Heard It in a Love Song: A Novel

by Tracey Garvis Graves

Overview

From Tracey Garvis Graves, the bestselling author of The Girl He Used to Know comes a love song of a story about starting over and second chances in Heard It in a Love Song.

Love doesn’t always wait until you’re ready.

Layla Hilding is thirty-five and recently divorced. Struggling to break free from the past—her glory days as the lead singer in a band and a ten-year marriage to a man who never put her first—Layla’s newly found independence feels a lot like loneliness.

Then there's Josh, the single dad whose daughter attends the elementary school where Layla teaches music. Recently separated, he's still processing the end of his twenty-year marriage to his high school sweetheart. He chats with Layla every morning at school and finds himself thinking about her more and more.

Equally cautious and confused about dating in a world that favors apps over meeting organically, Layla and Josh decide to be friends with the potential for something more. Sounds sensible and way too simple—but when two people are on the rebound, is it heartbreak or happiness that’s a love song away?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250235688
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/09/2021
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	42,646
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

TRACEY GARVIS GRAVES is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author. Her debut novel, On the Island, spent 9 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, has been translated into twenty-nine languages, and is in development with MGM and Temple Hill Productions for a feature film. She is also the author of Uncharted, Covet, Every Time I Think of You, Cherish, Heart-Shaped Hack, White-Hot Hack, and The Girl He Used to Know. She is hard at work on her next book.

Editorial Reviews

09/06/2021

Graves (The Girl He Used to Know) takes an in-depth look at the pain of divorce and the work it takes to build a new life. Layla Hilding and Josh Summers first meet at back-to-school night, Layla as a welcoming music teacher and Josh as the father to nervous kindergartner Sasha. The two become friendly through conversations at morning drop-off, and their relationship deepens as they connect over their recent divorces. But both come with wounds that are still fresh: Layla’s messy split with Liam, a status-hungry salesman with a spending problem, has left her with trust issues, while Josh copes with co-parenting with his ex-wife, Kimberly. Both Josh and Layla use their single lives as a fresh start: Layla rediscovers her love for performing and Josh searches for his own identity and desires separate from Kimberly. As their connection grows, they’ll have to put aside their hesitations for a second chance at love. Extensive flashbacks to Layla’s doomed relationship with Liam and Josh’s civil but passionless marriage to Kimberly tend to distract, though, making it difficult to invest in the present relationship. Still, Graves has a sure hand with depicting the complexity of dating after divorce. This will please readers looking for a realistic spin on taking a second chance at love. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

06/01/2021

In Balogh's latest Westcott Regency, irascible Justin Wiley, Earl of Brandon, has the decency to take responsibility for half-sister Maria when her mother dies, inviting her friend Lady Estelle Lamarr to accompany Maria to Everleigh Park, where family secrets crack open and the earl finds himself attracted to Someone Perfect: Lady Estelle. In Guild Boss, New York Times best-selling author Castle again escorts us to the earth colony Harmony for another futuristic paranormal romance fling. In Cousens's Just Haven't Met You Yet, Laura picks up the wrong suitcase at the Channel Islands airport while on a business trip, then hunts for the owner with romantic notions—the suitcase included piano music, her favorite book, and a cool fisherman's sweater—with the help of a cranky cabbie who has charms of his own. Evans returns with another Christmas Promise, featuring a love and faith thought lost restored by the true spirit of Christmas (200,000-copy first printing). In the New York Times best-selling Graves's Heard It in a Love Song, newly divorced music teacher Layla recalls her golden days as lead singer of a bar band and falls into happy conversations with the newly separated dad of one of her students, though both are wary of new love (75,000-copy first printing). Next in Ward's "Prison Camp" series, a Black Dagger Brotherhood spin-off set in an underground prison housing murderers and thieves, The Wolf opens with second-in-command Rio saved from death by a lupine creature with golden eyes (150,000-copy first printing). In canine celebrator Wilson A Dog's Chance, Madison helps both her troubled 14-year-old daughter, Abbie, and 75-year-old Arthur by having Abbie help train Arthur's energetic new golden retriever puppy (35,000-copy first printing).

Library Journal

"I cannot get enough of Tracey Garvis Graves. She just keeps getting better and better." —Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six

"Tracey Garvis Graves's Heard It in a Love Song is filled with so much warmth and so much hope, reading it feels like listening to your favorite song while curled up with someone you love. I'll be thinking about these characters and their passion for life for a long time to come." —Jill Santopolo, New York Times bestselling author of Everything After

"A warm, witty story with plenty of heart and characters that jump off the page, Heard It in a Love Song hits all the right notes." —Meg Mitchell Moore, author of Two Truths and a Lie

“A moving novel about the resilience of hope and love . . . Full of humor, warmth and depth. It’s pure magic on the page.” —Madeleine Henry, author of The Love Proof

"Two broken hearts take a chance on love. Tracey Garvis Graves' Heard It In A Love Song captures Josh and Layla in the throes of letting in and letting go. Graves, with her knack for creating characters with heart and hope, tackles life's most vulnerable moments leaving the reader feeling all the feels." —Rochelle Weinstein, USA Today bestselling author

“[A] classic friends-become-lovers story with characters you will find familiar - and can’t help rooting for.” —Real Simple

"At the heart of Tracey Garvis Graves's Heard It in a Love Song is the simple, but beautiful message that it's never too late to start over." —PopSugar

"Graves has a sure hand with depicting the complexity of dating after divorce. This will please readers looking for a realistic spin on taking a second chance at love." —Publishers Weekly

“[Layla and Josh] are appealing, sensible characters who have good banter, and it is especially satisfying to watch Layla's journey back to her rock-and-roll roots. [A] quiet, romantic novel that delves deeply into how relationships fall apart and how love can blossom again.” —Booklist

From the Publisher