Love Songs & Other Lies by Jessica Pennington (Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads)Published by TOR on April 24th 2018
Genres: Coming of Age, Contemporary, Dating & Sex, Music, Performing Arts, Romance, Social Themes, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 288
Format: ARC
It’s summer romance and second chances, the songs that stay in your head, and the boy you’ll never forget.
Two years after rock-song-worthy heartbreak, Virginia Miller is looking forward to a fun, carefree summer. Her friends just landed a spot on a battling bands reality show, and Vee is joining them for her dream internship on tour. Three months with future rockstars seems like an epic summer plan. Until she learns she’ll also be sharing the bus with Cam. Her first love, and her first heartbreak. Now Vee has more than just cameras to dodge, and Cam’s determination to win her forgiveness is causing TMZ-worthy problems for both of them. With cameras rolling, she’ll have to decide if her favorite breakup anthem deserves a new ending. And if she’s brave enough to expose her own secrets to keep Cam’s under wraps.
I loved everything about this book, and it’s honestly no surprise to me. It has all kinds of elements that I love… second chances, best friends, something of a summer road trip… and a little bit of drama.
Vee’s best friends just landed a coveted spot on a battling bands reality show, and Logan, the lead singer, has talked her into joining them and getting some much needed experience in PR and marketing. How can she turn down spending the next three months with her friends and the rest of the bands on the tour?
Then she finds out that her first love… and first heartbreak, Cam, is on the bus… and sleeping across the aisle from her.
This is written in alternating timeframes… from the past when she first meets Cam and the story of them falling in love and in the present the story of them connecting again and learning to forgive.
I found myself immediately loving Vee so much. She’s always been in the background of the band… whether it was managing them or helping them write songs, she wasn’t one to want to be on stage, the center of attention. She’s super talented though and I loved that the band appreciated that and didn’t take advantage of her.
Cam, Cam, Cam… you know immediately that he has demons that he’s trying to out run. Even Vee knew he was hiding things, but she couldn’t stay away even if he wouldn’t share the things that were haunting him with her. Watching them fall in love, though, begs the question “can you really love someone you only know bits and pieces of?” Because that is all Cam was sharing with Vee, and it was hard knowing bits of his story and knowing she was so completely in the dark about it all.
I really loved how Pennington weaved in the battle of the bands / reality TV part of the story… the constant presence of the cameras and the added drama of her on the bus even though she wasn’t a band member … and the even bigger drama of the reality TV fans added an element of fun and stress on the characters that was definitely needed. Plus the music and the performances and songwriting were just so well done!
The end of this book had me swooning my face off…
I could honestly read another 30 chapters of these characters and their story… seriously. There is just so much depth to these characters and the story that as soon as I turned that last page, I was immediately missing them.
If you’re a fan of sweet, heartbreaking, second chance love stories… stories that are filled with emotion and bit of drama, then look no further. You’re definitely going to need to put this on your TBR list … I know it doesn’t come out for forever, but this one will absolutely be worth the wait!
About Jessica Pennington
I’m a novelist (almost) patiently awaiting the publication of my debut YA novel, LOVE SONGS & OTHER LIES, coming out January 2018. I write contemporary YA fiction, mainly romance. There has to be at least some inkling of love! I live in Michigan with my tech-geek husband and my totally adorable 1-year-old son, Rory. Seriously, he’s crazy-adorable. If you don’t believe me check out my instagram feed! When I’m not writing I also own an event design firm where I plan & design weddings. And yes, I do have some good wedding stories–I just can’t share most of them. So basically, my life is all about love!
Recent Comments