Mix Tape was a wonderful, truly heart-warming story. It was a little confusing at first, switching from Sheffield in the 1970s to Australia in 2012/13, but once I got over this I saw how it really helped the story to flow and developed the characters perfectly.

At times, the story felt a bit slow and I wasn't as engaged at those moments, but the last third of the book was incredibly fast-paced and exciting so it definitely made up for these moments.

I'd be sure to recommend to my friends that are fans of young adult books and easy-going love stories because it perfectly fits these categories. I think I'd be excited to see a sequel to Mix Tape one day!

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I enjoyed this story very much and felt like I knew each character personally due to the description of them. I enjoyed the storyline. This is not my usual genre but in this instance I am extremely pleased and grateful for opening up my mind to something totally different. Thanks again.

I'm not normally one to preach, "back in my day everything was better"... except when it comes to music. I will definitely argue that it was. Streaming, playlists, snapchats and youtube are fabulous for instant access, but they are fleeting and intangible. This was never the case with a good ol' mix tape. They were a much more solid and substantial relationship breadcrumb. You always remember your first.

This story was pure nostalgia. It perfectly captures an 80s childhood musical journey: eavesdropping on older siblings new music; arguing with younger siblings about who gets to play their tracks; the super cool teenage years. All padded out with a kick ass indie track-list. Oh and there's some lovely-dovey stuff in there too. A love story without a soundtrack just doesn't have the same kind of beat.

Recommended: rainy day read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

Alison and Daniel are teenagers who meet in Sheffield in the late 70’s. They were first loves. Then some 30 years later we meet them again. Both with families of there own and partners.
Through the power of Twitter they re connect.
A book of love and heartbreak told in two alternating timelines with music from my era thrown in to give a well rounded book.

I love this book. Is it because I had a Dan? A musician who started as my best friend and who I fell in love with. I was 18 and he took me to my first prom. His band were playing and it was 1991 so perms were everywhere and we were just adopting grunge. I would turn up for school in jumble sale floral dresses with my ever present oxblood Doc Martens. They played some of my favourite songs that night: some that were contemporary like Blur and others were classics like Wild Thing. I most remember Waterloo Sunset. Then, like a scene in a rom-com we walked across town to his house - me in a polka dot Laura Ashley ball gown and him in his dinner suit with the bow tie undone. He had a ruffled shirt underneath that he’d bought from Oxfam. We crept into the house and into the playroom so we didn’t wake anyone, then watched When Harry Met Sally. I remember a single kiss and then we fell asleep but the love carried over the years.

When I think of Elliot I always think of those best friend couples, like Harry and Sally or later, Emma and Dex in One Day. Now I can add Dan and Ali to the list. Alison and Dan live in Sheffield in the late 1970s when the city was still a thriving steel manufacturer. Dan is from the more family friendly Nether Edge, while Alison is from the rougher Attercliffe area, in the shadow of a steel factory. They meet while still at school and Dan is transfixed with her dark hair, her edge and her love of music. Their relationship is based on music and Dan makes mix tapes for her to listen to when they’re not together such as ‘The Last Best Two’ - the last two tracks from a series of albums. What he doesn’t know is how much Alison needs that music. To be able to put it on as a wall of sound between her and her family. Dan never sees where she lives and doesn’t push her, he only knows she prefers his home whether she’s doing her homework at the kitchen table, getting her nails painted by his sister or sitting with his Dad in the pigeon loft. Catherine, Alison’s mum, is a drinker. Not even a functioning alcoholic, she comes home battered and dirty with no care for who she lets into their home. Alison’s brother, Pete, is her only consolation and protection at home. Both call their mum by her first name and try to avoid her whenever possible. Even worse is her on-off lover Martin Baxter, who has a threatening manner and his own key. Alison could never let Dan know how they have to live.

In alternate chapters we see what Alison and Dan are doing in the present. Now a music writer, Dan splits his time between a canal boat in London and home with his partner Katelin in Edinburgh. Alison has written a new novel ‘Tell the Story Sing the Song’ set in her adopted home Australia and based round an indigenous singer. It’s a worldwide hit and she finds herself in demand, having to negotiate being interviewed and getting to grips with social media. She has an affluent lifestyle with husband Michael and has two grown up daughters. She has a Twitter account that she’s terrible at using and it’s this that alerts Dan, what could be the harm in following her? The secret at the heart of this book is what happened so long ago back in Sheffield to send a girl to the other side of the world? Especially when she has found her soulmate. She and Dan are meant to be together so what could have driven them apart? Dan sends her a link via Twitter, to Elvis Costelloe’s ‘Pump It Up’, the song she was dancing to at a party when he fell in love with her. How will Alison reply and will Dan ever discover why he lost her back in the 1970s?

I believed in these characters immediately, and I know Sheffield, described with affectionate detail by the writer. The accent, the warmth of people like Dan’s dad, the landmarks and the troubled manufacturing industry are so familiar and captured perfectly. Even the secondary characters, like the couple’s families and friends are well drawn and endearing. Cass over in Australia, as well as Sheila and Dora, are great characters. Equally, Dan’s Edinburgh friend Duncan with his record shop and the hippy couple on the barge next door in London are real and engaging. Special mention also to his god McCullough who I was desperate to cuddle. Both characters have great lives and happy relationships. Dan loves Katelin, in fact her only fault is that she isn’t Alison. Alison has been enveloped by Michael’s huge family and their housekeeper Beatriz who is like a surrogate Mum. It’s easy to see why the safety and security of Michael’s family, their money and lifestyle have appealed to a young Alison, still running away from her dysfunctional upbringing. She clearly wants different fir her daughters and wishes them the sort of complacency Dan shows in being sure his parents are always there where he left them. But is the odd dinner party and most nights sat side by side watching TV enough for her? She also has Sheila, an old friend of Catherine’s, who emigrated in the 1970s and flourished in Australia. Now married to Dora who drives a steam train, they are again like surrogate parents to Alison. So much anchors her in Australia, but are these ties stronger than first love and the sense of belonging she had with Dan all tho About three quarters of the way through the book I started to read gingerly, almost as if it was a bomb that might go off. I’ve never got over the loss of Emma in One Day and I was scared. What if these two soulmates didn’t end up together? Or worse what if one of them is killed off by author before a happy ending is reached? I won’t ruin it by telling any more of the story. The tension and trauma of Alison’s family life is terrible and I dreaded finding out what had driven her away so dramatically. I think her shame about her mother is so sad, because the support was there for her and she wouldn’t let anyone help. She’s so fragile and on edge that Dan’s mum has reservations, she worries about her youngest son and whether Alison will break his heart. I love the music that goes back and forth between the pair, the meaning in the lyrics and how they choose them. This book is warm, moving and real. I loved it.

And what of my Daniel? Well he’s in Sheffield strangely enough. Happily partnered with three beautiful kids. I’m also happily partnered with two lovely stepdaughters. We’re very happy where we are and with our other halves. It’s nice though, just now and again, to catch up and remember the seventeen year old I was. Laid on his bedroom door, with my head in his lap listening to his latest find on vinyl. Or wandering the streets in my ballgown, high heels in one hand and him with his guitar case. Happy memories that will always make me smile.

So many times a song reminds you of a person and the words perfectly sum up how you feel. First love combined with heartache and shame leads Ben and Ali to separate lives in different parts of the world.
A chance book purchase changes their paths and the power of first love takes over.
Heartwarming and engaging the book is thoroughly enjoyable!

Lovely sense of place and time, but I found Dan to be so obnoxious that I couldn't finish the book. A second chance romance where both protagonists start the book married to other people is always going to be hard to carry off, and I don't think the author managed it.

I read this book months ago and I swear, I'm still suffering from my book hangover! This is an evocative, poignant story of first love that made me laugh and cry. It also introduced me to some damn good music!

Mix Tape is the story of two Sheffield teenagers that fall in love in the late 1970s. Sharing a passion for music, Daniel is the first boy to make Alison a mix tape. But then Alison abruptly disappears from Daniel's life leaving him heartbroken.

Over 30 years later Dan is now living in Edinburgh with his partner and son. Out of the blue Dan is reminded of Alison and finds her on Twitter. He tweets her with a link to a song from their first ever date in 1978.

Forgetting her role as a wife and a mother for a few minutes, Ali is consumed by the powerful memories that Dan's tweet hes evoked. She can't resist the urge to reply. And so as Dan and Ali share their memories and feelings for each other through the power of songs - some old, some new - a new mix tape is created.

But is this enough? Or will one of them do something that will change everything?

I adored this book; it is so evocative with a moving story that hooked me from beginning to end. I actually created Dan and Ali's mix tape as a Spotify playlist as I read along. Each song, including music from Blondie, John Martyn and the Arctic Monkeys is so telling and loaded with meaning. It's a beautiful mix tape and one of my favourite playlists.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this book.
After finishing this book, I'm left with so many conflicted feelings I doubt this review will do it justice.
First of all, it is really well written and probably for mature audiences, due to some disturbing issues and scenes. I really felt for the main characters Dan and Allison and for what they lost in the past.
How the author handled their reunion was always going to be tricky and for the most part it was somewhat realistic (I think?) yet I really felt for the families of those affected. That they didn't feel more anguish was pretty selfish. But then again, in real life, some people are.
The music definitely added to the storytelling, and you could really feel the difference in locations as it progressed.
3.5 stars

Ahh I loved this book. We meet Alison & Daniel - a pair of teenagers who fell in love in 1970s Sheffield. We flick back and forth between their life then and their lives now - the choices they made along the way & why. A story of first love & second chances but with a bit of substance & grit. This is the first of the author’s books I have read and I can’t wait to read more.

Back in 1978 Daniel Lawrence and Alison Connor go on their first date, to Kev Carter's Christmas party. It's first love in Sheffield to the accompaniment of a fantastic soundtrack of music (Elvis Costello, Blondie, JIlted John).

Switch to present day 2012, Daniel is now Dan, living in Edinburgh with his partner Katelin, son Alex and dog, a music writer. Alison is now Ali, a writer, married with two daughters and living in Adelaide, Australia. Then Kev Carter sends Dan a tweet about Ali and all the memories come flooding back. But how do you reach out to your first true love after over 30 years? When words seem too trite why not send a link to a musical memory from your shared past, in this case Elvis Costello and The Attractions' 'Pump It Up'. Dan and Ali continue to send each other links to music that resonates with them, music from their shared past and music from a time when they were no longer together.

Told in two alternating timelines we see Daniel and Alison fall in love despite their differences in class: Alison and her older brother struggling to cope with an alcoholic mother while Daniel leads a charmed life with a cosy loving middle-class family. In the present day Dan deals with his partner's contempt for his profession and his best friend's infidelity, Ali deals with her youngest daughter's surprise pregnancy and her husband's arrogant belief that the family will do whatever he decrees.

What happens when Twitter gives two people a chance to reconnect, to look back at their past and to think about what might have been? Is the grass alway greener on the other side? What caused them to separate so utterly 30 years ago?

After reading this book all I really wanted was to download this playlist and play it over and over again, that's how invested I got into the characters and their musical love letters to each other across the world. I just loved taking this journey with Daniel/Dan and Alison/Ali, reliving the agony and ecstasy of first love and seeing the adults they became.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Set in both the '70s and present-day, Mix Tape tells the story of Alison and Dan and their relationship. s
As teenagers in Sheffield, both bond over their mutal love of music. When Alison lives through a traumatic experience she up and leaves to Australia, crushing Daniel. 30 years later, now living different lives with different people, they find each other again via Twitter and begin to reconnect through the form of music.

This book should have been right up my street but unfortunately, I struggled to get into this. I just couldn't engage with either Alison or Dan. Maybe the concept was too nuanced for me that it went over my head but I couldn't wrap my head around the thought of upsetting your established life and relationships over a relationship that took place 30 years ago.

I can't fault the book itself, it's well written with fully fleshed characters. It also doesn't shy away for difficult themes and handles them sensitively and with grace.

I wish that I could say I enjoyed this book but I did keep looking at how much I had left to read which isn't particularly a great sign.

I would give 3/5 stars since I thought it was very well written but I just couldn't engage with the plot.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is so good that part way through I had to put it down to tell a friend about it because the beauty of it hurt me so much.
As a music lover myself, I thought the way that music had such pivotal and expressive role in this book was beyond perfect and the way it wove in and around the core of the book made me so so happy.
The author plays with your emotions by turn - at one moment you feel the youthful energy of our couple when they’re young, then you are left silently crying at the trials they face. And at the end you’re left with happy tears gathering as you’re left knowing that whatever they might face, they’ll be together.
The premise is that two soulmates were split apart by fate, but social media and music reaches across the other side of the world and brings them back together, in a manner that is messy, perfect and heart wrenching.
Recommended to anyone that enjoyed Eleanor & Park and (spoiler alert) can deal with a bit of cheating.

DNF at 21%.
I thought this was going to be one of my favourites of the year and took my time in feeling my mood was right to start. When I was reading the first Dan sections with all the descriptions of Edinburgh I was besotted as I love a good book set where I know. Then nothing really happens and the characters just begin to get less likable. On the other side we have Alison is Australia who I never warmed to. They find each other online after decades, and then start creating this mix tape/playlist via DMs on twitter for a reason I'm still not sure of.
The flashbacks to their younger selves was the better parts of what I did read as we see their relationship deepen and their background home lives.
As the links continue to be built it was the level of discomfort I felt that made me stop, particularly on his passages. He was hiding it from the people around him and it was the most blatant emotional affair I've experienced in a while. He didn't have a problem with his current life to cause him to start developing their relationship again, he has a wife and a child and is not unhappy. I just didn't understand the motives of how quickly they fell back into it, and I could see where it was going to lead and had to get out before I hated the main pair any more than I already did.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

Okay, so I am conflicted by Mix Tape by Jane Sanderson. Firstly, I do love a good love story especially when the story involves first love that has broken down for whatever reason and then rekindled as adults. I love that those people who once knew one another then have to rediscover each other as adults. I love that.

However, when that comes at the cost of other established relationships I find it hard to feel empathy with the characters. Yes, people are flawed and yes this can happen in real life. I think for me, probably because where I am in my life I know I would feel devastated if my partner rekindled a romance with his first love.

It is a well written book and Jane Sanderson should be proud of what she has produced. Personally, I think I need to know what happened with tertiary characters to be able to fully commit to the romance of Dan and Ali.

Mix Tape by Jane Sanderson is available now.

For more information regarding Jane Sanderson (@SandersonJane) please visit www.jane-sanderson.com.

For more information regarding Random House (@randomhouse) please visit www.randomhousebooks.com.

I really enjoyed this, it had a depth and intensity that kept me captivated.
Alison and Daniel are just meant to be, but it's been 30 years since they were last together and so much has happened. I love the way that the sadness and destruction is shown, it makes the whole thing more visceral and believable.
Would be amazing if there was a playable version of the mixtape available on YouTube. Fingers crossed.

First love, lost love, played to the background of a fantastic music list- there is nothing to dislike!
What happens when first love is re- ignited? Can you leave your family and take a second chance more than 30 years later?
I loved this book, I loved the journey the characters took and I loved the background music list.
The emotions Daniel and Alison had to endure were perfectly portrayed, who can forget the anguish of first love?
Highly Recommended.

Mix Tape is a novel about first love, lost love and second chances. Strong and well.written characters set to a soundtrack I wanted to play in the background.

Alison and Dan's teenage love story begins in Sheffield late in 1978. The story travels back and forth through the years, and the continents, giving us an insight into their lives. Always running through the book there is the music, the music of the eras, the music they've shared, the music that binds them. I loved the music. I actually found and played the tracks as I was reading.
I enjoyed the book, it was well written and the characters were well rounded and interesting. I don't want to add any spoilers but if you like a good modern romantic story then I wholeheartedly recommend this one.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for an arc of this book.

Wonderful story of true love amongst tragedy and misunderstandings, where songs cut true to the core to tell what was really going on. Loved it