“Melodies hold memories, Like nothing else on earth, they recall feelings, places, moments– the needle dropping into the groove of the soul’s record player.” – 2.5/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: tour buses, pianos, bunk beds, breakup songs, wedding dresses, superstars, songwriting, glitter bodysuits, divorces, and a ton of inspiration.

A rising-star musician has a second chance at love with an old flame she remembers all too well in this swoony romance from the acclaimed authors of The Roughest Draft .

Riley Wynn went from a promising singer-songwriter to a superstar overnight, thanks to her breakup song concept album and its unforgettable lead single. When Riley’s ex-husband claims the hit song is about him, she does something she hasn’t in ten years and calls Max Harcourt, her college boyfriend and the real inspiration for the song of the summer.

Max hasn’t spoken to Riley since their relationship ended. He’s content with managing the retirement home his family owns, but it’s not the life he dreamed of filled with music. When Riley asks him to go public as her songwriting muse, he agrees on one he’ll join her in her band on tour.

As they perform across the country, Max and Riley start to realize that while they hit some wrong notes in the past, their future could hold incredible things. And their rekindled relationship will either last forever or go down in flames.

While I was writing this review I realized I was being too generous with my rating, so I ended up lowering it to the 2-star tier. To be honest with you guys, this book was disappointing. I probably hyped it up too much in my head because of how popular it became and because it was “inspired” by Taylor Swift – but at the end of the day, it was a very mediocre book. Buckle up, because I have a lot to say!
The characters were so boring and had zero personality – especially Max. We get it, the retirement home is your only priority… but what does he like and what is he like? I couldn’t tell you, because I have no clue. I really wish there was some character development because it was seriously lacking in this book.
Now the romance… yawn! It was very boring and they had no chemistry. The story has a second chance romance trope – which is not my favorite, but I kind of hoped we would get a Taylor Lautner relationship inspo. But nope! Sure, they share musical talent and a love for music, but other than that… They were together for 9 months like 10 years ago, and suddenly she decided she liked him all along and they rekindled their romance that easily and fast? Also, if Riley is such a big pop star, do you really think he could get a ticket last minute? *laughs in The Eras Tour*
I also think there were a few elements added to the book that could have been developed, but they were left unfinished – or even just removed, if I’m being honest. Like for example the retirement arc was so weird. What was even the point of adding it to the story in the first place? At first, we get a scene of him playing there for the residents, but other than that, the retirement home is mostly forgotten. So Max leaves the retirement home, the only thing he cares about in his life… to be part of a tour. We didn’t even get a conclusion for this! Another example is Riley’s mom who was recently divorced. What was the point of her having that long conversation with Riley at the beginning of the book? Sure, she “contributes” to the main relationship OK, she gets with the tour bus driver… and? It reminds me of the saying “This meeting could have been a call”. It was such a weird addition.
But not all was bad! There were a few fun elements here and there that I liked, like for example there were a few song lyrics I recognized throughout the book from Taylor, and I also liked how the “easter eggs” thing was incorporated into the book. I feel like the book needed more fun elements like this to be enjoyable because it lacked action and details.
Now let me tell you what bothered me about this book. The book progresses with so little action. There’s a lot of internal dialog and introspective from both main characters, and, consequentially, the actual action is missing. Also, there was so much room and inspiration from Taylor’s tour to add details and to develop the story to make it rich, but the authors kept it very superficial and it wasn’t fun to read about. Also, I know this is probably a personal ick, but I’ll tell you anyway: couldn’t they just thank Taylor in the acknowledgments? I know they mentioned her in the dedication, but they’re literally marketing this book as a Taylor Swift-inspired book and profiting from her story. I don’t know, it rubs me off the wrong way because it feels like an easy cash grab and only that. I guess the biggest issue for me is that the book continues to perpetuate the image that Taylor is trying to escape. It felt invasive and disrespectful to make the character a person who tries to capitalize on her romantic relationships and sees other people only as “new good songs”.
I honestly was expecting more from this story. I was disappointed, bored and I wouldn’t recommend this to other swifties.