This is a good collection of short stories. I loved the common music theme. There were a few I would love to see expanded. Overall a good book for a good cause.

This was great. I got to read a bunch of authors that I have never read before. Most of the stories leave you wanting more. I want to know what happens next. Helen was the first to include an epilogue which I loved because I definitely wanted more.

I really enjoyed this anthology. I love reading anthologies because I usually discover a new author or two and this one was no different. Of course, there’s several of my go-to authors that contributed to this book, too. These are short romances that are tied with music that will have you swooning. Each story is unique and entertaining. A can’t miss book if you want some quick romances that hit every emotion.

This is a collection of short stories that all tug on your heart strings for a multitude of reasons. Each story opens your heart and you are begging for just a little more time with them. Some of my favorite stories were of Drix & Echo, Lucca & Maddy, Jaxon & Curtis, and Maddy & Scott. All of the stories in Hope & Harmony were fabulous but those four in particular are still with me after completing the book.

10/10 recommend! It is a quick read and it is easy to read easy story in a timely fashion.

I love anthologies because they usually raise money for a good cause, which this one does, and because they allow me to find new authors while also enjoying authors I already love. HOPE & HARMONY Anthology was brought to life by fourteen amazing authors, with proceeds going to MusiCares, which provides a safety net of critical health and welfare services to the music community in three key areas: Mental Health & Addiction Recovery Services, Health Services, and Human Services, this and more information can be found on their website.

I have read about three-quarters of the anthology and enjoyed each short story. What I will say is that they are quick reads, and they mostly center around music. I hope some of these stories will become longer books, maybe even novella length, to give us more of the character's background, which I missed in the short stories.

The Stories included in this anthology are:

Chords of Destiny by Kaylene Winter
Hope is a busker, and Alek Bozic is a gaming coder (he works at the Hungry Llama. Those who have read The Flirt Alert will recognize the company). Alek has a crush on Hope but is so shy it almost hurts to watch. He steps up when she needs some help, and it's the start of their romance.

Song for Me by Chelle Bliss
Madeline is a club singer with a song she is writing and is having trouble completing, so she asks Lucca, a successful songwriter, for help. These two have been dancing around one another for a while, and this was the opening they needed to take their friendship to the next level.

Song in Silence by Stacey Marie Brown
This is the story of Echo, a deaf drummer and Hendrix a bass guitarist who has joined the band that Echo is in after their guitarist Ziggy passes away. Echo and Drix have a past, and they need to work through things for her to trust him, not only for the band's sake but for her heart as well.

Wild Hope by Mari Carr
Andi, a pub singer, and Joel, an out-of-town music producer, have great chemistry in this age-gap romance.

A Dirty Proposal by Jaine Diamond
Jude and Veronica work for the same band and have a son together. This story is about a surprise that Jude had for Veronica.

Catch My Heart by Helen Hardt
Blaire is an opera singerand Gunnar is rock musician, they may seem like opposites but boy oh boy do they fit together.

The Night We Met by Jillian Liota
Madison and Scott met the night she was attacked, and while we do get deep with them, I would love to get even deeper.

Rock Encore by Kat Mizera
Wynter is a former ER nurse and Ross is the tour manager of a band. Ross has a devastating background that will pull at your heartstrings, so be prepared.

Eyes on You by Layla Reyne (M/M)
Gino and Bennett, Rockers and Husbands, have been together for a while and are figuring out what is next for them. I have some of Layla Reyne's previous work on my TBR, which I must push up after reading this Short Story.

Forever Mine by M. Robinson
Hayley and Joshua are high school students, This story didn't have the music influence in it like the others had which was a little puzzling because I had expected it to.

Connected by Becca Steele (M/M)
Jaxon and Curtis's story was more of a complete story where we get to follow the couple, which included a HEA instead of an HFN or even left us guessing. I would even say this is my favorite of the anthology so far.


Idolyze by Rachel Van Dyken

The Road to You by Meredith Wild

Words Like Stardust by Julia Wolf

I recommend this book to readers who enjoy Contemporary Romances, which involve music in one way or another.

Happy Reading!!!

Hope & Harmony is a collection of romance stories by all different authors. The stories all vary in terms of tropes and themes, but all romance. I only knew one author going into this, but enjoyed reading a lot of new to me authors. Did I love every single story? No, not all of them were my jam, but it was a good variety of romance.

Set to the beat...

Its a fourteen book collection set to playlists. This collection is for you if you like books and music.
Just say yes. I'm all in. I liked Mari Carr and Julia Wolf (it is her jam, after all).
I highly recommend this collection. Perfect timing.

This anthology was absolutely delightful! It’s a collection of fourteen short, new stories from fourteen different authors. Some of my favorite authors, and some that were brand new to me.

I’m a huge fan of rockstar romance stories, and I loved how music was such a big part of the stories. They’re all different, from high school sweethearts to instant connections, but they’re all so well-written and the storylines are so charming, spicy, and captivating. I couldn’t put them down! I laughed, I swooned, and I was hooked from the very first page.

Looking for a fun and heartwarming way to get into the Valentine’s Day spirit? Or maybe you’re in the mood for a delightful book that you can read in small pieces and still enjoy a wonderful story? Look no further! Hope and Harmony has got you covered with their fantastic book collection. Support a wonderful cause in MusiCares while indulging in some great reads. It’s a win-win situation!

Thank you to Page & Vine and NetGalley for this advance reading copy. This is my honest review.

✨Thoughts✨
𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 anthology was absolutely adorable. I loved how each and every story was charming and kept me hooked with their fast-paced plots. Through this book, I stumbled upon some talented new authors that I had yet to discover, alongside a couple of my favorites.

𝐎𝐧𝐞 of my favorite stories was, "Catching My Heart." The chemistry between a classical opera singer and a rocker was electric as they sang together. Another standout was "Dirty Proposal," a marriage proposal that was both cute and nostalgic. It brought back beloved characters from the Dirty series.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 stories range from romantic marriage proposals to instant connections and high school sweethearts, offering something for every reader. I appreciated how music played a significant role in connecting the main characters in each story. Overall, if you enjoy bite-sized stories, this is a great choice that also supports a wonderful cause, MusiCares.

𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 thanks to Page & Vine and netgalley for this advance reading copy. All opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Hope & Harmony
A Music Romance Anthology

What a wonderful treat this anthology proved to be. I went in thinking I would read a few, write a review, and then move on. I usually pick up anthologies to find a new author or read a favorite in the mix but even though THIS collection of fourteen music themed romances of novella length was one I thought I would quickly give up on…I did not. I found myself finishing one and thinking…so what does the next author have to share?

The stories are diverse, all have some element of music involved, and provide romance. The characters range in age from high school through married couples that are nearing fifty. The love stories are warm and true and resonated even though shorter than I sometimes wanted because I was not ready to say goodbye to the characters.

I admit that I have read a few “rock romances” and kind of gave up on them BUT this book has made e realize I might want to read more music-based stories in the future…and more than one of the authors who chose to contribute to this anthology will be on my list to look for in the future.

Excellent collection with something for everyone AND for a worthy cause that will provide funds for https://musicares.org/ As one who has loved, played, listened to, and been in musical groups for fun…am glad to find out there is an NGO like this.

I did take notes on every story and could say more but will instead advise you to pick up a copy of the book, read, and enjoy…as I did today.

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

This review will be a little different from my others, since it is an anthology so there were actually 14 different stories within it. I will talk about some common positives and negatives in the stories, but not every story fits these critiques.
I did receive the book as an ARC, so thank you to Victory Editing and Page & Vine for that, but all opinions are my own.

First, I found that the arrangement of the stories was a tad odd. This has nothing to do with the quality of writing or anything, but there were 3 stories in a row that were all extremely similar, then 2 stories that were both quite dramatic and different. In my opinion, these should have been separated. Because the first 3 were so close, they lost any feeling of uniqueness or memorability. The other 2 had the same darker vibe that didn’t quite match the rest of the stories, so having them together felt like a random dark patch. Also, I found the first story to be the worst, like to the point where I probably would have DNF’d it if it wasn’t an ARC, so having that closer to the end would’ve been better. It wasn’t a great start.

There was a common theme throughout most of the stories (which I’ve noticed isn’t uncommon in short stories as a whole), but a lot of them felt quite choppy. There weren’t many smooth transitions between times. There were a lot of “Three Months Later” for example, which isn’t inherently a bad thing but they often felt out of nowhere and like we missed a lot. This has to be hard to write with such limited space, but it did affect the reading experience. Another unfortunate common thread across the book was insta-love. In most of the stories, we witness the MCs meeting for the first time and falling in love. The problem is the speed at which the latter occurs. I think this is partially due to the lack of space and time these stories have to exist, but soooo many of the main characters say “I love you” and move in together/get married REALLY FAST. In a few of the stories, the characters already know each other and have history, and these felt a lot more realistic to me. It also felt like every character has thoughts about how their partner feels so different from everyone else after one or two conversations. It really only works for one story, and even then it’s still quite unrealistic. This isn’t a terrible thing and certainly doesn’t ruin the book, but it did take me out of many of the stories.

Now, I’ve been awfully negative so let’s talk about some positives! I loved the diversity in this book. In the 3rd story, our FMC is Deaf, and both MCs are fluent in ASL (which I’m currently learning, so I was super excited to see this). The 9th and 11th stories both feature a queer couple. In the 14th story, the MMC is a Black man and the FMC has a stutter. The MCs are all different ages, have different life experiences, different musical careers, and are in distinct musical genres, which helped the book not feel super repetitive. Going from opera singers to K-Pop stars to retired rock stars kept it interesting. Some of these stories also showcased the behind the scenes people in the music industry, from tour and band managers to producers and songwriters, which was fun as well.

The book overall was pretty cozy and relaxing, very hopeful, which I think we all could use in these times. The short story format definitely has its pros and cons, and overall, I found I either loved or strongly disliked these stories. If you like music at all, I think it’s a fun journey across the music industry, and the book supports MusiCares, a charity that supports the health and welfare of the music community (they’re helping a TON with the LA fires right now), so any sales are especially helpful right now.

My reviews were just posted today, Jan. 24th on Goodreads and my Bookstagram, note_worthy_novels.

I read Sing for Me by Chelle Bliss and I wanted more. The chemistry between Maddy and Lucca was amazing and definitely wanted so much more.

More reviews to come

Hope and Harmony is a collection of short romance stories. Each story was sweet and it kept me wanting to read more of each story.

Lots of amazing novellas. i love Meredith Wild and Helen Hardt stories. they were amazing,

Lots of good discovery for the authors.

What a lively collection of stories. Perfect for the upcoming Valentines Day season if you’re looking to have a fun book to dip in and out of if you don’t have a lot of time to commit to a longer story. I highly enjoyed these beautiful stories of love and as a music lover I highly enjoyed how each story worked the power of music in as well. I was laughing, crying and feeling hopeful and inspired.

I'm a huge fan of story collections that feature works from a variety of authors. This title was perfect for romance readers that also love music. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Hope and Harmony is an anthology filled with so many short and sweet stories from some of my favorite authors, and some new to me. I loved each story and how they are all musically related. Really makes me want to read a rockstar romance now.

Many of the short stories felt complete and leave your heart well full of hope and love. While some of the other stories felt really open and like they were not complete. I am not sure if any of the authors will continue their stories later but I definitely wouldn’t mind it because I fell in love with many of the character's.