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Joni Lark loves writing songs. And she’s even good enough to be doing it for a living — she managed to “make it” in L.A. after moving there from her hometown on the North Carolina coast. But now she’s stuck. She just can’t write.
So Joni is returning home for the summer, with her agent in particular hoping that rest at the beach and being with family will spark her creative juices again. But in truth, being at home is causing stress. First, her mom has been diagnosed with dementia at a young age, and second, when she arrives, her parents tell Joni and her brother that they’re going to close the music venue they’ve run her whole life.
Both things are devastating. How is she going to ever write again with the heartache she’s feeling?
Then she starts hearing things: one, just a snippet of a melody, and two, a voice. It’s a man, who turns out to be a musician with issues of his own. Joni feels like she must be going crazy. How is she hearing the thoughts of a stranger?
But then after they talk back and forth for a while, the man comes to her town, both of them hoping they can figure out a way to get out of each other’s minds. Outwardly, this guy seems nothing like the thoughtful and funny person who speaks in her head.
Turns out, this musician is hearing snippets of a melody too. So the two of them decide to write a song together, building on the melody.
Through the whole process of writing, spending time together, and talking in their heads and out loud, of course love is a distinct possibility. I really adored these characters and was rooting for them! I really loved how it all came together. So sweet and poignant. It’s interesting how I’ve read two romances this summer that involve a mom getting early-onset dementia: this one and Abby Jimenez’s Say You’ll Remember Me. (Even more interesting if I consider the fact that I’m the age of the moms, though as these things go, I still identify more with the main character.)
I would thoroughly recommend Sounds Like Love, if it weren’t for the open-door sex scene.
Rated: High. Profanity includes 10 uses of strong language, around 20 instances of moderate profanity, about 30 uses of mild language, and 25 instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content includes kissing, one open-door scene about a page long, and some very brief mentions in thought or conversations of sexual activities.
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