Let’s freaking GOOOOO!

Not Another Love Song is in my top 5 for favorite books read in 2024! Julie Soto does it again. Partnering her real life experience living in NYC with her fanfic history in the A03 world comes a true masterpiece with Gwen and Alex (Reylo) style.

Gwen and Alex are musical protégés with a rivals to lovers feel. Alex aka Xander introduces Gwen to the “feeling” of music, composition, and love. The moments of their interactions leave the reader feeling a sense of longing, swaying your body to the music these two create, and as always encourages you to squeeze your legs tight with the on page chemistry Soto writes.

I highly recommend this romance book and could pinch myself for getting approved to read it as an ARC through Netgalley.

5 ⭐️
3 🌶️

Rivals to lovers
Musical characters
Shady side characters
Found family

I actually was familiar with Julie Soto’s game, having read and loved her first book, Forget Me Not, earlier this year, and yet I still wasn’t prepared for how much I’d enjoy Not Another Love Song, her swoony follow-up about a pair of warring string musicians who have more in common than they initially realize. The book is equal parts romantic, intense, heartfelt, and sexy, resulting in an enemies-to-lovers story that’s near-impossible to pull yourself away from. Julie Soto is cooking with gas, as the kids say.

It takes place in the same universe as Forget Me Not, with a few scattered cameos from previous characters like wedding planner Ama, florist Elliott, and influencer Hazel Renée, the latter of whom went to high school with new leading man Xander. It’s actually their connection that leads to Xander’s first interaction with scrappy violin prodigy Gwen Jackson at a wedding, which . . . well, before we go any further, here’s the full plot description, courtesy of the publisher:

“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...”

So yeah, to recap — Xander is an aloof, privileged, 20-foot tall superstar cellist prodigy with the broadest of all broad chests, a startling resemblance to Adam Driver, his own band, family trauma, and a spot in the Manhattan Pops; Gwen Jackson is a music prodigy as well, though growing up essentially an orphan in Queens has forced her to fight tooth and nail for everything she has. (She’s also gorgeous, duh.) It’s not until their chance meeting at a wedding that they have an actual conversation, after Gwen blows him away with her incredible musicianship and he abruptly realizes that something incredible has been hiding under his nose all along.

Or, at least it seems like he realizes that, because unlike Forget Me Not, we don’t get much from Xander’s point of view. I both liked and hated this creative choice — I desperately wanted more of his perspective, but I admit that the limit on his thoughts (or ‘Cello Suites,’ per the book) works. It makes sense for the narrative, since the few glimpses we *do* see of his POV are that much more impactful. It helps that he’s written in a way that his adoration of Gwen is plain; his character is strong enough that we don’t necessarily need a whole chapter about his yearning, even if I wanted a whole chapter (or 10) about his yearning. (Fans of the ‘he falls first’ trope, prepare to eat.) His attraction and admiration of Gwen is always all there, right on his face, and I think Soto does a really great job at getting that across to us as readers, even if Gwen can’t initially see it herself.

Oh, and speaking of Gwen! Sweet, kind, talented, oblivious Gwen. Even though she spends a good deal of time somehow blind to much of Xander’s infatuation, she’s such an excellent main character. We get a front row seat to her inner turmoil about letting someone into the life she’s so carefully and thoughtfully crafted for herself, knowing full well that he has the power to rip it to shreds if he so chooses. Falling in love requires her to take a gigantic leap of faith. Fortunately she’s layered and interesting, someone who doesn’t cower (or bow, shall we say — a little stringed instrument humor for ya), under the force of Xander’s intensity. (Said intensity translates to their chemistry, which is just . . . good lord. It’s hot, guys. Very. You might go a little feral, just be prepared.)

One little note: to be blunt, I’ve always found the ‘thinly-veiled-fanfiction-repackaged-for-the-masses’ trend in publishing pretty cringe. It’s actually why it took me so damn long to get around to reading Forget Me Not — I’d seen it endlessly praised on booktok for its Dramione/Reylo undertones (Soto is a prolific fan fiction writer, FYI), and that turned me off. Which is not to say I have anything against fan fiction itself. Absolutely not. (Obviously.) There’s just something about stylizing a main character as so intensely Adam Driver-coded (not Kylo Ren, but Adam Driver as Kylo Ren) that makes me feel . . . a little icky. (That’s a real person!) And I don’t think the cover of this book isn’t doing that aspect of the story any favors.

However! Soto is a really great writer, and that was enough to overcome any misgivings I might have had. It all boils down to the writing, right? And this is a solid romance with heart and humor and love . . . and, OK fine, yes, sex scenes that will make you turn the color of Kylo Ren’s light saber. (See? I’m warming up to the whole Reylo idea. Don’t come for me.)

Not Another Love Song comes out July 16. Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Not Another Love Song by Julie Soto

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars
🔥🔥🔥 - 5 spicy scenes

[ thank you @readforeverpub for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own! ]

Read if you like:
•rivals to lovers
•workplace romance
•he falls first
•set in nyc
•musical prodigies
•dual pov

Well my friends, Julie does it again!! I absolutely adored and loved this book.

I don’t know what it is but give me a book that has music in it and I’m 100% going to read it!

Gwen and Xander.. ugh. I loved them. The rivalry between them just added to the delicious tension between them. And that certain cello scene on the cover? Phew. 🔥🥵

I couldn’t get enough of them and never wanted this book to end! I just enjoyed their character growth, the cello and violin scenes, the commitment to the orchestra and their passions.

Overall, love reading Julie’s work and will read anything she publishes!! 🥰

Huge thanks to Julie Soto and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC! I’m finding it so difficult to even put together the words to describe how I feel about this!

Gwen is utterly convinced that Xander thinks she is a talentless mess - and over time, has this theory busted as he slowly (quickly?) loses his mind over her. They journey through performing, composing, and working together, finding their paths in the music industry, and how they interconnect.

I’m in love with the way their music brings these two together. The live texts I sent Maiza while I was reading the ~cello~ scene? Priceless. Pick this one up on release day!!

There’s something about Julie Soto’s books that I just want to consume in one sitting, it happened with Forget Me Not and it happened again with Not Another Love Song. Could I possibly say besides the fact that I absolutely LOVED this book. I’m not a instrument or music person at all, I am a swiftie and that’s all I know about music but this book CONSUMED me in a way that I’m sure everyone I’ve spoken to within the past 48 hours is sick of me talking about it. I loved every single characters (except Nate and L, they were trash). The highlight of this book is obviously Alex/Xander, I literally fell in love with another fictional character and I’m not even mad about it. I went through all the emotions with this book, I laughed, I cried, I kicked my feet giggling. I just love it. JULIE SOTO DOES IT AGAINNNNN. I barely finished and made several videos on Tiktok regarding my reading experience but here's the video where I absolutely GUSH over it. https://www.tiktok.com/@cryingwhileiread/video/7391552640267586847

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC version of this book.
This was a good and exciting story but it fell short for me. I wish the characters were better developed and I would have been able to follow the story better.
I really wanted to love this book because I am a fan of the Julie Soto’s work, I give it a solid 3 ⭐️.
It was a hard read at first. Took me a while to go through the first 30% of the book. Then as the romance develops and the characters interact more, I was able to sit through and finish the book.
I love the boy falls for the girl first romance and was crazy about the MMC obsession with the FMC.

This book takes the front runner for the best contemporary romance I have read in years.

Julie Soto’s writing is immaculate. Beautiful. Riveting. Her writing style sucked me in from page one and didn’t let up until the last word on the very last page of the book. Not Another Love Song weaves together complex, intricate characters with a plot that has enough knowledge on music and orchestras to have the reader feeling like they’re in the know. Tension was rife in this book and Soto did an amazing job leaving the reader wanting more.

Gwen and Alex are two very complex characters who had me falling in love page after page. Soto also incorporated music and instruments into the relationship, twisting that complexity even further.

5 stars and more. This book is amazing and will go down as a masterpiece for me in contemporary romance.

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc!

i was so pleasantly surprised by this book! honestly, i hate that it took me so long to read it because i LOVED it.

ama torres is a wedding planner who just scored the gig of her career - which is all peachy keen until she ends up working with her ex as the florist. however, weirdly enough, it still seems like elliot bloom will do anything to make sure she succeeds…

let me tell you something. i don’t really know what goes into a wedding, i’ve never really wanted one, but my god does it seem stressful written out. i was exhausted reading it. but at the same time, it was a really fun plot and the secondary conflict of the rival wedding planner was interesting

these characters were just adorable to me. i don’t know that i’ve ever related more to a main male character as i did with elliot - i thought it was funny and has my exact brand of “i love you so i’ll help you but im not going to be happy about it” and it just made me giggle a lot of time. and i loooove a man who’s just so down bad for a girl. ama was fun and bright, just kind of pulling everyone into her orbit. my girl could use some MAJOR therapy and maybe elliot wouldn’t have been an ex, but you know what, i’ll let her have it. i’m just glad she came to her senses in the end. all the side characters were really cute too!

i also loved the sneaks at xander because i know he’s coming in the next book, which i’m starting immediately after this!

this book is definitely recommended by me and i’m still feeling emotional about that epilogue.

Ahhhhh I loved this book! I devoured it in 24 hours and absolutely adored Gwen and Xander’s love story. This book had everything for me: musicians falling for one another, wild chemistry, found family, and enemies to lovers, all set in my favourite city.

Gwen and Xander couldn’t be more different, though they are both musical prodigies on stringed instruments. I loved the musical elements of the story and the fact that it was set in New York City. Their chemistry was blazing hot and the spice was spicing! I also loved the element of found family, and foraging your own path. Both Mabel and Jacob were delightful secondary characters.

I appreciated how the book navigated some tough power dynamics, and spoke to the ways artists can be exploited within contracts, appearances and performances.

I really enjoyed getting to know both Gwen and Xander’s characters, and loved seeing the growth they both had throughout the story. I worried in the beginning that Gwen’s youth and naiveté would be a downfall, but I thought she went on a remarkable journey. I loved this book and look forward to reading more of Julie Soto’s novels in the future!

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Forever for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Not Another Love Song
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
384 pages
Releasing 7/16/24

Xander and Gwen are two up & coming musicians who get off on the wrong foot. Xander was born into a musically talented family & Gwen was a natural taught by an amazing teacher while also playing for money in the subway center. Gwen is offered first chair at her orchestra & the tension between her & Xander rises, not just emotional tension but sexual tension (🤪)

Julie Soto wrote an absolute BANGER with her newest book Not Another Love Song. If you have any type of love for music, this book is something you should read. I have 0 experience with the musical world but I fell in love with the characters, the setting, and the musical background in this book. The spice in this book was PERFECT!

Read if you like:
✨He falls first
✨Rivals to lovers
✨Workplace romance
✨Found family

Thank you @netgalley @juliesotowrites @readforeverpub for an eARC copy of this amazing book!

#book #juliesoto #romance #notanotherlovesong #romancetropes #bookworm #booklover #romancebooks #romancereader

Thank you to Forever Publishing, the author, and NetGalley for an early copy of Not Another Love Song! My review opinion is my own and is being left voluntarily.

I made the decision to DNF Not Another Love Song at 30% into the book.

Why DNF?
- I feel like no effort was made to try and make me like either FMC. The MMC was mean and petulant and almost every other character talked poorly about him. There seemed to be no redeeming qualities. It was all a big turn-off. And the FMC had very little personality. For an entire third of the book, we're introduced to numerous characters and not one of them stood out to me. Also, almost everyone is mean to the FMC. It all made it hard to enjoy reading this book and I decided it just wasn't for me.

I do not share reviews or ratings for books I DNF to GoodReads, StoryGraph, etc, but NetGalley requires one, so the 30% I finished was 2⭐️.

Ok, I'm rounding this one up to 4 stars because the cello scene is now imprinted on my brain, just like the pottery scene from Ghost. I don't really expect realism from a romance, but this did leave me shaking my head at a lot of passages that just would never happen; I'm letting those slide just because the book is a fun fantasy fueler. Who wouldn't want a sexy romance with the hot musician sitting across from you? Especially when said hot musician was featured in the half-naked posters up in your girlhood bedroom?

Violinist Gwen is enjoying her life performing with the Manhattan Pops and loving the beautiful venues she experiences while moonlighting as a wedding musician. Cello prodigy Xander is too busy being grumpy and performing in his own rock-star gigs to even notice his lovely Pops colleague, until they meet at one of her wedding side gigs. He's drawn to both her beauty and musical potential; both insane chemistry and rivalry ensue as she is given the orchestra first chair role he coveted.

I let go of the issue of Gwen being given a role she wasn't qualified for as basically a publicity stunt, and I actually liked Xander's intense coaching of her because she truly needed to release her self-consciousness to reach the performance levels she was capable of. The characters were both flawed: her naive outlook and his self-centeredness drove me a little crazy. I did love the descriptions of the performances, just imagining the rush of impulsively sight-reading a piece and playing that for an orchestral hall full of people was so enjoyable.

Thank you so much to Forever and Netgalley for this ARC!

Read this if you like:
•grumpy sunshine
•musical instruments
•celebrity romance

The performances came to life in this book and I loved the found family aspect. This book was so dang cute.

I don’t give out 5 star ratings very often (this is my third one of 2024!) but this book deserves nothing less. The relationship between Gwen and Alex was so incredibly written and you really could feel the love they had for one another. I loved the side characters and the minor plot points. I really can’t say enough good things about this story.

It was perfection.

Please run to the bookstore and buy it.

Thank you so much to Forever, NetGalley, and Julie Soto for the arc.

A big shout out and thank you to the publisher for the complimentary copy of Not Another Love Song in exchange for an honest review.

Every time I venture into a world created by an author as a first time reader, it takes me a bit of time to acclimatise to the dips and flows of the author’s writing, the characters’ voices and the story. For the first time ever, the moment I began a book, I sank into it as if it were a familiar embrace instead of a novel handshake.

When I first heard of Not Another Love Song, I can’t remember if it was the cover or the blurb or some inexplicable pull that drew me to it. But I had to play the waiting game because I needed to finish some of my other reads before I got to it. But even without having read it, this book was never far from my mind and I was racing towards it every single day.

The best way I can describe reading to most people is that it can be the single most immersive experience that whisks you away on a journey of the mind that then ensnares your heart and never gives it back. But reading Soto’s latest book? That was nothing like reading and everything like living. I was every single word she had written on the page of her book. I was the hum of every note, the sharp twang of a mistake, the breath before each line and the emotion after every word. I imagine violins, cellos and guitars feel the way I did; as if Soto knew where the strings of my heart were and played them like a master. Immersive doesn’t even come near the word I need, to express the experience that was Not Another Love Song for me.

With compelling writing that captures the attention and drowns the reader in enrapture, Not Another Love Song has secured its spot as my favourite contemporary read of this year. There’s something that I felt the author has done in this book that read a lot like foreshadowing to me; however it wasn’t until the end that I recognised it. I know next to nothing about music and I’m ready to be wrong, but there was a certain piece that the author describes in this book—and despite being fairly ignorant about sheet music, how it reads or how a duet between two instruments sound—I swear the whole book is that exact song. Yes, you never hear the song, but the book plays out exactly the way the song would. To have your reader (who might just be a little tone deaf) hear music where there is none? Now that’s writing. And Julie Soto excels in it.

It’s extremely hard to separate different aspects of this book, nail them down and describe them in isolation, primarily because all the elements of this book are deeply and inexorably entwined with one another. It’s hard to think about the pace of the book when you’re lost in the pages. However, I will say that I came up for breath maybe a total of once while reading. Expect the book to transport you in a way I’ve personally only ever experienced with a fantasy novel—because of how they call on you to detach from everything you know to sink into a whole new world with unique rules, ways of living and stakes. It’s amazing that Soto can work magic into books based in reality and this makes me extremely curious about how she would write fantasy.

The characters in this book are such an absolute mix of both amazing and aggravating. With skill that wrecks our emotions, Soto manages to both, focus heavily on her primary characters while making room for all her secondary and tertiary characters. The FMC and MMC of her story have chemistry that sparks off the pages and electrifies everything around. It was extremely interesting to watch every single interaction between the two of them, the push, the pull, the mistrust, the pain, the discordant actions and finally the HEA. The secondary and tertiary characters in Not Another Love Song add so much personality, plot purpose and humour to the story. I can predict your heart will be smiling and your thoughts will be giddy at many of the moments that some of these special characters share with one another.

Now, the plot of this story is simple… which is what makes it extremely complex. The blurb reveals very little, a metaphorical peek of the orchestra behind the curtains, but until said curtains part, you do not know what it is you are about to experience. There were so many interesting contradictions written into this story and I know we might’ve even seen some of them before, maybe even in similar set-ups, but there’s something so unique about Soto’s style that made everything part of the journey feel like you haven’t seen them before. I found myself often thinking:
“That’s so serious, how’s it going to resolve?” “That feels so important, how do you walk away/towards it?”. I understood all the plot knots, loved the plot twists and nearly weeped in emotion at the significance of the way the book ended. For the first time, I felt no need for an epilogue. It was perfect in its portrayal of a risk filled but worthy high that accompanies the strength of choice. I cannot explain how much I recognise the theme as an important one and I love that Soto chose to write about it.

Even without having read her debut, I somehow recognised the characters from them in this book from just remembering the blurb from when I’d read it when it was first revealed. That’s how much Soto’s work resonates with me. Some authors just write to your heart and Julie Soto is clearly that for me.

Five stars. I highly highly recommend. Also, the first thing I did after finishing Not Another Love Song? I purchased Forget Me Not and just like the name of her famous debut, I think Soto and her work are going to be unforgettable to her readers.

I am not the biggest fan of the Reylo dynamic (as I love a cinnamon roll love interest) but I adored Forget Me Not and figured the way Julie Soto wrote Reylo was the exception for me. While this wasn't as big as a hit for me as Forget Me Not, I still enjoyed it. It is so obvious that the author did so much research into this book and I learned so much about string instruments and orchestras and I appreciated that so much. I do wish we got more of Xander's POV so I could understand him better. It took a long time for him to win me over and for me to root for the relationship! Can't wait for Julie Soto's 2025 release!

WEW. Did I just read 80% of this book in one sitting like a feral little couch potato? Yes, yes I did.

I loved everything! Characters- setting- premise- romance- all just wrapped up in a lovely orchestral package.

The music was so well incorporated in the story! Not just a side detail, but front and center. And very well researched! There were a few seriously hot moments involving violins and cellos 🔥 and one violin solo moment that had me bawling 😭. All the feelings.

The NYC setting was magical (please read the authors note about this at the end and appreciate the Meg Ryan movie multiverse thoughts that made me verklempt).

Knowing that this started as a Reylo fanfic took it to the next level for me. And I definitely kept my eyes peeled for any and all ways that Alex resembled Ben Solo.

I’m coming to find that Julie Soto can’t miss- be it ao3 or novel. I can’t wait to read what she does next.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers the for the chance to review an advance copy.

I read this 3 months ago and I still honestly think about it every day. I need to finish my re-read before nailing down my ⭐️ rating, but I loved this. Defo at least 4.25⭐️ if not higher.

The TENSION in this is truly the best I’ve ever read, who knew a pop orchestra could be so sexy🥵I’ve been obsessed with this cover since it was revealed and couldn’t wait to read the scene that goes along with it. And let me tell you it exceeded my expectations🔥🔥

Thank you NetGalley and Forever for the early e-ARC of this book!

Not even the power of music could save this book from how awful it was. I’ll try and keep this review succinct since I already wasted too many minutes of my life reading this that I can’t get back!

I’ll start off by acknowledging the fact that clearly I’m a hater since the majority of people love this book so, take my thoughts with a grain of salt I guess. Anyway, let’s get into it.

If you’re looking for a romance book where the characters actually get to know each other and there’s real depth to the relationship, keep looking because you won’t find it here! Alex and Gwen absolutely break up 6 months after this book ends and actually, I hope they break up sooner. It’s amazing to me that throughout the course of this book they barely had any real conversations. Add in an absolute inability to communicate about anything properly to the foundation of the relationship made of saltine crackers and that is what this “relationship” is. What we could’ve, and should’ve, had were more actual relationship building scenes between the two and conversations where they work through their flaws and insecurities in order to progress and grow the relationship. Instead, we were given a bunch of repetitive sex scenes.

I understand that time passes and the couple spends quite a bit of time together so sure maybe we can assume they’re solid and that some of these things were discussed but we don’t get to see any of that on page. Instead all I see is how fundamentally wrong these two are for each other but ✨the power of music✨ keeps them together I guess 🤪

If Gwen has no haters I’m actually dead. You cannot convince me that she’s twenty three, she acts eighteen and it was so incredibly frustrating to be trapped in her POV for the majority of the book. I appreciated the few Alex POVs we were given as a brief reprieve from my suffering. She is so incredibly naive it was painful to read. Additionally, she has no idea how to communicate. Watching her spiral and assume the absolute worst of Alex for no reason and then proceed to treat him like shit for an extended period of time and THEN have the audacity to be shocked when he gives her attitude right back was a remarkable experience.

Even when she is GIVEN the opportunities, MULTIPLE opportunities, to just ask a question or say how she really feels, she refuses. I was hoping to see some growth in this regard but truly there wasn’t because time and time again when faced with a choice Gwen chooses to make assumptions and flees. This continues to the third act conflict where she literally just flees the state after a fight instead of being a normal human being and speaking to him. If I’m Alex she’d be blocked, reported, and unfollowed!

The way both characters handled the third act conflict was ridiculous and the resolution was handled so quickly and there’s barely any follow up afterward. What drives me absolutely crazy is how so much is left unresolved between the two, they barely talk about the issues that are so clear and are bound to happen again unless properly dealt with but all we get is a grand gesture, some apologies, and another sex scene.

I liked Alex and he was one of the only positives of this book. Even then, though, there isn’t anything special or remarkable about him that makes him stand out from any other romance novel on the shelf. He just knew how to communicate between than Gwen (and the bar is in hell) and can play an instrument.

The majority of the side characters are two dimensional and didn’t add much to the book, although I did enjoy Jacob and Declan. The pacing was off, and some of the scenes in the book were just absolutely ridiculous and made me cringe. I considered DNFing this book a few times, but I pushed through. It wasn’t worth it and I wish I had saved myself!! Anyway, the evil is defeated and I’m free from this book.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this eARC

Gwen is a violinist that has a seat in the Manhattan Orchestra. She has done this the hard way, without a formal musical education, but instead was taught by a musical shop owner. Xander is also in the orchestra but plays cello. He had a formal music education, is also the leader of a very successful band where he writes and performs to thousands. Gwen is a huge fan and might have a little crush. Xander doesn’t even know she exists until one day when Gwen is hired to perform at a wedding that Xander attends. He takes notice! From that point the story develops into a political drama at the orchestra when Gwen is given the coveted first chair. Xander continues to watch Gwen and begins to insert himself into her orbit. She sees him as an arrogant ass at first but as they perform together sparks fly.

This was what a romance should be. Full of tension, conflict and dare I say, sensuality. This was without a doubt one of the best romances I have read this year. Loved the music references, the drama and the character development.

5 ⭐️