For The Record Audiobook 🎧

I was in the mood for a cute romance and this one hit the spot! Told from dual POVs, we are brought into a world where Mackenzie and Sam are in bands with a very public rivalry. We catch up to them two years after their groups have broken up and they are both looking for something new in their professional life. Sam wants something quiet and close to home where he can raise his son. Mackenzie had to have surgery resulting in a new voice and is unsure how fans will react.Their agents want them to work together but they never got along prior so why would they now? With few options available, they start working together but can they recover from past events and make the comeback they both desire?

This romance had some spice sprinkled through. I loved the characters and felt the narrator did a good job bringing Mackenzie and Sam to life. I devoured this audiobook over two days and loved the ending.

There was some drama between Sam and her former band members that didn’t need to be included and felt inserted. But the side storyline of Sam and his father provided depth to his storyline.

3.5⭐️

Thank you to Macmillan audio and NetGalley for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

For the record, For the Record was one of my favorite romance reads this summer! It was a fun mix of Josie and the Pussy Cats meets Cinderella Story, and a Splash of Notting Hill for me I loved the flash backs to the past in their fun tour life to modern times where you can see the after effects of fame. It really scratched an itch that Taylor Jenkins Reid has only filled so far. This is a glitter gel pen book that matches vibes with heart and an addictive plot. I always am skeptical about a music book, but it really made me wish there was an album that was released alongside it. I want to read so much more from Emma Lord and I can wait for her next book!

The audio book narration was perfection I can see a bubbly, curly haired blondie learning to have a new voice and the male voice is so swoon worthy and a total rockstar.

4.25 stars for me! I need a Mack and Sam album immediately!


Big thank you St. Martin’s press and netgalley for an e-arc!!

This is a story reminds me of the early 2000s music scene! Mackenzie Waters is trying to get back into the music industry as a single artist after the breakup of her former girl band. When she’s told she has to work with her old rival and potential love interest Sam Blaze who left two years prior to raise a son he didn’t know he had. Can these two former rivals work past everything they’ve been keeping secret?
This was a nice summer read or listen. It was light hearted romance.
Both the narrators were great . I enjoyed the dual POV from both Mac (Mackenzie) and Sam.

This second-chance romance was such a fun, addictive read—especially with the rockstar/popstar vibes running throughout! Mack and Sam are a delightfully cute couple, full of tension, longing, and undeniable chemistry. I also loved how the found family and friendships added heart and depth to the story.

Their relationship felt relatable and layered. The musical element was an absolute treat—pairing a pop princess with an emo rockstar was a great idea, giving the story a unique, playful energy.

I appreciated how the story explored how years of life experiences shaped them, giving them fresh perspectives on themselves, each other, and their place in the industry they love as they try to navigate their new sounds. Experiencing everything from both POVs and peeking behind their carefully curated public personas added an extra satisfying layer.

Andrew Eiden and Jesse Vilinsky were perfect as the voices of Sam and Mac. Their narration captured the characters’ personalities beautifully—from pop-star sparkle to emo-rocker edge—making each scene feel fully alive and immersive.

While I thoroughly enjoyed this read, it didn’t quite reach the level of a full-blown obsession for me. That said, it’s still a charming, heartfelt story that fans of romance, music, and second-chance love will likely adore.

Thank you to Emma, Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for the chance to listen to this book.
3.5 stars rounded up

I liked this book. I listened to it and the narrators were amazing. What I think is special about listening is how they can bring to life what is actually happening. I think it added more to the depth of the characters for me. I don’t think I would call the a romcom. It is definitely more on the serious side in the exploration of friendship and personal growth that the characters have and go through. In the end the MMC was a little sacrificial for me. I don’t like the whole I’m leaving to benefit you part. Over I did love this book!

This was cute and fun. I feel like the tension between MFC and MMC was great. Overall the story wasn’t anything crazy but I did enjoy it !

I love Emma Lord books and this is one more book that proves it. “For the Record” gives a look inside music production similar to Daisy Jones and the Six - but without all the drugs and alcohol. 😅
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Mackenzie and Sam are rivals of their own making. Two former bands that would tour together. The music life was in the past until their label wants them to team up.
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These characters had depth, even if misguided and holding onto past hurts. I really enjoyed Sam’s evolution and all the ways he was brave. Mackenzie was harder to cheer for and seeing growth of her issues.
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The narrators did a great job. This book released last week. Thank you @netgalley and the publisher for the audio arc. These are my own thoughts and opinions.
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Content: mild language, 2 open door scenes, single parent, abandonment issues, trust, facing fears, forgiveness

✨ The Vibes ✨
Former recording rivals reunite to relaunch their music careers

📖 Read if…
✨ You love stories about musicians
✨ Second chance romance and single dad are two of your favorite tropes
✨ You like dual POV (with dual narration on audio!)

Books about musicians are almost always a must-read for me, so when one of my favorite authors tackles the trope, it’s a true gift.

In short, I adored For the Record. It’s a really beautiful story about two people growing up and putting aside past differences to work together. Mackenzie and Sam were once members of rival bands, and spent years tormenting each other on the road. Now, they haven’t spoken in two years and are reuniting as a duo to revive their music careers.

I loved the rivalry between the two of them, as it added natural and believable tension to the story. Outside of their music careers, they both dealt with some significant issues, like parenthood and health scares, and seeing them help each other through those moments was really sweet and balanced out the pair’s more sarcastic and prickly moments. Even with all of the emotion, there’s still plenty of humor (the fashion show was a standout scene) and drama (with a TikTok like app), which makes for a well-rounded story.

For the Record is out now. Thanks to St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

an easily-binged second chance, angsty romance with a rivals-to-lovers musician vibes!!

I gobbled this one up. Sam Blaze was so perfect. His dynamic with Mackenzie was full of banter and had me giggling so much. There was also a surprising amount of emotional depth that I really appreciated!! The romance was really the highlight for me.

I don’t love pop culture references in books and this a bit over the top for me, but the romance again stole the show. Emma knows how to write a man obsessed.

🎧 the audio was SO well done. Andrew Eiden (aka Teddy Hamilton!!) and Jesse Vilinsky acted out these characters perfectly. I really enjoyed listening to this one and recommend reading this with your ears!!

Thank you Macmillan audio & St. Martin’s Griffin/SMP for the arc and alc!

For the Record is a fun, feel-good romp through the world of high school journalism and romance, but it doesn't quite break new ground. Emma Lord delivers a story that is as comforting and familiar as your favorite pop song, even if it lacks the surprising depth of her previous works.

The novel follows seventeen-year-old Josie, a high school radio host who's just been offered an internship at a major public radio station. Her dream is within reach, but it’s complicated by the return of her childhood best friend, now a rival podcaster, and a surprisingly messy personal life. Lord’s signature witty dialogue is on full display here, and the banter between the characters is a consistent highlight. The pop culture references are plentiful, serving as a charming and relatable backdrop for the teenage drama.

The central romance is sweet, built on a foundation of long-lost friendship and shared passions. The slow burn is well-paced, and the chemistry between Josie and her love interest feels genuine. Secondary characters, from her quirky best friend to her supportive parents, are well-developed and add a layer of warmth to the narrative.

Where the book falls a little short is in its predictability. The plot follows a fairly standard romantic comedy formula, and you can see the big reveals and romantic climaxes coming from a mile away. While the journey is enjoyable, there are few moments that truly surprise or challenge the reader. Additionally, some of the subplots feel a bit underdeveloped, especially a late-game conflict that seems to resolve a little too quickly and easily.

Overall, For the Record is a delightful read, perfect for a lazy afternoon. It's a charming, lighthearted story about following your dreams, mending old friendships, and falling in love. It's a solid four-star rating—it delivers exactly what it promises, but don't expect it to reinvent the genre.

Two vulnerable and fairly young pop stars, Sam and Mckenzie have a bond that they created on stage. But life throws the lemons and what could have become something real morphs into nothingness. But a second chance comes around and this time it's just the two of them working together which gives them the opportunity to look behind the public facade and create a wonderful story.


The audiobook was well done, the pacing was great and the characters showed growth. Overall this was an enjoyable read.

CW: Sexual content; Language;

This book was great. The way it revolves around these two people, their past, the backdrop of what it means to be a musician and performer. It was a great story. It is fun, and their tension was fantastic.

The narrators are absolutely fantastic. I LOVE both of them, and I would read the book just for them.

*~ Best Musical Romance ~*

Music Rivals Mackenzie and Sam always had a playful dynamic with an underlying tension that I'm sure had fans shipping them more and more with every show they did. But offstage, they wrote music together but never let their hands show to one another how they truly felt towards one another. Fast forward a couple years, Sam's life has changed along with his priorities and Mackenzie's style has changed because a health scare altered her once instantly recognizable voice. They are coming together to figure out how to both get back into the music industry in a way that fits them and their changed lives. As the story goes on, we wonder if they will work together and then go their separate ways or if they will continue on, hand in hand, writing music and living life together.

Thank you to Net Galley, Macmillan Audio, St. Martin's Press, and Emma Lord for an eARC and ALC of this story. The immersive reading experience was appreciated.

Former music rivals are thrown together in this sizzling enemies to lovers rom com as the pair are forced to co-write a comeback album together in order to revive their music careers. Both Sam & Mackenzie have overcome a lot in the two years they have been apart and out of the limelight but can the pair trust each other enough to open up and dive deep to write together again?

This novel is told from dual POV and the audiobook included dual narration by Andrew Eiden & Jesse Vilinksy that was just PERFECTION 😍🤗 I found myself just completing unnecessary tasks around my house to keep listening to the witty banter and sizzling chemistry between these two 🔥

Emma Lord included an autoimmune disease representation in this novel and I thought she handled the topic with grace and accurate representation. I absolutely love seeing autoimmune representation in love stories because everyone deserves to feel loved and supported ❤️

Thank you St. Martin's for the ALC

A second chance, opposites attract romance. Might just be me, but I didn’t find there to be much real chemistry between the two main characters. Cute, easy listen, but very predictable. Found most of the characters to be much younger than their chronological ages. This read more as a just over the YA age book to me. Upped to 3 stars from:what would have been a 2.5 rating if half stars were available.

Such an interesting premise but was too confusing to follow and certainly didn’t make me want to wade through it and try to figure it out. Mackenzie was incredibly immature and difficult to root for and Sam wasn’t much better. Everything about this story, from what I got through, rubbed me the wrong way, particularly the onstage banter that all their fans loved but was painful to read. There’s no character development; we’re just told everything we should know about them and that made it difficult to connect. This was definitely not for me.

The narrators did a great job and the book was well written. Sam and Mackenzie had good chemistry. Both of them had their good points and their flaws. While Sam seemed like a great guy in the present you find out he wasn’t the best a few years back when their professional relationship started. Mackenzie is younger than Sam and it’s clear that she was immature back then but it seemed like he led her on and she’s holding on to that resentment. A few years later their music careers have stalled and they need to work together to make a comeback. As they are forced to work together old feelings resurface. They have great chemistry together but they’re both keeping secrets. The supporting characters (Sam’s son, Mackenzie’s former band mates and their managers) are great and add to the book. The miscommunications drag on for more than I’d like but I enjoyed the book. Thanks to Macmillan audio and NetGalley for the advance listener copy!

As a fan of Emma Lord's YA novels, I was excited to be approved for an ALC of her newest book "For the Record."

Pop princess Mackenzie Waters and punk rocker Sam Blaze were musical rivals on tour with their bands a few years ago. On stage, their antics were played up for the crowd, behind the scenes, some tension was building. When it looks like their co-written duet is set to take off, that tension starts to boil over but is squashed altogether when Sam leaves the tour abruptly when he finds out he's a dad.

Now years later, they're thrown back together by their managers (twins) to write and record some new songs. During their break, Sam went all in on being a dad while Mackenzie was secretly fighting a battle and having surgery that has changed the way her voice sounds.

Soon enough things heat up and someone might get burned.

This book is all about finding your voice. It's set in the cutthroat music industry where artists are struggling to maintain control of both their music and their personal narratives.

Overall, I found this book to be pretty enjoyable, but it wasn't my favorite of Emma Lord's, but I may have enjoyed it more if I had read instead of positive. For being a relatively short audiobook, there were times when the story really felt like it was dragging, plus I found the male narrator's voice to be a little off-putting.

I liked the way that Lord wove interconnected stories with a number of little reveals throughout her books, and this was no exception. It's a slow burn, rivals to lovers, second chance romance, with a lot of characters that are key to the story.

I loved the relationship that Sam has with his son and the way he co-parents with his ex and her partner. I know that Sam's lack of a father figure played a huge role in that, but I don't know that we needed to meet him in this story.

Mackenzie was incredibly well supported by her found family/former band mate Hannah, though Serena's distance and anger carried on too long. The women just needed to talk to one another, and I wish we'd developed more empathy for Serena earlier in the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan.Audio for the advanced listener's copy.

Mackenzie and Sam were musical rivals back in the day, so of course their labels made their bands tour together. They played up their rivalry on stage until they wrote a perfect song together. Soon after, when Sam found out he was a father and Mackenzie had a medical scare, they fell out of touch. Until now. Now, the label wants them together as a duo, but will their rivalry continue or will old feelings return to the surface? This dual-narrative novel about heartbreak, found family, and finding yourself is a must read for romance readers. The two narrators really bring the story to life as well. While there’s no singing, the writing is melodic, and the narrators lean into that. The musical backdrop with insights into the legal side of publishing songs is interesting as well. This was heartfelt and fun.

Five full stars. I loved this book so much & the narration was awesome! Mack and Sam 4Eva! Two former rival rock stars reconnect two years after whatever their relationship was ended. They had both gone through a lot during that time and brought all of their past to create a different future. I’m a sucker for a rock star romance and it’s even better when they’re both rock stars! I appreciated the level of maturity included in this story. I worried that the secrets would blow everything up in toxic ways which would make their story the worse kind of contemporary romance formula. Instead, adults behaved like adults and I was there for every single minute of it.
*Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley