I wanted to love this book because I love most of Levithan's young adult books. But this book, written for adults about a Swedish singer who writes personalized songs for weddings, was just okay. I liked some of the wedding couples and wedding descriptions. The main relationship in the book was probably the thing I liked the least.

As a long time Jens Leckman fan, this was an immediate yes for me. Such an interesting concept for a book and it's executed to perfection.

Music lovers, bring your headphones. Part novella, part playlist, this touching story of a singer who writes original songs for people’s weddings has an original companion album for a truly immersive experience. It’ is a unique collaboration between YA author David Levithan and indie pop songwriter Jens Lekman.

Hugely disappointed in this book, which is easily my least favorite David Levithan novel (and I've read almost all of them).

There is absolutely zero spark here, aside from the central conceit of a singer writing new songs for all the weddings he attends... which runs completely thin by the midway point, when we still haven't gotten to the chapter where he does a half-dozen weddings in one day.

On top of that, the protagonists are each insufferable in their own ways, leaving us no one to root for and nothing to hope for. Levithan's usual observations on love and human nature are here and pleasant, but they are surrounded by TOO MUCH angst and annoyance.

I'm of two minds about this book.

J is a wedding singer, but one that specializes in coming up with an original song for each couple.

On the one hand, the first chapter had so much promise. I love the format of each chapter being a different wedding, and how each one was wildly different from all the others. And the songs! The lyrics were great. Each one was absolutely perfect to the specific couple and it was so easy to visualize J singing them.

On the other hand, after the first chapter, the book started going in a direction I didn't expect. This is labeled as a romance and I absolutely wouldn't call it that. The relationship between J and V plays an important part in the story, but just a couple of chapters in, you can see the issues immediately and how wrong they actually are for each other. I wasn't rooting for them to be together at all, and actively couldn't wait for them to break up. J in particular was holding on so tight to the point where my thought was "please just stop calling this woman". It wasn't even that J was unlikable, I just didn't care about him at all, which isn't what you want in your main protagonist.

Skye was easily my favorite character with their very limited scenes, I wish we spent more time with them instead of J and V having the exact same conversation 10 different times.

Overall, a really interesting concept but not a great execution.

Thank you to Net Galley and Abrams Publishing for an early copy of Songs for Other People's Weddings by David Levithan and Jens Lekman

Let's hear it for love in all its messy and complicated forms. Levithan and Lekman have together created a chronicle of lyrics intertwined into an uplifting story that reflect couples of all kinds as they navigate wedding plans and hire wedding singer "J" who creates an individual song for each couple. This J meets up with a friend, Tom, who brings along his date, "V", and V & J develop an intimate relationship which struggles to thrive. V has a new job which demands all her energies, and while J remains completely faithful to the relationship, V cannot find the strength to split her energies between the job and J.

The chapters of Songs for Other People's Weddings each focus on a particular wedding and each demonstrates the intricacies of relationships and what a bride and groom bring to the rite. Each scenario is fresh and lively and emphasizes how different people can be.

Songs for Other People's Weddings is a sure-fire, energetic hit that readers will be contemplating when their next wedding invitation arrives.

I like the idea for this book, and I'm a fan of Jens Lekman, but it felt a bit repetitive after a while. I was frustrated with the characters (J&V) and how they both handled their relationship. I was a bit disappointed in this but I could see someone looking for a cozy, lighthearted book enjoying this one.

This made me sad but it was a good journey. It was very well written and the songs were, of course, beautiful. The book was very true, and I appreciate that but I don't know that it what I was in the mood for when I began reading it. Still, if you are Jens Lekman fan (like I am) and/or a David Leviathan fan (like I am), you will enjoy this immensely!

Songs for Other People's Wedings comes out next week on August 12 2025 and you can purchase HERE.

J is a somewhat successful Swedish singer-songwriter. If you live outside of Sweden, it's unlikely you've heard any of his songs on the radio... unless you are one of the bookish, folkish sort who listen to bookish, folkish stations that play bookish, folkish ditties. Then you might know exactly who J is.
The reason he's here tonight is not a longstanding friendship with Jun and Arthur. Until they emailed him out of the blue, J had never met them. This may seem like a strange thing to do, but for J, it is not that strange, because on his debut album there is a song called "If You Ever Need a Stranger (to Sing at Your Wedding)."

Thanks to NetGalley and Abrams Press for the advance read.

I absolutely adored and devoured this title. Being a huge Jens Lekman fan, I was sold before reading a word. Ultimately I found Mr Levithan’s storytelling to be emotionally moving and that it kept me on edge eagerly reading to find the book’s endgame.

Jens Lekman’s lyrics ring true and are on par with his previously recorded masterworks. I’m happy his tour is hitting my metropolis.

A final note, meant as a compliment, is just how eerily Mr Levithan’s writing reminds me of Nick Hornby’s best work. Perhaps this book could be made into a great movie?

Requested this because I have enjoyed David Levithan’s earlier books. This one was a miss for me, however. Slow pacing and characters I didn’t care for

This book isn’t a romance, but it is a book about love. The main character of this book reminds me, somewhat, of 500 days of summer. It’s a man trying to understand love as it’s changing, while constantly reflecting on the density and complexity of love because of being a wedding singer. This book is thoughtful. It’s interesting and contemplative. It is not a romance.

There are few positive things I can say about this novel. The premise sounded promising, but the execution was disappointing. The pace is excruciatingly slow and the prose verbose and repetitive. I found myself skimming and then skipping whole paragraphs.

The most challenging aspect was my lack of engagement with the primary characters – J and V. Neither were likeable and both seemed self-absorbed for distinct reasons. There was an occasional wedding couple that piqued my interest and an equally occasional insight into the complexities of love and relationships. I enjoyed J’s process of interviewing the prospective bride and groom to develop a unique, personalized song, but even this was dampened by the challenge to find meaning in the subsequent lyrics.

Overall, this was a tedious read - the author’s style was not a match for me.

I appreciated the opportunity to receive an ARC of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.

This was a strange sort of book, but a pleasant read. It's not a love story, but it is about love. It's hard to describe, but it's fresh, and intellectual.

I love David Levithan’s writing style, but in a departure from his other books I found most of the characters insufferable. I was initially rooting for the protagonist J, a wedding singer with a small international following, but by the middle of the novel he was so self-centered that I kind of wanted bad things to happen to him. The book also provides a few chapters from his girlfriend V’s point of view and she was so singularly focused that it was hard to relate to her until very late in the book.

I’m usually a huge fan of David Levithan and the blurb for this one was really intriguing. I wish it was more of a rom-com. The songs were fun and the overall concept was what intrigued me, it just never really grabbed my attention as much as his other works have.

I've read a lot ofDavid Levithan books as a high school librarian, but I found this one better in concept than execution. The story was slow and sad--the weddings interspersed within the story were fun, but not enough to really to change the vibe. I was especially put off by the way the story began, it was strangely confusing and I couldn't tell what was going on and who was who--it took awhile to get into the flow of the story. I do like the creatively of the songs and the ideas behind it all, but overall it was just fine, not great.

Well, the first thing to know about this book is that it is not a romance novel, and you should not expect it to be one. You will be very sad if that's what you think is happening. But it's charming, and meandering, and I like the conceit of the weddings and how we wander in and out of other people's lives. Parts of it are very melancholy and a real bummer, but in a lovely way. 3.5 rounded up, I think?

I received a free ARC from NetGalley.

I had a tough time getting into this book—it started off pretty slow. But I’m glad I stuck with it until the end.

2.25 stars

It breaks my heart to give a David Levithan book such a low rating, since I’ve loved his books for close to a decade. Maybe that’s why my expectations were so high, and unfortunately they were not met.

I hated J. I didn’t care about V and J’s relationship, and was very much rooting for them to break up and stay broken up. I found J to be whiny and insufferable, and I wished V would just end things and put him out of his misery. I hated being inside his head and having to hear his constant needy thoughts. I also found this book extremely repetitive, both with the constant fighting and circling back and rehashing of J and V’s relationship and the weddings themselves.

Overall I would not recommend this. There are some good moments and profound ideas hidden among all the things I didn’t like, but it is not worth sifting through to get to them.

I was quite excited for this book because of its blurb but this book missed the mark for me. I just couldnt tolerate the characters and the plot started to feel repetitive after a while