Review: Not Another Love Song

Not Another Love Song by Julie Soto
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Gwen Jackson plays violin for the Manhattan Pops orchestra and plays at weddings to supplement her meagre earnings. One day a last minute wedding at a huge mansion creates a drama - the bride wanted a cellist, Gwen has played cello (a very little) but wouldn't call herself proficient, and her music is for the violin. To add to the disaster, one of the guests, Alex, lends her his cello - Alex is none other than Xander Thorne, first cello in the same orchestra and member of the hugely successful electric strings band Thorne and Roses, who Gwen may have had a crush on, until he joined the Pops orchestra where his contempt for the other musicians and the musical arrangements made his look like a jerk. But here he is, watching her butcher the music on his cello.

Xander can't believe his eyes and ears, this woman admits to not being a cellist but is sight translating the violin music into cello music, and doing a pretty good job, when he hears that she is also in the Pops orchestra he can't believe he hasn't noticed her before.

After the wedding Gwen seems to see Alex/Xander everywhere, she can only think he is mocking her, trying to get her to embarrass herself so that he can expose her somehow. But the truth is, Alex is mesmerised by someone who is truly a musical prodigy, not just the product of intense training since he was three years old. Dominated by controlling father figures, Xander has lost interest in composing, until the day he met Gwen, since then there's a melody running through his head which he can't get rid of. But when professional rivalries spill over and lines are blurred will their burgeoning romance be able to withstand the truth?

I loved Forget Me Not so when I saw this cover and realised it was by the same author I jumped at the chance to read it. Whilst being a totally different story it had the same vibe, or maybe its just the FMC struggling while the MMC is hugely successful. Anyway Ama and Elliot also make an appearance, they are involved in the wedding where Alex meets Gwen properly.

Loved it, loved it, loved it. Rock star meets pop orchestra, meets poor little rich boy meets poor musical genius.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

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