If it's meant to be...

Beautifully atmospheric, with a perfect soundtrack, the story of Daniel and Alison is one that I won't forget ay time soon. An excellent and emotional read.

I really loved this book, the writing was sweeping and gripping. I loved all the music reference and flashbacks - such a great sense of place and time and I couldn't put it down . Definitely one of my best reads of the year.

Fantastic story, completely immersive and makes you desperate to read to the end to find out the fate of Dan and Alison. Second chance love story mixed with the back and forth of 1979 and present day. Where they were then and where they are now and everything in between. Easy to follow and utterly addictive.

Thank you Netgalley.

I enjoyed the storyline to this, "Daniel was the first boy to make Alison a mix tape. But that was years ago" by pure chance Daniel rediscovers Alison and sends her a song and it goes from there. Really well written and I couldn't wait to see how it ended.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an unexpectedly entertaining read.
Alison Connor has a pretty miserable life as a student in Sheffield. She finds herself a boyfriend, Dan Lawrence, and their shared love of music is just one thing they have in common.
Unfortunately Alison’s life is far from good, and on the day some of the worst things you could imagine happening take place she leaves Sheffield.
Years later she’s married, a successful author and living in Australia. Dan is a music journalist and happy. Then they get in touch...and their fondness for sharing music reawakens something they thought was lost.
I don’t begin to understand why they act as they do, but in the context of the novel it’s plausible. The love of music was a definite bonus, and it certainly gets you wondering what if.

Mix Tape follows the story of Dan and Alison who found love as teenagers and there stories apart as adults. What I liked about Mix Tape is how their lives play out through music, and how much more can be said with a song than just with words.

I have very conflicted feelings about this story. I really didn't like the casual way that the two main characters fell into an affair so easily with no real thought about their established families of many years until after the fact.

However the music nostalgia sung to my heart and the characters, both main and secondary, were written beautifully. There are some major topics tackled - alcoholism, homosexuality, rape - which are handled with care and contribute so much to the richness of those characters and the story.

I thought this book had a promising storyline; as a teenager in the seventies I understood the appeal of Mix Tape. However , although I perservered for a long time the storyline or the characters were just not engaging enough.

This book was an interesting modern romance novel. Much like more 'hip' novels of recent years, it included snippets of songs meant to evoke feelings of nostalgia and love, and... 'the one that got away'.

The writing style was different than I was used to - the large descriptive paragraphs with no dialogue felt overwhelming at times, and some of the small nuances of descriptions were lost on me - like too much was coming at me at once, and I didn't know where to focus. Not all of the story felt true in reality; - it had elements that felt little unrealistic, and I'm not sure how that worked for me and the story overall, especially when it touched on infidelity.

Not my favourite book, but not the worst, either.

Absolutely loved this book. I was rooting for the characters throughout. Brilliant story of true love overcoming the odds.

I enjoyed this but I have to admit that I'd hoped for a different ending. The idea of the connection the two characters have through music is inspired and the most enjoyable aspect of the story for me, it's also the most romantic part. Their reactions to being sent certain pieces of music from their past and the memories they evoked were realistic and moving.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, even more so as a music lover myself. The author has picked absolutely fantastic songs to include which we all use as triggers for different emotions at different times and am pretty sure an mp3 playlist would go down a treat along with this book.

The story of Daniel and Alison is an emotional ride, sometimes difficult to read, from the 70’s to present but one that is a joy to read. There is great depth to the story and the issues covered but fundamentally is a romance rekindled after many years once they rediscovered each other showing some positive of social media.

I recommend this book and thank NetGalley for an early copy in return for an honest review.

What a great premise for a story. Music and especially songs can be so powerful. It can transport you back to places and people. I really enjoyed this story. A romance but with a good story and believable characters. For me the music references were great too.

Fantastic read. If you like to reminisce over music then this should also appeal.
Daniel and Alison are a couple in their teens, but Alison's home life takes her away from Daniel. We then move on 30 years. Can they leave their lives to be together?
I really enjoyed this book, the only negative would be the ending. I felt like it ended really abruptly and left me wondering whether my download had corrupted and left off the end! (I had the acknowledgement blurb so I know it didn't!)

Way more bittersweet than I thought it would be. I enjoyed the writing and the music references but sadly I could not connect with the characters at all, and I still don't get what was so special about their relationship as teens that they would break two families to be together after being apart for 20 years in which they had absolutely no contact at all. Also, a trigger warning would have been very much appreciated. Not my cup of tea.

I loved the idea of the book as I'm a huge music lover. The story follows Dan and Alison who dated when they were 17 but ended up parting ways and growing up living completely different lives. They reconnect through twitter and their love of music that they shared when they were together. The story line was really great I enjoyed the flash backs so we learn how things ended up the way they did. I just found they whole thing so slow! Although it's a great story line it didn't keep me gripped and engaged

This is story has so many levels but it just made me feel a little uncomfortable that this couple were reconnecting even thought they were both in relationships.

The reconnecting through songs was a great idea but unfortunately I think I am a little young as I didn't know a lot of them and so some of the spark of the book was probably lost on me.

On the positive side it was well written and did keep you wanting to turn the page.

I was drawn to this book because of the blurb -- because one of my own works in progress is based around playlists. Its melancholy ambiance and nostalgic attachments will make us all yearn to redo the moments that at the time, we overlooked, but now we are stuck with the unanswerable question of what if...

Part of this was a throwback to my youth making mix tapes
This is a story of love and intertwined with heartache and some good music choices
If you love music from a few years ago and a love story this is your kind of book

This is such a beautiful story! It resonates with me on so many levels and the thought and emotion behind it is so real.

IT is very much a will they, won't they type of a book but worth every moment.