Am I playing my Noah Khan playlist whilst writing this review.

Why yes I am.

Thank you to Morgan Elizabeth for this advanced copy to review. All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.

Morgan Elizabeth has done it again.

I have been lucky enough to be on Morgan Elizabeths ARC team for a few releases now, but even if I wasn’t she is an auto buy author for me, and one I would love to meet one day. I have had a pretty interesting year and its authors like her that have given me brilliant worlds to escape too.

This new book – described as “Noah Kahan-coded, The Notebook meets Sweet Home Alabama” is exactly that. A delightful, heartwrenching, moving childhood friends to lovers romance that had me welling up and laughing through the tears too. It jumps around from past to present but this only helps you get to know these characters more and more.

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Book Description from website…. “From #1 Best-Selling Amazon author, this Noah Kahan-coded, The Notebook meets Sweet Home Alabama, contemporary romance is bound to give you all the feels.

Riggins has been in love with Stella for as long as he can remember. As kids, they’d sneak out and spend long nights under the stars writing songs together, sharing their deepest confessions, and dreaming about getting out of their small town. When his band gets a record deal and a headlining tour, he convinces her to come see the world with him, and she agrees. It doesn’t take long before he gets too far into the rockstar lifestyle, everything starts to fall apart-including their relationship. When she leaves without a word and never looks back, it leaves him shattered, spiraling, and confused. Until he finds out why…

Nine years ago, Stella went on tour with her childhood love. When things fell apart, it broke her, and she’s spent every moment since putting herself back together, crafting a facade that will please everyone around her while forcing herself to survive. It’s going well until one day, Riggins shows up at her house in their small town of Ashford, New Jersey, and blows her safe little world apart. Now they’re stuck piecing together their versions of the past together and seeing if they can move forward together.”

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Whist the romance aspect of this story is as brilliant, swooney and spicy as you would expect from a Morgan Elizabeth book, what really stood out for me and made this such a strong 5 star read is the mental health representation.

Stella goes through it in this book. Her highs and lows are incredibly well written, as are the causes. In some moments its a bit of a hard read, but she perseveres, learns how to cope and grows, both individually and then with the support of Riggs. Who takes the time to learn and understand adult Stella, and show her how he has changed and grown up too.

This makes their romance that much more sweeter.

This is not a light summer romance, but it is a brilliantly well written realistic romance that tugs at your heart strings and makes you look at your own a bit too.

TROPES:
Second Chance
Rockstar
Childhood Friends to Lovers
Mental Health Rep
Right Person, Wrong Time
Secret Marriage