Heard It in a Love Song

A Novel

    • 4.1 • 16 Ratings
    • $9.99
    • $9.99

Publisher Description

From Tracey Garvis Graves, the bestselling author of The Girl He Used to Know comes a love song of a story about starting over and second chances in Heard It in a Love Song.

Love doesn’t always wait until you’re ready.

Layla Hilding is thirty-five and recently divorced. Struggling to break free from the past—her glory days as the lead singer in a band and a ten-year marriage to a man who never put her first—Layla’s newly found independence feels a lot like loneliness.

Then there's Josh, the single dad whose daughter attends the elementary school where Layla teaches music. Recently separated, he's still processing the end of his twenty-year marriage to his high school sweetheart. He chats with Layla every morning at school and finds himself thinking about her more and more.

Equally cautious and confused about dating in a world that favors apps over meeting organically, Layla and Josh decide to be friends with the potential for something more. Sounds sensible and way too simple—but when two people are on the rebound, is it heartbreak or happiness that’s a love song away?

GENRE
Fiction & Literature
RELEASED
2021
November 9
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
304
Pages
PUBLISHER
St. Martin's Publishing Group
SELLER
Macmillan
SIZE
5.5
MB

Customer Reviews

bibliophile498 ,

Sweet and cerebral

3.5 stars rounded up!

One of my most-anticipated books of the year, Heard It in a Love Song is the latest book by author Tracey Garvis Graves. While this story is engaging and sweet, it’s not the romance I expected—which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I read this one quickly, never growing bored, but wanting just a little more.

I’ve read two of Graves’ previous books: the book she may be best known for, On the Island, and The Girl He Used to Know, which I enjoyed much more.

Graves is a wonderful storyteller but I find her writing technique lacking at times. Sometimes I feel like she’s telling me things instead of showing me, and each time I read one of her books, I can’t quite put my finger on what exactly is missing. But I’m always engaged in the story and her characters are well-developed.

Heard It in a Love Song is no different. I immediately connected with the two main characters—Layla and Josh. But this is a slow-moving romance. The reader spends a lot of time in their pasts, as well as the present. Graves has written the story by using things in the characters’ present to trigger memories from the past, slowly revealing what caused the dissolution of their previous marriages. And rehashing old relationships may sound off-putting, but I was surprised by how much I didn’t mind.

This novel is much more cerebral than I expected. It’s less of a romance and more about finding closure and peace after the end of a seminal relationship. There is a love story, but it’s not what’s really at the front and center of this book. It’s a nice one to curl up with when you want a book that’s more contemplative.

Thank you to the publisher, St. Martins Press, and Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy.

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