I’m one of the last to read this one, but if you haven’t? Go do it right now.

Thank you netgalley and Forever for my early copy. All opinions are my own.

Simply phenomenal. I have adored Julie Soto’s writing ever since I read her dramione fanfiction years ago. And she has never failed to absolutely wow me with her storylines. I am an absolute fiend for an orchestra - specifically the strings section, so the minute I knew this was an enemies to lovers romance focused between a cellist and a violinist I immediately couldn’t wait to read it. Add in my obsession with Reylo and it was a match made in heaven.

Xander “Alex” & Gwen are so magical together and the way they communicate through music left me awestruck. I could feel their love coming through the pages of this book and fully felt the full range of emotions.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central) & Netgalley for the chance to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Danggggg this one was so spicy and SO GOOD. Highly recommend it! I love the way the author sets the tone right off the bat, with a no none sense vibe. I also found the setting and narrative to be very interesting, as I don't normally read about musically inclined main characters. Pick this one up, you won't regret it!

Not Another Love Song is Julie Soto's Reylo AU romance fic, and when I saw the book cover I knew I had to get my hot little hands on the arc. While I think that reconstructed fanfics sometimes suffer from lack of characterization or feel plotless, Soto knew exactly how to work Rey and Kylo Ren into Gwen and Xander Thorne while giving them a story that breathes life into them as new characters.

From the very beginning, I was hooked as Soto introduced Gwen and Xander, giving them their own quirks and idiosyncrasies to make them less Rey and Kylo Ren and more of themselves as new characters. The secondary characters did not always correspond directly to sequel trilogy characters (we do have a Finn and a Poe (together!) and Rose and General Leia Organa), but Soto chose to use them as rough outlines in creating new characters. The plot echoed the sequel trilogy (complete with some dastardly villains of the male persuasion), but I found myself less trying to make connections and more just enjoying the story.

Where Not Another Love Song really shines is how Soto builds the intimacy through the use of music between Gwen and Xander. I've gotten to the point where I skip most sex scenes because either the author isn't very good at writing them or they just hit that cringe note. Soto wove the scenes together into musical phrases and they were just so raw and emotional, I couldn't breathe at times. The beauty of being together both in an intimate session or in a performance session just brought tears to my eyes and I really felt that these two characters had lived, and grown, and yearned together where they could only be complete if they were each other.

And the ending could have been sappy, but Soto knew when it pull back the cheese and just let those delightfully full feelings of happiness exist. And it was perfect.

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the arc for review purposes.

This book makes music H.O.T. I really loved this book, even more than Julie's first book! I could feel the chemistry between Gwen and Alex practically burn off the page. Julie Soto is a master at writing romantic and sexual tension. The cello scene???? IYKYK. I really enjoyed everything about this book, the writing flowed and I flew through this book. I cannot wait to read whatever Julie writes next!

I really enjoyed Gwen and Xander love story. As a person who loves music, I enjoyed with the interweaving of music and love. The pacing of the story was nice, the banter and interactions of Gwen/Xander I really enjoyed.

I don't usually go for musician romances, but this was so immersive and swoonworthy. The pining and tension was so good! Very steamy and despite it being in 3rd person versus her first book being in 1st, I feel like the storytelling and writing was so much stronger. Very much enjoyed this one and excited to see more from this author!

Julie Soto does it again! What an absolutely fabulous love story. The music and passion were addicting!

I CAN NOT stop thinking about this book. Let's face it- it's probably my THE book of the summer. As a musician who's picking back up her own Stradivarus design, it's like coming home to your best friend. Such is this book.

🎻 Gwen is a violinist day and night- playing for the pops with hotheaded cellist Xander Thorne. She is obsessed with the notes and music. Xander is obsessed with the emotion. He's been playing forever (he's a prodigy). She's been playing for awhile....teaching herself with Mabels assistance. So when Mabel is announced as first chair principal over Xander, he loses his mind.

🎻 Yet, Xander cannot help his attraction towards Gwen. She inspires the music in his soul. When they get together, sparks fly and rosin sparks off the strings. He swears that he won't fall in love, he's Xander Throne. But he's hiding his true personality...something only Gwen can unlock.

🎻 HOLY SHIT THIS BOOK. Maybe because I am a violinist (my Roxanne is 19 years old) but I felt EVERYTHING reading this. I'm sure my mouth was wide opening reading this and thinking oh snap at that 41% mark!!!!! The chemistry, the passion, the realism of it all had me screaming to myself as I flipped kindle pages. I was obsessed with how Julie set up this dual POV spicy enemies to lovers story. Pre-order this and then come to my DMs when you hit the first cello dual scene--- you're welcome.

4.5 Stars

I really enjoyed this story so much. I did find myself sucked in much faster than the first book by this author. I am not a big fanfic person so I didn't pick up on any of the things but it didn't change my outlook of this book. I did think there were a few little parts that dragged for me in the middle which is why I took half a star off but other than that I loved the chemistry between Gwen and Alex.

Julie Soto did what she had to! This book was perfection. The chemistry! The tension! I consumed this book in less than 24 hours. I didn’t want to put it down. This is a perfect steamy read that won’t let you go until the last page.

This book is filled with delicious tension! I loved how Julie infused so much emotion and desire and heat into her descriptions of music. I mean, look at this cover! And the story outside of the romance was just as captivating. Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for this ARC.

"It’s simple, really. It’s about a cello who fell in love with a violin.”

THIS BOOK. I didn’t think I’d love it more than Forget Me Not, but I do 🤭

the characters. the plot. the tension. This book was givingggg everything I needed it to give. I could not put it down. 👏🏼

I lovedddd our MCs, Gwen and Xander. Their characters were well developed, and even though they had flaws, the character progression throughout the book was 👩🏻‍🍳💋 They had some of the best tension I’ve ever read and the romance was EVERYTHING ‼️

I’m not familiar with technical musical terminology, but I was entranced with the beautiful way that the music and instrument playing was woven into this story 🥰

brb that cello scene had me in a chokehold 🫠🥵

I think if you are a musician or know a lot about classical instruments, this book is going to be one that you don’t want to miss out on! 🫶🏼

Read if you like:
🎶 musicians
🙋🏻‍♂️ he falls first
🤺 rivals to lovers
🥵 sexual tension
🌶️ spice
🫂 found family

Julie Sotos's first book was an unexpected delight for me, so i was eager to read this one.

until i read in the forward that this stemmed from fan fiction. Specifically Kylo Ren and Rey Fan fiction.

I could not unsee it for the rest of the book and i feel like that hurt my perception of it. I wanted more from the plot the characters, the love story, and just did't get it.

i will say the spicy scenes were SPICY.

But for me, it couldn't make up for the rest of the book.

Thanks to netgalley for the arc. all opinions are my own.

I had such a great time reading Not Another Love Song! I never knew the orchestra world was one I needed to be a part of, but I loved it! The chemistry 🔥

Review: 4 Star

This book was electrifying! From the get go, I was pulled into the story and invested in the characters from the start of their unforgettable meet cute.

The chemistry and attraction between Xander and Gwen is undeniable. I love their banter between each other and how Xander falls first and falls hard. The relationship between both of them is one of respect and love coupled by loads of spice and tense moments. The tension, though!! Both came from different backgrounds, yet their feelings for each other were undeniable. There were some moments where I wanted to scream at the toxic side characters for getting in their way, that’s how invested I was in their HEA.

I do enjoy how lyrical and musical this book is with tons of musical aspects thrown in with some background on how orchestras and music production and recordings work. There were moments where I swear “Wrecking Ball” Bridgerton style was playing in my head when Xander and Gwen got together. We also had some cameo characters from Forget Me Not, Julie’s first book.

This book was surprisingly an easy read and I read it in one sitting. Some downs: I did not like the fact that there is a third act - it felt unnecessary. The other small issue I have is whyyy there is always a gap in sexual and romance experience between the FL and ML - again, this feels unnecessary.

Thank you Hachette Canada, and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for this gifted eARC in exchange for my honest review.

"I never thought I would love a story about a violin and cello falling in love. This is a great enemies to lovers story. Gwen has met her idol Xander and taken the first chair for the Manhattan Pops. The only problem, Xander is the first Cello and wants the job too.

They discover they make beautiful music together but have to figure out how to navigate everything else in life. "