I have NO WORDS??? This story is filled with a comforting depth that you don’t find in all romance. I absolutely loved the incorporation of music into their love story. Truly, this was beautifully and inspiringly written.

I absolutely loved this book, but I do have a complaint. This do not stop this book from being a 5 star, it's just a one thing I would have liked to see.
I LOVED THAT AMA AND ELLIOT ARE IN THIS BOOK!!! :D

This story follows Gwen, a self-taught violinist, and Xander, a cocky, better-than-you cellist, as they work together at "the Pop." Gwen has known Xander personally for a year but had followed him through his band "Thorn and Roses" for years.

Throughout the story we learn that Xander is actually a violinist prodigy and had been playing violin since he was 3 and only switched to cello when he wanted to step out of his moms limelight and become his own person. Xander and Gwen first start to have a growing friendship which quickly blooms to a relationship. One night she goes home with him and she just never goes back to her apartment.
The relationship starts to fall apart after Gwen performs with Thorn and Roses in Boston and U2 wants them to go on tour together. Gwen is in contract with the Pop and doesn't want to disappoint anyone and Xander wants them to say forget it and go on tour. They get in an argument and Xander just walks away to shower and Gwen ends up leaving their hotel room because she felt as though they were over and Xander had dismissed her. Xanders agent convinces him to block Gwen's number and go on tour. Gwen decides to go to LA from New York to try to work things out with Xander. Her boss ends up finding out about her plan and has Xanders agent intercept her and threatens her with a restraining order if she doesn't leave Xander alone.
I think the part that I start to dislike it just how fast they forgive each other and move past their fight. They are supposed to be separated for weeks and they just apologized and both agreed to move on with basically no conversation. I would have liked to see some better communication and some more dialogue to get through the issues.
Honestly other than that though, it was great.

This book was a no-brainer for me the moment I knew it was going to be released. I loved Forget Me Not so much, and I still can’t believe that these two books are Julie Soto’s first published works. I’m not one of the Kylo Ren fanfic girlies, but I enjoyed it just the same. I know nothing about the Pops Orchestra world, but my lack of orchestral knowledge wasn’t enough to spoil the book for me. Some of the characters weren’t fully flushed out to me (or not in the way they could/should have been) but that’s a very minor complaint. Xander’s parents were super gross to me, but that’s all part of what made him so complicated. The resolution felt rushed and wasn’t the best in my opinion, but again, minor complaint that would not keep me from reading the book again.

So steamy! I loved this book. The main characters journey independently and together was spectacularly done, how their wants/needs/purpose changes as they have grow and time goes by, circumstances change and people come and go is so validating. The inclusion of the instruments was so hot, intimate and beautiful. This is the new type of romantic expectations/standards I will now live by, thank you, Julie Soto.

I read a lot of romance novels, and if I’m being honest, I enjoy most of them. I’m easy to please–if there are likable characters, realistic conflict, and a happy ending, I’m sold.

But every so often – like maybe once a year – there comes a book that is just sooooo mind-blowingly perfect, I can’t stop thinking about it. Days, weeks, months pass and I’m still thinking about that book and its characters. Previous books that have held this title include The Love Hypothesis, Happy Place, and Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships. And I can say with confidence that Not Another Love Song will hold that title for 2024.

I don’t think I have space to list all of the things that I loved about this book, but the pacing was at the top of the list. Soto excels at building tension and every beat of the story was perfectly plotted, which made all of the emotional moments hit so hard. The relationship between Gwen and Xander grew in exactly the way I wanted. It was a little bit of a slow burn and a little angsty, but the payoff in the end was incredible.

I’m also always a sucker for romances that have a unique setting or premise, so I loved the fact that Not Another Love Song took place in the world of classical music. Soto made sure that no detail was missed, to the point where I felt like the music was coming off the page.

I already know this book will be on a lot of ‘Best of 2024’ lists (it’s 100% on mine), so do yourself a favor and pick it up now. I guarantee you’ll love it!

Not Another Love Song is out now. Thanks to Forever and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m having a hard time reviewing this book because the beginning was 5 stars for me, but the ending went downhill.
I had a great time at the start, the tension between the main characters and the external plot outside of the relationship was interesting to me.
I had someone tell me this read like 1D fanfic and I did get that at times. There were some moments where I got secondhand embarrassment. If I were hanging out with famous people you would have to torture out of me that I knew obscure details about their personal lives, and Gwen was out here giving that information away for nothing.
I think the real reason I had to drop this down to three stars is because I think the MCs, especially Gwen, made some really annoying decisions towards the end of the book. I don’t want to give anything away but the ending seemed really naive and stupid to me.

THAT BEING SAID,
I still trust Julie and she will now be an auto buy author for me even though this did not hit nearly as well as Forget Me Not.

Not Another Love Song really showcases how much Julie Soto has leveled up her writing. I enjoyed Forget Me Not, but I absolutely loved Not Another Love Song. There's just the right balance of humor, heartache, and depth of character that I devour. It has a fantastic formula of rivals to lovers, found family, and a full cast of well fleshed out characters. And the spice? Holy smokes that cello scene lives rent free in my head! If you're looking for a well rounded contemporary romance with a cocky rock star book boyfriend & a sassy level headed female lead, look no further!

This book was a piece of art. It belongs in a museum. Classes should be created in college for this. Julie's writing should be talked about, studied, and celebrated. I am in love.

Like, just thinking about how much I love this book my tongue gets tied. It was beautiful. It was mesmerizing. The parts with Gwen and Xander playing their instruments? It just spoke to me on another level. And then both of them together??? Aghhhh, I need more of them. It's a love story that everyone needs to read. It should be a classic.

Julie Soto's writing is mesmerizing and sensual. The harmony she crafts in this book by creating such an atmospheric experience of music and emotions was sensational. The romance was refreshing but the writing is the real star and I cannot wait to see what other symphonies Soto creates for us next!

Not Another Love Song was my first Julie Soto book & I loved it! It was so steamy and the chemistry was off the charts. I also found it relatable as someone who lives in New York City and works in the theatre industry.

Some may think it's unrealistic that Gwen becomes first chair for publicity sake, but shady stuff like this happens all of the time.

I am looking forward to reading Forget Me Not and am so thankful I received this E-Arc.

3 ⭐️

This book had me in a chokehold at the start. I WAS EATING THIS UP. I have never read a book with music intertwined in this way and as a music nerd, I LOVED IT. I could feel the tension between our characters and was living for it. Then, we break the tension with spice pretty early on and that's when you started losing me. In my opinion, there's too much spice to just have spice in this book. I was skipping over many scenes towards the end of the book because I couldn't take it anymore. It was very obvious from the start which characters to watch out for and what they would do, so when things started going south I wasn't surprised at all. Alex (our MMC) got on my nerves as the book went on and I think I fell out of love with him (lol). Overall, you had me in the beginning and slowly started to lose me as the book went on.

To be fully transparent: I received an e-arc that I soft DNF'd because I was feeling a bit slumpy. I then decided to pick this up on audio around a month later where I completed the book.

thank you netgalley for the arc 💓

I would like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Xander is my new love, oh my god. Julie Soto, I don't know how you did it, but Xander from the very start was >>>>

I was so excited to see Ama, Elliot and Renee so early on in the book, really wasn't expecting that. A nice surprise, and the book got even better after that.

We follow Gwen, a violinist, and sometimes we get a peek from how Xander is feeling in his POVs. I needed more of his POVs, they were SO GOOD.

This book was kinda rivals-to-lovers, but also not? Regardless, they were pining for each other, and I was living for it.

The almost-ending didn't hit for me, I wasn't too big a fan of the "grand gesture" and the story surrounding it, but the true ending made up for it, adorable!

Some of the side characters felt very fleshed out, like Jacob, Mabel, and Declan, others not so much, like Jeremy, Mei, and Diana. However, that did not take away from my enjoyment of this book.

Thank you to Julie Soto for writing this, and I am very much looking forward to her next work.

I really enjoyed the flow and tension towards the beginning. They had good chemistry with a little slow burn. I did think the end was a little forgettable just in the sense after the 3rd act breakup I couldn't remember where the pieces fell. Good chargers, fun writing

I cannot believe that there is no warning until you open this book that it’s basically fan fiction for Reylo. I don’t really know why this is a thing people keep approving, and I feel tricked for thinking it was something normal , but now I look at the cover and all I see is Adam Driver who has never once exuded sex appeal to me. I know there IS a market for them together. I know people ship them. I know people think Adam Drive did sexy. But for those of us who don’t, could we get some warning somewhere within the summary that it’s just more Kylo Ren and Rey Starwars characters fan fiction.

I really enjoyed these two characters and how they are together when they play. I will say pacing for this started to be a struggle for me at parts of this book. Some things felt slow and others felt rushed. Overall I really loved the characters and the writing style.

This book was adorable! I loved the characters, the story line and the love story. I only have it 4 starts because the conflict at the end felt far too severe for them to bounce back that quickly. But overall I will be recommending this book to friends!

As always, I love Julie’s writing! It’s so easily readable and I adore her snappy dialogue. And this was definitely a quick read.

That being said, I don’t think this book is the best she has to offer by a long shot. I did enjoy it and it overall left me feeling happy, but the second half was harder for me to get through. I wish there had been a bit more build up between them. I think it makes a lot of sense that this was the first thing she tried to publish, but I think she’s going to get better and better from here.

This was a fresh take on 2 of my favorite romance tropes-enemies to lovers and celebrity romance. I really enjoyed the overall story and am excited to read more from Julie Soto. I knocked it down 1 star only because a lot of the musical references were lost on me. I know nothing of that area! But for that same reason I think this would be a 5 star read for a musician or someone more familiar with music and composition. This one is spicy!

I'M TIRED OF TRADITIONALLY PUBLISHED REYLO FANFICTION! THERE - I SAID IT!!

I honestly forget the main girl's name in this book even though it's said about 200 times because I just didn't feel like listening to her (was it Gwen? I think so). And don't get me started on Alex- I mean Xander- Thorne. BOOOOOO!! TOMATO TOMATO!!

This couple was so cringey to watch interact, and they were both incredibly annoying. There is absolutely no way they would work together in real life. Xander is so controlling without realizing it, and he is also so controlled by others that it makes him pathetic to watch when he's telling people what to do. And the fact he is always late just because he knows he can be? Ugly behavior. Gwen needs to be more confident because every single person pushes her over (and I say that as someone who is not super confident).

I've heard Julie Soto's first book is way better than this one, but I'm not sure if I can even give it a try. This one was just so tiring and so bad.

Not Another Love Song is a vibrant, passionate romance centered around two musical prodigies, Gwen Jackson and Xander Thorne, whose tumultuous journey from rivals to lovers is set against the backdrop of the competitive world of classical music. Gwen, a talented violinist from a modest background, and Xander, a cellist born into musical royalty, clash over a coveted role in their orchestra, but their mutual respect for each other’s talent and undeniable chemistry make their romance impossible to resist.

Julie Soto masterfully weaves music into the fabric of the characters’ lives, making it more than a backdrop but a language through which Gwen and Xander communicate their desires and vulnerabilities. The book delves into themes of ambition, self-doubt, and the complex dynamics of relationships, all while maintaining a slow-burn tension that makes the eventual romance feel earned and electrifying.

The characters, while flawed, are relatable. Gwen’s insecurities and Xander’s arrogance create friction that makes their romantic development feel authentic. Though some elements, like the depiction of the music industry, may stretch believability, the emotional resonance and sizzling chemistry between the leads more than compensate.

Overall, Not Another Love Song delivers a beautifully told romance that blends heart, heat, and harmony, making it an engaging read for fans of contemporary romance with a musical twist.