Cover Image: Mix Tape

Mix Tape

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Member Reviews

I ended up really enjoying this book and thought it was well written.
I loved the dual timeline and the songs/nostalgia throughout the book. I loved Alison's relationship with Daniel's dad, I thought those scenes were so touching.

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A really interesting concept using the idea of how music connects us all! Decent plot overall however the end and sudden turn around in characters made no sense to me.

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My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishers for a copy of “Mix Tape “ for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a complete change from my usual preferred genre of thrillers and I’m glad I chose to read it.
I found the characters to be well written and believable. I loved the references to the songs that made up the mix tape, many of which I remember fondly from my youth , and have brought back many happy memories.
It was a delight from start to satisfying ending ,and I’ve already recommended the book to several people.

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This was a book that had long been forgotten on my old Kindle.
There were parts that I liked, and there were parts that I didn't like. The first half of the book was okay and then it took a nosedive.
Set across two different timelines, the late 70's and 2013, the story is about Dan and Alison. They become each other's first loves in the 70's. In 2013, Dan is married to Katelin and settled in Scotland and has a career as a music-based journalist. Alison (now Ali) lives in Adelaide, married to Michael and has two daughters. She is now a famous author.
Both reconnect over Twitter and send each other songs. I'm really not sure why they were so secretive about the whole thing; it really didn't make sense. Both Dan and Ali fall for each other again through this sharing of songs. The music references were unfortunately lost on me as I wasn't familiar with the songs.
I had a major issue with the lack of character development. At the beginning of the book, Ali was all hyped up as a famous author but this was then forgotten about, or it just didn't seem to matter anymore. Dan came across as a man-child whose life just seemed to revolve around music and not much else. Their characters became unrelatable and totally devoid of reason.
There was a lot of unnecessary dialogue and it became a tedious read.

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Oh, what a nostalgia trip this one! As someone who believes music is essential to life and the second chance romance trope is one of the best, I really enjoyed this book. I would have given it a higher rating if the author hadn’t chosen to take the easy way out and make the spouses of our MCs unlikeable as a way of justifying their infidelity.
Infidelity is not a deal breaker for me in books. It’s unfortunately a part of life. People reconnect or fall in love and others get hurt. But the way the spouses suddenly turned into awful people so that we can supposedly understand Alison and Daniels behaviour didn’t sit well with me.
I would read more from this author though, as I felt it was well written,

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Did not finish and therefore. I will not be reviewing on any platforms due to not finishing this book.

I will rate 1 star for the purpose of this feedback, but will not be rating this book on any social media platforms or our blog.

This book and the characters didn't grab me at all, and sadly I couldn't finish.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to review.

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Overall I was enjoying this however it was a little drawn out and long, but the way the characters dealt with the relationships and the cheating aspect just ended up ruining this for me and unfortunately this made me overall not enjoy the ending as much as I would have if they'd dealt with it in a better way.

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This was a really cute book, it shows music is a universal language that we can all recognise and in this book it went beautifully alongside the plot.

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Such a great read about two people who fell in love as teens, lost contact for years and then get back in contact again when they have lived their own separate lives.

What will happen when they do reconnect?

I liked this story as it brought back some nostalgia of the mix tape era. These days it's all Spotify or downloads. There's no thought and love gone into them. Bring back the mixtapes 😁

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An enjoyable read. The story of Alison and Daniels who met in their teens and fell in love until Alison suddenly disappears without any explanations and they both make new relationships, but years later connect again through a series of music videos they start sending to each other the internet. Interesting characters who you can warm but also some who are troubled and suffering. Enjoyed the music thread especially found myself singing along

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I enjoyed this book but I think partly because it was very much my era and I remember having mixed tapes with these songs on so it was definitely a blast down memory lane. A different sort of story and I liked that but not sure that I really invested in the main characters

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Thank you for my copy of this netgalley, transworld! An enjoyable read that made me reminisce and think about the choices we make and first loves!

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Can't really remember much about this book, it didn't grab me but I did finish it, it was an OK read

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I love the premise of the book. As someone who grew up in the era of 'mix tapes' it is such an original and innovative idea for a book!

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Love love love this! Everything about this book is absolutely fantastic and I will recommend until I can't recommend anymore!
Thank you!

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I loved the stories from Alison and Daniel’s different points of view. When I was reading Daniel, I wanted more of his tale, but then was disappointed leaving Alison’s chapters too. Great use of the music links to knit the story together

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This book took me longer than I anticipated (or indeed it really should) to read. Complete personal opinion, but I couldn’t grasp it in the first few chapters, however “pay off” comes at the 25-40% part of the book. I then read the last half in one sitting. I think it’s entirely my fault I couldn’t get into it at the start because I went in with the anticipation of this being “chick lit” but actually it has more intelligent themes and really descriptive language that helps evoke the particular time the author is talking about in the relevant chapter. Once I realised this, it really elevated my reading experience.
The book flicks back and forth from a 70’s/80’s Sheffield to a present day Adelaide, Edinburgh & London. Key themes of love, place and home are explored. Obvious other big theme of this story is music and I played the official Spotify playlist which accompanied it - as a fellow 6 music fan this is a great added touch!
Some fascinating characters; my favourite weren’t the main ones though!
This story made me question my own morals, ideas of right + wrong and true love / what goes into making a long term relationship survive. Would definitely read more of this author’s work.

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Unfortunately I had to purchase a new Kindle device and could no longer access this book. I will come back and review if I read this in the future.

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If music be the food of love, play on!

Okay, cheesy Shakespeare pun aside, I loved this book. It’s a gorgeously lush love story, set (of all places) in Sheffield and Australia, and our star-crossed lovers are Daniel and Alison, who meet at a house party one night in their teens and fall dizzyingly in love. Daniel makes Alison her first mix tape; they bond over their shared love of music.

Now, thirty years later, they reconnect by accident, and so begins a tale that’s all about tricky moral choices, the power of love (and of good music) and how relationships change as we get older. Jane Sanderson’s writing feels effortless in the way it takes you inside the heads of both Daniel and Alison, whether that’s in the 1980s or in the present day; their lives feel authentic and their decisions feel like they have real weight.

Barring Alison’s husband, Michael, all the characters feel well-drawn, and they’re drawn in shades of grey. But I was rooting for these characters all the way, and I was hooked from the first page. Play on!

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This was a rather mixed bag for me (no pun intended). I liked the music elements of the story, and thought it was an excellent example of how evocative certain songs can be. However, I think like a lot of other reviewers, I struggled with the modern day part of the story - watching the breakdown of a marriage in this way felt uncomfortable and cruel, almost. I understand situations like this do occur in real life, but it made it difficult to connect to or root for the central characters and their 'love story'.

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