Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

Was interested in the description of the book and really wanted to get into it but just couldn’t for some reason.

I wish I liked this but it just wasn't for me. I liked the music elements, but the story just didn't grab me - I wonder if I'm a little too young to relate to the characters.

Firstly I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. This book was very different to most books I have read, I enjoyed the time it was set in as I was only a year or two younger than the main characters in the book so could relate to some of it, I also like the way the songs were set out and I did download them all as a playlist so I will be able to listen to the songs again even though the book has ended.

I have mixed feelings about this. (Ha! See what I did there?) On the one hand, the whole notion of rediscovering lost love and connecting through nostalgia and music really appeals to me. At the same time, there's an underlying issue of breaking up a marriage, which is tough to deal with and keep the characters likable and relatable. Although their choices and behaviour are realistic, it didn't quite sit right, especially since there were children involved.

I can see how some would love this, but it didn't really work for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC without obligation.

An emotional second chance love story which I enjoyed. I liked the music added into the story too. Great character development.
This is the first book I have read from this author and I would love to read another book of hers.

A brilliant and relatable read. The songs were extremely nostalgic and enjoyable, If you're a big fan of music like I am then add this to your list!

Growing up in 70's Sheffield Alison and Dan have two things that give them joy. Music and each other. But circumstances pulls them apart and over 30 years later they have barely thought of those years, Dan is now in Scotland, Ali in Australia. But then Dan reaches out with a link to a song, flooding Ali with wave of memories. She can't help but respond with her own song. Across the ocean they communicate with lyrics but soon it is not enough.

OK this book is definitely a split decision for me. The parts set in the past are evocative of the time and immensely readable. A five star effort. But the more modern side. Well it drags. And it takes two likeable characters and makes them really disagreeable. So actually that side of they story for me is really quite boring. I struggled to finish it. A shame as the author can definitely write and in principle it's a great idea. Just for me, in the end, it didn't work.

Although I could see the love story in this book, I found the subject matter of breaking up a marriage to be uncomfortable.

I had a bit of a rollercoaster with this book. Initially, I wasn't a fan. Mostly because I'm not a fan of music to the same level as the two main characters, Alison and Daniel. Set across two points in their lives, one being as young lovers and one being in the present as their older and separated counter parts.

As teenagers and as an inseparable couple, they are unrelenting in their Sheffield born lives, in their obsession with music and this framed them so completely that I just couldn't connect with them. If music is your passion and it is an intrinsic part of your life and the memories you have made, then this will be a book for you from the outset.

BUT I'm very glad I stuck with it. The character backgrounds began to focus more on real world experiences, heart-breaking experiences that drove Alison to leave her home and flee across the world, leaving the boy who loved her alone with only questions.

In the present day, Ali lives in Adelaide, Australia with a husband she accepted to fill a void and a family circle of interesting characters. From Stella her daughter to Sheila the nomad and the crazy best friend, Cass. It was these characters that began to bring some colour to the storyline.

Dan lives his life of music with partner Katelin and their son. There isn't much colour here, the only light being the moment he reconnects with Alison.

It's a whirlwind from about half way through and from here onwards it becomes a story of love lost and found across the earth and how when you find that one special love, there is no comparison. All in all a beautiful theme.

This book tells the story of Alison and Daniel, who met and fell in love as teenagers, until some events (which we discover later in the story) led to their separation. Decades later, while living in two different parts of the world, they connect again via shared love of music and there is a definite spark between them. I loved the music connections in the story, although was struggling to remember the songs they were mentioning, I also loved the story behind their young love, and their current life. However, as the book went on, I found myself annoyed with characters and their choices, despite them being rather realistically presented and explained. But I think this is a book which could be many reader's perfect cup of tea, even though for me that tea was too luke warm.

A bit slow but a gentle read that wasn’t pretentious or annoying. Characters were written well and wiring style was easy to follow. I do love Jane Sanderson’s work.

Absolutely loved this book. 5 star read. The music references took me back to my childhood and loved following the story of the characters.

My friends will tell you that I am not a massive reader of women’s fiction, especially when it leans towards romance. Books from this genre have to have that little something different about them to catch my eye, and with Mix Tape it was my own love of music that made me want to read on. I come from the generation who would spend Sunday nights waiting patiently for their favourite song to come up in the Top 40, fingers poised on the record button on the stereo, so growing up, I was all about the mix tape. Imagine my excitement when I discovered that Mix Tape comes with its very own Spotify playlist (which then led me on a voyage of discovery of other books with their own playlists).

I loved the combination of changes in point of view and flashbacks that make up Mix Tape, with Dan and Ali each having a distinctive voice that you can see change throughout their experiences. The carefully selected songs that they send each other are a mixture of both shared memories and of where their lives are currently at, and this simple, yet heartfelt, communication is beautifully curated by the author.

As the story unfolded and long held secrets were revealed, I found I was really rooting for Dan and Ali to have their happily ever after together, and this led to a really strong dislike for both Katelin and Michael, even though they had really done nothing wrong apart from getting in the way of what I wanted to happen.

I fell in love with the entire premise of this book, and I will be keeping an eye out for more from Jane Sanderson in the future.

I’ve had this sat on my Kindle for quite some time, and I was excited to finally have some time to sit and read it.

When I think of my childhood, I think of music. My Mum loves music and I grew up to the sounds of her youth. There have been many times over the years when I’ve heard a song, have absolutely no clue who the artist is, but yet I know the song word for word. I find music inspiring, often using it as I write, drawing and pulling on emotions remembered and invoked. Mix Tape uses music in fusion with a love story between the two main characters, Ali and Dan. It’s a wonderful concept; a young couple, brought together by their shared love of music and then torn apart, who happen, by chance, to find one another decades later. Separated by continents and oceans, they begin a conversation by way of music; sending one another songs, both classic and more recent, to communicate their emotions.

As I read, I listened to the music. I luxuriated in the music. Some I recognised, some I didn’t – but I now have them all in a playlist in my iTunes account to listen to over and over. There is something so personal about music, the reveal of a song which means something to a person at a particular time can almost be like accessing their inner most thoughts. The use of the music here added a new dimension to the characters and a new dynamic to the story itself.

The story is told through the eyes of both Dan and Ali in a dual timeline; following the growth of their relationship in the late 1970s, picking up again in more recent times as they reconnect. As the story continues we begin to learn just what went wrong all those years before. My husband, who has taken to rather annoyingly reading over my shoulder at night, declared it to have shades of The Notebook in terms of the central relationship – and it kind of burns to admit he’s right. I did struggle somewhat with the moral boundaries surrounding their re connection and it provided me with a great deal of internal conflict.

What Mix Tape does so well is to build the most wonderful of romances between two characters based solely on decades old memories and music. It is some way into the novel before they actually exchange words, and I adore that I could be so sold on a pairing with so little interaction between them. It’s also an important feature of the book that the reader gets to know Dan and Ali and their lives separate of one another, and I really liked that the author didn’t veer away from the characters having to make some very difficult decisions.

I really enjoyed this book. Great characters, beautifully written and all set to fantastic soundtrack of music choices. Highly recommended.

Although I found this to be slow to start in some ways, it was such a wonderful read. There were so many song references that brought back nostalgic moments of a person or time - I even listened to some of the songs as I read! The main characters reconnect years after their first love relationship led them to separate parts of the world. It was engaging and I will definitely recommend this book to friends, it was so enjoyable and lovely to read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book.

I was really looking forward to reading this book as the description sounded great and I liked the fact it was about a couple who made tapes for each other (took me back to my childhood).

I was so disappointed as the book started off good but then seemed to get slower and slower and slower and I actually had to push myself to finish it.

A brilliant, emotive and relatable book. It combined two of my great loves- reading and music, beautifully. Be sure to read with a device to hand so that you can listen to the catalogue of classics alongside the characters.

Daniel was the first boy to make Alison a mix tape.
But that was years ago and Ali hasn’t thought about him in a very long time. Even if she had, she might not have called him ‘the one that got away’; after all, she’d been the one to run.
Then Dan’s name pops up on her phone, with a link to a song from their shared past.
For two blissful minutes, Alison is no longer an adult in Adelaide with temperamental daughters; she is sixteen in Sheffield, dancing in her skin-tight jeans. She cannot help but respond in kind.
And so begins a new mix tape.
Ali and Dan exchange songs – some new, some old – across oceans and time zones, across a lifetime of different experiences, until one of them breaks the rules and sends a message that will change everything…

Firstly, a huge thank you to the publishers for my advanced review copy of this great novel.
Mix tape is a novel that will stay with me. The writing was so beautiful and the characters were portrayed so well, I just wanted to know them personally.
The book really tug at my heart strings in places, but had me laughing out loud. It was a truly emotional read, that I enjoyed from start to finish

I enjoyed the premise of this book and when i did get round to reading it after a seriously long few months book slump i enjoyed it so much. The nostalgia of old songs and young love and a youth when you can conquer the world compared to adult life and its tediousness.The cover is not something i would initially find myself attracted to it was more the title and blurb and also being intrigued by what songs they put on the mix tape. Really good story for reminiscing and revisiting old songs and memories