I loved this book! It was well written, fun, interesting and full of a great cast of characters. The opening description of Billy firmly drew him in my mind and I just loved him. Margot was just as well done and I was so glad to see Billy’s influence on her at the end. Caleb, Poppy and even Lawson were great!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A few pages in I felt like this wasn't the book for me. At this point I know to quit when my eyes start to hurt from rolling. I'm sure a lot of readers will love it though. I ended up DNF after reading 10%. Thanks to the publisher and NG for the chance to try it.

This was a really fun read from the start. The characters were fun. The alternating POVs did not confuse me despite there being quite a few - because they weren't POVs per se but rather third person with a different focus. And the story moves along well. I liked everyone with the exception of the Axl who was a jerk from the start but there was no hiding that. And maybe Nikki towards the end.

It definitely reminded me of High Fidelity and Nick Hornby's vibe, but also different. And the fact that I know Baltimore made it more relatable for me in some ways.

I was rooting for Billy from the start, and of course Margot. I wanted them both to find their happy whether it was together or apart, and for them to also put the pieces of their family back together. Caleb was a genuinely nice kid, and I was so happy for how his story evolved. Also for how he and Poppy get along.

And while I wanted to really dislike Lawson, he turned out to be the biggest surprise of all. That and what happened with Robyn. But no spoilers.

If you enjoyed any of the Nick Hornby books or that style of writing. If you liked Daisy Jones (although not the same style at all) and the rock star back story books. If you like a good fun read that isn't too serious but with a bunch of fun characters. I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy this book. I certainly did and I tick all of the boxes noted above.

A quirky, charming rom-com perfect for the nostalgic Gen-Xer. Through a set of near-impossible circumstances, piano teacher Billy Perkins get a chance to meet his 90s music crush, drummer Margot Hammer. Fans of Emily Henry will enjoy.

Billy Perkins is known for being a happy guy. He teaches piano lessons in his apartment above Charm City Rocks, an independent record store. And he has his son teenage son, Caleb, whom he shares amicably with his ex-wife, Robyn. It's Caleb who orchestrates a meeting with Margot Hammer, Billy's long-time celebrity crush and drummer of the defunct band, Burnt Flowers. Burnt Flowers crashed and burned spectacularly in public fashion, and Margot's been dubbed a recluse ever since. Neither Billy nor Margot have any intention of meeting let alone becoming a couple, but when they become Internet-famous, they realize they may actually like each other (for real). Can this surprise couple last though?

Okay, CHARM CITY ROCKS is completely and thoroughly charming. It may even rock. This sweet and funny book is an ode to the power of music in our lives, the city of Baltimore, and to finding love and happiness again when you're 40+. I fell head over heels for Billy and Margot (and Caleb) and the entire cast of characters of this adorable romance.

It's so refreshing to read a romance with characters beyond their 20s, who have age-appropriate problems, even if one of them happens to be a rock-star! Billy and Margot were relatable characters, and the supporting cast was funny and rounded out the book perfectly. Norman weaves in music superbly, and if you love it in any form, you'll gravitate to this story. Also, if you've ever lived in Baltimore or know the city at all, CHARM captures the city's spirit so well. Beyond love, this is a tale of family, finding yourself again, and being brave. It truly had me smiling goofily as I read it -- cannot recommend enough!

"Charm city" is right - this book is all charm and all compassion for its characters. It was pitched to me as a romance reader, and it is a romance, but it's not traditional. Multiple POVs are represented, including unexpected ones. Reading it is like living in a world where people are nice to generally really nice to each other, even when behaving badly. I thoroughly enjoyed this and will be reading more Matthew Norman books.

Charm City Rocks is the story of Billy, a mid 40s music teacher and single dad. His son is leaving for college and is afraid his dad will be lonely when he leaves. One night they watch a rock documentary about early aughts rock bands and Billy fondly recalls his crush on a member of a band from that time. His son gets the idea to reach out to her and they meet. The story then revolves around their relationship, including the exes in their orbits. This was such a fun read! I loved it was about more “mature” characters and how relationships are different as you get older. I also enjoyed the perspective of the life shift as your kids go off to forge their own lives. There were explorations of many different kinds of love-romantic, parental, familial and the love of the city that they live in. I really enjoyed this book and recommend it!

Charm City Rocks (PUB 06.06) was pitched to me by the publisher as "a charming, hopeful, heartwarming romantic comedy perfect for fans of Emily Henry’s 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 and Linda Holmes’s Evvie 𝘋𝘳𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘖𝘷𝘦𝘳. I love this novel—it’s like 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘪𝘭𝘭 meets 𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘍𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 meets Almost 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘴." I couldn't click download fast enough.

I loved it. Standing ovation. Encore please!

- Billy Perkins is a single dad & music teacher with a long-held crush on rockstar Margot Hammer.
- I loved that both Billy and Margot were in their 40's.
-"𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴: 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵."* (*from ARC not final copy)
- Billy wears cardigans. My kryptonite.
- Margot yearns for that spark.
- It's an unapologetic love letter to Baltimore.
- By halfway through I paused to Matthew Norman's backlist titles on hold.
- Music abounds and that cover!?!
- Fresh and snappy dialogue that creates a brisk pace.
- The writing has an uplifting feel to it while also exploring the complexities of love, life, and family with kids and former partners.
- It made me HAPPY.

I will be purchasing a final copy for my bookshelves.

Billy Perkins is charming. So it only makes sense that a book where he might finally get a chance to be with his celebrity crush he's nursed for 20 years would be charming as well. An apt description for a book that also takes place in Charm City. I loved that Baltimore was practically its own character in this story and I really liked that the "whirlwind romance with a rockstar" simply involved them living a normal life together and letting themselves just be happy and content together. Now all I need is a soft pretzel and a record playing in the background and I'll be just as happy and content.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was very cute. I like the idea of a romance novel being a single dad, middle aged romance and avoiding some cookie cutter tropes. I also thought the love for music and the Baltimore neighborhood details was quite charming. Overall it’s not my preferred type of romance but it’s very sweet (if a little saccharine for my personal taste). I’d recommend to fans of closed door romances with charming characters like Katherine Center novels

Remember when you were young and maybe cool? Now you're raising kids, living a good life, about to have an empty nest, and you wouldn't mind having a partner to share the rest of your life with, but there aren't any on the horizon? Billy, a single dad who teaches music knows exactly what it's like to live that life and his son, Caleb, realizes that his dad will be all alone when he heads off to college, especially if he goes to his dream school, Stanford. Caleb comes up with a cuckoo plan to get THE Margot Hammer, a famous musician, to come to Charm City Music. His dad conveniently lives above Charm City. Unfortunately, he made up the entire story to get Margot to Baltimore and she leaves almost as soon as she got there, but Billy chases after her! Sparks fly and they can't get each other out of their heads, so them embark on a romance. Too bad Billy has to move to a garage apartment over his exes home and Margot's ex, a movie star, sees that she's happy through the power of social media and tracks her down. Even though all of these plot twists seem crazy, they're set in places like Farmer's Markets which make them believable and oh so charming. While reading this book you wanted to pick up a Hot Twist pretzel, a Natty, and maybe some strawberries while you were reading. The rock and roll themes that ran through the book were so fun, and no story set in Baltimore is done until a Raven pops in. This book is an easy read that is perfect for summer vacation and I would definitely read any spin-offs because these characters were all delightful.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for this arc.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House for the arc of Charm City Rocks. I’m not usually a fan of the normal and famous person love trope, but this book was so enjoyable. It’s about a retired rock star who meets a guy who teaches piano. It is about adult relationships of love and family. This is a very fun read and I highly recommend it.

Everyone loves Billy. He’s simply the most likeable guy who is always nice, gentle and funny. He wears a cardigan sweater just like Mr. Rogers – perfect for a SNL sketch.

Billy Perkins lives above a record shop while giving piano lessons in the Fell’s Point neighborhood in Baltimore. He’s a co-parent of his 18-year-old son, Caleb, who of course, adores him.

Caleb does something that shakes up his world. He manages to get his father’s idol to knock on his door. Margot Hammer is a rockstar who plays drums better than anyone else. Years ago, she was not only part of a popular female band but she was once married to an actor who was nominated for an Oscar.

Billy has liked her for years and now she’s chatting with him. This is his dream!

How can someone that has been in the high circuits of famous people have the desire to make an appearance at a small record shop? It seems like a stretch for this to happen. And then with the possibility that she might have feelings for this Billy character.

The book has short chapters and is easy to read. It’s a great advertisement for the charm of Baltimore which starts with the Orioles at the Camden Yards baseball stadium with those mustard covered hotdogs. There’s more. Readers can only imagine biting into a fresh crabcake sandwich at the Inner Harbor.

A big part of the book is about music. Billy’s big prize besides his son is his Steinway and making people happy with the songs he plays. And then there’s the love story that is simple, sweet and charming.

My thanks to Mathew Norman, Dell Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced book with an expected release date of June 6, 2023.

Charm City Rocks followed the intertwined lives of Billy, his ex-girlfriend, his son, and rock star Margot Hammer. This story had a really cute premise, but I don’t think it was executed to its’ full potential. There were a lot of time skips, POV changes, and some dialogue confusion. I would have loved to have seen more of Billy and Margot’s relationship dynamic. With this being marketed as a love story, it didn’t feel as if that was the central focus of the book. I felt like this book would have really resonated with me if we were more focused on the present, and kept the POVs to a minimum. There just seemed to be too much going on in this story for how short it was.

I’m all for the female rocker representation and men who teach their sons how to treat people with respect in Charm City Rocks!

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for access to this ARC.

A cute, enjoyable romance centered on a sweet piano teacher who is fond of cardigans and a badass former rock band drummer. There isn't anything particularly groundbreaking about the story, but I appreciate how the two main characters are both in their 40s. Middle-aged people deserve love stories, too! I was pleasantly surprised at the handful of chapters devoted to perspectives of secondary characters that helped bring depth to the book.

I appreciate a book that focuses on mature characters. Charm City Rocks is one I will recommend to those wanting a bit of nostalgia. Bonus points if the reader is a music fan. It is refreshing to see characters that have regular life situations behind them - divorce, children, etc. I also enjoyed the descriptions of Baltimore throughout the story.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy. This was about rediscovering yourself and breaking away from your comfort zone to take risks. I liked the musical themes tied into the story.

This was a cute read! Not my usual type of romance book but I did enjoy the single dad love story. The music touches were also really fun. Thank you for this opportunity!

Read an ARC.

Single dad meets his teenage rockstar crush, hijinks ensue. I absolutely loved the Baltimore bits and everything that seems to resonate from a positive non-nuclear family. The ability to co-parent without demonizing anyone? Sign me up.

Relatable characters except, without having ever been famous it's really difficult for me to imagine the motivation of a movie star ex husband and literally every time he was mentioned OR appeared it took me out of the story. Maybe too many secondary characters, could have spent more time with the two main characters instead.

Never really had deep feelings about any of the main characters in this book, except the city of Baltimore, and am very glad they made it to a baseball game!

3.5 stars
Billy and his son Caleb live above a cool music store named Charm City Rocks in Baltimore. After a funny incident, Caleb gets in contact with former famous rocker Margot Hammer, which serves as an impetus for her to visit their town. Then social media posts bring her back to popularity, and will Billy and Margot connect?

This story is cute and has the right beats (pun intended!). It makes me want to live, or even visit, Baltimore. It comes across as having a small town charm that I thought Baltimore was too metropolitan to have. I don’t often see the music scene as the setting for fiction, so that was a great element as well.

I wish we had learned more about Billy, our male main character. He loves the piano, wears cardigans (it’s mentioned so often that I think wearing cardigans is a personality feature), and has had a crush on Margot Hammer since he was young. Since Billy wasn’t fully developed, the love story didn’t click for me like I had hoped it would.

Some threads weren’t woven as well as I think they should have been. For example, the son Caleb is trying to decide between going to Johns Hopkins (close by) and Stanford (where he really wants to go but far away). Aside from the fact that this seems pretty low stakes (both are extremely good schools, just on different sides of the country), it wasn’t threaded through the novel. It was in a very early chapter and then at the end. Since it was the B or C plot, I think it should have been more throughout the book as the character(s) grappled with it.

Also, there weren’t often smooth chapter transitions. It felt sometimes that events were told more than shown. I think it needed some overall story integration. That being said, it was still a fun read.

There were a couple things that rang odd to me, and I’m pointing them out so I hope that they get fixed before publication. These are super easy fixes. 1) One of Caleb’s teachers calls their family structure “nontraditional.” A. Having a parent married to someone else is NOT nontraditional these days, or even 20 years ago. B. Educators would NOT say that. 2) You can’t get name brand shoes, like Vans, at Target. This one is a super small detail, but it took me out of the story. Just have Margot go to Famous Footwear instead.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.