Julie Soto has seriously outdone herself with this one. I adored this story so much and loved how they played music together. The battles of playing each other music and the fact that both can pick up an instrument and play. This needs to be a must-read for everyone.

Tropes:
-Dual POV
-Violin X Cello
-Family Drama
-Rivals to Lovers

I was such a big fan of Forget Me Not, so I was very excited for this one. As with the previous title, it's tender and steamy, with lots of sexual tension. The chemistry between the two MC's was swoony and gave me lots of feels. I love a brooding, grumpy MMC, and Alex delivered here. I loved Gwen's passion and determination for her music. I loved the connection between their music and the progression of their attraction and feelings or each other. This one does take a little bit to get going, but once it does it's so good! The book touches on several popular tropes, including rivals to lovers, he falls first, and workplace romance. I would recommend this title to fans of Ali Hazelwood.

Not Another Love Song is my first Julie Soto and since everyone raved about her previous book I had high hopes for this one.

Xander Thorne and Gwen Jackson play in the Manhattan Pops orchestra, they are rivals but when Gwen gets a promotion their chemistry explodes. I enjoyed the mutual pining, the orchestra element -which is something I don’t know anything about- was interesting and their steam was on point.

I appreciated the author’s candor on this being Reylo fanfic or I would have been a bit annoyed at how similar it was. I was annoyed by how naive Gwen was with relation to the orchestra owners, I wanted to shake her. I wanted Xander to realize he was the same as Alex sooner and the miscommunication ending felt rushed.

Overall, I would recommend it for anyone looking for a low stress easy read with a bit of angst and medium steam.

1 ☆ and the most overrated book of the summer goes to… not another love song! i’m convinced i read a different book than everyone else because what was this? this book is unfortunately everything i dislike in a romance book mixed together, which is a shame because it had such a beautiful cover. understandably, this book originated from a fanfiction, but when i’m reading an actual published book, i don’t want it to read like one. the thing about fanfiction is that you’re choosing to read a story because you already know and love the characters. there doesn’t *have* to be any strong characterization or relationship development because people are reading it for the fandom. with an actual novel, this simply doesn’t work because these are new characters and a new story. i’ve seen other reviewers say it, but this should have remained as an ao3 story; it did not translate well into a novel at all. the pacing of the relationship went way too fast and i didn’t see a reason for these characters to fall in love. in the beginning, xander hates gwen for (quite pathetic) reasons and insults her talent as a musician constantly. he even tells her that the only reason she was promoted because she would “make a pretty face for the brochure.” (ew). then we we enter his pov, he’s suddenly head over heels about her? after only having rude interactions with her? and she likes him too? absolutely not. this was laughably bad and so corny. i know this was a star wars fanfiction, but wow, some of the descriptions and dialogues felt straight out of a 2013 harry styles fanfiction. also, couldn’t believe in the year 2024, the love interest said he turned one of his exes into a lesbian. i don’t give one stars often, but this book is deserving of it. the only redeeming qualities were the nyc setting, the fact that there was a puerto rican side character (#representation), and that it was a fairly quick read. if you’re looking for a good romance, this is not the book to read.

i love the premise for this book it felt unique!! the characters were easy to like and i love how music brought them together!!

Not Another Love Song is a fun, low-stakes romance.

The characters felt a bit one-dimension to me – Gwen, Alex/Xander, Nathan, Ava, etc. I did enjoy Mabel and her relationships with others; those relationships felt complex and interesting.

Three out of five stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and Forever, for the ARC.

Thank you to Julie Soto, Forever, and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

First, can we give a round of applause to the cover artist for capturing THAT SCENE because DAMN!

Never in my life have I wanted to learn how to play an instrument as bad as I did after reading Not Another Love Song!

Favorite Scenes: The scene where they discussed naming their instruments literally made me laugh out loud. And of course, chapter 10's cello scene - MY GOD THE CELLO SCENE!

Favorite Quote: "Just because you're good at something doesn't mean you have to do it for the rest of your life."

You should read this book if you love: Rivals to lovers. Grumpy MMCs that fall first and hard. Passionate, tension-filled, music-infused romances!

✔️ Rivals to Lovers
✔️ Grumpy/Sunshine
✔️ Found Family
✔️ Dating a Celebrity

Talk about an immersive read! I have zero interest in orchestral music but if I could, would I literally step in this book and literally spend an entire paycheck on both a Manhattan Pops ticket and a Thorne and Roses concert? Would I also try to find Mabel's music store and hope to get treated badly, like when you go to that themed restaurant? Yes, absolutely.

I adored the slow burn and aching longing that came from both characters, though of course Alex's pining was so enjoyable (ughhhh, I love when he just likes her so much he doesn't know how to function!).

Some of my fave parts:
- seeing characters from Forget Me Not
- all the scenes with Alex and Gwen playing music together
- Alex's instagram post
- piling into Gwen and Jacob's apartment for a dinner party

5⭐️, highly recommend!

Steam 🔥🔥🔥
Banter 🗣️🗣️🗣️
Swoon 💕💕💕💕💕

Forget Me Not was one of my favorite books of last year and this one is easily top ten contender for this year as well!!! ⁠
⁠
You'll love this book if you love:⁠
🤩 celebrity romance⁠
🎻 orchestras and classical music⁠
🌃 coworkers to lovers⁠
😤 enemies/rivals to lovers⁠
🎶 romance in the name of music ⁠
⁠
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - inject this book straight into my veins!!!!⁠
⁠
Thank you so much to @readforeverpub for the advanced copy!!!

Do I think Julie Soto is really in touch with the relative prices of New York neighborhoods? No, not particularly. Do I believe Gwen could play cello while he was doing that? No, not particularly. Did have I have fun? Yeah, I did.

This is my first read from Julie Soto, and won't be my last. I really enjoyed the musician aspect, as I am one too. I enjoyed their relationship, and the general vibe of the book. It was a low stress read, but still had lots of tension between the characters. I am excited to recommend this book at work!

Ah man I freaking love Julie Soto & this book is just *chef's kiss* fantastic. First of all: yes, thank you for making orchestra hot😂 I played the cello for like 8 years and this book makes me wish I stuck with it. Doubtful I'd be playing in a popular strings band or orchestra but the nostalgia is real. I read this so fast because I just couldn't put it down. The tension between Gwen and Alex? 10 stars. The spicy scenes? 10 stars. The entire book basically? 10 stars. I loved it! If you are a big music fan and love romance books then this is a must read -- but you also can know nothing about music and it'll be on your favorites of the year list. Julie's writing is so good and really had me feeling all the emotions throughout this book. The character development and history is fully realized and Gwen (despite being a musical prodigy and completely unrelatable to me in that way lol) has a background that makes her so relatable and an easy character to root for. Alex (Xander) comes off as much less relatable but his backstory gives the reader much to root for as well and empathize with. As much as I was invested in the love story, I was also dying to know the beef between Mabel and Ava. There's so much here to draw you in and keep your attention which makes it such a quick read. You'll also see some familiar faces if you read Forget Me Not!

I highly recommend this book to literally everyone but especially people who like rivals to lovers and grumpy x sunshine(:

Thank you so much to Forever for the digital ARC via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Did I consume this book or did it consume me!? I absolutely loved it! I adored Gwen and Alex and missed them when I wasn't reading! I was hooked from the first chapter with the tension and it kept me hooked through the whole book! Truly everything about this book was perfect for me -- the music, the spice, the characters. I was even okay with the third act break up! Will definitely be reading more from this author!

Julie Soto can do no wrong when it comes to balancing angsty and soft love. Although I did find this hard to get into at first, I ended up really enjoying Gwen and Alex, but I think the reason that I ended up enjoying them so much was because of how music and the appreciation for music was woven into them and their dynamic. I definitely found some parts of this book to be unrealistic, but I didn't mind it as much as I thought I would because of the tone and writing.

This is another one where I came for the plot and stayed for the spice. I love Julie Soto's writing style and dual POVs. Her writing is engaging, the characters have a lot of emotional depth, and the plots are fun. I got a little bit lost in the process with some of the more technical components of the music/composition, but I think musicians will relate to this story on a much deeper level. Some of that went over my head and I just did not find it as interesting as I was hoping?

The spice was truly delightful. Which I totally expected. Musicians are good with their hands and rhythm - what more could you want? Those scenes were extra hot. I give it a level 3 on the spice scale.

As always with romance books, once the "I love you's" start, I step back a little bit. I thought the conflict between the two main characters was GREAT and helped me get less of an ick than I usually do once they admit their feelings. The conflict resolution was very well done.

I had a hard time with this one… it read a bit more fan fic than published novel in my opinion. I don’t have anything against fan fiction in any way but I don’t want unexpected fan fiction. The pacing was also really weird, like they hated each other and then suddenly loved each other.

I had to get the audiobook from my local library to finally finish this book. Overall, it was bad but I don’t think it was anywhere near my favorite read of the year either.

Finally, a love story for all the hot musicians out there 🥹

Gwen isn’t really sure where she wants music to take her - does she want to be first chair of the Manhattan Pops or a traveling soloist? When the grumpy hotty hot frontman of her favorite rock-and-roll string quartet starts to pay a lot of attention, she might just find herself reevaluating everything in her life.

I just truly will never get over the cello scene. I feel like Julie Soto captured what it’s like to be an artist and a musician, and to be falling for someone for those things and who they are as a person. I really loved this!

4/5 musical stars!

I was so fortunate to be selected last summer to read Julie Soto's ARC Forget Me Not which I absolutely loved! (Check that one out if you haven't yet!) As soon as I saw this one pop up I requested it and I'm so glad to say I liked it even more! When I tell you I DEVOURED this book in one sitting!! I thought l was going to start it before bed last night and read a few chapters... 6 hours later, it's 4:00am and I read the whole thing. it's safe to say Julie Soto is an auto
buy/read author for me. As her book will once again end up being one of my top reads of the year!
Who knew an orchestra could be so freaking hot. It was absolutely sensual, you could feel the tension and the chemistry just jumped right off the page fo
Especially that cello scene!! & I couldn't put it down. AND it's Reylo fanfic?! Are you kidding me?!! I loved learning about the ins and outs of how the orchestra worked, too. The New York City setting was perfect. And I loved seeing appearances from some of my favorite characters from Forget Me Not.

This book was HOT. The way the music was a metaphor for both the emotions but also sex? Incredibly drawn. I also felt like the conflict felt really realistic and not easily solved. That makes for a really strong 3rd act that had me speeding through the end of the book. I can't wait for more books in this world!

Julie Soto's Not Another Love Song is a super engaging romance set in the world of classical music. The story follows Gwen Jackson, a talented violinist with a tough past, and Xander Thorne, a smooth but arrogant cellist. What starts as a rivalry quickly turns into a steamy romance as they work together at the Manhattan Pops orchestra. With both characters’ perspectives and a rich musical backdrop, Soto delivers a story full of electric chemistry and lyrical moments.

The book really shines with its vivid portrayal of the music scene and the sizzling tension between Gwen and Xander. The spicy scenes, especially the one involving the cello, are unforgettable and add a lot of heat to the story. I was surprised to find out it was a fan fic, but I still enjoyed it a lot. While the romance is hot, some might feel the emotional depth is a bit lacking since the focus is more on the steamy moments. Also, if you're not into classical music, the musical details might feel a bit much. Overall, Not Another Love Song is a fun and captivating read that’s sure to delight fans of both romance and music.