Thank you to the author for allowing me to read an ARC of her book 💕
This book. These characters. THIS BOOK. THESE CHARACTERS!!🥹🩵
To be perfectly honest, just by reading the dedications I was already kind of in love with this book, but what came after only confirmed my initial thoughts that the story was going to be good, and I can say this has been one of my favorite books of the year.
📍The story takes place in Canada, a country I’ve never visited but I feel like I have now because the author effortlessly describes cities and weathers, which makes it incredibly easy for the reader to fall deep into the story. A key element of this book is music, and it’s evident the love and respect the author has for anything related to music, as well as her knowledge about it, as we follow artists and people working at the music industry.
✍️This book hits hard, it breaks your heart, it makes you look pain in the eyes, and then it mends your broken pieces with a lesson on love, friendship and family. Told in two povs, we follow Lennon and Baxter while they navigate the world after a tragedy hits the record label they work at, leaving Lennon lost and drowning in guilt, while Baxter loses his biggest musical inspirations. This story is about loss and grief, how some events can turn our world upside down and make us feel like we cannot turn it around, how important it is to live in the present, but it’s also a story about resilience, about broken hearts and spirits that keep moving forward. The author does a fantastic job at describing feelings and tugging at your heartstrings, because this story feels like a love letter to real people, to the lost, the hurt, and to music and its healing power.
👥The main characters of this story are Lennon and Baxter, who meet when they are in a low point of their lives and rely on each other for help climbing out of the darkness. Baxter is a cocky bastard, your typical rockstar who’s too talented for his own good, but who has a past that hovers over him like a dark cloud, which makes him both easy to hate and to love. As for Lennon, she’s my girl. I cannot put into words how much I’ve loved Lennon, her fierce personality against a life that has constantly tried to bring her down, her endless love for her family and friends, and how hard she tries to bet on herself despite how little faith she actually has on her persona. Seeing Lennon evolve and grow into the happy woman she deserves to be has been an absolute pleasure, as well as seeing Baxter facing his past and being vulnerable, allowing himself to feel and become an incredible man.
Additionally, I do want to mention Lennon’s best friend and my favorite meddler, Isa, and Baxter’s friends and musicians, Levi and Colt, for being side characters that felt like main characters, in the sense of being the kind of friends who perfectly embody what true friendship means. And also Paige and Dylan, Lennon’s older siblings, for giving us the warmest, truest family dynamic, with siblings supporting each other through thick and thin, and my dear Sadie, of who I could read an entire book because the bits we’ve had of her in this one were not enough.
🖇️I think I’ve made it pretty obvious that I’ve fallen in love with this story and its characters, and I think it’s unbelievable that this is Alexandra’s first book because it’s incredibly well-written, and it reads like a novel from an author who’s published a lot of books before and has mastered her craft!
P.S.: I cannot wait for the next book in this duology, but I honestly would read Alexandra’s grocery list without a doubt.