Julie Soto’s debut novel was a surprise favorite of mine. Forget Me Not [Buy Bookshop Amazon LibroFM] ranked as my second favorite read of 2023. So, it should come as no surprise that when an ARC of her second book arrived at my door, it moved up to the top of my TBR and didn’t last a week before I dove in and finished it in a matter of hours.

Not Another Love Song [Buy Bookshop Amazon LibroFM] was actually the first book Julie wrote. It’s the one that got her her agent, but they opted to publish Forget Me Not first since it wasn’t as niche.

Not Another Love Song introduces us to a violinist named Gwen. She’s part of the Manhattan Pops and picking up wedding gigs on the side. At one of those wedding gigs, a certain wedding planner we know and love realizes that the bride actually wanted a cellist, not violin, and asks if Gwen can play if they get one for her. One of the groomsmen happens to have a cello… and the butthole first chair from the Pops… who happens to be staring at her. But Xander Thorne has some secrets and Gwen is about to figure them out. Things take off from there in some very fun ways.

This is billed as an enemies-to-lovers romance, but that feels a bit strong in my opinion. They aren’t really enemies, and the portion of this book that they don’t like each other is relatively small. Gwen is a fan of Xander before they officially meet, and things tend to be more coworkers who irritate each other than enemies.

However, this is still a fan-freakin-tastic book. I was quite clueless about the music lingo, but the steam spoke for itself. No amount of A/C can keep you cool through it. Not sure I can think about a cello in the same way ever again. 😉

It was so fun to have Ama and the gang woven into this book. I hope to see more of all these characters in Julie’s next book, which is expected in 2025. You better believe I’ll be itching to get my hands on that as soon as possible.

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