This Is Not a Love Song

by Sarahbeth Purcell

From the author of Love Is the Drug , the wickedly funny, pull-no-punches story of Julia, a hip, young writer whose life is thrown completely out of whack when her free-spirited soul mate decides to free himself from her, leaving her reeling.

Brilliant young writer Sarahbeth Purcell combines witty melodramatics with her own brand of hard-edged, tough-girl cadences in This Is Not a Love Song , a fantastic new novel filled with characters who are idealistic enough for readers to relate to and just cynical enough to respect.

When Julia first met Chase one February day two years ago, she knew something was different. An intelligent, free-spirited artist, Chase was not like the other guys Julia had dated. He was her soul mate. At least for two blissful years. And then, with nothing more than a single note left on a bedside table, he was gone -- following his lifelong search for peace and inspiration on another spontaneous road trip across the country. But this time, he wasn't coming back. Devastated and depressed, Julia turns to her friend Delia, a gorgeous and tortured alcoholic who approaches life with the spirit of a warrior. Through terse phone calls and late-night crying jags, Delia helps Julia navigate her heartbreaking loss.

Hilarious and heart wrenching, This Is Not a Love Song is a story about hope, healing, and that endless search for the truest form of affection -- loving yourself.

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Romance, Music

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Sarahbeth Purcell was born in Nashville, Tennessee, where she still resides.

Sarahbeth's novel, LOVE IS THE DRUG, was released by Atria/Simon and Schuster in hardback in 2004 and paperback in April 2005, with congratulatory review from publisher's bible "Booklist", among others.

Sarahbeth's second book, THIS IS NOT A LOVE SONG, was released in stores Nationwide by Simon and Schuster / Washington Square Press, April 11, 2006 as well as for download on ebook format via Simon and Schuster's website.

After her second book was published, Sarahbeth concentrated again on her visual art and photography hobby, with gallery exhibitions and sales nationwide.

Reviews

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is set up as a series of letters to an ex boyfriend who left town, phone calls, conversations, and diary entries. I liked the story but my memory is overshadowed because the ending made me angry. I was so upset,I actually wrote the author an email about my feelings. She wrote back.

~~~~~~~~~
To spoil the book, (concise version) I told the author that the boyfriend coming back was an unfair happy ending. It was a solution to all her problems, and I am tired of that trite fairy tale.

(concise version) The author responded by telling me that she believed the story ended on a very sad note. If the main character had grown, things would be different.

[Jessica Gadziala]

Sarabeth Purcell (author of Love Is The Drug) has quickly become one of my favorite up-and-coming writers. Written at a fast pace that somehow does not feel like it is lacking or leaving anything out, you feel intensely close to the characters.

In this novel we meet Julia right about the time her long-time boyfriend Chase leaves her to go on yet another quest to "find himself", but this time, he does not intend to return to her. We get to know about their relationship through old postcards Chase has sent from past missions for inner peace and through post-break-up letters Julia writes to Chase, just so she can sleep at night. We also meet Julia's best friend Delia, a bulemic alcoholic with a troubled past and violent relationships.

The entire book is written in letters and/or diary entries which, at first, was a bit confusing because you did not know who was writing what and when. But you get a hang of it quickly and the format makes it an unusual and good read.

[Alexis Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a strange book. Though the way the chapters are set up is confusing, it was still a very good book. I've read this book twice, mainly because the way the author made everything seem so real. She made the intro so interesting that you didn't ever want to put it down. It taught me pretty much to just not screw up my life. Somehow it taught me a few ideas of how to get over my issues and how to help people with theirs.

[Catherine Carithers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so much better than I anticipated. I picked it up because I liked the cover (seriously) and I was on jury duty and just needed SOMETHING. What I found was a tragic, messy delicious tale of love and loss.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was on Jury Duty and picked this book up at a Barnes & Noble because, well, I liked the cover and it looked fairly easy to read.
This book was so much more than I expected, and the story is told in a rather unusual way.
Not your average piece of chick-lit.

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books of all time. The style that it's written in, the tone, the protagonist...it's just an amazing read. and a quick one too. it's one of those books that i always go back to, if there's nothing pressing...

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This helped me get over a break up last year.

[Ryan]

Only made it to page 11, So far I don't like the format it's hard to follow and it's annoying. I'm not giving up on it yet I'll give it another chance but... not tonight.

[wendy · Rating 1 out of 5]

i don't know what was more annoying the whiny characters or the way the book is written. how this is her second published book is beyond me.

[Marnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the cover of this book, black with the title in Lite Brite pegs. The way it's written is unique, the chapters alternate between letters, conversations, & regular storytelling. Each chapter is the title of a song. Most of them are really obscure-I thought I knew a lot of songs but out of the over 100 chapters I recognized less than 25. I thought Julia was immature, the whole book was about how her boyfriend, Chase dumps her & she spends almost 6 months obsessing about him & going over aLL his letters & conversations they had in the past to try to figure out what went wrong, & she writes a new letter to him almost every other day. The only thing we really learn about Julia through the whole book is that she's having trouble getting over Chase, who sounds like a loser. He has no job & hitchhikes all over the country to try to find what he's looking for in life. It's well written & easy to read but I had a hard time caring about Julia or anyone else in the story, & it really doesnt have an ending.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. I don't know if this is just a byproduct of having relatively high expectations based on reviews I read or just the headspace I was in while reading this book, but it really kind of came off as a bit contrived for me. I am growing more and more weary of authors who incorporate multiple viewpoints and time frames to construct an overly-elaborate story. It seems that especially with "promising young authors" like Purcell (I'm not writing her off, I'll just have lower expectations for the next book of hers I read) they employ newer, more edgy techniques as a means of setting apart their works, but when you get down to the same old "building individuality in the wake of a breakup" story. I didn't hate it, but there wasn't as much there to really draw me in as I'd hoped there might be.

[Devvy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, not an awesome book but not a bad one either. Kept me entertained enough to read the whole thing. I was pretty upset with the ending though. Wish she would have moved on from Chase. Oh well. Chase's whole character ignored me and Delia was like a robot. Julia was too whiny of a main character for me but what else can I say? I think the only character that wasn't annoying was Satchel and Barkley. Which reminds me that I wish Julia and Satchel would have became a couple so she would stop whining for once in the book.

Overall: this book had a sucky ending but a great beginning. Ending lacked originality, imo.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know about this one.

I liked it - it wasn't something I couldn't stand but in all honesty, I didn't understand it really. I mean, I did, but I didn't really see the point in it. It was a book that made me go 'huh?' after I was finished with it. I don't know. Maybe you have to have a certain outlook on it or something but I'm just a plain and simple gal and it was very confusing to me. A little on the weird side.

[Sofía · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a fun read but I rolled my eyes several times at the emo-hipsterness of the leads. At times the characters were too self-absorbed and dramatic; the kind of people who listen to Rihanna's "Love The Way You Lie" and think "oh my God, like, seriously, this song is about my life" just because they fight with their significant others (because clearly nobody else does).

[Fenixbird SandS]

Bookcover sounds simply wonderful

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the witty banter between the friends funny and could relate to the characters and their struggles. It was an enjoyable read.

[Regina · Rating 3 out of 5]

chick lit. Good beach read.