Headlines:
Returning to the fold
Voices
Magical realism win

Sounds Like Love grabbed me with one of the best meet-cutes I've ever read and you could think that it would be plain sailing from there (spoiler...it wasn't). It also took an unexpected direction with Poston's magical realism pen.

This story was full to the brim with endearing (but real) characters. For once, there was a richly warm family, not without its difficulties but it was a gorgeous family. That explained to some degree why Joni found herself returning home after a long absence.

This story hit some difficult notes with regards to early dementia but honestly, as someone with a family member with dementia, Poston handled this with care and well-researched knowledge. Suffice it to say, that aspect of the story brought a relatable family illness experience to a mostly fun and peppy story.

The couple of the piece were both from a musical background, one a singer, one a song-writer and the musical themes were great. I loved their journey, their unwanted connection and how they bonded over the strangest experience. How they ended up coming together for work was quite lovely.

This was a romance that was easy to pick and get lost in. One for book club, holiday or a weekend.

Thank you HQ for the early copy.

”We were all made of up memories, anyway. Of ourselves, of other people. We were built on the songs sang to us and the songs we sang to ourselves, the songs we listened to with broken hearts and the ones we danced to at weddings.”

Ashley never disappoint. She done such a beautiful job with writing about magical realism with grief. She had by bawling my eyes out by the end of the book which I honestly was not expecting to happen.

”You should cry as much as you want. It’s not a bad thing. It never is. Grief is just a love song in reverse.”

The romance between Sasha and Joni was done so beautifully. It felt so real. I loved how they communicated in their heads when they didn’t know how to say it out loud. The connection those two have together is beautiful. The relationship also feels more believable since they know each other thoughts and they grow and bond over that.

feral for them

🎸 Musician x Songwriter
🤯Psychic Connection
🏡 Family Dynamics (and dementia of FMC’s Mother)
🎶Disastrous first meeting
🦜Pet Names

This book was phenomenal. I’m struggling to put into words how much I enjoyed this - I feel like I truly went on a journey with this one.

After seeing so many people say they SOBBED during this book I thought I’d got away with it - and then the last 10% hit and I was a MESS. Poston truly has a way with words and the romance, tenderness, familial love and self-growth really flew off the page.

Absolutely recommend this and will be checking out Postons other work asap!

Probably my favorite setting of any Ashley poston book! I love a small town romance so this really hit. I listened along with the Spotify playlist for the book. I think this could have been improved by actually identifying each song by the. Chapter. I will say i wasn’t super sold on the romance here, it didn’t have much tension and i just didn’t feel like i was super invested in them getting together

Sounds Live Love is essentially if you put in the movie Music and Lyrics starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, an ecletic coastal setting and a dash of magical realism into one smoothie blender and blended them all together. In our story, our main protagonist Joni Lark is a hitmaker songwriter (very Julia Michaels -esque) meets our tortured former ex -boyband member (Zayn Malik in my mind) at the backstage of a concert. These two share a kiss and soon find they also share minds , with an earworm of a tune demanding them to write a song together. However Joni has already escaped to her coastal childhood home to deal with the family fallout from her mother's dementia diagnosis,forcing Sebastian to follow...

I adored this book. I am a sucker for the two lost souls trope who lean on one another. It gave me the Emily Henry emotional notes especially as we see how Joni and Sebastian's childhood has led them to this moment. I adored watching Joni's family and how they all try to deal with these tragic set of circumstances. The writing itself was beautiful as Ashely is really good at creating a vivid setting and nostalgic summer feel. This book takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions while still being a fun beach read. Joni and Sebastian feel like real people that you have met and I loved how emotionally communicative they both were forced to be because they could hear each others thoughts . I loved this book so much and as someone who loves music , I loved seeing how music can change and shape lives and families ❤️

I absolutely love the way Ash Poston writes! Her books are such easy & enjoyable reads - whilst still tackling hard hitting topics - and also so whimsical that you feel swept up in the magic of it all 💫

Since Joni’s mum’s dementia diagnosis, she has been struggling to write music, and feels herself drawn back to her hometown. I thought that the way Ashley wrote about Joni’s relationship with her mum, her parents’ music hall, and songwriting struggles was perfect 💔 Whilst I’m a romance girl at heart, I was most invested in these aspects of the book!

Which brings me to Joni & Sasha’s relationship - which for me was *fine* 🙂 The spontaneous telepathic connection was a fun concept! But unfortunately it was pretty confusing - as when / what they were able to hear was unclear and inconsistent. This meant that as a reader you really had no idea what each MC knew from the other’s thoughts 😅

I also just would have loved to have seen more of them together without their telepathy - I felt like the relationship was undeveloped, and at the end it honestly wouldn’t have bothered me if they had gone their separate ways, nor did I really believe they’d last past an epilogue 🫠😅

Overall I definitely enjoyed it, but the romance side let it down a little, so sadly doesn’t hold a candle to The Dead Romantics or Seven Year Slip for me 🥲

I was completely swept away by this story, falling deeply in love with the nuanced characters, the different kinds of love and relationships, the dreams being followed, the grief experienced. This story is filled with so many different emotions all woven through a beautifully written plot that takes us on a journey filled with music and joy and heartbreak. Joni and Sebastian may not hit it off at first, but they're given a second chance through a magical telepathic connection, one that bares their innermost thoughts and creates an intimacy that's impossible to resist. Joni sees another side to Sebastian, the man behind the mask, one who sees her and understands her. Watching their connection develop as they got to know each other, sharing secrets and all the things that are far too hard to speak out loud, they have a closeness that romance lovers long to see between two characters - as well as incredible chemistry, sparks flying from the very first kiss. Together, Joni and Sebastian can face their grief, their anxieties, their hopes for the future and their feelings for each other all while writing the perfect song side by side on a piano bench, the one that niggles away at them, an unfinished melody in their heads. Beyond these two, I was drawn in by the charming Vienna Shores with Cool Beans, the coffee shop where the drinks are all fantastic puns, the Marge, a swim-up margarita barge with wild flavours that sometimes should never be paired, the Rev, Joni's family music hall with tribute bands and photo walls, and all the other places that make up this town. But, I can't forget the people who make Vienna Shores what it is, either. Todd, Uncle Rick, Gigi, Mitch, and Joni's parents. The family dynamic is so enjoyably chaotic and amusing, with irreverent banter and big personalities, though we also see the flip side, the hard things they can't talk about, the pain and guilt Joni feels for the physical distance, and the difficult future ahead.

This story gave me all the feels with the humour, the heartache, the tenderness, the fear, the joy, and everything in between. I could barely put it down and whenever I did, these characters weren't far from my thoughts. The only thing I would say is that I would have loved to hear more of Sebastian's thoughts as where Joni's character is front and centre as the narrator of this story, her loud thoughts also worming their way into Sebastian's head, he's much more of a mystery and as dual POV are my favourite, it would have been a great little nugget to have. That being said, this in no way lowers my love for this book and it's five stars all the way!

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

Ashley Poston has once again composed a symphony of love, loss, longing… and lyrics that echo long after the final page. This book made my heart sing. It’s full of soul, soaked in sunshine, and strikes the perfect chord between whimsical and heart-rending.

Joni (Jo) Lark, songwriter of ballads and backstories, stole my heart with her quiet strength and sharp wit. She’s the kind of character you root for—especially when an infuriating (and infuriatingly hot) stranger starts occupying valuable mental real estate. The magical realism between Jo and Sasha is pure perfection, and what follows is a duet as electric as it is unexpected. The romance has spark, swoon, and just enough enemies-to-lovers chaos to make you want to shake them (nicely, of course!)

At its heart, this story is laced with nostalgia—mixtapes, kiss cams, whispered lyrics, and a venue that holds a heady mix of history and heartache. The Revelry felt like a character in its own right: rich in legacy, love, and one last chance to get the band back together.

There’s a perfect balance of laugh-out-loud moments—thanks to Sasha’s never-ending barrage of double entendres—and poignant ones, particularly Jo’s emotional journey alongside her mum Wyn’s early onset dementia.

This story is a summer hit in the making. It’s for the romantics, the dreamers, the playlist-makers. I laughed, I swooned, I got teary over a piano bench and a song almost lost to time.

I’d give anything to hear “If You Stayed” and "Sounds Like Love" for real.

Ashley Poston is becoming a must read author for me, so I was keen to try her new novel.

Joni is a songwriter but she just can't write anymore. When she starts hearing a melody in her head, she knows she has to get it down - but the melody is accompanied by a voice. When the man who possesses that voice turns up, they decide to finish the song together. Can they manage this without affecting their relationship?

I loved the premise of being inside someone's head, the little "overheard" bits for Joni and Sasha were amusing at times, and I really liked their relationship build up. Joni's mum's story, however, was hard hitting and emotional. A really enjoyable read.

Every time I read a book by Ashley Poston i feel like i am transported in a magical land, it’s such an incredible feeling.

Reading Sounds like love was such a rollercoaster of emotions because even though is a romance book with magical realism, it deals with some heavy topics and i think it was handled perfectly.

Sasha and Joni had such a way with music and with the way they tiptoed around each, that it made me crave more it was fantastic.
And that cameo??? I literally screamed 🍋

You can always count on Ashley Poston to make you cry your eyes out but after closing the book you will definitely miss the story.

Amazing blend of the love for music and romance and daily struggles and everything else in between.

Thank you to the publisher for the arc.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this e-arc!

Ashley Poston does it again. I am obsessed with her. She takes the magical element to the next level and never fails! I wish I could read this book again for the first time. Single handedly bringing me out of a slump (I hope).

I loved the way this book was put together, nothing felt rushed or unnatural and I would highly recommend it to everyone!!

Almost 4 stars

Joni Lark, our songwriter FMC is struggling to get her groove back. She's stuck, her well has run empty and is also homesick. All of this is related to her mother's diagnosis of Dementia and Joni feeling an outsider in her own family. She's now back to her hometown, a little coastal town in North Carolina for the summer from Los Angeles and if everything was already not going well enough (sarcasm), she now has a man's voice in her head.

Sebastian 'Sasha' Fell, bad boy of the former boy band group Renegade is now trying to make a come back. He has his own family issues; he is the son of a famous rock star and his childhood which was not the best, to say the least. Now he has a woman's voice inside his head and it is very present!

First off, what a fascinating concept; telepathy and a ear worm tune stuck in their heads. 

I really enjoyed both Joni and Sasha as characters, their struggles are perfectly ordinary in a extraordinary setting and completely understandable and you really root for these two to have the issues resolved and get their HEA.

I also really enjoyed the musical/song references and adored the chapter titles!

The issue of dementia was dealt with fairly well, it's extremely difficult seeing the person you love have this disease and the impact it has on the person and their family. The grief of losing your parent to especially this kind of health condition is devastating and Ashley Poston managed to make the reader really how heartbreaking it is.

I loved our couples first meeting, it had a magical quality to it and then of course the magic happens. Their romance is bit fast paced but at the same time, there's a little bit of a triangle and Joni trying to understand herself. The whimsical quality is especially present in the first half of the book and I enjoyed how their relationship went from hostile strangers to friends to lovers. They were very sweet together.

"...You know you’re in love when they are the first person you want to hear in the morning and the last person before you go to bed..." -Sasha

"I loved the way he saw me. I loved myself in his eyes." -Joni

Quibbles: [spoiler]There was a lot of ‘I should say this’, ‘as I was mustering ..’, ‘thought about telling…’. And I wanted to tell her from Joni. It got a bit old especially since this was still happening around 70+%. Just say it, so many areas where things could be shared but Joni did not and the moment was gone and we never returned to her ever saying those things. It was so frustrating.

Also I would have liked to see bit more them as a normal couple.

While we spent a lot of time in the book on and off-page dealing with Joni's mothers dementia, we just don't get that with Sasha's issues with his father, it sort of felt by-the-by and then The end.

Last thing, the reason for the telepathy and the tune did not completely work for me, it would have worked if it was just the tune they both heard but the telepathy part was sort just felt unanswered to me and I felt a bit unsatisfied with it. [/spoiler]

Overall, a lovely read with an adorable couple with family issues and magical telepathy to help them find each other.

Tropes:
Singer x songwriter
Small Town Romance
Telepathy
Familial health issues
Magical realism

Ashley post on how do you come up with these concepts and can we have more please - I am obsessed and will deffo recommend

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advance copy to review.

Where do I even begin in trying to sum up how I feel about this book? I absolutely adored it! The author writes so beautifully and really captures the nuances of real life relationships especially through hard times, whilst still having faith in love.

This is a love story and so much more. It is about family, about finding yourself again, about how music can captivate people and about being human. It is written from some a unique perspective that reads for a very original and fresh take on a love story.

I cannot recommend this enough,

I find it difficult to write reviews for books that I rate five stars, but Sounds Like Love was truly beautiful.

The dementia plot line is something that resonates with me anyway but I cried a lot towards the end of the story - the author note at the end was also incredibly heartfelt.

I was worried that I wouldn't like Sebastian as he's pretty unlikeable when we first meet him, but the way he morphs into Sasha as Toni gets to know him was done really well. The music theme and the telepathy were also great, I loved the way Toni and Sasha's past and present were woven together.

I highly recommend reading Sounds Like Love and I'll be buying a physical copy asap!

When I first read ‘The seven year slip’ I knew I had to keep on reading Ashley Poston’s books.

Truth is that this book was just magical, Joni and Sasha were so cute together and separately too. Both of them had interesting background stories and the maturing of Joni’s character felt real. But this book was more than a simple (not so simple) love story, it is a book about friends and family too, it goes deeper.

Now, talking about how they started the attraction, I think it was kind of an instalove? But even tho it felt like an early thing, it didn’t bother me somehow. Instalove is something that takes me off of a book almost every time, but I think the reason of why I didn’t cared so much is because they still developed a connection that was actually believable.

Thank you so much to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC. This was such a magical and heartwarming book and I would definitely recommend it.

Sounds Like Love is a stunning blend of emotional depth and magical realism that showcases Ashley Poston’s signature storytelling flair. For readers familiar with her previous works — or newcomers diving in for the first time — this novel offers a touching, immersive experience that lingers well after the final page.

At its heart, the story follows Joni, an emotionally exhausted creative returning to her small hometown of Vienna Shores after burning out in LA. What unfolds is a tender exploration of love, grief, and identity, all wrapped in an enchanting premise: Joni and a mysterious musician named Sasha find themselves psychically connected after a kiss, each hearing the other's thoughts and a haunting shared melody.

Joni is an incredibly authentic protagonist — her internal struggles, especially surrounding her mother’s early-onset dementia and her artistic stagnation, are portrayed with raw honesty. Her deep ties to her family and hometown ground the story in a beautiful sense of place and nostalgia, while Sasha — kind, brooding, and quietly magnetic — offers the perfect emotional counterbalance.

Poston weaves in her hallmark touch of magic with such elegance that it never overwhelms the realism. Instead, the supernatural elements enhance the emotional resonance, especially in the way secrets are no longer private between Joni and Sasha. This creates not only moments of vulnerability but also some of the most genuine romantic tension you’ll read in a contemporary love story.

The lyrical chapter titles and the music thread running through the book are especially moving for anyone who finds comfort and meaning in song. Despite the heaviness of certain themes — grief, burnout, the painful reality of a loved one slipping away — Poston manages to infuse warmth, humour, and hope into the narrative.

Sounds Like Love isn’t your typical romance, and that’s what makes it stand out. It's thoughtful, a little bittersweet, and completely original. Highly recommended for fans of emotional, character-driven love stories with a magical twist.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I LOVE Ashley Poston and jumped with absolute delight when I realised I had access to her newest release Sounds Like Love. I read this book in one sitting during a very long nightshift!

Joni and Sasha are the cutest Ashley couple to date 😍.

If you love magical realism, telepathy or music this is the book for you...even if you're looking for something different, this is the book for you!

This book was a sweet, emotional story about connection, trust, and finding your version of happiness. It starts off slow, building Joni's character and the people around her. Once the mind-link connection between Joni and Sasha starts, the book becomes hard to put down. This concept of connected minds isn't brand new, but it's really enjoyable to read and gives us a deeper look into the characters’ personalities and thoughts. I always love how Ashley Poston adds magical realism into her stories, here you get to see the characters' vulnerabilities, the parts of themselves they usually keep hidden.

I loved Sasha, the misunderstood musician stuck with fame and a public image that doesn’t reflect his kind and thoughtful personality. Joni’s journey is messier, full of self-doubt and pressure to be who everyone expects her to be. She has the success she thought she wanted, but something’s still missing. Her character feels flawed, but so real, sometimes you just want to shake her and make her realise what we all already know. I also loved the family dynamics and the way they all care so deeply for each other. The portrayal of her mum’s dementia was heartbreaking and so emotionally honest.

Joni and Sasha’s romance builds quickly, but it makes sense, they’re in each other’s thoughts. There’s no room for pretending or playing it cool when your feelings are exposed. It made their connection feel intense and genuine.

Not my favourite of Poston's work, but SOUNDS LIKE LOVE was a fun, quick read regardless. And I was delighted with the SEVEN YEAR SLIP cameos.