Not Another Love Song by Julie Soto

Rating: 4 stars

Age Recommendation: 18+

Release Date: July 16, 2024

Not Another Love Song is a sexy, heart-tugging, melodic romance that made me wish I hadn't given up the viola in the 6th grade. Julie Soto has a knack for creating fully-realized characters with intense chemistry. Gwen and Xander make for a fiery pair, full of angst and warmth. I found it difficult to put this book down and wound up reading it in a single day.

Gwen Jackson believes she's on the path to a stable career doing what she loves: playing the violin. She has been playing in the Manhattan Pops orchestra for four years with wedding gigs on the side. Then she meets Xander Thorne, the viciously handsome cellist from her favorite rock strings band, Thorne and Roses, by chance at one of her wedding gigs. Or rather, Gwen knew that this was not their first meeting--Xander had strangely and unexpectedly joined the Manhattan Pops as First Cello earlier that season. He hadn't noticed her despite the fact that they sat across from each other during rehearsals. She finds him aloof and unfriendly, but after the wedding the two enter each other's orbits, for better or for worse.

What makes a good romance? Chemistry, chemistry and chemistry. Well, not just chemistry, but without that you might as well be reading non-fiction. Gwen and Xander have loads of chemistry, even when they're at each other's throats. The sexy scenes are sexy and the romantic scenes are romantic. This should be the case with all romances, but alas, it is not.

So why remove one star? Not Another Love Song does contain one of my least favorite tropes--miscommunication. My kingdom for characters that are good communicators. Miscommunication is a simple way to maintain tension before the resolution, but it often does a disservice to the characters themselves by having them act purposefully obtuse. I'm not saying that some people aren't their own worst enemies, but if a character has been established to be at least somewhat reasonable, having that character abandon reason in favor of a plot point rings false.

That said, I thoroughly enjoyed Not Another Love Song. Julie Soto is becoming one of my favorite contemporary romance authors.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.