ARC Review: Like a Love Song

I’m sure you’re just as excited about this book as we were when we first heard about it. Firstly, it’s Gabriela Martins! (And if you don’t know just how much we love her on this blog, we interviewed her way back & featured her guest post in our one year anniversary celebration.) Secondly, who doesn’t love fake dating? So if you’re looking for a summery read (whether it’s summer where you are, or you wish it was), then this book will be for you.

This debut paperback original romance follows a Latina teen pop star whose image takes a dive after a messy public breakup, until she’s set up with a swoon-worthy fake boyfriend.

Fake boyfriend. Real heartbreak?

Natalie is living her dream: topping the charts and setting records as a Brazilian pop star…until she’s dumped spectacularly on live television. Not only is it humiliating—it could end her career.

Her PR team’s desperate plan? A gorgeous yet oh-so-fake boyfriend. Nati reluctantly agrees, but William is not what she expected. She was hoping for a fierce bad boy—not a soft-hearted British indie film star. While she fights her way back to the top with a sweet and surprisingly swoon-worthy boy on her arm, she starts to fall for William—and realizes that maybe she’s the biggest fake of them all. Can she reclaim her voice and her heart?

Like a Love Song

Gabriela Martins

Goodreads

Rep: Brazilian mc, Jewish bisexual li, lesbian Pakistani American side character, bisexual Brazilian American side character
Release: 3rd August 2021

Five Reasons to Read This Book

One. Truly the number one reason to read this book (aside from, hello it’s gay) is that it centres on a friendship between three girls, and a wonderful one at that. They go through thick and thin together, and wholeheartedly support each other along the way. They’ll tell each other home truths when necessary, but because they want the absolute best for one another. It’s basically the kind of friendship everyone wishes they had.

Two. It’d be remiss of us not to mention William here. We, lesbians, love one (1) man and that’s William. If you’re tired of YA love interests who treat the main character a bit like shit but are excused by some tragic backstory, then William will be a welcome antidote to that. He does what he does for the love of his family and he treats Nati as she wholly deserves to be treated, and watching her relationship with him develop will have you smiling uncontrollably the whole time.

Three. This leads nicely to our next point. The book as a whole is just so cute and wholesome. It’s much like we’d imagine injecting yourself with serotonin would be (in theory, of course, not making any judgements on the physical reality of that). No matter what mood you find yourself in when you start this book, by the end you won’t be able to feel anything but happiness. It’s impossible.

Four. The storyline centres on the theme of shaping yourself to fit into other peoples’ ideals and freeing yourself from that, coming back to finding yourself (and in Nati’s case, fully embracing the culture she was somewhat expected to leave behind). It’s the kind of journey that has you rooting for Nati all the way. You want her to say a great big fuck you to it all and decide for herself who she’s going to be.

Five. Linked into the above point, it’s a story about someone who’s had to disconnect themselves from their own culture to survive in one that’s more prevalent and pervasive. Which is most illustrated in the languages Nati speaks. Language is the basis of your culture, the thing that connects you to your homeland and your family and your roots. And Nati lost that when she moved to pursue her dream. she can’t have a proper conversation with her own grandmother, she’s afraid to visit her own homeland, all because she’s been in America so long she forgot Portuguese, forgot what made her her. Like a Love Song is a story about Nati’s homecoming.

So, have we convinced you that you want to read this book?

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