e-Audio,10:12:01
Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
Release Date: January 2, 2024
Published by: Harlequin Audio
Read from: December 28-31, 2024
Stand-alone
Source: Libro FM (I received a copy of this audiobook from Libro FM in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Emotional Abuse, Abandonment, Death of a Parent, Toxic Friendship, Toxic Relationship, Panic Attack/Disorders, Suicidal Thoughts, Bullying
For Readers Interested In: Realistic Fiction, Romance, Neurodiversity (High functioning diversity), Family diversity (loss of her mother. Lives only with her father), Racial/Ethnic Diversity (South Asian), Fave Narrator, YAFrom the author of Counting Down with You and A Show for Two comes a new YA contemporary about a girl who accidentally sabotages an up-and-coming local band and falls for the guitarist while secretly trying to make up for her mistake.
Liana Sarkar lives and breathes music, hoping to follow in the footsteps of her A&R coordinator father. Maybe if she succeeds, he’ll finally give her the time of day instead of drowning himself in work to distract from the grief of her mother’s passing.
When Liana accidentally sabotages an up-and-coming local band, Third Eye, she makes it her mission to steer them towards success—without them discovering her role in their setback. But as she gets closer to Third Eye, especially their enigmatic leader Skyler Moon, it becomes harder to hide the truth.
With both her heart and their futures on the line, will Liana be able to undo the damage she’s caused?
*MY THOUGHTS*
Although I have all of this author’s books on my TBR, this is the first one of them I actually sat down and read. And honestly I feel like I made the right choice. Because this book was so good! I was fighting air the whole way through and I couldn’t stop until I finished.
Ok so the reason I was fighting air was the toxic friendship and toxic relationship. I still don’t know how this person was able to do what they did. The horrible thoughts they had to have had while they were doing this? It was like they had no conscience. And I was in awe that they didn’t even think twice about it. I also didn’t understand how the person it first happened to didn’t understand that they were doing the same thing to another party. It was a circle of lies and I was trying to tell them all to just leave everyone alone, but none of them were listening lol But I do know that that’s the way I know I love a book. When i get so into it that I’m talking to the characters or yelling at them knowing they won’t listen. And this was one of those books.
The romance in this was adorable. It felt so authentic. And Idk it’s the cutest when they try to convince each other that they don’t like the other. That’s what they do here. They weren’t quite enemies but they did have some little tiffs here and there. And idk, it was so cute to me. Which is weird because I usually don’t like enemies to lovers.
The best thing about this book tho was the characters. All of them felt like a warm hug. The whole band was different in their own way and they all brought their own thing to the story. To be honest I would love to see another book but only about them. I’d also like to see some of their music or band photos etc. And the way they interacted with each other was so cute.
The only thing I didn’t like about this book was the situation between Liana and her dad. We never find out why he acted this way and he never apologizes or anything. And in the end, we don’t find out anything. I just felt like it was left too wide open. (And y’all know how I am about open ended endings lol) I guess I just wanted to see him be held accountable. After him being like that the entire book, she (we) deserved some kind of closure. Especially since the entire book happened because of him. Literally everything was because she was trying to impress him or make him notice her and nothing. It just felt a bit unfinished.
I also liked the neurodiversity rep in the book. As someone with high functioning anxiety, I felt very seen in this. Probably another reason I was so into this book. Although I didn’t agree with her not saying anything right away, I can say I probably would have done the same thing. The thought of having someone mad at me, I think I would have done everything to make sure I could fix it.
I’m purposefully being vague because if you’re like me and you don’t read the synopsis either, the person who is toxic comes as a surprise. The play-list in this was also pretty good too. I went back and listened to all the songs and all the other books by this author too. After this one, I’m definitely going to read their whole backlist.
Overall, I give this
