Wow. I lovedddd this book and I could not put it down. I love the way the book started and completely hooked me with the story of Gwen and Xander. There was so much tension, angst and chemistry between the pair. I don’t play any instruments, but grew up in a family of musicians, and really loved the concept behind this book. It was written in a way that those who don’t listen to classical music or are not classically trained, could still feel, see, and hear and relate to the music that is being composed and played. I loved the entire cast of side characters, and felt immersed in their world. It was steamy and I could have easily read it in one sitting.

Thanks to netgalley and forever pub for this arc in exchange for my honest review!


Can I just say that I went into this book thinking hm how is she going to make this book 🌶️ and well folks she did! I really enjoyed Alex and Gwens rival to lovers story line! Their scenes together were absolutely magically. I also LOVED Jacob, everyone NEEDS a Jacob in their life!! So excited to read more from Julie!

.5 stars! I loved this book and continue to love this author's work. Julie has a great way of writing with such detail that you can see and hear the music in the story. I could hear the people and sense the tension in the characters. Great characters and storyline overall. Good amount of spice to it too. It makes me want to listen to more classical music!

Not Another Love Song is the latest from Julie Soto and one of my favorite books so far this year! I love the idea of a romance between rival musicians playing together in a symphony and Soto completely pulls it off. I loved the progression of the relationship between Gwen and Xander- from dislike to friends to lovers. The musical scenes were vivid and filled with tension (especially the scene with the cello!). The chemistry between Gwen and Xander was masterfully crafted.

Soto also incorporates grief, complex power dynamics between mentors, and the importance of understanding contracts. I really enjoyed the side characters and their witty banter. Not Another Love Song is steamy, filled with heart and soul, and not to be missed. Readers who enjoy Ali Hazelwood, Rosie Danan, and Abby Jimenez will love this book. I can’t wait to see what Julie Soto writes next!

Thank you to Julie Soto, Forever (Grand Central Publishing), and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc.

Only Julie Soto could make orchestra erotic. The tension was chefs kiss! I really loved how we got Alex/Xander’s perspective every few chapters, but it explained everything. The family drama and secrets along when the love story?! Everyone in this story was connected and I loved it. Special shout out to Ama and Elliott, so happy to see them

I fell in love with Forget Me Not when I read it earlier this year so I could not wait to get my hands on Julie Soto’s new book Not Another Love Song. I was ready for this romance to sweep me off my feet like Forget Me Not. Unfortunately this book didn’t have quite the same affect.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed this book and my time reading it but I feel like the pacing was a little off in the middle and I just wasn’t as hooked as I was with the first book I read by this author.

I do think it’ll be widely loved and I will definitely read all of her future books.

Gwen is a violinist with a bit of imposter syndrome. She has a spot in the Manhattan Pops and is thankful for the opportunity to make a living doing what she loves. Enter Xander Thorne, the arrogant and often inconsiderate cellist of Gwen’s favorite band, Thorne and Roses. He has joined the Manhattan Pops and immediately becomes Gwen’s enemy/rival. Things change quickly when Gwen and Xander realize that they play music beautifully together.

This book was a page turner, and I found the world of professional musicians fascinating. Julie Soto did an amazing job making the music world accessible to someone with little to no music knowledge. Do I want to go see a live orchestra after reading this book? YES! Will I be paying particular attention to the first violinist and who they have in their direct line of sight? Also YES!

While I usually love enemies-to-lovers, I didn’t completely buy into this love story. For a while, I felt like Xander only liked Gwen because she played music beautifully and she only liked him because he liked her. I did eventually come around, and I thought the ending was adorable.

Thank you to NetGalley, Forever (Grand Central Publishing), and Julie Soto for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4/5 stars.
This books was one of the most sensual romances I’ve read. The music component really heated things up. The characters were complex and well developed and the plot was engaging. The only critique I have is the third act break up and how quickly that seemed to be resolved.

Julie Soto has done it again!
This story is for all of those people who sat in practice and stared across the sections at a mysterious hottie. The way in which music is incorporated into the story is a true love letter to everyone who has gotten chills
while listening to a cord progression. The invisible string (thank you taylor swift) that ties these characters together is so beautiful and leaves you giddy.

SPECTACULAR book! This is one of my favorite reads so far this year! This story is so beautifully written, it flows perfectly, like the music written into the pages! The premise is a unique thing that I haven’t seen in a romance story, so it doesn’t feel overly “tropey.”

I truly loved the MMC, and the difficulty he has really expressing himself and his feelings. It feels *real,* for someone who is so gifted and hyper-focused. It causes frustration, but when he finally gets to the point of revealing what he feels and wants, you can FEEL his desperation dripping off the page.

The scene from the cover of the book?? HOT HOT HOT! It is SO good! I have a bit of musical background, as does the rest of my family, but you absolutely DO NOT need one to appreciate this book. I cannot recommend it highly enough!!

Julie Soto has hit it out of the park…AGAIN! After this book and Forget Me Not, she has become an auto-buy author for me!

If Julie writes it, I’m going to read it.
I felt like I could truly hear the music with this one.

The romance seemed a little shallow; it didn’t feel like Gwen and Alex’s relationship had that natural pacing I typically like to read, but I still loved these two hot music nerds making music together! I was so enthralled with this book and finished it in two days!!
The plot kept me intrigued and I may have shed a little tear at the end.

Reading about music and getting to remember what it was like to play in an orchestra was so nostalgic for me.

And

Um

The cello scene ?!

Listen. I already knew cello’s were sexy. Julie Soto has made them sexier.



[thank you NetGalley and Forever publishing for allowing this delicious book to grace my eyes and brain in the form of an arc in exchange for an honest review]

I was so excited after giving Forget Me Not 5 stars earlier this year. I will say I enjoyed this one a lot, but it really felt like it leaned into the fan fiction origins this author has. Which isn't a bad thing, but the tropes were a little much. The romance also just didn't feel as well developed as the author's first book.

4.75 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the arc.

I loved this book. I loved it because the violin and the cello are two of my favorite instruments in an orchestra, and because my husband and I have season tickets to the LA Philharmonic, I can totally picture the FMC and MMC looking at each other throughout a performance.

The story is about Gwen Jackson, a gifted violinist who currently seats as the seventh violin chair in the Manhattan Pops Orchestra. While performing at one of her side hustles, a wedding in New Jersey, she happens to borrow a cello from a member of the wedding party, Xander Thorne. Xander is the front man for an electronic rock band called Thorne and Roses, but he is also a cellist for the same orchestra. Xander has no idea that he and Gwen work for the same orchestra, but he's struck by how well she plays the cello, an instrument she hasn't touched for 8-9 years. Gwen is a huge fan of Thorne and Roses, and she is annoyed with Xander's dismissive critique of her cello play. But there are sparks between Gwen and Xander, and they both feel it.

From that starting point, the story continues with both Gwen and Xander trying to stay away from each other, pretty much not wanting to acknowledge their attraction to each other. This is the main gist of the story, mixed in with family drama and controlling recording agents / bosses. The description of the music created by both Xander and Gwen, and the impact to their senses by both the music they play, and their acknowledgement of their feelings for each other, is sensuous and hot. Very hot. Julie Soto's descriptions of the musical passages were very clear - I could hear and feel the music, while visualizing the impact they had on the MCs. It was very good. And very hot.

I can't wait to read more of Julie Soto's work. Her writing captivated and thrilled me, everything I want to get when reading.

I am the first to admit, I maaaaayyyy have a reylo-fanfiction-to-trad-publishing-pipeline bias, but I do not see a world in which this isn't in my top three books of this year. I fell head over heels in love with Forget Me Not last year. This is better. This is hotter. He is hornier, grumpier, more feral, down right obsessed with her. All things I did not think was possible but HERE WE ARE and I couldn't be happier.

Julie Soto (along with Ali Hazelwood) is on another level when it comes to pining men and the degree to which they are FERAL over a woman. This book was literally the definition of screaming, giggling, kicking my feet. I wanted to throw my kindle across the room and also inject them into my veins.

Something very important to me about this book is that it gives me the same feelings as some of my all time favorites likes Check & Mate and From Lukov With Love in the sense that its a book about two people so deeply passionate about the same thing and who are the very best at what they do so finding each other is like finally finding the ONE person in the entire world who understands you fully and completely. It's intoxicating. It's like they're speaking their own language and it makes me incredible emotional to watch these characters be seen and loved and understood. I think this is my favorite niche type of romance.

Can confirm the cello scene will change your life.
BUT the bathroom scene will also change your life. Justice for her.

I have seen Julie Soto reviews on BookTok so when this opportunity came along to read and review, I jumped on it! It did not disappoint!

I am not typically a grumpy/sunshine lover but this one did it for me! The chemistry between Alex and Gwen was incredibly electric.
I could feel it from the wedding on. The book connects the tension of the music and the romance together which I thought was genius. Alex and Gewn are two different personalities from two different worlds but they manage to connect through the language of music. They are back and forth enotionally but once they start their journey in the band they are in. Romance begins to bud. If you are a fan of romance books with just the right amount of spice with a plot that is worth reading, this book is for you; you don’t have to be well versed in music to understand the plot either. The music was an added bonus for me! I can’t wait to read more from Julie!


Thank you Netgalley for the ARC e-book!

You will never look at musicians in a symphony or orchestra the same way again after reading this! 🎼

The only thing Gwen has ever found solace in during her lonely childhood is music. Since picking up the violin at the neighborhood music shop and taking lessons from the grouchy but loving owner, Gwen has only looked forward towards her musical career. When she decides to play violin for the Manhattan Pops Gwen can’t help noticing to cocky, arrogant cello player Xander Thorne. He’s also the frontman for her favorite contemporary string band Thorne and Roses. Xander finally notices Gwen while playing at his bandmate’s wedding. After that their interactions at rehearsals are thick with tension, especially after Gwen gets offered first chair. After a steamy impromptu recording session Xander and Gwen can’t deny their musical connection. The only way Xander can express how he feels is through his music and original compositions. As Gwen’s star rises thanks to Xander, the professional pressures from the Pops and Thorne and Roses seem to want to tear them apart. Are Gwen and Xander on different musical paths after all, or can they come together in perfect symphony?

Once again Julie Soto has written another banger, literally! Not only is the musical romance hot as hell but the characters are deliciously rich and complex. Grief, abandonment and extortion are just some of the main issues focused on and that make this book so real and enjoyable. You don’t want to miss out on this one!

Thank you to Netgalley, Grand Central Publishing, and to the author for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

My heart is beating out of my chest, but I feel like the most truthful of times to write a review is immediately after you turn the last page.

This book, this beautiful, wonderful book! I feel like everything aches after reading it. My face, from smiling so much, and from laughing so hard. My chest, from the aches and pains that the characters endure on their paths to true self fulfillment. My feet, from kicking for so long and so hard as I squealed over this gentle and perfect romance. It was truly so effortlessly good, and so vibrantly unique.

This is a book that I want a permanent home on my shelf for, so that I can read it again and again, and lend it to friends so that they can be as equally wrecked by it.

I think this one was even better than her debut. I really enjoyed it. The chemistry, tension, and spice were great. And it’s very hot when our MMCs are honest about what they want from the beginning. And he wanted anything and everything and made it very clear. The conflict was reasonable and quickly resolved. Great easy read. Definitely recommend and can’t wait to see more from Soto.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was excellent. Exactly what I’m looking for in a romance novel.
I’ve previously read Forget Me Not by this author and highly enjoyed it but loved this one even more.

I loved the Easter eggs sprinkled in from Forget Me Not

This was filled with tension, angst and incredible moments between the two love interests.

I loved Alex’s character and watching him develop through the book from Alex Fitzgerald to Xander Rose and finally back to Alex.

I loved Gwen finding herself and the found family represented in this.
I read this in one day. I could not put it down and will be recommending to family and friends.
I now want to listen to the audiobook as soon as this releases.

4.5 rounded up! I was pleasantly surprised with this book! I loved the refreshing set of a musical rivalry romance. The tension was ah-mazing, and the rivals-to-lovers progression felt genuine and not rushed. The chemistry between Gwen and Xander is unreal, and seeing it play out through music had me on the edge of my seat! Although this is self-admitted Reylo fanfic, it didn’t distract at all from the story. To be honest it was giving more Twilight vibes and not in a cringe way (sadly, no vampires though). I’ll be keeping an eye out for Julie Soto’s books after this engaging read.