Not Another Love Song
From a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a competition between a classical violinist and a rockstar cellist sparks a sizzling chemistry in this book that’s perfect for fans of Ali Hazelwood and Abby Jimenez.
“100% pure magic.” —Christina Lauren, bestselling author of The Unhoneymooners
Gwen Jackson is a self-taught professional violinist. Xander Thorne is the exact opposite—a rock star cellist with a bad attitude. They both play in the Manhattan Pops, and their styles couldn’t be more different.
When Gwen is offered first chair of the orchestra (a role Xander has coveted for years), she can’t help but notice a hostile sense of competition between them … but also an electric chemistry, as they’re forced to work together. As they compose and play songs together, it’s clear that their powerful connection could make for a performance that will blow everyone’s minds.
But can their slowly growing romance survive the pressures of success?
- Pages
- 384
- First published
- July 16, 2024
- Language
- English
- Edition
- Ebook
More editions
▾
Pick a cover to preview.
Shelved by 10 Litcadians
Reviews
Finished April 4, 2024 · Read 2 times
HOLY GODS THE CELLO SCENE!! I knew as soon as I started this book that I wouldn't want it to end- I still want more Xander and Gwen so I will be annoyingly making this book my entire personality and rec it to anyone who will listen & I'M NOT SORRY running to find all julie's fanfic now bc i CANNOT GET ENOUGH
Finished December 24, 2024
“It’s simple, really,” he said. “It’s about a cello who fell in love with a violin.” This book was breathtakingly beautiful. I have to admit I was nervous that I wasn’t going to love this one as much as Forget me not because I’m not a huge music person I didn’t think it would hit me as hard as it did. But I loved this book even more. Everything about the way this book was written was stunning, and I love how Soto arranges her dual POVs. I was in love with the tension between our two characters right from the beginning and the beautiful way they made music together and just understood each other. THE SPICE, THE TENSION, THE CELLO SCENE. Dear lord. 5 🌶️ purely for how much I liked it I eat up her work and I fear her romantasy that’s coming out next year may kill me.
Finished December 24, 2024
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Favorite line: “It’s simple, really,” he said. “It’s about a cello who fell in love with a violin.” 📖 My Thoughts Five stars all around! I fell in love with this immediately. If I could wrap this book up and how I felt reading it, I'd say it reminds me of a nostalgic 90's love song. I seriously want to make a playlist centered around this book. Julie's writing evokes so many feelings that I could go on and on. The character depth and backstory for both Gwen and Alex filled me with such sadness and warmth. How their pasts interconnected and led them to one another was so bitter sweet. It makes me want to tear up thinking about it and the fact that it's over... ⚠️ Trigger Warnings Graphic: Sexual content, Death of parent, Gaslighting Moderate: Cancer, Grief, Emotional abuse Minor: Death, Misogyny 🌶️ Spice The cello scene did in fact change my life. I'm always impressed with Julie's smut writing abilities, they are always so spontaneous and genuine to the characters that I'm drooling all over myself. This book honestly had quite a few scenes but the timing for each one felt so perfect for the story. These characters and their lives will live in my head forever.
Started December 23, 2024 · Finished December 24, 2024
I felt this book in my soul… I don’t know a lot about music terminology, but a beat, the vibrations, the intensity when you hear a song that cuts through you like a knife - that is what I felt reading this. This author has a really good way of building up a characters background and intermingling that into their stories so that they feel like real people you could easily stumble upon while waiting for a subway. I can’t wait to read more of this authors stuff. 🌶️ 5/5 the spice in this is just as hot and heavy as the tension building up to it. Like an instrument string tuned so tight it is on the verge of popping. Playing a musical instrument is something you really need to be passionate about, and thats exactly what I felt reading about these characters - the passion they had came to life on the pages.
Finished January 1, 2025
after reading Forget Me Not, I was really excited to get around to this one, and it was... kind of disappointing. I can't really explain why it felt that way, but I think it may boil down to the characters. I was never super invested in them or their arcs, and therefore I wasn't invested in the romance. it was also hard to see both of them trusting & being taken advantage of by authority figures and letting it go on for so long before realizing that it was unacceptable. in some ways, it made it feel like they had little agency over their own lives, which isn't super fun to read, honestly. it hasn't ruined the author for me; I'd happily read more of her books.
Finished September 29, 2024
Finished August 1, 2024
