Love, Sax & All That Jazz

by Amy C. Shaw

Since freshman year, Olivia James and Evan Holt have competed for everything related to saxophone and band. Olivia hasn’t cared to be friends with Evan since he teased her about her planner and stole her concert band audition song. Meanwhile, Evan’s been secretly crushing on Olivia almost as long. When their band director assigns them to coordinate the band’s Family Day fundraiser together, Olivia and Evan develop a more aimable relationship. Evan begins to hope Olivia will start to return his feelings, but Olivia is determined to not let her new perspective of Evan get in the way of her getting the prestigious Highland fellowship they both covet.

But when only one of them gains acceptance into Highland, and it comes at the cost of something akin to betrayal, both Olivia and Evan will have to face the music and decide if their budding romance is worth fighting for, or if forgiveness and giving up a dream is too high a price to pay.

362 pages, Paperback

Published May 5, 2026

About the author

Amy C. Shaw grew up looking for Narnia in wardrobes and scribbling away like Jo March. Though she prefers her coffee dark, she likes her fiction fun and edifying. She lives with her husband and their two daughters in Tennessee, where she attempts to write in the margins of her day as a stay-at-home mom.

Reviews

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I am not the target audience for this story, not being a teenager myself or an adult who typically reads YA, I enjoyed it immensely! It was well-written, funny, and nostalgic. I loved seeing the sweet romance unfold between Olivia and Evan. The characters all felt realistic and relatable, but blissfully lacking in the angsty drama that is so common in YA fiction. There are good friends and present, supportive parents. (As well as subtle nods to Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe that fans will pick up on.)

As I mentioned, I don't read much YA, but I think that the band setting, jazz club (which Evan's family opens during the book and serves as an important backdrop for several events), and mentions of old jazz songs add a quirky aspect to the story that set it apart. I also appreciated the faith elements!

Not going to lie, I was a little worried at times with how things would pan out for the main characters' futures, but Amy managed to bring everything together for a sweet, satisfying conclusion. What a pleasant few days I had immersed in this story with these characters! Highly recommend.

[Kait · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s a part in this book where Olivia, reflecting on her reverence for a talented saxophone player with a big social media following, acknowledges that someone can be an example of good advice (this is how something *can* happen) but not necessarily concrete truth (this is how something *must* happen in order to be right). While that might seem like an odd spot in the story to camp out on, I think, beyond the fluttery feelings of first love that this romcom evokes, it encapsulates what I truly appreciated about this book.

Will everyone meet their true love in high school? No.
Will every high school relationship last? No.
But can we discover good advice about finding love in high school via fiction? Absolutely.

“Love, Sax, and All That Jazz” shows YA readers what a young romance centered on being Christ-like *can* look like: sweet, funny, uncertain at times (because what teenager has everything figured out?), but ultimately progressing in a way that honors (puts first) each other. And my prayer, like the author’s, is that this story finds its audience. Because centering God in a love story is not only a worthy goal, it’s entirely doable. Kissing included. :)

[Hope Elias · Rating 5 out of 5]

As soon as I heard that this was a sweet clean YA high school romcom with Anne Shirley x Gilbert vibes... I was sold. I couldnt wait to start this book!
I found out that the author has a Spotify playlist of all the jazz songs that the chapter titles are named off of. Listening to the music and reading the book was such a cozy heartwarming experience! Highly recommend!
I really like jazz music but I actually know next to nothing about anything music related. My grandpa taught music before he retired but that has not influenced my music knowledge in the slightest. nor has the fact that my mom and her mom both played sax in HS. Despite my sheer lack of musical education, i wasnt lost in this book and it certainly held my interest!
Olivia and Evan are SO sweet!!! They definitely have Anne x Gilbert vibes for SURE! One of my fave things about them was the fact that we could see Evan's pov. In Anne of Green Gables we never were able to see things from Gilbert's perspective so it was nice to have some version of that here 🥰
This was truly an amazing YA romance (and in a genre that seriously needs more good books!!!) and I can't wait to read more from the author in the future! we have a new auto-buy author, folks!

[Tracy Erler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read it so fast the afternoon/evening of May 9th (because it’s so good!), that I decided to reread it again after my current read at the time at a normal pace so I could savor it. It’s a delight, sweet, funny, tender, contemporary Christian YA novel. The writing is great! The characters are wonderful and feel very much like the seniors in high school they are, which is refreshing. The tension and conflicts for their ages, which is also refreshing. I love it. More fiction like this please!

[Mychaela Bardakjy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t tend to gravitate towards contemporary rom coms centering around high schoolers, mainly because I’m not the target audience, and because at my age that’s not my go too. However, being a mom to a teenage daughter, I’m always keeping an eye out for age appropriate reads, and Amy not only is wonderful at recommending sweet clean YA, she now writes it too.

What I really appreciated about Love, Sax, and All That Jazz was that it felt exceptionally realistic to being a senior in high school. These kids don’t have everything figured out; minds can change, plans can change, role models can let us down, curveballs come our way and can seem confusing and invoke all sorts of emotions. Life is messy, and grief is heavy and impacts us all differently. Evan and Olivia grow a lot in these pages, and for a while, it’s not looking like they will get a happy ending. They both have to navigate forgiveness, acceptance, and learning to rely on the Lord and following HIS plans for them, not what they themselves think is best. Once they are both able to slow down, pray, and lean in to what the Lord is saying, that’s when they can both feel at peace and accept what’s coming next for each of them.

All in all, this is a wonderful read and one that I feel 100% comfortable sharing with my 13 year old daughter as well. It’s age appropriate YA that is both an enjoyable romcom and teaches some good lessons that teens can benefit from. If you are looking for some sweet high school Christian romance, for yourself or your teens, don’t miss this book!

[Julie B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so flippin’ cute. Though I am not the target audience (which is YA) I can tell this was truly a labor of love. Evan and Olivia were so sweet and there were moments that reminded me of my husband and I getting to know each other my freshman year of college. At age 17/18 it’s so hard to know what the future holds and figuring it out with another who has your back is what makes this story so heartwarming.

There was a moment where I wondered if the pop culture and literary nods were too on the nose and then I remembered dating my husband and life was (still is) just a bunch of quotes. It works really well. 50 points to Hufflepuff!

[Ashley Schaller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the friendships in this book and the way Evan and Olivia were so respectful to each other. They truly made a great team and I like to picture them spending many happy years together in the future. The faith content was fantastic and I hope Amy C. Shaw writes many more stories going forward.

[elhbenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an adorable book! Love, Sax, and All That Jazz by Amy C. Shaw was the perfect palate cleanser after DNF-ing a dark, icky book. It fit perfectly into the YA Contemporary Romance category.

Evan and Olivia have been saxophone rivals all of high school, but Evan wants that to change their senior year. He devises opportunities for them to spend time together and work together so Olivia can see past the stumbling block he has always been to her music goals. Olivia goes along with Evan’s schemes begrudgingly at first, but finds herself warming up to him and his charms.

This book was light and fun made me smile and laugh on many occasions. I was grateful to escape the doom and gloom of so many YA books as of recent. The characters still faced real problems that seniors in high school face every day. The problems weren’t life and death, but they were realistic—school, degree, and job choice; family and friend drama; love.

I really appreciated the music and band aspects of the book. As a band nerd myself who grew up not far from where this book takes place, this was all the nostalgia feels. The band friends and drama, the band shows and competitions, the chair placements and music dreams were all so perfectly portrayed.

I appreciated that both Evan and Olivia made tough decisions about school and career without copouts and deus ex machinas. The choices weren’t always obvious either, and it took real introspection on their part to decide between two or more good choices.

There were also Christian aspects to the book. It added depth to the characters, and it was refreshing in a YA novel to be sans-swearing and sex.

If you need something happy, fun, and feel-good, this is the book for you.

Check out my full review on Substack:

https://open.substack.com/pub/elizabe...

[Samuel G Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75

I admit I am not the target audience for this, buuuuuut I really enjoyed it. For contract, I read the first Twilight book and said I wished it had stayed at school and I'd have liked it better. This scratched that itch while also being pleasant, uplifting, and hopeful. I read my share of dark-and-dreary, but it was a great change of pace.

I had a slight issue with the characters striking me as "dumb," making dumb decisions and having dumb reactions. I then remembered that they were high school students and that was 100% accurate, lol. So I immediately retracted that complaint in my head, once that clicked the characters felt RIGHT.

I wont give specifics because spoilers, but the only thing I ended up docking points for was the way our main character reacted to a specific revelation. While the reaction was likely how I would have reacted at the time, I do wish there had been some pushback both as far as hero-worship goes and the simple reminder that nobody is perfect and everyone carries some sin. THAT said, it wasnt dwelled on super strongly, so it only docked a little bit and still rounds to a FIVE STAR READ in my ranking system.

Loved this!

[Nona Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable senior year band escapades while rivals to romantic partners blooms. Closed door with faith based content, I loved and enjoyed this book as a former band mom I could totally relate to band "drama". Well written, fast paced and all together a fun read. Amy Shaw conveys the world of senior year, new romance, band rivalry and the pressure to chase what you want at all costs well. Recommend!!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Endorsement:
A delightful balance of fun storytelling and meaningful themes, this book was rivals to lovers done right. I loved watching the characters grow closer as they each did the work of examining their own hearts and motives. I’d hand this story to my own teens in a heartbeat!