Author: Clare Gilmore
Year published: 2025
Category: Adult fiction (romance)
Pages: 352 pages
Rating: 4 out of 5
Location: (my 2025 Google Reading map): USA (TN)
Summary: Twenty-five-year-old Paige Lancaster is one contract away from earning a living doing her favorite thing in the world: writing songs. But when a music industry professional suggests she might be holding back with her lyrics to lessen the heartbreak of an old flame, Paige doubts if her music is ready to be heard.
In a rare, impulsive move, Paige reaches out to Liam Bishop after four years of no-contact to ask him for a small favor: date her, and then re-break her heart, all so she can remember what those big, songworthy emotions felt like. And since Liam is the one who first set Paige on this career path, he hesitantly agrees.
Across two months of Liam’s summer work travel, the exes are forced to share hotel beds, rehash the past, and date in the present, all while navigating the building attraction between them they both swore was the one line of their agreement they wouldn’t cross.
But when it becomes near impossible not to act on their rippling chemistry, and as ever-intensifying feelings blur reality with what’s driven by the music, Paige and Liam will both have to decide which is more important: art for the sake of it, or love over everything.
Review: This is my first novel by this author, and I am pleased I read it.
I haven't read many contemporary romances with musicians as the main character. I liked that Paige is a songwriter and not the front singer; it felt like it enabled her to be more humble, unsure, and intellectual about her music. She is the one expressing the feelings in the songs and not performing them.
The romance didn't hold many surprises: old flames reunited to help Paige feel the "feelings" so she is able to produce good songs. They manage to keep it "plutonic" while still expressing their feelings for most of the book, which only makes them getting together all the more wonderful since it built up over hundreds of pages. I do like that they disagree, had fights, and had stuff to work through, including their families.
Both characters' families play a large role in the book, which is nice. Things aren't perfect; they have suffered loss, miscommunication, and unrealistic expectations. All of this is handled well. The last few pages were poignant as they relayed the impact that music and lyrics can have on the listeners.
Challenges for which this counts:
- Cover Love--hand-held light source (stage light)
- Literary Escapes--Tennessee
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