This book very much reminded me of Daisy Jones and the Six but with more romance involved. A fun, quick and sweet second-chance romance.

very cute. very daisy jones and the six. loved the romance between the 2 MC and loved that there was no 3rd act breakup/ fun and quick read.

This is my first book from Emma Lord, and I will be going and reading more when I need a little boost. Such a fun, quick read.

A very sweet second chance romance set in the music world. I love pretty much any book about music/musicians and this was no exception. I do wish that we got more lyrics or full songs to really connect to the characters a bit more. I also would have loved more flashback scenes of them on tour together. The epilogue though- perfection!

Thank you to NewGalley and St Martin’s Press for the ARC!

This one sat on my Kindle for awhile because I’d gotten a little tired of the popstar/music romance. Then I finally cracked it open and finished it in one sitting.

What a delightful venture into adult romance for Emma Lord! I’ve enjoyed the YA books I’ve read from her, but I think this one is my favorite. I really loved Mackenzie and Sam’s relationship and the slow burn of it all. Their history was fun to learn about and seeing them actually get to know each other was super cute. I loved Mackenzie’s friendship with Hannah and Serena and Sam’s with Ben and Lizzie! I also liked the industry storyline, which some romances go a bit too heavy handed on, but I thought this was great.

The ending was adorable and joyful! Loved how everything wrapped up. My favorite music romance in quite a while! 4.5 stars

Emma Lord hasn't failed me yet and For The Record proves that when it comes to immersive worlds, characters to root for, and electric chemistry, there's little comparison.

Billed as a rivalry to redemption, I can see how people might be disappointed in the lack of "enemies to lovers" of it all; if you're looking for angry, spiteful, obsessive MC's who spend pages and pages of hating each other before the inevitable breakdown, you're going to be disappointed. What you'll find instead is a slight form of miscommunication but most, misjudgements that work together really well for the set up that Lord's created. Mackenzie Waters and Sam Blaze are two popstars all grown up, both having endured being the center of the pop universe as baby-faced teens and are now working towards creating careers as adults. I am SUCH a sucker for celebrity/fame adjacent stories and Lord's popstar set up scratched all right itches for me. I loved the way that the two of them never really felt like enemies, nor did they ever feel as if they were true competitors. They're forced to work together "for the fans" while still clearly dealing with the feelings that they both have, and are trying to ignore. The subplot relationships for each of the main characters feel real, something that is especially impressive considering that it's a dual POV. There are some threads that I think I would've loved to have seen more of, yet it never really feels like it's lacking anything. The story flows together, just as the love does, and to me, it was so much more exciting to know that the real conflict between Sam and Mackenzie wasn't a misunderstanding or a dumb, dramatic blowout, but the fear of what it means to be truly vulnerable with someone, made even more poignant as two internationally known popstars.

One of my favorite things about being a long-time reader of Emma Lord's work is seeing how much absolute growth and development she's gained as a writer; her work from Day 1 has been something I've deeply enjoyed, but seeing how much richer her characters are and the casual, but totally intentional way that she builds a world is something that I'll never get tired of. I genuinely believe each new thing Lord rights becomes my new favorite, and this is no exception.

Final rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I received this book for free in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely loved the setting—two musicians, each in a separate band, forced to tour together to boost publicity. Along the way, they develop a relationship that’s both rivals and lovers, with audiences eagerly rooting for them to end up together. But when something drives them apart, they each decide they can never be with the other. Two years later, fate (and public demand) forces them back together once more.

As someone who loves shipping couples, this story felt like a dream come true. I hope my ship has a happy ending. Seeing the audience react to their interactions was so much fun—it mirrored exactly how I feel when I ship couples myself!

The enemies-to-lovers dynamic between the FMC and MMC is sizzling with tension and chemistry. They both know the other isn’t the most logical choice, yet they can't resist. Beyond the romance, I also appreciated the strong focus on friendships and family. It was great to see the FMC build a happy and fulfilling life even without the MMC, adding depth to her character.

Overall, this was such a fun, engaging read—I had a fantastic time!

*Thank you to St. Martin’s Press & NetGalley for the ARC! All opinions are my own.

This is my second Emma Lord novel after Tweet Cute (which I adored), and now I'm kicking myself for not checking out the rest of her catalogue sooner. This book gives all the same swoony feels as her YA debut (with a few steamy scenes that are common in the adult romance market) from lovable protagonists to their genuine love connection.

Dual POV is a hard sell for me in romance novels, but I really enjoyed it here. Dare I say I actually liked the man's POV more than the woman's? That almost never happens. But Sam was a great lead. I loved how Emma Lord made his relationship with his son a direct parallel to his relationship with his estranged father. Seeing him come to terms with that feeling of abandonment and using it as a strength to never let his son go through the same thing was really touching. And his love for Mackenzie was prevalent from the beginning. This man had me giggling over how whipped he was. It was adorable.

Mackenzie was also fun to read about. Despite being a famous singer, her struggles were highly relatable. Whether it was friendships, romantic relationships, or just her relationship with herself, I can see a lot of people reading her story and thinking, "Yup. I've been there." Made it easy to root for her, both in her career and her relationship with Sam.

Of course, a romance book can't work without the romance itself, so I'll just say that I was hooked on these two from the jump. Even from those early chapters, it was obvious their connection ran so much deeper than physical. They truly saw each other, the good and the bad, and that made them fall for each other that much harder. Not much else you can ask for.

(Also the epilogue was stupid cute.)

This book is a fun, quick read with a lot of charm, but it didn’t quite hit the mark for me in terms of resolving the main conflicts. The rivalry between Mackenzie Waters and Sam Blaze was super intriguing, and I loved the idea of them coming together for a comeback album after years apart. The rockstar backdrop definitely gives it a unique vibe, and Emma Lord does a great job creating a lighthearted, easy-to-read story.

That being said, the problems they face throughout the story felt a bit underwhelming. The tension between them was there, but I didn’t feel like it was fully explored or resolved in a way that left me completely satisfied. I was hoping for more emotional depth or growth from both characters, especially with the buildup to their big reunion.

Overall, it’s a sweet, quick romance with some fun moments, but I was hoping for a bit more from the story. Perfect if you're looking for something light and cute, but not the most impactful read if you’re after something with a bit more substance

i’m giving this book 3 stars because while it was good. it was not the genre I would typically read. it’s not what usually keeps my attention, but it was very well written. Again, it was truly good, but I am not the target audience

Overall, it was a good book. Not my favorite. The writing felt very YA which is fine, just have read better books in the genre.

I really love books about music
Windy city blues the song book of benny lament are evidence of that
I really love emma books my fave from her beign when you get the chance
I did not readed daisy jones and the six now but its on my tbr
This book
Its so emotional their chemistry its off charts its the kind of book that the characters talk with you and you can feel it
I loved it.
I certainly adding this one on my 2025 fave books of the year and i surely recommend this for all the lovers of music just like me and emma readers and wind city and books themed like that
This book feel like flying butterfly and this feelinv its why i love emma writing and wait with fever entusiasm her new book to come every new year

I love Emma Lord, but this one didn't quite work for me. I think her writing works best in the YA genre, just stylistically, or perhaps that's where it resonates most with me! Great premise, though, and a pretty solid execution!

For the second time in a matter of months, I was fortunate to receive an ARC of Emma Lord's latest. Like many of her YA books (which are favorites of mine), this one was another "enemies" (sort of?) to lovers, with a side of second chance romance. The two main characters, Mackenzie and Sam -- once members of rival bands whose "will they/won't they" tension on stage was a staple of their brands-- are reunited to write and record an album as a duo. In doing so, they are forced to confront unresolved feelings from when their bands abruptly ended two years earlier.

My biggest criticism of the Break-Up Pact was that it felt "like an adult book with YA characters". With this second adult effort, Lord gives her characters much more adult problems: Sam's career with his punk rock band ended when he finds out that he has a son and leaves his band to be a full-time father, while Mackenzie is just starting to find her voice again two years after undergoing a career-altering surgery (a surgery which, Lord notes in the acknowledgments, she had herself faced). Both were addressed in the book in mature ways, and I never felt while reading this one like it was YA trying for an adult audience. I liked the overall plot of getting Sam and Mackenzie back together to visit places that meant something to them to spark their writing to launch their comebacks, and the book was full of decent side characters (the best probably being Ben, Sam's six-year-old sweets-hating son of bakery owners).

What didn't work for me was unfortunately the romance itself. It's acknowledged in the MCs' early respective POV chapters that they both had strong unresolved feelings for one another, but yet the getting together to act on those feelings still felt very sudden to me. I never really FELT that tension - it was talked about, and Mackenzie even wrote a song (albeit under an anonymous pseudonym) about how Sam broke her heart, but I never really felt the chemistry between them. It reminded me a bit of the instruction teachers would give in writing classes to "show not tell", and it might just be a me problem (and don't get me wrong, I was rooting for them), but it just didn't really work for me.

On another note, I can't decide if TickTune is a great idea or a terrible idea. And what I would really love next from Emma Lord is a COOKBOOK... I could probably do without most of Ben's concoctions, but some of the treat's mentioned at Hannah's bar early on had me salivating.

3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Reading For the Record feels like listening to a cheesy pop love song. It's a pretty cliché romance novel with the stereotypical "bad boy" rocker and the "pop princess" having a second chance at falling in love. Thank you St. Martin's Press & NetGalley for the opportunity to read an e-ARC.

For the Record tells the story from both Mack & Sam's point of view as well as jumping back in time - due to this it was sometimes confusing at the beginning of a chapter knowing if we were in the past or present when there was little differentiation until a context clue came up. However, I acknowledge this may be fixed in final formatting since I received an advanced copy.

The storylines felt a bit flat and forced for me, especially involving Serena. The plot went around in circles and at times things didn't line up or make sense in the grand scheme of it all. Overall I think the story had bigger potential but needed to be flushed out just a bit more to make it believable. The character I cared for the most was Ben, but even that storyline felt cobbled together.

Final Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars

first taylor swift-coded rom com I have read and liked so cheers to that

✰ 4 stars, the mmc even sings taylor swift covers, although his go-to is shake it off. so basic bitch of him but I'll look the other way in the name of book boyfriends.

thank you to St. Martin's Press for the ebook in exchange for an honest review

platform: netgalley ebook arc

I loved how Sam and Mackenzie were inevitable from the beginning of the story! I'd consider this a second-chance romance even though they didn't officially date in the past, but they have gone through so many things together that I felt their connection and chemistry. This story had so much more depth and emotion than I was expecting--each of the characters have something that they are working through which makes them feel more human.

Spoiler: I didn't really understand Sam's actions at the end when he wasn't really listening to what Mackenzie wanted because he thought he knew better for her, but I'm thankful he came back!

Absolutely loved! Emma Lord is a go-to author for me, I love the depth of each character she writes. Mack and Sam are no different, having a rich history of theatrical stage encounters as rivals, but also deep-down, actual friends. Their history comes back to the surface in this romance where they are placed together to write songs and try to build a new duo. Their flirty dynamic is a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the ensemble of characters supporting them.

A fun rockstar romance that locked me in for the duration!

Special thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC!

For the Record is a second-chance romance following former pop star Mackenzie Waters and punk rocker Sam Blaze. Once fierce rivals with undeniable chemistry, their bands disbanded, and their connection fell apart. Now, Mackenzie, recovering from vocal surgery, and Sam, focused on raising his son, reunite for a joint album. As old sparks reignite, they must navigate fame, past mistakes, and lingering feelings. A heartfelt story of music, redemption, and love, Lord delivers a compelling tale of second chances in both career and romance.

I ate this up! Sam and Mackenzie had great chemistry, and I was swooning by the end. Their tension, the banter, the way their relationship slowly built back up. My only qualm was one of the characters... I'm looking at you Serena, but that didn't take away from how much I liked this book.

This is my first Emma Lord book, I know I know… where have I been! I loved the music vibe this was brought to the table, I haven’t read anything like it before so that was refreshing. It was a cite fast read but I did feel Something was missing. I also found it was slow at times. Overall it was cute