Great read! I didn't expect to love Aiden as much as I did. He was the best part, and I loved the way their stories came together.

It was hard describing this book in quick little soundbites because there’s a lot going on in it, which I find to be one of Ivy Fairbanks’ strengths as a writer. The main character, Cielo (Lo), is the maid of honor at her friend Lark’s wedding, and has to work with the best man, Callum, for a week, Of course the catch is that Callum is her famous ex-boyfriend who has written and performed and album full of love songs about the two of them, It’s very fun to watch the two rekindle their romance in a castle in Galway. They have tons of chemistry, and it’s easy to see how well they fit together. Ivy Fairbanks also does a great job of writing about their sexual preferences, and particularly about their interest in domination and submission during sex. Another big issue that Fairbanks portrays is cancer. Lo is a nurse, and deals with sick patients, and has also been in remission from cancer. Callum’s little sister is in remission as well. But there’s a cancer scare and Lo has a tough relationship with her parents. The emotion of the book isn’t just about the romance—it’s about how Callum and Lo can learn to trust each other and be there for each other through some hard times. Overall, I found the characters to be really likable, and this was an engaging book.

Thank you NetGalley for the free digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ivy Fairbanks is a new favorite of mine. I recently read Morbidly Yours and was so excited to get an advanced reader copy for Heart Strings to read her follow up. Did not disappoint, think I like it even better than Morbidly Yours!! Rooted for Lo and Aiden so bad! I’m a huge sucker for second chance romances and this was chefs kiss. As a bonus, really nice, well-thought our representation. More like this, please!!

A quick, spicy, second chance romance between a Latina med student and a rising Irish musician with the backdrop of Galway.

This could have checked all the boxes for me but unfortunately it was a worse reading experience than Morbidly Yours.

I was about 25% into the first book of this Galway series when I saw that the ARC for Heart Strings was available, and since I was enjoying Morbidly Yours up to that point, I decided to request the sequel. But the issues that I had in Morbidly Yours became even more of an issue in Heart Strings.

My biggest gripe with these books is the amount of telling that happens. Constantly being reminded of the characters romantic goals every single chapter was baffling. I just read the previous chapter, why are you telling me yet again that you have to do anything and everything to win her back/keep him away?

For a romance book, I found the romance to be a little lacking. I honestly don't understand what Cielo sees in Aiden. She has one line where stating that "Aiden gave me the permission to live in a moment perfectly imperfect" that left me like ??? Is that it? Because everything else about him that she likes is physical. To the point where upon seeing him for the first time again post break up, two years later, she judges his physical looks harshly. He changed his appearance because his management was advising him to but she did not know that. He could have been insecure about certain things and chose to change them and that is his right. Its his body. Its been two years! People change! But shes upset because his beard hides his dimples and he might be wearing an Invisalign. "He's not the Aiden I fell in love with". Idk maybe you didn't really love him as much as you thought if some facial hair, a tan, and straight teeth changes your opinion of him 🤷🏼‍♀️ but anyways that happens in chapter 6 and soured my impression of Cielo. I understand she's still hurting over the breakup but idk yall. Its been 2 years and they dated for 6 months. The intensity of their feelings, especially the more you read, is so physically charged that I never came around to rooting for them on a deep level (There are like 5 or 6 sex scenes and they were meh).

Aiden had his music career but all his music is about Cielo. Every other waking thought was about Cielo and how he can grovel. And don't get me wrong, I love a good man trying his hardest but not Aiden O'Toole. I found him annoying. I love that my partner is obsessed with me but not like this. Like he kept calling her babe and multiple times Cielo says she is not his babe. And yet he insists. I don't find that cute at all. He's pushy. Theres one scene where he encourages her estranged father: "don't give up on her because she's stubborn". I think aiden should mind his business tbfh. He sees Cielo's dad trying and empathizes but, personally, I don't think its his place to go behind her back and tell her father that. Cielo can and does figure it out at her own pace. That man showed up to a family event as a surprise. Its so inconsiderate. Mind your business, Aiden. Mind your business. He just gave me all around ick.

The main characters in the previous books weren't the best but they were alot more endearing; I was happy they got together at the end. With Cielo and Aiden, I think they needed to see other people.

There are moments where Cielo and Aiden interact with family and friends and I thought those were much more interesting than whatever type of hot/heavy mess they had going on.

Overall, I didn't have a great time and sadly can't recomend it. But it was a quick read and the cover is neat.

The next book is about Saoirse, a character I've liked in both books so I am going to give this series and author one more try. But based on the two books I've read so far, this author is not for me.

Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam | G.P. Putnam's Sons for the eARC.

This is a quick easy read but with all the feels. Cielo is a medical resident student in Ireland after visiting her cousin, when her boyfriend and current music star-Aidan returns to town. for his best friend and her cousin are getting married. They maid of honor and best man for the wedding so of course they will be circling each others' orbits. Will they rekindle the romance? The chemistry is off the charts between these two, but getting them to work through the complexities of their relationship is the journey. Can they make it work.?

I enjoyed this one even more than Morbidly Yours! Cieilo and Aidan were a compelling couple and their journey back to each other was fun to read!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

Singer Aidan and med student Cielo dated 2 years ago before an abrupt breakup, when they are brought back together for their best friends wedding and 2 years of songs written about her unfolds into this absolutely delicious rom com. Ivy Fairbanks has a uniqueness to her writing where she takes what we expect in romance novels and adds elements that are so individual to her works. I adored these characters and the pining and the care they had for each other was just delightful. This was fun and heartwarming and kind of everything you’d want out of a romance. I do think, though, that if cancer is a trigger, this might be a difficult read as it plays a part in Cielos past.

I got to the 50% mark fairly easily, but then it took me a while to finish it, so I would give it a 3.5!

Firstly, from the book description, I thought Cielo was going to be a bitch, excuse my language. However, thankfully, I had misunderstood her severely. While I was reading, I realized that she has just been through so much and has a lot of expectations on her, both from the people around her, like her mother, as well as herself. She is an ambitious woman and I related so hard to her sometimes when it comes to expectations and even just overall, obviously minus the romance part 🤭. Her character, her demeanor, the way she handles the problems in her life was so inspiring.

Aidan was such a sweet guy. Honestly, giving goals! He wrote songs about their relationships which I think is so cute. The way he took care of his family was sweet and the way he wanted to just write songs.

The relationship dynamic was nice. I did feel a little bit of insta-love and insta-lust elements, but I didn't mind it too much. I wish there was more angst.

Overall, I definitely would recommend this book. It is book 2 in the series, but idk if it's standalone or not. I felt like I could understand everything, so maybe consider reading book 1 first for more info about some of the other characters.

Second chance is literally such a good trope and you couldn't ever tell me that it wouldn't hit!

Thank you to Ivy Fairbanks, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, and Netgalley for this arc! 💕

I was invited to read this book early, and let me tell you—I’m so glad I did! I loved Morbidly Yours, but I actually liked this one better! I think it’s totally doable to be read as a standalone, but you should still read the first one for my favorite meet cute of all time. Second chance romance isn’t always my favorite, but I really liked this story. And that hearse scene…amazing! 😂 I loved the way they grew together, and this book not only had the humor mixed in that I loved, but it was also very emotional. Loved it!

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Loved how it connected to morbidly yours! A great, fun, and spicy follow up to it. Adored the character cameos as well! However I don’t think you need to read the first to read this one if you haven’t!

I gave this a 4 rather than 5 due to me not being as invested in the characters and story. This was still enjoyable though and I’ll recommend it, but it didn’t impact me as much as the first one.

Second chance romance was a nice touch here and done well. However I wish I saw more about their relationship developing and glimpses of the “before, during and after.” I wanted to see more yearning and fighting for eachother, developing overtime etc, but they got back together quite fast I think.

I really enjoyed this second novel. It had a lot of laugh out loud moments. I like how it is still in the same universe as the first. Im looking forward to more in the A Love in Galway series.

I love love loved the first book in this series, Morbidly Yours. And I wanted to love love love this one. And I just didn’t. To be sure Ivy Fairbanks is a good writer. Her characters are full and complex. This second chance novel just didn’t connect with me. Lo and Adían are adorable in the last novel and start of as exes in this one. But the enemies part is not believable. So you spend a fair amount of time wondering why these two adult people didn’t have an adult conversation about the break up. Because I think the writer is top notch I give it 4 stars. If you like second chance (and Irish) rom coms with heart, then give it a shot. You might love it. I read an ARC.

Fun, spicy read! Great follow-up to Morbidly Yours. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

An easy-breezy second-chance romance that was well written and very readable, but it lacked the angst I prefer in a second-chance romance.

I found that the first-person present POV didn’t allow for either Lo or Aidan to have much depth as characters, and there was too much telling vs showing within their inner monologues.

This isn’t a bad book by any means - as my rating reflects - but it didn’t jump to the top of my second-chance list either.

Thank you to Penguin Group and NetGalley for the ARC!

Heart Strings by Ivy Fairbanks was a cute book featuring an ex-to-lovers trope between Aiden and Lo.
Lo decides to pursue a career in medicine and moves to Galway to do so. While there, Aiden comes back to town in between touring for his career as a singer. They reconnect and both end up helping the other personally and in their careers as well.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

So I listened to Morbidly Yours as an audiobook and it was definitely deserved 5 star listen. With Heart Strings, I don’t know if it was the difference between reading and listening that gave it such a different vibe but it definitely didn’t hit me the same way. It was still a great story, but I feel like I got kind of dropped into the middle of Lo and Aiden’s love story and I was just playing catch up. In Morbidly Yours, we went from strangers to friends to lovers and it all felt so natural and evolved in a really stunning way and Heart Strings felt a little disjointed. I think once it releases on audiobook, I'm going to listen to it and then I’ll come back and re-review to see if anything changes.

Some things I loved- Soirse and the hints that she might be the next FMC. The Hooker Tour. The ventriloquist dummies. The spice was good but again, we didn’t have the tension we got with Callum and Lark that made it feel more satisfying. I did like having an FMC that would be considered a little “prickly” in contrast to Lark’s bubblegum personality. Grumpy girls deserve love, too.

All in all. It was a good read, I just wanted a little *more* after how much Morbidly Yours resonated with me.

Fairbanks did it again! Heart Strings is the perfect sequel to her debut, and I loved seeing familiar characters make a cameo. The second-chance story between Cielo and Aidan was full of tension and heartwarming moments, and I especially enjoyed the musical career aspect woven into the plot.

Thank you for the ARC—this was such a fun read!

Really cute follow-up book to Morbidly Yours. I loved Cielo and was so excited when I saw she was getting her own story. Sucker for a lovers to enemies to lovers again so I really enjoyed her and Aidan’s story. So cute.

I LOVEEEEEDDDD THIS!!!

something about ivy’s writing just feels comforting. i adored morbidly yours so im really not surprised that this took over my heart. lo was so relatable, i could feel her pain with her family/aiden. the glimpses of callum and lark were so excited also!!

thank you so much for this arc! i will most definitely be adding Heart Stings to my shelf as soon as it hits shelves!

3 stars.

I immediately request Heart Strings after loving Morbidly Yours by the same author. I could not get enough of the witty banter and eccentric characters. We meet the leads of Heart Strings in Morbidly Yours. I was interested in both of the leads of this book when they were side characters, however, I really didn’t care for their story. The chemistry between the two was meh, especially when compared to Callum and Lark. Overall, the book was fun enough to pass the time, but no where near as compelling/entertaining as the author’s debut.