I loved Julie's other book, "Forget Me Not," so I knew I was going to love this one, and boy was I RIGHT! This book was beautiful. The relationship between Gwen and Xander is funny, light and airy. I love this little rom-com book with music and instrument details. I used to play viola growing up so i loved that I was able to connect in that way. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Well y’all… this is one of my favorite romance novels that I have ever read and it’s not even close. Julie Soto, let me know when you need someone to ride into battle for you and I’ll be there.

The tension between these two characters had me screaming and throwing my e-reader across the room. The angst. The music. The PINING. The unspeakable hotness of the main characters. Julie Soto managed to create a sexy masterpiece with this book and I have never been so in love. I originally read this on my e-reader back in the summer and this weekend listened to it on audio. It holds up in all forms. 5 shining stars.

Thanks to @netgalley and @readforeverpub for an advance copy of this book.

holy shit!!!!
I absolutely devoured this book. Oh my god! Alex and Gwen have my entire heart. Their story was just so freaking beautiful!! The way that they fell in love through music ripped my freaking heart out! The passion, the banter, the side characters every part of this book was phenomenal! Julie has the ability to create the most achingly beautiful and romantic stories and this book was no exception. Thank you to Julie for releasing this as an e-arc for the day!

An extremely witty, emotional, and romantic story about self-acceptance and love!“ — like we were made for each other, Gwen.” (4.75)

Not only was the cover absolutely stunning, but also was the story! I loved every melodic second of this story and simply cannot get enough of Julie Soto's writing!

This is an incredible second release from author Julie Soto. An addicting spicy romance that has you *begging* for more! I love that Alexander is a man OBSESSED and the dynamic between our two main characters is delicious. Add in the musical passion that comes from professional musicians, I simply can’t say enough good things about this one!

My only qualm is that I feel as though the ending wrapped up a bit too easily. Some major grievances happened, but the characters involved never really got just punishment.

But, as a romance reader the romance was top-tier and worth every second of this read!

It’s official - I’ll read anything Julie Soto writes!! This was original, sensual and entertaining the whole way through. My only complaint was that it felt like it went from high chemistry to “I Love You” VERY quickly and I would liked more to get there.

Julie does a masterful job of building tension, having the reader invest in the characters and taking you on an emotional journey. Not to mention the love scene that had everyone talking & clamoring to read!

I want to live I side this novel, I want to walk down a Manhattan sidewalk attempting to balance my iced coffee, cello case and a wandering eye for steaming hot musical prodigies. Julie Soto is a master at letting her readers fall in love along with her characters. Visceral, sexy as hell, and quite funny really, I'll read anything she writes.

Julie Soto knows how to write longing. Period. This book has a different vibe than Forget Me Not. It is broody but in a swoon worthy way. You'll never listen to classical music or look at a cello in the same way again.

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Format: Audio/Physical

4.75🌟 - I really really liked it!

This buzzy romance has been all over my feed lately, and I knew I needed to pick it up! I loved the premise, the tension, the angst, the enemies-to-lovers, the forced proximity!!

I loved reading about classical musicians! I haven’t read a romance like this ever before, and I was so invested. I can’t wait to read more by this author! Also this is apparently Reylo fanfic and that makes so much sense in retrospect 😂. I truly just pictured Adam Driver the whole time.

Fans of Ali Hazelwood will enjoy this one!

Not Another Love Song inspired mixed feelings for me. The setting in the professional music world was interesting and the now adult child prodigy MC’s created a nice level of complexity to the plot. The book was well-written and seemed well-researched. What I couldn’t get past was the question of exactly what Alex and Gwen saw in each other that would be the basis for a lasting relationship. There was obviously physical attraction and a shared love of music. But after that? Not a lot. And the whole back and forth between I’m-so-attracted/He’s a jerk got old. Four stars for a well-written book with a unique setting and plot.

This was quite the intimate read and I could feel Gwen and Xander’s passion through the book. I eagerly await her next book!

This👏book👏Y’ALL! Took my brain a second to adapt to all the music talk, but when it did… who knew the world of classical music could make for a such a sexy backdrop. The tension, the angst, the NEED for one another!! Ugh truly some of the best scenes I’ve read, like can we please talk about that cello??? Iykyk.

Personally loved this sooooo much more than Forget Me Not. You can bet this will be going on my Christmas wishlist as we approach the end of the year.

Massive thanks to Forever for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Very hot! I love a romance where the relationship helps both main characters grow in positive ways. The music language and knowledge doesn't get in the way of a reader that doesn't have as much familiarity with it.

“𝑳𝒐𝒐𝒌, 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒎𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕—” “𝑨𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈.” 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉. “𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈.”

Is it hot in here? It’s hot in here.

Read this for:

🎻 Reylo (✅) rivals to lovers(✅) he falls first(✅) slow burn (✅) between a violinist and a cellist

🌶️ a symphony of music and love and sex

🎶 compelling characters navigating self-doubt, fame, and passion

This one hits all the right notes (🤪 sorry, I couldn’t help it!) It’s artsy, brooding, emotional, and sexy. Dual POV repackaged Reylo always delivers, and this is no different.

*Not Another Love Song* is, in fact a love song. It’s a love letter to music and love and lost souls.

With characters facing deep insecurities, the pressures of fame, and the price of pursuing their passions, Sparks fly as two musical prodigies’ competition on stage turns into undeniable chemistry offstage.

If you’re a fan of intense romance wrapped in music metaphors, tension that builds like a crescendo, and a love story that’s as captivating as the music it centers around—this one’s for you. 🎶

While I absolutely loved my first Julie Soto book, this one did not hit the mark for me. At all. I think the first problem is that I am too close to the professional music world to read this book - there are way too many logistical inaccuracies that border on ridiculous. A little bit of research can go a long way, and the lack of research made it feel very much like flat fanfiction that it started out as - not a fully fleshed-out novel. The FMC and MMC could be so interesting, but they weren't, which to me feels like a broader problem of Reylo fics in general. The side characters get so little face time, but they are much more entertaining and unique. I also wasn't a huge fan of the excessive musical metaphors and use of figurative language overall in this one.

That said, this book has the makings for a fantastic movie. And Julie Soto... the girl can write that spice. Woof.

Would I read it again? No. I still think about Forget Me Not a year after reading it, so I just know that this particular book wasn't written for me. But for readers who want an easy, fluffy Reylo fic based in the music world and don't care about the details, I would definitely recommend Not Another Love Song to them.

I really enjoyed Forget Me Not. This was ... ok. I really liked the music/orchestra plot. - I enjoyed it in the same way I enjoyed all of the flower references and writing in FMN. I feel like the FMC and MMC had chemistry that fell sort of flat. Alex/Xander doesn't know Gwen even though they work together and a chance meeting has them falling in love over the course of a couple of months? The writing was too emotional and dramatic. I like and appreciate fanfic, and the cover gave me Reylo vibes but I didn't want to believe it. Then Soto confirmed it and I just couldn't get Adam Driver out of my mind and it made everything annoying. Soto, however, is consistently good with the spice, which I appreciate, dialogue and character development didn't really do anything for me though.

Thank you to Forever publishing for this copy!

I haven't read any romance for 8 months. This was fantastic. I have a particular love for orchestra, so it hit a soft spot for me. Also, if you say Reylo fics, I will take notes ✍🏻 speaking of notes, I have none. This was fun. Go read it.

This book had me in a chokehold. I ended up listening to the audiobook on a road trip and didn't want to get out of my car because I just wanted to keep listening. I loved the way that music intersected with the story. It gave the story a tempo that really made the reader feel the story. The cello scene was *so hot.* I really liked that both characters were flawed in different ways and had to come to realizations about themselves by the end of the story, so it wasn't a one-sided third act breakup. Sign me up for everything Julie Soto writes!

Thanks to Forever Publishing for the free E-ARC of this book. Here are my honest thoughts!

3.75 ⭐️’s (rounded to 4 for Goodreads!)

This is my first Julie Soto book. I am still intending to read Forget Me Not, but I read this book first. I know they’re not connected so IT’S FINE. However, I have very mixed feelings about this book.

The first 100 pages or so are slow. We get limited interactions between the main characters, more than one were negative interactions. I do realize that it’s set up for the rest of the book, but it was very hard to get into. They didn’t really get to know each other before she was just living at his place for their breaks between shows, which I found very strange.

The interactions we get between our main characters within the first 100 pages were…odd. They have like three encounters, two of which are him basically insulting her, with the third time ending up in a very intimate situation. I found that to be really rushed? They go from zero to one hundred so quickly, and it was very difficult for me to believe their chemistry there.

I really enjoyed the middle portion of this book, once they decided they were together. I loved how Down Bad Alex was for Gwen and how unafraid he was to show it. I LOVE the side characters in this book too. Mabel, Jacob, and Declan really shine.

Now for the part I disliked the most. I despise the third act breakup/conflict in this book. It was so juvenile and frustrating. Their reactions to the other person and the situation were so aggravating. I didn’t like that it was created and resolved within the same fifty pages, because at that point WHAT IS THE POINT?? Why write so much conflict and anger just to resolve it immediately?? I’ll never understand.

If you’re trying to make me believe that these characters are mature adults who can communicate through arguments and manage to compromise, having them break up and get back together so quickly is not the way to do it.

I feel like there was a lot of unresolved or underdeveloped character backstory? Like we see in Gwen’s head and learn from her that she had issues with people leaving her, and she needs the stability that the Pops provides. But we never see her communicate that to Alex, even after they break up and get back together. Like they don’t talk about the actual reasons that they broke up in the first place! They just admit to the other person being right without explaining or communicating why they may have reacted the way they did.

Overall, I’m still planning to read other books by Julie Soto, but this one will not be a favorite.