Ashley Poston is a master at blending magical realism with contemporary romance and I think Sounds Like Love might be my favourite from her so far. Joni was a relatable, loveable narrator and I enjoyed seeing the world through her eyes. Sasha was such a great love interest and I loved how my perception of him changed from “bad boy singer” to something much more as the story went on. The setting was rich with detail and the supporting cast was excellent. The exploration of having a family member with dementia and navigating changing relationships was so well done. I think this one will be a real hit!

4.5 stars!

Ashley Poston wrote a masterpiece! This was my first book by her, and now I get all the hype 😊.

Ashley Poston’s romance novels are so unique because of the way that she weaves in magical realism into her love stories and it is that element of Sounds Like Love that had me anxious to dive into this book and why it made my list of must-read summer romance books of 2025.

It’s so thrilling when you start a book that you’re not only curious about but which sounds unlike anything you’ve read before and you can immediately tell that it’s going to be a good one after just reading the first chapter. The excitement percolated right from the start and then I just settled into the thrill hoping to read this as slowly as possible and yet unable to put it down because I was captivated.

I absolutely loved the meet cute Ashley gave Joni and Sebastian. I could easily picture them in the balcony of this small concert hall with him immediately sizing her up (wrongly) and her soaking in the fact that an up-and-coming singer was singing a song she wrote that became the latest hit on the charts.

I felt their connection before it even became apparent in their heads and loved their back and forth before they were even forced into an uncomfortable situation that changed them both.

Joni is a heroine I easily attached to and became a character that I really cared about. She is a songwriter who has struggled for the past year to write another hit song, ever since learning that her mother has dementia. She travels back to her hometown on the coast of North Carolina to spend one last “good” summer with her parents and hopefully get her inspiration back.

I appreciated her so much, especially how she was questioning whether she made the right decision going to LA in the first place, what she wants out of life now at this stage in her life, what her dream really is in life and how that’s possibly changed from what it once was.

Sebastian was a bit more of an enigma but I loved how his story slowly unfolded. The former boy band member with a famous singer for a dad, was carrying some heavy issues. He became connected to Joni, not only by their shared loneliness but for another reason that enabled them to hear each other in their heads.

I loved the moments when they “spoke” to each other telepathically because that was when we saw the “real” Joni and Sebastian because how can you hide from someone when they can hear your every thought?

While this book felt heavy given Joni’s mother’s illness and its impact on the family and their music venue, there were so many funny moments that took me by surprise but which brought some much-needed comedic relief.

Overall, this was such a lovely romance between two people who find themselves with a unique connection that helps them get out of their own “ruts” and really move forward in life in terms of their own careers, dreams and love.

It is so beautiful, one of the best of the year, and one I highly recommend.

*I received an advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

wow wow wow. i LOVED this so much. our fmc joni has anxiety (mental health rep!!!!!) and our mmc sebastian is dealing with his own trauma. this one honestly put me through a roller coaster of emotions as joni’s mother is battling dementia and its progression. being close with my mom, this one made me tear up! joni is a songwriter who returns home to help her family after meeting and kissing sebastian. she then hears a voice in her head and decided to meet up with the mystery voice… together they have to finish the song in order to get out of each others heads, but in time they start to enjoy each others company.

this was one of my most anticipated reads this year and it did not disappoint. i loved it so very much and it now holds a special place in my heart.

also side note, i jumped for joy seeing a crossover moment with clementine and iwan hehe (TSYS moment)!!!!!

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗:
Joni is struggling & burnt out as a songwriter as she heads home to be with her ailing mother. She suddenly finds herself telepathically linked to Sasha, a former boy band bad boy, as they both hear not only each others thoughts but also an unfinished song in their heads.

𝙼𝚢 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎:
OH MY HEART.

As soon as I finished this book I messaged my Bestie - sobbing. I’m pretty sure I freaked her out but y’all, my emotions were allll over the place after this one!

This book is funny, witty, emotional and romantic. It does involve the dementia trope of a parent, so trigger warning for that if you are sensitive to it, but personally I thought it was so heartbreakingly well done.

𝚀𝚞𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚖𝚎🥹

💕“𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚.”

💕“𝙂𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙛 𝙞𝙨 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙚.”

💕“𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙙 𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 - 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙. 𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙.”

💕“𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣’𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝…”

This author has been hit & miss for me, but I know that this is a book that is going to stay with me for a long time.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗲𝘁:
🎵magical realism
🎵music & song writing
🎵Iwan & Lemon cameo
🎵early onset dementia
🎵cozy, small town
🎵the best family
🎵LOL moments

Thank you to Berkley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I've been on a bit of a romance kick as of late and have enjoyed most of Poston's bibliography. To be honest, she is one that I've sort of been lukewarm on, as I enjoy parts of her stories (usually the supernatural-y parts) and find the rest to be lacking (usually the character development/romance aspect). I think she does a great job of coming up with "different" scenarios (how often do you come across romances that feature MCs that can hear each other in their heads?) but the rest often feels lackluster.
While I enjoyed this one, I can't say I felt any different about it either. It was cute and the main characters were fine, but I feel like their dialogue or *something* was just missing. My favorite romances are the ones where I as reader fall in love with one or both MCs, but I'm finding that Poston's characters don't draw me in the way, say, Emily Henry's do. I actually found that I was most drawn to Joni's mom's character as she navigates the early stages of dementia. That character and storyline were written with love and care, and you can tell this story means something to Poston.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for the eARC of this treasure of a book. This is by far my favorite Ashley Poston book I have read. The writing is beautiful. The story is fun, sad, and beautiful all in one. From the second that the story started, I was drawn in and could not stop reading. I went through the entire range of human emotions from the beginning to the end. I absolutely recommend this book to everyone. Ashley Poston had quickly become one of my favorite romance authors and this one solidified her at the top for me

Ashley Poston has once again just knocked it out of the park. Sounds Like Love is addictive, sexy, magical, imaginative and a joy to read. I read it in one setting because I didn't want to put it down... and once I finished it, I was ready to start reading it all over again. Sounds Like Love is a fantastic summer-y read that will make readers long to search out a music venue to hear live music as well as move to a small beach town for the relaxed and cozy vibes. Thank you Netgalley for the arc!

Ashley Poston is a great writer. I love how you really makes you feel like you are in the towns right these characters. This had such a beautiful message of living authenticity for you. She also did a great job of showing how you can do this while living with and through grief. I thought Jo’ni's parents were a delight and such a strong couple. Poston did a great job with the magical realism aspect of it. Them being in each other's heads. I really think it connected them.
The dementia aspect was hard, but Poston did a great job a showing it through a real point of view. I thought it wrapped up in a very comforting way, which I enjoyed!

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC.

i love ashley poston so much and this book is so quintessentially HER. this book is so magical and romantic but heartbreaking all at the same time.

i loved the setting this took place in so much. the best thing about ashley’s books is that they take place in such realistic towns that you can really put yourself there and be in the moment with the characters. that’s such a special ability and she does it so so well. vienna shores is such a real place in my heart.

i loved joni & sasha so much. they are so perfect together and i love how they met. the tension and the yearning was impeccable. being able to hear each others thoughts and be in each others heads the way they were made their connection so strong and so interesting. i loved how these characters bantered and built each other up without even trying. it felt so natural.

joni’s relationship with her mom was heartbreaking and beautiful. this part is what really tore me up, i related so much much as someone whose mother is their best friend, and with a family history of alzheimer’s this hit so hard. i could relate to all of joni’s fears about losing her mother. i ended this book in absolute shambles.

this is probably my new favorite ashley poston book and truly i didn’t know if she’d ever be able to top the seven year slip for me. from the minute i began this book i had such a strong feeling of knowing this was going to consume me and become my new favorite. this book is so so special and i cannot recommend it enough.

This was incredibly cute! The magical element really worked, the couple made sense and I was rooting for them, and the world they lived in felt real. I want to go to a show at the Rev. Another winner from Ashley Poston and I can't wait to talk it up to my romance-loving patrons.

Ashley Poston can do no wrong in my book. I love how she weaves in a little bit of magic into her love stories, but this was so much more than that! Not much can make me emotional, but this book did it.
5 glowing stars!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC.

Unfortunately I really struggled with this one. It reminded me of The Dead Romantics in many ways, It was a beautiful message of living authenticity for you, while also exploring and living with and through grief. Although Jo’s parents were a delight and I loved the magical realism aspect of it, I couldn’t find that spark I had hoped for. I felt like I couldn’t connect Jo or her relationships. But it wrapped up in a very comforting way, which I enjoyed!

Thank you so much to Berkley Publishing for my ARC ❤️

2.75/5⭐️

So sweet! 🥹 I did not love Poston's last book, but this was great. I liked the rock star meets normie aspect of the romance, the beachy setting was great, and the touch of magical realism was perfect.

Ashley Poston just keeps getting better with each book. I devoured this one and can't wait to read it again when it comes out. The story was tight and perfectly constructed. The characters were believable and it was a fascinating story.

Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

To preface, The Dead Romantics and A Novel Love Story were both five stars for me and were some of my favorite reads of last year. Seven Year Slip wasn't my favorite, but enjoyed aspects of it. Sounds Like Love unfortunately missed the mark big time in its efforts to deliver the famous Ashley Poston romance with a touch of magical realism.

We follow Joni who is a musical hitmaker as she returns home to North Carolina from LA only to find that her mom's illness is accelerating and memories are fading, her best friend is avoiding her, and the family music venue is closing down. Suddenly, a melody plays in her head alongside a man's voice, and turns out, the man is real and flies to Vienna Shores as they both have the same melody in their head. Both agree to use their musical talents to work together on a song, and in the meantime, feelings begin to bubble between the two.

After finishing this book, I was so happy for it to be over. I found the side plot with her mother's health to be extremely under-developed and it also doesn't help that this same type of sub-plot was used in Abby Jiminez' recent title (but Abby flawlessly wrote that sub-plot and continued to develop it and interweave with the story, Ashley would just simply remind us of it and would tell rather than show it). I found the love interest to have the attraction and depth of a saltine cracker, as he was so dry and bland. During the book, there was parts where Joni and him would communicate in their heads and the reveals and talk just didn't resemble anything of substance to the overall story or character dynamics. The setting could have been described more, the characters felt very forgettable and didn't stand out, and at points the dialogue felt cringey. The unfortunate reality of me for reading this book was that the pacing was on par for a romance title and moved satisfactorily.

Such a bummer with this one. I had high hopes for the musical elements and larger themes, but just feel like this kind of read like a chatGPT essay.

Will add review post link once it is up.

Unfortunately this is my least favorite Ashley Poston. I loved the concept of it and she always adds magical realism but I just thought the overall story was a little boring.

I received a free advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley.

This is my first Poston book and, my goodness, was it delightful. I'm not an avid romance reader by any means, but I do occasionally read one here and there as a palate cleanser when I feel like my mind needs a break.

Although I had read the synopsis, I had kind of forgotten that it had some elements of magical realism in it when I started it. That was a brief surprise to me as I read, but it was seamlessly slipped into the story and wasn't jarring. I think that if someone picked this up without realizing it had magical realism, they would likely still be okay with it. It's minimal, while still being integral to the plot, so even folks who stick to strictly realistic fiction would probably find themselves suspending disbelief and continuing on.

What I really liked about this book was that while it was a romance, it also had a secondary plot that focused on best friends and family that felt really sincere. It didn't take a backseat to the romance; they were both blended effortlessly together in the way that real life often is. As someone who jumps around between genres, this dual plotline really made the book stand out to me as a book that I could recommend to a broader audience than just romance readers.

I loved every character in this book. Every single one. There wasn't a true villain... in the form of a human. And, honestly, that was great. It might seem like it would reduce the complexity, but the truth is that a bad guy (or gal) isn't always necessary, and this book pulls it off amazingly. It was just a feelgood book the whole way through. Even when things were getting tumultuous, there was an underlying current of positivity and let's be frank... we can all use that these days.

This book is for the music lovers out there. It pulled at my heartstrings and made me long for a sunny day where I could drive with the windows down and the perfect playlist. Ashley easily encapsulated what good music can do for the soul and how those in the industry struggle with the art and fame of it all.

Ill be honest I was not in board with the telepathy premise in the beginning and I wish there was more of an explanation as to why it occurs, but once I hit 25% I couldn’t put the book down. I enjoyed peeling back the layers of Sasha’s character and getting to know him alongside Joni. I love the relationship she had with her parents and the ending had me sobbing over the what ifs of grief.

I think Ashley puts a little of herself into each of her books and you can feel the personal connections in these pages. The romance was good, not over the top, but the descriptions of the Revelry, listening to music with her parents and the piano parts - those really got me.

Vibes:
Slow burn
Dislike to lovers
Music industry
Small town
Family relationships
Career vs family
Memory loss

Ashley Poston is an expert at balancing her love stories with grief and still making you swoon (a la The Dead Romantics), but Sounds Like Love really takes you through all of the emotions. Set in small-town North Carolina over main-character Joni's "last good summer" with her mom*, Poston weaves in creative burnout, imposter syndrome, and good ol' fashioned death anxiety with ride-or-die best friendships and doing what makes you happy in a place that feels like home... all while falling in love with the (tragically misunderstood) bad boy of yesteryear's most popular boy band ripe for a comeback. Sprinkle in a dose of magical realism and you have one hell of a book.

* [SPOILER] Joni's mom is newly diagnosed with dementia and definitely on the decline, but the worst of it happens off-page towards the end [/SPOILER]

Ashley Poston just has the BEST magical realism rom-coms, and honestly I am ready to devour anything that she writes. This was so much extra fun for me because of how much I love music, so the connection of songwriting was so incredible! I loved this so much, and I am very excited to grab a copy to put on my shelf. Great characters, an amazing setting, and a fantastically woven plot!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read the ARC!