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adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ashley Poston… count your days. This book is an assault against all mankind. 1 million stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia
Minor: Death, Death of parent
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Another absolute banger by Ashley Poston. I laughed, I cried, I wanted to hug my mom after I finished. She just captures such raw emotions in such a heartfelt and romantic way.
loved the cameo of clementine and iwan
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia, Grief
Moderate: Death, Death of parent
Minor: Car accident, Alcohol
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
🎶 Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston 🎶
MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Joni Lark, a songwriter, can’t write a single note. Burned out and uninspired, she returns to her coastal hometown hoping for a reset—but finds everything changed: her best friend is distant, her mom’s memory is fading, and her family’s music venue on the brink.
Then she hears it—a half-formed melody and a voice in her head that won’t let go.
She thinks it’s all in her mind…until the man behind the voice shows up. He’s nothing like she imagined, but they share the same song—and maybe something more.
To move on, they’ll have to finish the song. But some songs don’t just end—they change everything.
Ugh. Ashley Poston is such a good writer. Her writing is so atmospheric and descriptive and beautiful, and still accessible. I love her stories and characters and the car she writes with. This book definitely felt whimsical, but I did feel a bit less of the magical realism in this one than in her others. I also felt slightly less connected to this than some of her other books. I still absolutely loved it and enjoyed reading it though. The dynamics with her family really added to the story, and it was a very sweet book.
Read this if you like:
- nicknames
- magical realism
- love triangle ish
- complicated family dynamics
Vibes: 🎵🎤🎸🎹🍺🌊
Song that matches the vibe: Feels Like Home by Bonnie Raitt
Full review including content warnings on my StoryGraph.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Death, Car accident
Minor: Alcoholism, Alcohol
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to NetGalley and HQ for this ARC.
Joni Lark is a songwriter who lives in LA but has temporarily returned to her beach hometown of Vienna Shores in North Carolina where her parents have a music venue called The Revelry, due to her mother Wyn's worsening dementia, although she is still largely with it.
Sebastian Fell is a singer with a previous alcohol addiction who struggles with his fame. The two of them meet at a concert of a singer friend but don't get up to the best start. However, then the magical realism kicks in and they can suddenly hear each others' thoughts and the same unknown unfinished song in their heads, which they now must finish.
It's an unusual premise that I struggled with, especially as the mind-reading seemed to come and go, leading to more miscommunication than should be feasible. I wish the dementia had been trigger warned as it's a big topic that I didn't want to read about after having lost my partner to it. There was too much trauma and grief in this story to make it a light-hearted one.
The romance is described well enough and the chapters are short but I can't stand it when men call women silly nicknames. First Iwan who calls Clementine "Lemon" (yes, they make an appearance), now Seb/Sasha calling Joni "bird".
What was good was the description of love within a close-knit family and Joni's friendship with Gigi who is with her brother Mitch. The struggle for identity and finding out what is important in your life was great, though the story centered on Joni more than on Sebastian. The way the unfinished song was linked to both Joni's and Seb's mothers was lovely as well. If you like stories about magical realism and music in an American small town, this romance is for you.
Joni Lark is a songwriter who lives in LA but has temporarily returned to her beach hometown of Vienna Shores in North Carolina where her parents have a music venue called The Revelry, due to her mother Wyn's worsening dementia, although she is still largely with it.
Sebastian Fell is a singer with a previous alcohol addiction who struggles with his fame. The two of them meet at a concert of a singer friend but don't get up to the best start. However, then the magical realism kicks in and they can suddenly hear each others' thoughts and the same unknown unfinished song in their heads, which they now must finish.
It's an unusual premise that I struggled with, especially as the mind-reading seemed to come and go, leading to more miscommunication than should be feasible. I wish the dementia had been trigger warned as it's a big topic that I didn't want to read about after having lost my partner to it. There was too much trauma and grief in this story to make it a light-hearted one.
The romance is described well enough and the chapters are short but I can't stand it when men call women silly nicknames. First Iwan who calls Clementine "Lemon" (yes, they make an appearance), now Seb/Sasha calling Joni "bird".
What was good was the description of love within a close-knit family and Joni's friendship with Gigi who is with her brother Mitch. The struggle for identity and finding out what is important in your life was great, though the story centered on Joni more than on Sebastian. The way the unfinished song was linked to both Joni's and Seb's mothers was lovely as well. If you like stories about magical realism and music in an American small town, this romance is for you.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol
Dementia features quite heavily as does a car crash (drunk driving)
emotional
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Dementia, Death of parent