Julie Soto has become one of my new favorite authors. After reading (and loving) Forget Me Not earlier this year, I knew I had to pick this one up. Gwen Jackson is a self-taught violin player who worked her way up to first violin of the Manhattan Pops orchestra. When she is offered the chance to be first chair of the orchestra, this does not sit well with Xander Thorne, the rock-star cellist who has secretly coveted the position for himself. As Gwen and Xander are forced to work together, their animosity and attraction grow. I loved how music and art were explored, and Ama and Elliot from Forget Me Not make an appearance. One of my favorite books so far this year!

Julie Soto has done it again folks! Not that I’m shocked, after Forget Me Not I figured she would become a top author for me. Not Another Love Song definitely proved that hypothesis right! I’m not even usually a fan of third person but Julie Soto pulled it off.

Now I don’t know much about music besides playing piano for a few years as a kid, but the beautiful way it was narrated made me wish I did. The way Gwen and Xander got lost in the music and each other was intoxicating.

The only thing is I wish we had gotten more of Xander’s POV. I loved the few glimpses we got but it also left me wanting more!

P.S. Better have a fan ready for that cello scene.

Thank you Forever and Netgalley for my review copies in exchange for an honest review!

I loved so much about this. Incredibly addictive with a really compulsive plot and such swoony characters--seriously, I was falling HARD for Xander and now have an obsession with stringed instruments. I didn't love the resolution, mostly because I didn't feel it was complete; it wrapped up very quickly without any true hard-hitting character development. But overall a fabulous read!

If you want a summer love story that will break your heart and then put it back together again, you’ll want this one! Instrumental music will affect you differently after this – the emotion that Julie Soto puts into the scenes is incredible!
Gwen Jackson is a self-taught self-conscious violin player. Xander Thorne is the rock star cellist with an exploding career and the arrogance to match his genius talent. Although both play for the Manhattan Pops, Gwen isn’t worthy of Xander’s notice unless it's to criticize or impart his sarcasm to her. But beneath that, there’s a chemistry neither can ignore. But in such a competitive world, can they truly come out unscathed.
A romance filled with angst, smolder and steam that takes two rivals to lovers, broken and vulnerable to safety and encapsulates them with found family. It’s extremely sensual and sexual, those scenes written with artistry.
Having no musical experience did not hinder my enjoyment nor understanding at all. In addition, Soto drops you into NYC and you’ll experience the different neighborhoods that make it the city it is.

4 stars

Julie Soto is quickly becoming one of my auto-buy romance authors. I really love the way that she captures yearning, her spicy scenes are top-notch, and she manages to make tropes and situations that I'm not the biggest fan of work.

Initially, I was a little trepidatious about picking this one up. Because my job is in the arts, I tend not to have the best time with romance books that deal with music or theatre. However, Julie Soto in this book delivers an interesting love story and presents the world of working in a professional orchestra in an immensely detailed way. I know that this is not a detail that is going to be important for everyone, but it really meant a lot to me.

If you are looking for a romance where the emotional intimacy and the physical intimacy are equally matched, you should absolutely pick up Not Another Love Song. The book starts off with a fairly tropey miscommunication, but Soto takes the time to make the reader understand why each character reacts to the situation in the way that they do. On top of that, she makes it abundantly clear that the attraction between the characters is rooted in the music - how they perceive music, how they play their music, and how music moves them. It is immensely effective and deeply moving; I didn't even know how much the book was affecting me until I found myself crying at the last chapter.

Thank you to Forever for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

This is my first Julie Soto book & definitely won’t be my last. From the very beginning, I was invested in the story. While heavy in the romance, I love the way she truly built a full story and cast of characters that were all necessary as part of Gwen’s story.

AND Gwen and Xander… the tension!!!! She wrote it so well and the way Xander was pining after Gwen and fascinated by her was fantastic. Plus, I am usually a third act break up hater because they often feel unnecessary but here I really thought it was written well and felt extremely realistic.

I do feel like the pacing got a little off to me towards the third quarter but by the last quarter I was back into it and really enjoyed the end. Cannot wait to read more by Julie Soto!

4.5 I really loved this story. I thought it was unique to have the Cello notes from Alex’s point of view. I don’t feel like I’ve read many romances with an orchestra and I enjoyed that aspect. Alex and Gwen had so much talent and chemistry and I think Julie wrote that beautifully.

I was completely swept up by this book. I love how Julie immerses us in her world. The classical music scene made for a wonderful backdrop to this love story. I loved bothGwen & Alex from the start.

I never realized how sensual playing the violin could be but it all worked for me. Some of these scenes will live with me forever. 🎻🔥

At times the book gave me Check & Mate feel. The banter, the mutual respect, the tension building up. I ate it all up. If I had one complaint it would be the ending. I felt like it got rushed a tad at the end and I would have loved to savour it more.

I was given an ARC copy of this book and my opinions are my own.

Synopsis: Gwen Jackson and Xander Thorne are both musical prodigies, but each has had very different paths to success. Xander was born into classical music royalty, while Gwen had a natural ear for music that was nurtured by a kind shop owner.

After Gwen performs at his friend’s wedding, she’s mortified when she realizes Xander has no clue who she is—despite having worked together for a year at the Pops Orchestra. But she’s more furious that he arrogantly critiques her performance.

When Gwen is offered the role of First Chair of the orchestra, something Xander had secretly coveted for years, their existing hostility goes up a notch. But their respect for each other's music is undeniable, and their onstage chemistry off the scale. As they begin to explore their feelings for one another, suddenly they're box office dynamite and the fragile romance that's growing between them is in danger of being crushed beneath a publicity stunt...

Review: I loved this book. Absolutely loved it. Completely separately, cellos just might be the sexist instrument in the world now. I promise I've always thought that (lol no I have not but boy do I now). This book made me giggle, kick my feet, blush, and reevaluate reading Julie Soto in public bc whew. I loved the banter and the interactions between Xander and Gwen. I love a "he falls first" story. I loved how much became their love language (wink wink). As far as I'm concerned, Julie Soto can't miss and I will be telling that to her myself in a few days. This was a buddy read for me and we had it perfectly planned out to finish the book on a Sunday because we meet Julie the next day. Well, I'm writing this on a Friday and we have finished it two days early because we kept sending "okay, but we can't stop at the end of the chapter" texts to each other because the tension between the two main characters was INSANE.

4.5 stars! I really liked this one! Every time I picked it up, I had trouble putting it down again, and I found myself thinking about it throughout the day. Apparently my preferred genre is Reylo lol it has a lot of the humor and pining I’ve come to like in a story.

It’s definitely not always realistic, but I don’t come to books for reality. I want the little fantasy world where sure a young girl can be given first chair in the orchestra for talent and clout. I’m so here for the made up world where she ends up falling for her rockstar celebrity crush cello playing arch rival. Like what are the odds that all our main musical talents were connected to one tutor? Slim, but shhhhhh don’t overthink it. Do it for the plot.

While the book was marketed as “enemies to lovers” it was more “kind of a jerk to lovers”. The MMC was quite unlikable for the first parts of the story, but I feel like the author did a good job still maintaining some level of tension between the characters even in those moments… or maybe I just like toxic fictional men 🫣 The tension and build up between the couple had me on the edge of my seat.

The spice was perfection. I’m pretty picky and can find it off putting if it’s overdone, but this one walked the perfect line for my preferences. I was promised a steamy cello scene and I got a steamy cello scene. I’d recommend this one for that scene alone.

I liked seeing each of our main characters grow and find their own way by the end of the story. It felt wrapped up without feeling forced.


This was my first book by Julie Soto, but I definitely plan to check out her other book! I’m also excited about her new romantasy novel coming out next year.

Another Julie Soto masterpiece!

Julie is not only one of my favorite fanfic authors but has now cemented a spot as one of my favorite contemporary romance authors as well.

What I’m realizing I love about her characters is they’re very frustrating and flawed, but it makes me appreciate them more, because they feel so real. This is a workplace rivals to lovers situation where Gwen plays the violin and Xander is a cello playing rock star…and they can’t stand each other. When Gwen is given the first chair position in the Manhattan Pops that Xander feels he deserves, the animosity goes through the roof, until they end up collaborating on a song together, and he realizes they’re better together than they are as enemies. And while the massive chemistry they have is amazing, it’s also making things very confusing.

The amount of tension and angst in this book was insane, and there is a very specific cello scene that left me panting 🥵 It also didn’t hurt that we got glimpses of characters from Forget Me Not which I also loved. I now need all the musician romance books, because this just left me wanting more!

A massive thank you to Julie Soto and NetGalley for allowing me the chance to read and review an ARC of Not Another Love Song. I adored it!

NOT ANOTHER LOVE SONG is everything I want in a contemporary romance.

This story is realistic yet also embodies everything about the love stories we were raised on, delicate moments of normalcy intertwined with scenes one can only dream of.

I kept thinking to myself as I was reading, just how impactful this story truly is. It felt like the first time I watched When Harry Met Sally, or How to Lose A Guy In Ten Days. I have no doubt that this will be adapted into a movie, but even without, I could picture the book so vividly in my mind, the scenes were all so real. I truly believe that this could become a contemporary romance classic, a book/film you come back to time and time again when you need to feel something.

Julie Soto writes romance like no other, she is able to somehow create a story that feels accessible, yet also far off, and that is what makes it so perfect. The TENSION in this story is unparalled — I was kicking my feet and GIGGLING, I could not put this book down. Their chemstry was actually insane, I felt like I was holding my breath until they FINALLY toss caution to the wind and smooch. This was classic rivals to lovers, embedded with a he-falls-first brooding MMC (“so sad, melancholy boy.”)

The characters are both SO real, yet also loveable. Their flaws, and misbeliefs are shown in ways that help us understand them on a personal level. They truly are diametrically opposed, yet complimentary in every way. I absolutely love how their story unravelled, past happenstances brought to light, showing that they were always meant to cross paths.

HEY SIRI PLAY INVISIBLE STRING BY TAYLOR SWIFT.

I have been in a massive reading slump for WEEKS now, this story swept me off my feet and I quite literally binged it in 48 hours. Soto’s writing gets you hooked, she has such a unique ability to write prose in a way that is both poetic, yet not flowery in a way that is pretentious. It’s accessible, and reading her stories feels like catching up with an old friend (in the best way).

The found family trope also went HARD in this one, I adore Mabel with my whole heart. “Mabel gave the best hugs, the kind that crunched your bones and soothed your muscles all at once.”

The SMUT — this was some of the best smut I have read in awhile. Don’t get me wrong, I love smut just as much as the next girlie but I also need a plot that makes me CARE about the smut. I was so invested in Xander and Gwen’s story, I was WAITING for the smut and it certainly did NOT dissapoint. Soto was able to incorporate musical references into the smut, which obviously fit these two characters perfectly. “A slow legato, like falling water.” I’m unwell.

The CELLO SCENE?????? talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique I was KICKING MY FEET.

The subtle popculture references were so well done. There is nothing more jarring than an abundance of references to things that will be passé in a year or two. Soto made perfect use of iykyk references (like the jab at Scooter Braun).

Something about the way Soto writes her scenes, makes the setting feel almost as if it is a living and breathing character. I noticed this in Forget Me Not with Sacramento, and New York City in this story is nothing short of spectacular. I highly recommend reading the author’s note, because knowing that a lot of the settings used in this book were inspired by Soto’s own time in NYC made me literally cry.

Also I now want to learn to play the violin. So.

Anyways, this was fantastic. Five stars. I will read anything you write Julie Soto.

Thank you to NetGalley, Forever & Julie Soto for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Julie Soto killed it with this one! Xander and Gwen’s story is so beautifully written and somehow made me want to go to see a symphony. Also LOVED seeing both couples from Forget Me Not a few times.

When I read Julie’s dedication and introduction of this book I just knew it was going to be something’s special. Xander aka Alex being Kylo Ren coded made this book all the more fun and interesting.

As a longtime member of the manhattan Pop’s orchestra Xander always expected he’d be made first chair. But his plans are upended when a Violinist is made first chair after only being with Pops for 4 years.

Growing up, Gwen only wanted to make a paycheck with her music. But she never dreamed bigger. When her professional relationship with Alex starts as a rivalry she can expect brooding, grumpy, always late and a cocky attitude. What she doesn’t expect is that their chemistry and harmony will be off the charts.

I loved the professional rivals to lovers trope and the spice was immaculate!

I'm kind of torn on what to rate this one. While I hated the entire beginning, the book did get a little better as I continued reading. I honestly wanted to DNF this book for a good 40% into it. After I got a little further, I didn't want to DNF, but I still wasn't blown away. I just thought this book focused too much on the music aspect and less on the characters. I wanted more from their relationship and how they felt rather than just music. Unfortunately I'm very meh about this book and think that this author might just not be for me.

I loved Forget Me Not yet I somehow loved Not Another Love Song even more I simply could not put it down. Gwen and Xander had me giggling and kicking my feet and the music details made my nerdy band-kid brain so happy. Music is truly its own language and using it as a way for characters to communicate is a top-tier trope I will never tire of.

Bonus points for the Ama and Elliot cameo :)

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Another Reylo-inspired book is added to my read pile. This book was in the vein of Ali Hazelwood, but had the frenetic energy of a fanfic. It made Love on the Brain, my favorite Ali Hazelwood book due to is bat-shit crazy plot, look tame in comparison.

Not Another Love Song is about Gwen, an unconventional violin prodigy, and Xander, a world-famous rock cellist. They meet chaotically at a wedding where Gwen is a performer and Xander is an attendee. Gwen is asked last minute to play cello instead of violin, and Xander is only guy who happens to have a spare cello lying around at a wedding. After hearing her play cello on the fly, Xander's interest in Gwen is piqued - he starts to see her more often, despite being unaware of her existence till that moment. As he chases at a chance to hear Gwen play again, Gwen's career begins to takes off. Can they balance their feelings against the musical chemistry, especially as they face off on the same stage?

The pacing of this book is lightning fast, which I appreciated. This brought me out of a major summer reading slump. I knew I liked it too much because I put aside my actual work to finish this in a day. The spice is spicy, but I could have done with a bit less of it, sorry.
The characters are solid enough to carry this story. I still have many questions about Gwen's backstory and Xander's motivations, but lucky for me, I watched The Force Awakens. I can fill in some story gaps, but this might be a little confusing for someone less familiar with basic Reylo lore.

Read this if you liked Mozart in the Jungle, or generally like stories about the rock-star classical musicians.

I was not expeccting to lov this so much but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised after reading Soto's other work - 'Forget Me Not'!! 'Not Another Love Song' is a great look into a style of romance I haven't read before!

With rockstars and professional musicians - I had no idea there was so much ugliness and pettiness.. but in reality, it makes sense that any time there's a talent to be exploited, it would be!! I wasn't expecting to receive an ARC of this, but when I did, I just had a feeling I would love it. Having finished it while sitting in an airport - I quite literally had to contain the lil-fist-bumps-of-joy dance that I always do when I get to the end of a particularly good romance!

- Enemies to lovers
- forced proximity
- Childhood prodigies
- CWs: orphans

**Thank you to Forever & NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. I received this book for free, but all thoughts are my own. – SLR 🖤

Despite being another (self-proclaimed) Reylo fanfic, Soto’s sophomore novel impressed me far more than Soto’s debut I read last year, which I did not connect to the characters very well. Not Another Love Song’s over cast and interactions were immensely heartfelt for me, and I absolutely connected with them. My only drawback for this one was the romance. Gwen and Xander did not act at all to me like they were falling in love—more like they were in the same room and had a lot of feelings they vented on each other.

Xander and Gwen do so very much act like Rey and Kylo Ren. They begin the story with a relationship of mild disregard, on Xander’s part, and fearful awe, on Gwen’s part. There is no meet cute here. Xander exudes an attitude of lofty superiority, criticism, and antagonism toward Gwen (and everyone else around him). It’s off-putting to me. He spends the entire book almost only wanting to be near Gwen because he is attracted to how she plays her violin. Gwen, because she comes from humble beginnings financially and musically, seems to feel a need to reciprocate Xander’s attraction because of his status and authority. She feels bullied to me. I know some folks like bully romances, but I do not.

The musical performances, which feel really like action scenes, mesmerized me. The bright spot in the book for me had to be getting to see from an insider’s perspective all of the goings on in professional musical life. Keep in mind, I know where middle C is on the piano and that’s about all, so this sentiment comes from a total noob ignoramus.

Overall, 3.5 out of 5. I really like the underlying stories for the main characters as individuals, but the circumstances bringing the two together were too fraught with emotional turmoil and manipulation; I just couldn’t feel any kind of romance there.

My thanks to NetGalley for the eARC, for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.

Not Another Love Song
By Julie Soto

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫
🌶️🌶️🌶️

ARC Review: Pub Date July 16, 2024

“𝑪𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒈𝒐 𝒖𝒑𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒔? 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒎𝒚 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒇 𝒔𝒉𝒆’𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒆𝒔.”

This was so good! It felt really unique with the orchestra setting, but at the same time it felt like Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood and Speechless by Lindsey Lanza had a little musical rivals to lovers book baby.

I really enjoyed the FMC, Gwyn. She has a ton of personal growth in this book and I enjoyed the road to get her there. She gains so much self confidence in this book. She figures out when it was worth it to take a risk, and when to lean on others for support. While I liked her at the beginning of the book I really loved her by the end.

Alex (Xander) is Gwyn's opposite in so many ways. While she keeps her head down and does what she's "supposed" to do, he stands out. He exudes confidence to a fault. He comes across as really arrogant in the beginning of the book, but as we see more about his past, things about his personality really make sense. And the. Seeing some of his walls tumble is just so satisfying.

The tension in this book is SO GOOD! 🥵 The pining is delicious! When I tell you Alex is a man OBSESSED. 😮‍💨 And he shows it the only way he truly knows how. Through music. I did not expect the hottest scene in this book to be an on stage duet, but here we are. There's also a cello scene you don't want to miss. 😏

I really loved this book. My only issue was the tacos. I cannot condone wasting perfectly good tacos. 😂

𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒏. 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒓. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒆’𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒛𝒂. 𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒆’𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆.

Read July 7-8, 2024