Plot: Gwen is a big fan of Xander's band, but doesn't necessarily have the same respect for him in "real" life, where he is the chronically late cellist who doesn't seem to know that she exists. But once they manage to connect and unravel some of their misconceptions of one another and make music together, she starts to see another side to Xander. Meanwhile, there are also career happenings in the orchestra and the plot weaves a tight web around Gwen and Xander, creating an emotional and vibrant environment for these two to come together.

What I Loved: Julie Soto's sophomore novel was so well-crafted and as a lover of books about music, I really enjoyed all of those parts. This book keeps the focus narrow, but in a way that still feels large, which I think can largely be attributed to the overlap of secondary characters shared by both love interests. I think technically Not Another Love Story is really well done.

What I Struggled With: The plot provided the tension, but I didn't always get the emotional beats the way I prefer. There were things we learn about each character's backstory where I can guess what an underlying fear or motivation of a later action might be, but I never quite felt it because it was more stated than shown.

Who I Would Recommend Not Another Love Song to: People who like books about music and are in the mood for a melancholic book.

this book got me into music the way the love hypothesis got me into science -- just enough to now find those jobs sexy af

Okay wow, I am blown away by this book. It's so touching and the music. I have never read a story this impactful before. As a music journalist, it is rare to read about this trope with classical music. I want a sequel now.

Another stunner from Julie Soto! While I didn't love this book quite as much as her first, I did still really enjoy it.

I really loved the relationship between Alex and Gwen and felt like the character development was really spot on. That is the thing I think Julie does really well. She builds really strong internal conflicts in both of her main characters and is able to really build on those throughout the book. Both main characters end up overcoming something major that is really holding their life back, and those changes are brought about by the strong feelings they have for each other and wanting to be with each other. Love really does conquer all in Julie's books, and I absolutely love that.

Again, I really fell for all the side characters and relationships in this book, and the easter eggs throwing back to Forget Me Not were phenomenal. I love when books are in the same canonical universe. I really hope we get a book about Mar in the future! She's one of my favorite side characters. Mabel was another of my favorites in this book though - the fact that she had a relationship with both Alex and Gwen, before they even knew each other, was a really fun plot point.

I feel like there could have been a bit more plot in this book. What was there was fantastic, and the tension did really shine through. But there were a lot more spicy scenes in this book than in Forget Me Not, and I'm not sure they had as much of an impact. They felt almost a bit too frequent for what was going on. Some scenes were definitely needed to establish the relationship and even some of the conflict (hello, cello scene!). But some just felt a bit unnecessary and didn't really serve to advance the story at all. I think a lot more plot could have been developed if they had been cut back a bit. Some more scenes from Alex's POV would have been nice, maybe some more flashbacks to his childhood and schooling and transition from Alex to Xander. I can appreciate that maybe Julie didn't want to do a lot of flashbacks to differentiate a bit from her first book, but I think they could have served a purpose here. Or perhaps more conflict with Alex's agent and Nathan working together. Something needed to be added to elevate the story beyond the spice.

I definitely don't think this was as strong of a story as Forget Me Not, and that makes sense given it sounds like this story was written and submitted to agents first. I will definitely say Julie's traditionally published romances are better qualified by Forget Me Not than this story, but I love her writing and it still did this book justice. It was an addictive and fun read, and I will definitely be looking out for more from Julie in the future.

*I received this eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I ended up not finishing this book after reading 50%. I liked the first half but didn’t find myself interested enough to finish it. Thank you so much to Forever for the ARC.

Love! Love! Love!
Am I tired of the Adam Driver mmcs? OF course
Does my ass still eat them up? Of course!
I love this book. It was sweet, steamy, unique. I am such a huge fan of Soto's writing!
It keeps me so engaged!

This was such a great book! I love anything Julie Soto writes so I wasn't surprised this one was a homerun also!

While I may have finished Not Another Love Song a lot later than expected, I was always fascinated with it. It wasn’t the story that made me not want to read, it just wasn’t the perfect time. The characters were lovely, and the chemistry was there… but I did wish it was more. Alex and Gwen are said to have such sizzling chemistry but I kind of needed more to believe it. However, their relationship was not lacking!

The story was great and Julie Soto is an author id definitely keep reading

I enjoyed this and the writing style, and the story was compelling. I am very interested in reading this author’s future work and this was a very solid romance. Would definitely recommend to others.

I feel like maybe I wasn’t the target audience for this one. I do love music and performing arts, but I don’t have any real connection to string instruments. This book delves heavily into the details of the instruments, the music and the inner workings of the different career types within that sphere. I think if you have played a string instrument or even in an orchestra this might feel like it was written just for you so it will have it’s audience for sure. I just think some of the romance of it all was lost on me.

The level of detail for me personally was too much, I think it took away from developing the romance. I felt like we didn’t connect to the characters as people, only their conflicting feelings about their work. Because of this I didn’t ever feel very attached to either character, or the romance between them. The only thing I can say was evident was they respected one another as professionals and had physical chemistry. The spicy moments were good! I just wanted more. I didn’t feel like I really saw much in the way of personality from either of them.

I finished it and it was fine. It will surely be a win for the right person, it’s just not going to be a stand out for me.

**Thank you to Forever (GCP) and NetGalley for providing me a copy to read and review. All opinions are my own.**

Thank you for allowing me to read this book. It was the first book that I read by Julie Soto and I really enjoyed it. I really love a story with a good, fully developed cast of characters, and this book had those. The main characters were really likable and the pace of the story was good. I will definitely read more books by this author. Thanks again.

Not Another Love Song is Julie’s Soto’s second published novel. I have read both of her books, and I’m very impressed by the creative ways she chooses to write duel perspective. Her unique writing choices make her stories stand out from other contemporary romances. She maintains her fun “fanfic” charm but her romances still feel passionate and intense. And the romance in this one was definitely intense.

The lead characters connect through their love of music, and they have different ideas of what makes a good musician. They unlock each other’s potential. They fall in love when they play together. It makes for a really deep connection. And that made the story sexy.

If you are a trained musician, you may notice some aspects of the story are a little unrealistic, but I don’t think it will detract from enjoying the romance. I think being able to connect with the characters will make this mean a lot to you.

There is kind of a third act breakup, but it wasn’t terrible.

I would say anyone who likes contemporary romance should try Julie Soto!

"Don't let anyone tell you what you're capable of. Even if it sounds like a compliment."

Sorry couldn't get over TWO people being so horny over playing a violin AND why are the villains essentially CARTOON characters?

It's giving wattpad sadly. The best part was the little moments that we got crossovers from the MC's from Forget Me Not.

cw// death of loved ones, cancer, toxic relationship, gaslighting

Thank you to the publisher for sending me this ARC!

I really enjoyed this book. Very lovely story and cute characters.
Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for my copy

Gwen Jackson and Xander Thorne
~Arc from NetGalley

I thought about this book for at least a month after reading it. I was obsessed and I loved every second of it. I didn't think I'd find the musical aspects that exciting but it was amazing. I loved all of it and I was obsessed with Xander's back story.

I will read anything Julie writes cause oh my god it was amazing. I need 100 more. hahahah

I really enjoyed NALS even though Gwen drove me nuts sometimes. Even though the male POV is limited--and I wanted more of it!!--Xander/Alex immediately drew me in. He was an arrogant prick a lot of the time but it felt justified. Gwen was often to self absorbed and self conscious to recognize this. The fact that he saw her potential and greatness and she didn't, really struck me. I've discussed this book with friends and they didn't understand that but I think it's something that you get if you understand music (or any "thing" that requires talent...you just know someone has "it" when you see it) and seeing someone who could equal or rival Alex really drew him to her bc he thought maybe he finally found someone that would get him--the "him" beyond the cello.

That said, I did really like this book and I have no regrets reading it. It probably would have ranked higher for me with more of Alex/Xander's POV. Soto did a great job of showing us what Alex was thinking so it wasn't as necessary to have more of his POV but sometimes I just like getting it directly from the source.

This book is a 3.5 ⭐️ for me rounded up to 4. I thought this book was good but the beginning was kind of boring and harder to get into. The romance in this one was good and equivalent to the first book in the series for me!

Forget me not was one of my favorite reads last year so I was super excited for this book! Overall it was a solid read. The blurb makes it seem like it will be a rivals to lovers but it lacked that a bit so I was a little disappointed in that aspect. I wouldn’t reread this book but I’m glad I gave it a try!

Oh damn this book was crazy. I've read Julie Soto's other books but this one I CANT EXPLAIN IT HAHAHAHA. I've laughed at some point of the book. This book talks about a cellist and a violinist fall for each other. Hot shit right? The book cover is crazy beautiful and I love looking at it. I can low-key stare at it and yeah you know what I mean. At some point of the book,I just think they were thinking of each other naked while playing infront of thousands of people and like... I honestly just laughed. LIKE ACTUAL LAUGHED. AND COME ON. ITS A BOY OBSESSED. I LIVE,LAUGH AND LOVE THAT TROPE. I really enjoyed this book and honestly can't wait for Julie's next book!

First time reading this author and won’t be the last! The cover caught my eye and then once I started reading the story I just wrapped me up. I couldn’t put it down.