The Lost Love Song

This was such a nice book! Love the author’s writing style. It’s funny and heartbreaking and hopeful. I just loved it. 🙂

4-4.5 stars

This was a very emotional and ultimately heartwarming romance. I loved the premise of the book, but I don’t think I was quite prepared for how heavy and sad the beginning would leave me. I actually had to step away from the book for a bit to regroup and get my feelings in order. It’s not that the book itself is sad, but a tragic event (see CW below) sets in motion a domino effect that touches so many lives.

I really loved the journey that Arie and Evie both took through this novel. Each had to find their way after being lost and decide on their own when and if they would ever be ready to move forward. It was heartbreaking, but also uplifting seeing them stumble and get back up. The author captured the grief and vulnerability so well and I found the writing truly wonderful. The romance itself is closed door, but there was something profoundly moving and tender about it.

The book is broken down into several parts and interludes and features numerous characters. This was both a positive and negative for me. As much as I loved how cleverly the author wove each and every character into the story, there were times that it felt like too much. I could see the number of characters and connections possibly being an issue if I enjoyed this as an audiobook. I think the mini stories detracted somewhat from the main storyline between Arie and Evie and caused the flow of the novel to stall in certain places. The overall effect, however, was very powerful. I especially loved and appreciated the Coda chapter at the end. Overall, The Lost Love Song was a heartwarming novel and I look forward to reading more by this author in the future.

CW: airplane crash, death of loved one

*I voluntarily read an advance review copy of this book*

When Diana, an accomplished pianist, and Arie, an IT guy, meet for the first time, it’s love at first sight. Seven years later they are engaged, living together in the home they bought, and happier than ever. But Arie is confused as to why Diana still won’t make the ultimate commitment and marry him. Desperate to convey her feelings for him but undecided about the tradition of marriage, Diana composes a hauntingly beautiful love song that she begins to play for him before she’s whisked away for another concert series across the world.

During her travels, Diana finishes composing the song at her hotel, unaware that an onlooker has become completely transfixed with the moving melody. Exhausted and distracted, Diana forgets her manuscript with the written composition at the hotel piano. The onlooker notices and with the intent to return it to her, pockets it and quickly forgets all about it.

On her way to Paris, the flight Diana is on malfunctions and the entire flight dies from oxygen deprivation. The ghost flight is escorted to its watery grave at the bottom of the Atlantic. Wrecked and inconsolable, Arie must live the rest of his days without the love of his life. Meanwhile, Diana’s love song takes on a life of its own, passing from one stranger to the next, one lover to another.

This was a moving and heart wrenching story about love, loss, and grief. The writing was extremely artistic and poetic and it was easy to get lost in the beautiful language and story lines. The story followed Arie in his journey of grief and self-healing. It also followed the life of the song as it moved from musician to musician and changed not only in how the song was interpreted and played, but also in how it continued to impact the people it touched.

Though the underlying story was sad, this was a beautiful novel about the power of love and the healing power of music. There were quite a lot of characters in this novel, many not introduced until the last third of the book which is generally something I dislike. However, the connections and ties between the characters and the song was well done and added a lot of depth to the story. The varying story lines also added levity and hope to an otherwise sad story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for a copy of this book.

>Book Review – The Lost Love Song

>I am an independent reviewer. This book is a standalone romance with multiple HEAs. THe first couple we meet is a bit of a mis-match. Computer geek, Arie, meets pianist, Diana. Diana seems to be the driver of the relationship. Arie spends most of the relationship in disbelief that someone as beautiful and popular as Diana would fall in love with him. Arie seems to bend his life to Dianas will. Faithful to each other, Diana agrees to an engagement, but wont set a wedding date. She is away on tour when she finishes a love song for Arie, but circumstances never let her give it to him.

>Starting from a father overhearing Diana practice the love song in a hotel lobby, moving to his daughter at band camp and on to others overhearing the song, passed around by ear, the love song affects the lives of all who hear it. The song morphs from a piano song to a duet with flute and piano and then to guitar with lyrics. The song becomes part of the fabric of these strangers lives. The book has different short stories introducing the people when they experience the song. No one knows the song was written for Arie, including him.

>A full circle occurs when Arie meets a woman who heard the song and introduces the song to Arie. Their story is given the most time. The other stories jump in and out of Arie and Evies story. I really did not like Diana that much. She was a Diva and did not seem to adore Arie as much as he did her. Arie, also, never gave up Dianas mother as she became increasingly dependent upon him throughout the years.

>This book is appropriate for a new (18+) adult audience. I am giving this book 4 stars. The book had a lot of humor and some great locations, but the story jumped a bit too much for me. I also wish there was a scene showing how Aries family felt about Diana.

What a beautiful, beautiful story! I havent read anything that has come close to this since The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
The use of language is exquisitely poetic, but it never gets in the way of the glorious threads of the Lost Love Song, ever circling around the characters and their sweet and tender feelings. One cares for each of them, willing them to find, or be found.
So much heartbreak, but so many moments to smile and even laugh out loud!
Layers and layers of lifes experiences so common to us all, simply because we live and breathe, are understood and deftly, lovingly and gently laid at our feet by this lovely author.

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