Hello! I’m back again to talk about another arc I was able to read through NetGalley, which turned out to be one of the most masterfully musically written works I’ve read in a while. **And as always, the work to support the Black community is not done, whether there is media coverage for it or not, so here is the link to click in order to support the Black Lives Matter movement in any way you can, and thank you to StarlahReads for compiling these resources.**
This post will be talking about The Lost Love Song, a contemporary romance by Minnie Darke that is definitely more than meets the eye. From the vague synopsis I surmised that this book would center around a musician who struggles to write the perfect love song for someone they love, which eventually gets lost though time, until it is rediscovered down the line and masterfully crafted into what it needed to be all along. Well, that’s partially correct. What I found while reading was a story exploring grief, compassion, love, and the impact the lives of people you’ve never met can have on your own. It was an incredible reading experience, and made me want to pick up another book by this author to see if her lyrical writing is a common style, or was simply a choice (and a choice made well, in my opnion) for this novel.
The Lost Love Song follows Arie Johnson, a man grieving after the loss of his fiancée, Evie Greenlees, a woman searching for a place where she belongs, and Diana Clare’s lost love song that always finds its way to where it’s needed the most. All three of these storylines weave together in the most intricate way that allows the reader to explore these characters (and several others) on a personal level. That must seem like a vague synopsis, but I find that the less you know going into this book, the more magical the journey you follow becomes. So I’m keeping it vague. Sorry. Just a little.
This book is a quiet, character driven novel that explores grief, loss, and relationships in such an beautiful way, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The way the lives of these characters are intertwined was pleasing, and I must commend Minnie Darke’s prose for allowing me to become encapsulated into the story. I loved seeing this relationship blossom between two older characters, and felt it captured all its awkwardness and beauty quite well. The structure of the novel felt like a musical number – starting with a prelude, followed by seven parts with inteludes dispersed among them, and ending with a coda. The strength here really is in the writing. While occassionally I found some of the descriptions a bit excessive, they ultimately helped craft a picture of these characters and their lives before we got the chance to meet them, as a sort of inisight into their actions. We got to see how past actions and experiences helped them navigate current situations, and how they used the lessons they learned to make decisions that would impact their future.
I also found much joy in following the journey of Diana’s song throughout the interlude chapters. The first time I encountered one it took me out of the story a bit, especially when those characters did not appear at the start of the next section, and I think it took me going back through the chapters after completing the novel to really appreciate both their placement and what they added to the story. I loved how the lives of some of these side characters affected our main pair, while others were just a means to an end, bringing the song and all of its glory to the places where it needed to be. It may be jarring for those reading it for the first time, and I can completely understand that criticism. For me, I found the aspect of Diana’s song impacting the lives of so many, changing into whatever the current player needed most, and bringing an important message back to the person it was meant for in the first place added so much depth to the story, and I continue to be in awe.
I am incredibly grateful I was able to read a copy of this book early, because I’m sure I’ll be thinking about its idiosyncracies for a while, even long after its release. I think those who have experience in music will greatly enjoy this novel, as there are several nods to the artistry sprinkled throughout. Even still, I highly recommend anyone pick this book up, as the story is a powerful and lovely one to read. The Lost Love Song is being released on October 13th, 2020 in the United States, which is the day this post is scheduled to go up so please join me in wishing it a happy book birthday and celebrate by ordering yourself a copy. **Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Ballantine Books, for the e-copy, all thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Places to find The Lost Love Song:
Amazon
Goodreads
Minnie Darke’s site
Penguin Random House
Thoughts About Things 