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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
Thank you to Netgalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Canary Street Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review
Sam Leto grew up in a small town in Georgia, she was mostly raised by her grandmother Pearl. She grew up with an absent mother and as an emo/goth kid with her best friend Damon. From a young age she was determined to get out of her small town as soon as possible, and ended up becoming a pilot and living in Paris.
Now 20 years later she is back in her hometown for the first time since she left to help Pearl pack up her house. Being home means reuniting with Damon, she seeing what she walked away from all those years ago. Going through her childhood things she find a mixed CD Damon made her, and when she listens to the first song she is transported back to their time as teenagers and sees how her life could have played out had she dated Damon and stayed in town.
This book was such a fun time, I always enjoy a book that have a sprinkle of magical realism in it. The what if idea, although not original in nature really made this romance interesting. The nostalgia this book brought up was also an element I loved. It was also refreshing to see postpartum depression, and depression in general explored and normalized. Overall the book was a fun time, and I enjoyed the characters, and the romance.
Sam Leto grew up in a small town in Georgia, she was mostly raised by her grandmother Pearl. She grew up with an absent mother and as an emo/goth kid with her best friend Damon. From a young age she was determined to get out of her small town as soon as possible, and ended up becoming a pilot and living in Paris.
Now 20 years later she is back in her hometown for the first time since she left to help Pearl pack up her house. Being home means reuniting with Damon, she seeing what she walked away from all those years ago. Going through her childhood things she find a mixed CD Damon made her, and when she listens to the first song she is transported back to their time as teenagers and sees how her life could have played out had she dated Damon and stayed in town.
This book was such a fun time, I always enjoy a book that have a sprinkle of magical realism in it. The what if idea, although not original in nature really made this romance interesting. The nostalgia this book brought up was also an element I loved. It was also refreshing to see postpartum depression, and depression in general explored and normalized. Overall the book was a fun time, and I enjoyed the characters, and the romance.
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
I had high hopes for this one, but it was just… not good.
If I had to guess, the author was not a scene kid in the early 2000s.
If I had to guess, the author was not a scene kid in the early 2000s.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
They were cute but this book was just boring. I think that being dual pov might have helped it but I'm not sure. I would have liked to see more of them actually together.
I received an arc through netgalley.
I received an arc through netgalley.
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5 stars.
"The Backtrack" by Erin La Rosa is the kind of book that is made for someone like me, full of 2000s era nostalgia and earmarkers of my youth. That's what drew me to this novel in the first place. I am of the age where all of the songs, bands, and cultural phenomenon discussed in this book we're relevant to me and my friend group. I love the idea of a possessed Walkman used as a conduit to show the main female character, Sam, what could have been if she had only done one thing differently in her life: kissed her best friend, Damon. When they were teenagers, Damon asked if he could kiss Sam... and she declined. Shortly after their high school graduation, she left their small Georgia town and never looked back. Since then she has become a pilot, But is seemingly haunted by her decision not to kiss Damon. Circumstances are such that she must return to her hometown after promising not to. She has to move her grandma Pearl ut of her childhood home and has come to help. This means drudging up old memories, including the ones attached to the mixtape/mix-CD Damon made for her when they were younger. Whenever sam listens to one of the tracks on her Walkman, She is transported into a timewarped alternate reality where she had kissed Damon and her life was drastically different, some good, some bad. I liked about fifty percent of this book. Once Sam's mom, Bonnie, comes back into the picture, I think the book's pacing really slows to a crawl. While I don't hate this storyline, I think it is so slowly paced ompared to the rest of the book that I almost did not finish it. I liked Sam and Damon as characters individually, but I did not feel a lot of chemistry between them as a couple. In both timelines, I did not feel anything for them. There is not a lot of banter and not a lot of pining despite years of time between them. Even when they finally get over all of the obstacles in their way in the present actual reality, I can't really say I was rooting for them or excited when they got together. I really liked how Sam wanted to take care of herself above all else because the role model she had in her mom growing up was not good/was absent. She wanted to be the complete opposite of Bonnie, and she managed to somewhat do that... but at what cost? Despite Bonnie showing up about sixty percent into the book, it feels like there is not a lot of resolution until the very last bit of the story. Sam gains a new perspective on Bonnie being a teenage mother and comes to terms with the fact that she was not there for her while she was growing up because of her own trauma related to being a teen mom and being scared. Apart from sam I did not have any big feelings towards any other character in this book. I did not like Sam's present day best friend, Rachel, at all. Though the circumstances were a little zany, I felt like she was not a very good, supportive friend to Sam. I was excited to see the saucy grandma character, Pearl, and learn about her shenanigans because I love a good nasty/dirty old lady character, but she felt flat for me as well. All in all, this book is a mixed bag.
Thank you to NetGalley, Erin La Rosa, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Canary Street Press for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.
"The Backtrack" by Erin La Rosa is the kind of book that is made for someone like me, full of 2000s era nostalgia and earmarkers of my youth. That's what drew me to this novel in the first place. I am of the age where all of the songs, bands, and cultural phenomenon discussed in this book we're relevant to me and my friend group. I love the idea of a possessed Walkman used as a conduit to show the main female character, Sam, what could have been if she had only done one thing differently in her life: kissed her best friend, Damon. When they were teenagers, Damon asked if he could kiss Sam... and she declined. Shortly after their high school graduation, she left their small Georgia town and never looked back. Since then she has become a pilot, But is seemingly haunted by her decision not to kiss Damon. Circumstances are such that she must return to her hometown after promising not to. She has to move her grandma Pearl ut of her childhood home and has come to help. This means drudging up old memories, including the ones attached to the mixtape/mix-CD Damon made for her when they were younger. Whenever sam listens to one of the tracks on her Walkman, She is transported into a timewarped alternate reality where she had kissed Damon and her life was drastically different, some good, some bad. I liked about fifty percent of this book. Once Sam's mom, Bonnie, comes back into the picture, I think the book's pacing really slows to a crawl. While I don't hate this storyline, I think it is so slowly paced ompared to the rest of the book that I almost did not finish it. I liked Sam and Damon as characters individually, but I did not feel a lot of chemistry between them as a couple. In both timelines, I did not feel anything for them. There is not a lot of banter and not a lot of pining despite years of time between them. Even when they finally get over all of the obstacles in their way in the present actual reality, I can't really say I was rooting for them or excited when they got together. I really liked how Sam wanted to take care of herself above all else because the role model she had in her mom growing up was not good/was absent. She wanted to be the complete opposite of Bonnie, and she managed to somewhat do that... but at what cost? Despite Bonnie showing up about sixty percent into the book, it feels like there is not a lot of resolution until the very last bit of the story. Sam gains a new perspective on Bonnie being a teenage mother and comes to terms with the fact that she was not there for her while she was growing up because of her own trauma related to being a teen mom and being scared. Apart from sam I did not have any big feelings towards any other character in this book. I did not like Sam's present day best friend, Rachel, at all. Though the circumstances were a little zany, I felt like she was not a very good, supportive friend to Sam. I was excited to see the saucy grandma character, Pearl, and learn about her shenanigans because I love a good nasty/dirty old lady character, but she felt flat for me as well. All in all, this book is a mixed bag.
Thank you to NetGalley, Erin La Rosa, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Canary Street Press for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.
Content Warnings
Minor: Infidelity, Miscarriage
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley. Review based on final copy. All opinions are my own.
The Backtrack is another fun romance from Erin La Rosa with a solid, fairly unique premise. With the rise of nostalgic, time-warp romances in the vein of 13 Going on 30, I’ve often felt they’ve been missing the mutual character and romantic development on both leads’ part, and worse, rendering a lot of the progress moot. This one, while still more in the vein of the “modern romcom,” in being single POV, subverted this through the power of a magic CD player and mixtape, allowing for brief glimpses into an alternate reality to see what might have been, without completely dispensing with the “real” reality entirely. And as someone who was mildly into alternative music as a teenager and has embraced it more with the revival of pop-punk today, I loved the references to bands of the time, and how they literally provided a portal to the past.
Sam is easy to root for. She’s moved away from her town, but she’s summoned back when her Grandma Pearl is injured. She has a lot of painful childhood memories she’s been running from that she’s now forced to confront, and I appreciate how this particular plotline was discussed.
While the reader isn’t given insights into Damon’s perspective, I think it works here, and he felt fairly well fleshed out. Through Sam, I understood her complex feelings about Damon, and her questions about “what if?” The flashbacks, exploring what could have happened if she’d made a different choice, and how things might have turned out for them further contextualized their relationship in actual reality in a beautiful way, and made me root for them the second time around.
This was an enjoyable read that pleasantly surprised me. I’d recommend it to readers looking for a contemporary romance that captures the nostalgic vibes of the 2000s.
*I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
This was a fun, nostalgic story about a magical CD player, childhood love, and that "What If?" feeling we all have when we wonder about our other potential paths in life. If you're looking for a fun, fast romp, this is a good one and it gets bonus points for all of the references! Former emo kids, this one is for you LOL.
This was a fun, nostalgic story about a magical CD player, childhood love, and that "What If?" feeling we all have when we wonder about our other potential paths in life. If you're looking for a fun, fast romp, this is a good one and it gets bonus points for all of the references! Former emo kids, this one is for you LOL.
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
If you love nostalgia books with music of early 2000 like Blink 182, Paramour, this book is for you. Sam returns home to her small town to help her grandmother and finds a cd player that has a cd mix that was made by her first love, Damon. She learns that the CD player has a magical power and each track that she plays, goes back to their high school days but played out a little differently. It was fun to see both present Sam and Damon and the alternate flashbacks.
I did find it odd that Damon was so welcoming with Sam since she left 10 years ago and never came back. Damon's family added a fun dimension to the story as well.
Thank you @canarystreetpress @netgalley for a copy of this book.
I did find it odd that Damon was so welcoming with Sam since she left 10 years ago and never came back. Damon's family added a fun dimension to the story as well.
Thank you @canarystreetpress @netgalley for a copy of this book.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes