A 27-year long waited love story about two girls (now women) who reconnect under some crazy circumstances, will they find what they are missing in life after all this time? Some very real topics are brought up in this one including DV and mental and health, so keep that in mind if picking it up.
The connection through music mattered to me more than the romance in this one. Not as a gimmick or background detail, but as the way the characters move through their lives. Hannah through teaching and her daughter. Parker through editing and composing. Even Morgan, still in high school, trying to work out who she is and where she fits, experiencing the world through sound and colour because of her synesthesia.
Parker was the character I connected with most. Seeing who she was at eighteen compared to who she becomes as an adult felt realistic and well paced. She puts everything into what she loves, work included, and that intensity shows through her actions and through how other characters talk about her. I recognised that way of loving things deeply.
The romance is steady and slow, and it fits the characters and the lives they’ve lived. There’s breathing room for growth, especially in the second half, and the pacing is backed by the pain both Parker and Hannah carry. Nothing feels rushed or artificially heightened.
Morgan’s storyline ended up carrying as much emotional weight for me as the main two. Her synesthesia, her relationship with the adults around her, and her process of figuring out what she wants to do with her life made the world feel fuller. It was refreshing to read a romance where the side story mattered and had depth.
This is a grounded second-chance love story. Bittersweet in places, quieter in others, and very aware that love later in life comes with history attached. From a romance perspective I enjoyed the first half more than the second, but overall it’s a thoughtful, music-threaded, warm sapphic romance that gives its characters space to exist.
Thank you to the Author, Publisher and Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book.