Allie Andrew’s is a former punk rocker who now works in her aunt’s Brooklyn cafe. She mainly keeps to herself but one day she delivers coffee to a bubbly podcaster named Ryan, who remembers her from her rock days and it sets off a new era for her with friends, a crush, and a giant life change.

I liked this book, but as a former traveling musician and a person from the American South, I feel like it has problems. Beginning with the Southern character Ryan, so much about his “Southernness” was beyond stereotypical. People from Birmingham DO NOT think moving to NYC is akin to being in league with the Devil. Are people religious down South? A lot of them are. Do they think anything above the Mason Dixon line is from hell? No. It was just weird and offensive. And as a former touring musician, while I felt a lot about Allie’s existence in her punk rock world was true, it felt … self conscious. I definitely felt like the whole set up was a bit stereotypical or assumed rather than known. That being said, I think the ideas behind the book are solid, the characters are well drawn, and I love that it centered around mix tapes. The 80s pop song cover idea was fun and genuine.

There were two spicy moments in the book but they were ruined by consent. I have noticed that people go out of their way now to reflect consent in the act but this was waaaaaaaay overdone. It was odd how many times the people asked each other permission to touch the other. It pulls the reader out of the story and makes it self conscious.

I think Whiteford is a good writer and she lays a solid foundation for a pretty unique set of characters. (And I was so happy to see a character from my hometown! Even if he was stereotypical.) The romance is there, the plot points are there, I just think it could do with a little more attention to being genuine than what’s expected of a punk rocker/Southerner/modern relationship. I give it 3.5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I love a good music based romance and this perfectly fits the bill. I cannot wait to share my full thoughts and review on this one, I am slowly catching up on reviews due to an unexpected medical issue and this one has been moved to the top of the pile,

This book was addictive. The writing style drew me in and held me in a death grip of character development