In my eyes, Emma Lord can do no wrong! This book is a sweet, emotional second chance romance that totally surprised me. I usually avoid celeb/popstar stories, but this one hit all the right notes—zero cringe, lots of heart. Loved Mackenzie’s journey, the strong female friendships, and the dual POV. Definitely checking out more from this author!

If you love romances about musicians, second-chance-romance, and found family, this is your book!


Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

I have loved all of Emma's books so far, and this is no exception. I love the pop culture references and the relatable characters. She is an auto buy author for me and I highly recommend for fans of Lynn Painter and K.L. Walter.

This was such a cute read! ‘For the Record’ introduces Mackenzie and Sam, two former ‘rivals’ in competing bands. Years after their bands fall apart, they find themselves wanting to enter the music scene again as soloist, but are told they need to work together. At first, they resist this demand but are soon able to work together and discuss their past like adults – which I appreciated. There is some angst, but overall I appreciated the maturity of the characters and the way their story unfolded. Overall, this was a feel good story. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC!

Emma Lord can do no wrong, I’m absolutely convinced. For the Record follows Mackenzie, whose pop girl group broke up two years ago, and Sam, who fronted a rival band. They haven’t spoken in two years, but when their label pushes them into being a duo to revive their careers they finally come face to face with their complicated history.

For the Record has all of the quirky, fun energy of Emma Lord’s other books, but felt a little more serious and grounded. Mackenzie is dealing with dramatic changes to her voice and Sam is growing into being a dad while not knowing his own. These characters and their relationship felt so fully realized and the ending had me in tears. Highly recommend!

This was cute and there were things I liked about it. Mackenzie and Sam were sweet together and I loved Sam’s POV. He was 100% in on Mackenzie the second they see each other again (and it was only 2 years). It’s not quite a second chance, but I liked that they had history together.

There were also a few things I didn’t like about it. Mackenzie was a replica of Taylor Swift. Nothing against her, but female musicians don’t need to be based off of her every time. The timeline didn’t make sense to me, especially his child. I don’t understand why neither Sam nor the mom considered he could be the dad? And Serena really annoyed me. I probably would’ve liked this a little better if I was in a different mood because it was very sweet (sometimes too much for me). I’d give it a 3.25 or 3.5.

I really enjoyed reading this book and the second chance romance was to die for!!! I loved the FMC and really loved the found family aspect of this book! I will definitely be recommending this fun and quirky romcom to my friends!

It takes me awhile to get into romance novels but I liked this one
I love a duel POV with witty banter
Would recommend

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

📖 cuuuuuuteeeeeeee!!!! That basically sums up this book, go home everybody the review is done!

🎤 Kidding kidding! This book was a wonderful second chance romance where the push and pull of these characters was tangible. The tension between the MC’s was fantastic and I loved getting the tidbits of their history together throughout the present-day plotline. Having that coincide with the songs they were writing was very clever and well crafted. This was a fun take on the celebrity romance plot that made my fangirl heart so very happy - because who doesn’t root for their popstar faves to *finallyyyyy* hookup?! Truly my only critique is one I give often in the friends-to-lover trope: having palpable sexual tension and acting partly on it (quick kisses, sultry touching, etc.) and then saying you can’t hookup because “it will ruin the friendship” is not how friends behave. The friendship is ruined, you have crossed the line into decidedly not-friends. And look, I love the play of it all! I love yearning! But it’s the issue I find most often in this trope so I’d be remiss if I didn’t point it out here.

📚 As my first foray into Emma Lord’s bibliography (I know I know) I went in with some notion that she is highly read by bookstagram but I just thought she was a cute YA author. I was taken aback by how well she handled the character development and growth following some major plotlines and developing family dynamics. Also touched on in this book is the ever-changing landscape of navigating adult friendships, which Lord handled really well. I’m definitely going to be reading more by her!

Get your copy on August 12, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was a lot of fun! Not my first time reading and Emma Lord book and I was pleasantly surprised! Really sweet character dynamic, lots of banter and flirtiness. I was a fan!!

If you like second chances and slow burn, this one’s for you.

Former rivals turned reluctant collaborators, pop star Mackenzie and punk rocker Sam are thrown back into the spotlight for a joint album. Only now, he’s a single dad, she’s hiding behind a stage name.

Mackenzie was such a delight! Quirky and on a self discovery journey.

The romance stayed light and mostly drama free, which made it an easy read.

A fun, feel good read!

Thank you St Martin and NetGalley for the eARC.

First, thanks to Netgalley for the ARC! This was super cute, celebrity rom-com. The characters were likeable, their chemistry great, back story well plotted, side plot/characters well developed more or less, and the famous singers turned almost regular people turned celebrities again was super fun. My complaints are with the Serena character... she was such a bitch to have been allowed back in good graces so easily - And the word damn being over used throughout the book. 153 times according to my kindle. It was super damn noticeable in the last damn chapter and very damn distracting from the damn conclusion. 🤣

This book was SO cute but also had some good plot and character development. I give it 4.25 stars and will definitely recommend to people who love a romance book with depth.
The main characters, Sam and Mackenzie, were very easy to love and had great chemistry. I wouldn't say they were enemies but more like crushes that didn't work out and now hold resentments towards each other. The supporting characters were my favorite part of this book. I normally dislike single dad/mom romances but this one was cute. The kid was funny and so realistic (I would know, I teach children of that age). Rocket gave a good extra plot line and and had depth to him so he wasn't just a side character but had his own motives and storyline. Mack's ex-bandmates/ best friends had their own plot line going on and was great to have as an additional side to the story not completely related to romance.
Bottom line is: if you like rockstar romances with fun banter and loveable characters then you should definitely give this book a try!

I’m a sucker for a good second chance romance but this one was just okay to me. I wasn’t a fan of how quickly things progressed in the beginning, I had to go back and reread to make sure I was following the scenes right. Also disappointed in their reunion, it felt very lackluster considering they haven’t heard from each other in two years. Otherwise I did enjoy the story once it got going, it had some cute moments and was a quick read so I would recommend giving it a shot.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review

I received a copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I picked this up because I enjoy Emma Lord's YA books for light, easy, lower angst reads. Now she is writing in the adult genre. I wanted to see if these would be just as good of a fit for my tastes.

Honestly, romance alone is not my favorite genre. I usually like romance on the side of a bigger story. Here the romance is the main point. It's has many tropes that are common in this genre. I am not a lover of tropes. However, Emma Lord does breath more life into her characters than some writers and that helped.

The main characters are both former music stars that are trying to work out how to move forward in their lives. Mack is trying to figure out both her career after surgery changed her voice and also why she makes such bad decisions when it comes to romance. The one who hurt her the most comes back into her life. Sam has finally found some grounding after discovering two years ago that he was the father of a four year old ]. For the last two years his focus has completely changed and all that matter is being the best father he can. Having had an absent father it is really important to him to give his son a different life. He and Mack were made to play up a will-they-won't-they dynamic back when they were in different bands. He always had feelings for Mack but he knew he was not in the right place to do right by her. Now, two years later these two are brought back together with one chance to figure it all out.

Overall, Romance still is not my favorite genre but I was able to enjoy the book in spite of that. It had a little more character development than some do. However, I did not love some of the tropes employed so not a perfect fit for my reading tastes.

For two characters who insisted on not writing a love song, this entire book managed to feel like one! For the Record hit all the right notes- literally and figuratively. It was the idyllic combination of second chances, musical talent, and a beautiful slow burn. I could play that song combo again and again!

One of the things I loved about this story was the way Sam’s single parenthood was written! I loved Sam’s dedication to being the best dad to Ben as well as the way he embraced that new chapter of his life. It’s a great story of healthy coparenting and the power of a blunt six year old!!

Musician romance will always hit for me. I could see Mack and Sam on and off the stage, falling in love through the music. We didn’t need the specific lyrics to feel the emotion, and that is a great gift to a reader. Music is another beautiful form of storytelling, and Emma Lord crushed it in this book.


Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and St. Martin’s Griffin for the opportunity to read and review this book! I received a free advance copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

WOW. I was not expecting to like this book as much as I did. I’ve never read any book by Emma Lord before and now I’m DYING to pick up another one.

Mackenzie (mack) is 1/3 of a former girl pop band living in NYC. While out one night, she runs into Sam, who is 1/3 of a former boy alt band she used to tour with (and used to date/fake date/make out with). They are both kinda in the dumps with their new lives - Sam found out he had a son, Ben, so he gave up his music career to help out Ben’s mom who owns a bakery. Mack gave up publicly singing after she had thyroid surgery, but she is posting new music on an app under the guise of “Seven”. Sam and Mack decide to team up and write music together as “Sam & Mack” - a duo! They visit their old haunts to get inspiration, and obviously get closer as time goes on. Mack is trying to figure out if she can come out and sing publicly again, and Sam is trying to figure out if he can resist his attraction to Mack.

This was one of my favorite second chance romance books. Both MCs are very likable - Mack is outgoing yet kindhearted, and Sam is slightly introverted (as much as you can be for a musician) but will go to war for his loved ones. They were SO good together and had so many moments that made me swoooooon 🥹 I couldn’t get enough of them.

I honestly don’t think I’ve ever read any romance books centered around famous musicians, so this was honestly kind of a breath of fresh air! It was different from my usual picks and in the best way possible. I think writing about celebs in a romance can sometimes miss the mark and be a bit cringey but this was PERFECT! It was such an easy and fun read, which is exactly what I look for in a romance book.

I couldn’t recommend this book enough. 5/5 - I think my only qualm is the name of the music sharing app LOL but otherwise so perfect. Thank you Net Galley & St Martin’s Griffin for the e-ARC!! 🩷

For the Record is a fun, delicious enemies-to-lovers, second-chance romance about a pop artist (Mack) and a punk rocker (Sam) teaming up for a new acoustic-y, singer-songwriter duo. I loved this book, Mack and Sam are adorable and I started rooting for them on page one! The premise and the banter were SO fun. The side characters were delightful and I loved the female relationships in this book.
This would have been a 5 star read for me, except there were sequences where the action was sort of hard to follow (e.g. pool haunt). And some characters' motivations felt a bit flimsy (especially Rocket and Serena).
I had a lot of fun reading this book, thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the advance copy!

This was a very quick and easy read that can be completed in one sitting. The romance aspect of this book is very cute, and both of the main characters are pretty likable, which is often rare nowadays!

If you love music, drama, single parent, or second chance, this is a great book to pick up!! I legit read this entire thing in one sitting and felt like time was FLYING by.

This is only a 4 star for me because it didn’t feel as angsty as I was hoping for, and I almost wish there were some chapters in the past because I felt like we needed that little bit more to understand the true depth of the characters feelings.

Thank you so much netgally and St. Martins Press for the opportunity to read this one!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC. For The Record by Emma Lord was a perfect second chance/rockstar romance! Although, I loved that it felt way more than the typical rom-com. The side characters were such a huge part of this novel, Sam’s son and his relationship with the “moms” was perfect. I also appreciated Mackenzie’s journey not only with herself but with her friendships. This was my first Emma Lord read, can’t wait to check out more of her work!

“Witty, swoony, and full of heart—this book speaks fluent banter.”

Title Feedback is the kind of romcom that grabs you by the heartstrings and doesn’t let go (but like, in a cute way). With laugh-out-loud dialogue, magnetic chemistry, and a will-they-won’t-they dynamic that had me grinning like a fool, this one is basically a serotonin smoothie.

The main characters? Total opposites. Total perfection. Whether they’re trading sarcastic jabs or sharing vulnerable moments that sneak up on you like a surprise kiss, their connection is electric. And the emotional payoff? Chef’s kiss. 👩‍🍳💋

If you love romantic tension, quirky charm, and characters you want to be besties with, Title Feedback absolutely delivers. It’s the literary equivalent of staying up too late binge-watching a romcom and loving every second of it.