Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston was a sweet quick read! A love story but with a nostalgic/sad background. If you like Ashley Poston's other work (I know I do!) then you'll like this one for sure.

3.75 ⭐️

Ashley Poston did it again!! She put a lot of heart into this story about healing, heartbreak, and the power of music. Junie’s journey felt quiet but meaningful, and the mixtape element added a nostalgic vibe I really enjoyed! If you’ve ever had a song remind you of someone you lost or loved, this one might hit you the most. Lyrical and bittersweet in the best way. 💔🎶


🎶 dancing in the dark by bastille
🎶 brown eyed girl by jimmy Buffett
🎶 dream by Miley Cyrus

I read this over the weekend and finished it Monday morning. I had to make myself go to bed Sunday night because I wanted to stay up and finish it but alas I had to work in the morning. I loved the book. It’s just what you want from Ashley Poston, a swoony emotional romance with a touch of magic. The reveals of the twists are all pretty obvious in my opinion but like this isn’t a thriller I’m not here to be shocked I’m here to be in my feelings and kicking my feet and I was.

I am in a phase of book reviewing where I am not interested in summarizing the book. Read the plot synopsis, it does a better job than I ever could! (It’s about a songwriter and a musician who end up with a magic telepathic connection and write a song together to resolve it… plus lots of other feelings and side characters and emotional baggage).

Loved it, absolutely would recommend it!

thank you so much to berkley and to penguin random house for the arc of this book!

I am not a fast reader, but I listened to the audiobook of this in a day! ashley poston has a unique ability to blend comedic, believable romance with elements of magical realism, while centering family dynamics and the interconnectedness of people. I have now read dead romantics and sounds like love, both of which have become instant favorites of mine. i loved the relationship between our singer and songwriter, and found their love very believable and sweet. the supporting characters were well-flushed and loveable, as was the community of vienna shores as a whole.

side note, but I just love queer authors!! i adore the way ashley poston writes queer characters.

poston's novels feel like love letters to different interests, hobbies, or careers, and sounds like love was truly a love letter to music. for lack of a punless way to describe it, her writing of music is lyrical.

while some authors struggle to strike the right balance with the inclusion of pop culture references, in my opinion, poston nails it!

to be completely honest and a little vulnerable, I think I needed to read this exactly at the time that I did. poston intricately wove topics of dementia and grief into sounds like love, focusing the story on the many forms that love manifests in our lives, as opposed to simply a romantic or sexual form of love. i cried listening to the author's note; poston gives voice to the emotional complexity of these familial dynamics and the ways that we, alongside the characters, experience grief and change. i am currently grieving, like many others, and this was the most beautiful vessel through which i have seen these sentiments expressed.

i loved this, i need to read the seven year slip and a novel love story asap!!

While her last wasn't my favorite, I'm so happy to say that Ashley Poston is back! We have another romance with her signature touch of magic and this time, a plot around music. And, I absolutely adored it! I loved the premise of the story and how it captured songwriting, chasing your dreams, returning home, etc and I liked both of our MCs. Aside from that, we also had a wonderful small town setting in the Outer Banks & some wonderful family lore + love and friendships that both added some great depth and subplots. The romance was sweet and very heartwarming at times and there were also some really sorrowful but hopeful moments too as dementia plays a bit of a role in this story. While parts may be predictable, I did find myself tearing up twice near the end and overall, Iloved it and I can't wait for others to enjoy soon!!

This book has a soft, steady pull-the kind of emotion that builds with every page until you realize it’s wrapped itself around you. I didn’t expect to get teary, but the combination of memory, music, and that strange, beautiful thread of connection really stayed with me. And when I got to the end, I found myself smiling and quietly thinking-This is why I love to read, because every now and then, a story finds you and feels like something special.

Ashley Poston has been a favorite since The Dead Romantics, a book I’ve gifted endlessly for its warmth, humor, and unexpected depth. Sounds Like Love carries that same heart, but in a slightly different key. It mixes everyday reality with a light thread of magic that gives the story an extra bit of heart and wonder.

It’s a story about change, about the people we can’t seem to shake, and about the way music can echo through us even when the song is over. There’s something deeply human in the way it unfolds…tender without being too sentimental, dreamy without losing its emotional grounding.

If you’ve ever felt like a song found you at just the right time, Sounds Like Love will speak to you. It’s heartfelt, thoughtful, and full of that Poston charm I’ve come to love. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I loved Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston. She does such a great job at blending magical realism with emotional depth in a way that feels both whimsical and grounding. The writing is beautiful and the story itself is refreshingly unique—Ashley Poston has such a way of constructing unique stories and concepts.

I also loved seeing characters from one of her other books show up—it made the world feel richer and more connected without requiring any backstory. The Easter eggs from the seven year slip was such a treat

Highly recommend to fans of romantic magical realism and character-driven stories with heart.

Thank you NetGalley for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

The story follows Joni Lark who is a songwriter currently dealing with writer’s block. She hasn’t written a hit song in long time. So she is taking a break from LA to head back home to Vienna Shores in North Carolina to spend time with her family.

While she is there we learn more about her family and her mom’s health. Her parents own the musical venue in town called The Revelry. It was always the hip spot to be in town. However, her parents broke the news to Joni that they will be closing it.

While she is home she starts hearing a mysterious man’s voice in her head and a rhythm as well. She is able to conversate back and forth with this man who she has decided to call Sasha.

I loved when Sasha decided to head to Vienna Shores to meet Joni in person.

I adore magical realism stories and this one was so well written. It’s such a powerful and romantic story of two people brought together by some unspeakable force and I couldn’t get enough of it!

I also loved that each chapter was titled with an old song like “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” and “Closing Time”.

A huge thank you to @berkleyromance for the gifted eARC!

♡ Thank you for the free ARC, Berkley Romance and NetGalley. Thank you for the free audiobook, PRH Audio.

The Dead Romantics remains one of my favorite romance reads, so I was excited to return to Poston’s storytelling. While this story has a sweet premise and moments of charm, it didn’t quite resonate with me the same way. I never fully connected with the characters or their emotional arc, and I found myself waiting to feel more. Some fans may still enjoy this quieter approach to romance.

☊ Listening to this story via audiobook was nice. Narrator Patti Murin did a good job.

I always love the concepts of Ashley’s books. They are always so interesting and unique. But I always have a hard time connecting to her characters and end up not feeling like I love the story due to this fact. This book was definitely better with the connection issue, I loved her relationship with her mom and how even though she was set in life it wasn’t everything she wanted and was brave enough to change. The little plot twists and unknown connections were a fun added element and made you believe in the books magic even more once you found out the truth. I was just hoping there would be a bigger connection and spark between the two main characters, I always have this issue when it is told in one perspective. It makes it hard to figure out what the other mc is thinking and why they act a certain way because you get no backstory or anything. Overall it was a good book and my favorite from Ashley so far!

Another book that felt like a romcom movie! Everything about it was so pure and lovely. The depictions of grief and friendships and relationships was so amazing and well done. Ashley really does magical realism like no other. I struggled loving Joni and Sebastian but halfway through I genuinely loved them both and was rooting for them hardddd!

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this title to read and review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
I've never jumped up and down so much as when I got approved to read this title. I only had a week before publication so I threw everything else aside to get it done. And it was a great ride! I've grown to really enjoy Poston's stories. The romance is always run and I love her inclusion of magical realism in her stories. They give the plot just that bit more umph than just a straight romance would give.
I don't know much about the music industry outside of loving music so catching a glimpse of the song writing side was truly interesting. Joni Lark has what many would call the yips, she's blocked and despite being a hit making writer, she cannot get out of her rut. But her chance encounter with bad boy band member Sebatian "Sasha" Fell changes that all. When they have an unexpected connection after a chance meeting in a balcony, they don't expect to ever see each other again. But a supernatural connection brings them back together.
I really enjoyed watching the creative process the main characters went through to create their song. I will say it was hard for me to hear it, if that makes any sense. There was a lot of flowing prose in this story that seemed a bit like filler at times.
Poston has a way of transporting you to something magical, though. And that magic helps the characters grow and change. This book did remind me of her other title, The Dead Romantics. It has a very similar feel to it. I loved the inexplicable force that brings the characters together. And how they see how that connection would always bring them into each others lives in the end.
The pacing was a bit slower for this title. Lots of build up to romance and connection for the characters. Definitely a slow and steady burn.
I loved the chapter titles. So many nods to great songs that you can see mean so much to the characters.
There is a big nod to family and connection and found family in this book. About how memories are made and cherished and kept. How we take them with us and keep them safe.
There are some serious topics touched upon in this book, specifically death of a loved one and a loved one with a progressive neurological disease. Both were handled with great care and thoughtfulness.
Overall I enjoyed this one. It was a big slower for me than Poston's others books. And this book had some more serious tones than her past books, at least for me. If you're a Poston fan, you'll love this one just as much as her others.

Kiss tonight goodbye if you have to go, and tell yourself you will come home. Sounds Like Love written by Ashley Poston was so beautiful, raw, heart breaking, pure, honest, whimsical, heart felt, magical, and enchanting. QUEEN ASHLEY just wrote the most powerful and deeply inspiring book ever, in my honest opinion, this was my favorite book she has ever written, and it's honestly the best one she has ever written so far. I was so hyped when I saw Ashley had a new book coming out, and I'm so honored and blessed to have been able to read this book early because it was such a lovely lyrical love story. Over the years, Ashley Poston has become a favorite author for me because she writes the most heart breaking stories, but at the same time they leave you smiling so much that your cheeks hurt. I can confirm that Ashley knocked Sounds Like Love out of the ballpark, there's absolutely nothing I would change about this novel, it was just utterly beautiful. I know the cover is a bit questionable, but the words inside were just like the biggest hug filled with so much warmth. I had so many emotions while reading this beautiful story, I smiled, I cried, I laughed, I swooned, it's kind of hard to describe how I felt unless you read this book, so please do yourselves a favor and read this book immediately. My kindle and blanket absorbed so many tears that were streaming down my face, and for that I'm so thankful because my mascara was ruined.

THANK YOU TO NETGALLEY AND BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP FOR AN ARC OF THIS BOOK IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW!!!!!! BERKLEY, I LITERALLY LOVE YOU SO MUCH, THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART FOR BLESSING ME WITH AN EARLY COPY!!!!!!!

"You end up learning a lot about a person trapped in a recording booth during a song writing session".

"Don't put your life- your dreams- on pause for me. I would hate myself if you looked back in twenty years and regretted it".

"I was broken. My heart, my head- all of it".

"If you spend your entire life comparing everything to the best thing you ever made, then you aren't going to find joy in any of it. You will just be unhappy that they aren't like the original thing".

"Like a songbird. You seem happiest when you are playing music".

"You should cry as much as you want. It's not a bad thing. It never is. Grief is just a love song in reverse". -Wyn- Joni's mama.

Jimmy Buffett said it best- "no reasoning with the hurricane season".

"Good love songs made you want to fall in love. They held emotions, weight, and memories".

"No amount of success or songs will save the people I love the most".

"Your thoughts whisper in my rib cage,
your memories hum in my veins
I wish I could keep you
But the good ones never stay.
So kiss me in the mornings,
And keep me in a song.
Love me with conversations
That take the whole night long.
We are poetry in motion,
We are bittersweet goodbyes.
Your heart sings softly in my ear
and it sounds like love tonight".

Vienna Shores, North Carolina is the cutest beachy town. It was a little known in the world, except among certain circles such as the music buffs, and horse girls because of the wild horses that wandered the beaches and dunes. I am a proud North Carolinan.

Joni Lark is best described as poetry in motion. Joni is a thirty something year old that moved to Los Angeles, California to chase her dreams of being a song writer-, but she hasn't written a new song in over a year due to her mom's dementia diagnosis. Joni has written songs for the better half of twenty years, but now she feels empty, bone dry, and stuck with her song writing career. Every summer, Joni takes a vacation to the Outer Banks, but now she's going back to Vienna Shores for a month longer than she normally goes for. Joni's mom- Wyn has been diagnosed with the early onset of dementia, the verbal kind- the kind that took away your words, your voice, yourself. Joni has been keeping a secret that has been festering in her chest- Joni is afraid of losing her mom. Joni used to love concerts, they were her happy place, her home. In her own words, Joni was a slut for romantic overtures, but her love life is drier than the Sahara Desert. Joni is good at writing pop rock anthems about best girl friends and endless summer nights. My heart broke for Joni when she would talk about her mama and watching her life with dementia deteriorate. I just wanted to see Joni thrive in the music industry because this woman is such a golden ray of sunshine that deserves the best in life.

Sasha is a bad boy musician with daddy issues. Sasha is someone who existed somewhere in the world with a Santa Ana phone number area code. Sasha is a mysterious voice in Joni's head, his voice is warm like fresh cinnamon rolls. Sasha has brown hair half pulled up into a messy bun, a collection of ear piercings, a constellation tattoo behind his right ear, and bright cerulean eyes. After being inside of Joni's head, Sasha decides to show up in Vienna Shores, North Carolina to be with Joni after she shares that she's afraid to be alone after being surrounded by the diagnosis of her mom's dementia, because Sasha knows what it's like to lose a parent. Sasha's mom lost her life on her way to a music audition after being in a head on collision with a drunk driver. I absolutely loved and adored Sasha, he was the absolute sweetest character with the biggest heart, I mean he's been stuck in Joni's head, yet he takes a trip to Vienna Shores to comfort Joni. that's literally the sweetest thing ever. I just wanted to reach into my kindle and hug these two characters after their talked about their love they have for their parents, it was just so heart felt. The first thing Joni hears from Sasha is "she tastes like cherries" after their cute little kiss. Sasha and Joni will forever hold a special place in my heart.

Joni and Sasha have a melody to a song neither of them know stuck in their head, it's just a melody without lyrics or a meaning. Together Joni and Sasha are going to write a song together, but they aren't getting anywhere with the genre and lyrics, but they find their inspiration spending days at the beach and playing the piano at The Revelry. Joni calls Sasha- "that voice in my head" because they have full on conversations out loud even though at first Sasha just remained in Joni's head. Even though Joni gets caught talking to that voice inside of her head, she wants Sasha to stay as anonymous as possible. Together, Joni and Sasha keep humming that sweet and familiar melody that is stuck in both of their heads. One night, after listening to Sasha's heart beat after making love, their song blossomed into a beautiful masterpiece. Joni and Sasha are now writing their own lyrics, but often woven between the other person's words their beautiful love song has blossomed. Together Joni and Sasha form a song called Sounds Like Love which is an anthem for all the people who shone brightest in someone else's eyes, and is now a song from their soul. After making love, a song formed slowly. A song about a cacophony of sound. About a love that's so sweet and gentle. A meet cute in motion. A ballad in technicolor. About finding someone who understood you without asking questions. Someone who was at your side, singing your favorite songs, telling you that you were not alone.

Georgia "Gigi" Simmons and Joni Lark have been best friends since third grade. Together they drink Cheerwine out of glass bottles, they have sand and sunscreen crusted to their skin, and they sing at the top of their lungs whenever they are in each other's orbits. Gigi- "I love you, but you are just a little prickly. Gigi is also dating Joni's brother- Mitchell and she kept a huge secret from Joni. Gigi believed that a good love song could cure everything, I loved Gigi but this girl has a lot of learning to do. After crying, Gigi and Joni wiped each other's make up away, oh goodness, I wish I had a best friend like Georgia Simmons in my life that wiped off my mascara after reading this beautiful book. Gigi's energy is so infectious, it was so hard not to laugh and cry when she would. I absolutely loved and adored witnessing their friendship, it was beautiful to get a backstory of how they met and became friends. Despite the secret that Gigi kept from Joni, it was so hard not to love her, she was like a sister to Joni. They both watched Wyn's dementia deteriorate and it just broke my heart that both of these women had to experience someone so close to them lose her battle. I will never forget this book, nor any of these characters, they were all such lovely and amazing people that I will cherish for a long time to come. Sounds Like Love is the most beautiful and cherishing book that will remain with me forever.

Ashley Poston is back baby, and dare I say this might be my new favorite of hers? I had read and loved Dead Romantics and Seven Year Slip, but last year when I tried to read Novel Love Story I gave up fairly early on because I had so many problems with it. Because of that I was hesitant about reading this one, worried that Poston had lost her spark, but that wasn't the case because this book blew me away. It was full of the magic I've come to know and love from Poston, along with her tender and heartwarming romance, and her wonderful characters that add so much to the story she's telling. Once again she manages to touch on themes of loss and grief while also creating a love story that wraps you up like a warm hug and gives you warm fuzzy feelings. Having read the new Abby Jimenez earlier this year THIS is what I wanted it to be, and while Jimenez's book did a better job capturing the feelings of being a caregiver to a medically complicated adult this book did just about everything else better. It honestly baffles me that Poston isn't as big as the likes of Jimenez or Emily Henry, because her books are heartwarming and soul-stirring and really deserve much more recognition than they're getting. Hopefully this book will change all of that. Either way I'll certainly be shouting about it from the rooftops. I certainly plan on writing a shelf-talker for this one and hand selling it to whomever I can. My faith in Poston has been restored, and I am once again eagerly awaiting her next romance novel, despite the fact that I don't think it's even been announced yet.

Joni is returning to her small beach town for the summer to help with her family’s music hall. She is a songwriter, but has been struggling with writer’s block since her mom was recently diagnosed with dementia. But when she’s in Vienna Shores, she starts to hear a melody and eventually a man’s voice. At first she assumes it’s a figment of her imagination, but she soon learns that the voice belongs to a real person and once they meet in person, sparks fly.

Ashley Poston has a way of writing that feels so whimsical and romantic! The way she combines romance with magical realism is so poetic. This was such a beautiful and emotional story, and I fell in love with these characters and this town. If you enjoyed the Seven Year Slip, you need to read Sounds Like Love.

What to expect:
🩷 Romantic Comedy
🩷 Songwriter x Singer
🩷 Music
🩷 Magical Realism
🩷 Small Beach Town

Thank you to Ashley Poston, Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Read this if you like:
•music
•magical realism
•the best family

This book was so cute and heartfelt! I love the music storyline piece.

Another lovely story by Ashley Poston!

"Grief was a love song in reverse. The notes were still there, but they sounded a little different"

This isn't my favorite from her, but it was still such a great book, and it definitely packs a punch. The main character's mom has just been diagnosed with Dementia at the beginning of the book, and the male main character lost his mom as a child. The conversations around grief, especially the idea of grieving somebody who is still alive, is a subject that touches so close to home for me and it made for a truly emotional story.

Ashley did a great job of intermixing the heartfelt scenes with the fun and comedic scenes, as she usually does in her books. She could have you crying one page and laughing the next, and this book is no different.
I loved seeing the development of the characters - both individually and together. The touch of magic with hearing each other's thoughts was a fun addition as well and made for a great relationship dynamic.
The characters in this book have depth, and you grow to love them. I think the side characters could have had a bit more fleshing out though, and I would love to see a novella or even full length novel about Mitch and Gigi, the main character's brother and best friend.

It did lag a bit in the middle of the book, but overall was a very enjoyable read and I'm excited for everybody to read it!

Joni has writers block and as a songwriter, that's not good. Ever since she found out about her mom's dementia, she hasn't been able to write any songs. She's been reusing old songs for the past year, but now it's time to return home for the summer where she can hopefully start writing again. Enter a strange voice in her head that seems to hear her thoughts and has the same strange song stuck in his head.
I love the magical elements in Ashley Poston's books. They are always a perfect addition to the story without overwhelming it. Joni was a really interesting character with a lot of depth and solid relationships with the people around her.

4.5 stars rounded up - thank you so much Berkley for the gifted paperback, Berkley Romance for the eARC, and PRH Audio for the gifted audiobook! These are my honest thoughts!

Ashley's books always have that little bit of magic that draws me straight in. The magical realism in this book was probably my favorite part... imagine suddenly, one day, being able to hear a song that feels familiar... but it's all in your head. And then? Someone else can hear it too... and how do you know? Because you can hear someone else's thoughts. The thoughts of the other person are startling and interesting. Thoughts that give you insight and make you pause and wonder about how you're feeling, what you're saying, and how it might feel to be in another person's shoes. And then, this person becomes your closest friend, and then you decide you have to meet...

That's exactly what happens in this story for Joni and Sasha. Physically, they aren't close together, but mentally, they're intertwined together in a way that can only be magic. Brought together by fate and love, even though these two are actually IRL kind of enemies.

This book is so much about grief:
- a parent with dementia
- the loss of the place that feels most like home
- a parent who has been gone awhile now, but who still lives and breathes in every moment
- a parent who is absent
- a career that allowed you to get everything you ever wanted...
- ...realizing you need a new dream
- coming home and not feeling like you belong
- not feeling like you have a home at all

While the romance in this story really took a backseat for me, I enjoyed so much of this story. I did the whole thing via audio (thanks again, PRH Audio), and I loved it. So much. I thought Patti Murin did an incredible job playing both Joni her in head and Sasha in Joni's head. I felt so many emotions while listening. The production of the musical part of this story was also AMAZING. It was so much fun to experience the characters writing the song that was stuck in their heads, working out the chorus and the harmonies. The excitement, the joy, and also the grief and the heartbreak were so painfully performed... I felt it all.

Read if you love:
- Small, coastal vacation towns
- Places that feel like home
- Enemies-to-friends-to-lovers
- Magical realism
- Dementia rep
- Former boy band x songwriter
- Pop culture and musical references

Ashley Poston really knows how to do magical realism right! She has this effortless way of blending romance, magic, and humor in a way that is believable and still hits you in the feels. You truly care about the characters and what they’re going through.

I’ll be honest, I was a little hesitant going into Sounds Like Love because I’ve read other romance books with musical elements and they were corny af. But Ashley did her big one with this one!

I switched between the audiobook and the ebook and enjoyed both formats.

What I loved:
♪The connection between the FMC and MMC. I loved their banter and how easily they just “fit”.
♪The song lyrics titles were so clever and neatly done. Literally perfection.
♪The plot and themes in this book. This was more than a musical romance. The last few chapters really drew me into this story and the floodgates burst open.
♪This was a true slow burn and I loved every minute of it. And Sasha’s nickname for Joni 🫠
♪The narrator, Patti Murin, was phenomenal. She embodied the characters’ voices and personalities well and added the right amount of infliction in the right moments.

This book was beautifully written and will definitely be in my top two Ashley Poston books. I highly recommend adding this book to your summer reading list.