Review: Heard it in a Love Song by Tracey Garvis Graves

HEARD IT IN A LOVE SONG

Tracey Garvis Graves

Publication date: November 2, 2021

Genres: Women's Fiction, Romance, Contemporary
Format: Trade Paperback (ARC)
Source: St. Martin's Press
4 STARS

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?

GOODREADS | AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

Thirty-five-year-old music teacher Layla is struggling to come to terms with the dissolution of her ten-year marriage. Her early 20’s were spent as a full-time musician, the lead singer for a local rock band. When she married Liam, a successful salesman always reaching for bigger and better, and the band started to stall, Layla quit music and began teaching and giving private lessons. Liam’s drive for status and wealth, and his penchant for living beyond his means, were a constant source of stress in the marriage. Now divorced, Layla is adrift and searching for who she is and what she wants next.

Married right out of high school, Josh spent the next twenty years with a woman who now felt like a stranger. Separated, and sharing custody of his five-year-old daughter, Josh is living alone trying to figure out what this next stage in his life will look like.

Heard it in a Love Song is what I call a Quiet Book. It focuses on character over plot and, while there is the promise of a romantic relationship throughout the novel, it is not a romance. The real story is Layla’s journey back to the woman she once was, only stronger.

Graves created such down to earth characters in Layla and Josh and I loved the slow evolution of their relationship from acquaintances, to friendship, to friendship with potential. These were two people who were battle worn and weary after the breakdown of their marriages. These weren’t two fresh-faced kids rushing headlong into love. They were both gun shy and taking the smallest of steps outside of their comfort zones. They doled out small pieces of themselves at a time, getting to know one another slowly and organically.

Told in both present time and in flashbacks of both Layla’s and Josh’s pasts, Heard it in a Love Song is raw and achingly realistic, told with Graves’s signature depth and warmth. A novel of resilience, second chances, and the healing power of music, this latest release from Graves delivered a vulnerable story with plenty of heart. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Disclosure: I received a complimentary advance copy of this book for review. This does not impact my opinion of the book or the content of this review. I received no compensation and my review is voluntary.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tracey Garvis Graves is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and international bestselling author of contemporary fiction. Her debut novel, On the Island, spent 9 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, has been translated into thirty-five languages, and is in development with MGM and Temple Hill Productions for a feature film. She is also the author of Uncharted, Covet, Every Time I Think of You, Cherish, Heart-Shaped Hack, White-Hot Hack, The Girl He Used to Know, and Heard It in a Love Song. She is hard at work on her next book.

Tracey loves to interact with her readers and can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.